Transposition of the Rio São Francisco: the bishop, the lizard, the sweet treats of the president and associates!
Following the discourse came the president’s dinner, together with his ministers, advisors and those who profit from the works, associates of the government, of the contracting companies. On the menu there were no birds, lizards or snakes, much less water. The treats served were shrimp – which the poor, so arduously defended by the president, do not eat and that are not part of the family support subsidy – risotto with parmesan cheese – I believe this also not to be a trivial food for those who carry pots of water on their head – squash purée with carne de sol – perhaps in subtle honor of the men and women of the Northeast, those whom the president says are the primary beneficiaries of the transposition of the São Francisco. And to drink, what a relief, after extenuated discourses, twelve year-old whisky and for the most humble servants of the president and his associates not water, but beer. It begs the question if the menu, the 12 year-old whisky and the beers, make up part of the benefit “package” destined to the poor who carry pots of water on their heads or, who knows, are a manner of showing the solidarity with and the incomparable care for the primary animal threatened with extinction in the world which, according to the president, is man.
Meriting highlight is the housing made exclusively to shelter the president and his associates at the edge of the works located at kilometer 316 on the BR-323 road, near the city of Custódia, Pernambuco and that was described by journalist Simone Iglesias in Folha de São Paulo: “The president stayed in an improvised suite with a “king-sized” bed (for one who does not know, as I do not know, this is the bed of a KING), carpet, mini-bar, bath, antessala and an office for meetings. The quarters to the left and right of the president were occupied by security guards. In prime minister Dilma’s suite, there was a private bath, antessala, it was decorated with flowers. In one part of the house a kiosk was set up which at also served as kitchen. On the bar cocktails, juice, water, cakes, fruits, nuts and cheese were presented to receive the presidential committee, as well as quiches (for who doesn´t know what that is, like me, it is a kind of empada filled with cheese)”.
The lodging was also called, by some, an encampment at the edge of the works. And what a lovely model of encampment the president offers! The rural landless workers, who struggle for agrarian reform, would certainly feel embarrassed with this modern and undaunted environment. They could be built – by INCRA – at the side of the roads to shelter the people who wait for the government to fulfill its responsibility of making agrarian reform a reality. Also, to shelter the indigenous peoples, thousands of persons who live beneath black tarps at the sides of roads, awaiting the federal government to demarcate their lands and assure them dignified assistance, basic sanitation, potable water, keeping them well protected from the cold, heat and from the rains with the modern encampment of the President of the Republic, and of his associates.
But then what about the bishop? It appears that, even refusing to pronounce his name during his inflamed discourses, Lula considers Dom Luis Cappio a stone on the path to the transposition. The bishop was not silenced even after Lula made dozens of promises that the project of transposition would be submitted to ample public debate. Lula preferred, instead of debating, to proffer a coarse upbraiding against those who seek to discuss, in a democratic manner, the works that affect them.
It appears that democracy is no longer a game that the president wants to play. To satisfy the greed of the associates and intimates, the president of our Republic made use of an expedient, at minimum undemocratic, in the House of Representatives, to alter legislation and to facilitate the continuity of the transposition works of the waters of the São Francisco. In a provisionary measure that had as objective providing financial succor to municipalities, the government included, “smuggling” as it is called among parliamentarians, an article that hastens expropriation of property considered as of public utility, one of the primary legal impediments faced by federal investments (according to the article in the Folha de São Paulo, on 16/10/09).
For the president it is better to listen to guitar, drink 12 year-old whisky and a full dinner with the associated prime contractors than to sit at a table for an intelligent debate and treat serious people with the respect they deserve. In various projects spread over the country, the president has encountered certain “obstacles” that displease him – a bishop on hunger strike here, a protest movement there, people suffering and crying out for security, health, education, housing, land. For Lula, all of this only concerns disputes over saving lizards, tree frogs, snakes, freshwater catfish, birds. He is convinced that his Program for Accelerated Growth of Capital is infallible, inevitable, incontestable. Like it or not, the president and his associates want their works to get started and this appears to be, in and of itself, sufficient reason the people to silence themselves, stand and applaud. Here then the applause: Long live the Bishop, long live the lizard! That the arrogance of some may not destroy the hope of those who long for a democratic and plural society.
