Crônica política sobre um documento contra a ditabranda

Abstract

This short article, a political chronicle, examines the meanings and political and ideological effects of a Internet petition that was created in February of 2009. Repúdio e Solidariedade (Repudiation and Solidarity) questioned the use of the term ditabranda [a conjunction of two terms, ditadura and branda - or soft dictatorship] disseminated by the São Paulo news daily Folha de S. Paulo to refer to the Brazilian military dictatorship, and manifested solidarity with two University of São Paulo (USP) professors and intellectuals known for their action in defense of human rights in Brazil. Obtaining over eight thousand signatures in a period of less than six weeks, the petition may be considered (as the extensive comments which it includes testify to) a relevant document in the struggle for the right to truth and justice regarding what really happened during the period of the Brazilian military regime (1964-1985). Perhaps its most relevant symbolic role is that of staking claims within an ideological struggle over the memory of 1964. In the center of these claims sits a banner with the old motto No pasarán. In other words, democratic and progressive sectors of Brazilian society that supported Repúdio e Solidariedade made it clear that they were not going to quietly accept falsified views of history that are an insult to the memory of those who struggled, were tortured and died in the struggle to redemocratize the country.