FIM

Musicians’ Manifest

Brazil cur­rent­ly faces the pos­si­bil­i­ty of a set­back in his­toric achieve­ments for which the Brazilian peo­ple fought hard. A Constitution focused on cit­i­zen­ship, built after a murky state of emer­gency peri­od is about to be demeaned by politi­cians who act exclu­sive­ly based on cor­po­ratist inter­ests and moved by more mali­cious intents.

A demo­c­ra­t­i­cal­ly elect­ed pres­i­dent faces an “impeach­ment” process with­out any crime of respon­si­bil­i­ty that can be attrib­uted to her man­age­ment. The Constitution is clear; jurists, pub­lic per­son­al­i­ties, politi­cians and states­men from Brazil and the world have demon­strat­ed the absur­di­ty of what is about to be per­pe­trat­ed in Congress.

The con­struc­tion of this democ­ra­cy — his­to­ry and impor­tant moments have proved – count­ed on the active par­tic­i­pa­tion of musi­cians. In polit­i­cal move­ments and ral­lies, com­pos­ing, play­ing and singing every note as bricks rebuild­ing the soul of our beloved coun­try, the musi­cian cat­e­go­ry nev­er quit defend­ing democ­ra­cy and social jus­tice, fac­ing cen­sor­ship, being hunt­ed by the repres­sion here and in sur­round­ing dic­ta­tor­ships bring­ing sad mem­o­ries, as the death of pianist Francisco Tenório Junior in Argentina. Musicians were arrest­ed, exiled, killed but resist­ed, lend­ing their tal­ent to fight for the move­ment “Diretas Já” (Direct Elections Now) and “Nordeste Já” (Northeast Now) cam­paign, a project by the Musicians’s Union in Rio de Janeiro (SindMusi) in sup­port of the work of the dear­ly remem­bered Betinho. Democracy was con­quered with a lot of pain. It can­not be under­mined at all. Without the approval of the Constitution, one can­not usurp the will of the major­i­ty that direct­ly elect­ed a pres­i­dent the way we fought so much. “Impeachment” with­out crime is a crime.

The del­i­cate moment which the young democ­ra­cy of Brazil pass­es through con­venes all the voic­es, the strings, the wood­winds, the drums, the music, the musi­cians. And here we are adding our voice in defence of democ­ra­cy and the Constitution.

Rio de Janeiro, 11 April 2016

João Bani — Percussionist, President of SindMusi/​RJ
Déborah Cheyne — Violist, Vice-​President of SindMusi/​RJ

Petition (in Portuguese)

Foto: Roberto Stuckert Filho View licence