Kakay | dog militia

“I, Brazilian, confess

My fault, my sin

My desperate dream

My well kept secret

My affliction

I, Brazilian, confess.”

–Torquato Neto, poem “Marginalia 2”

There is tremendous ill will towards the elected president of Argentina. In large part, his completely clumsy manner, his known foolishness and even his intellectual smallness are what causes the species. He is, demonstrably, a citizen who does not enjoy the full enjoyment of his mental capacity. He is somewhat proud of his recognized ignorance.

It is rumored that he promised to close the Central Bank because, when he applied to be an employee, he did not pass the psychological test. He is completely inept. And, to top it off, he claims that he talks to a dog that died years ago and gets advice from him through a medium. He makes Bolsonaro look reasonable.

As he is a head of state, responsible, in part, for the destiny of a nation, his bizarre trajectory worries and causes insecurity. In a broken Argentina with uncontrolled inflation, the fear of hunger and unemployment becomes a reality. Exactly because of this entire context, the fate of the neighboring country is increasingly important.

The crazy president continues to state that he does not intend to maintain even diplomatic relations with Brazil. It seems evident that this is a boast that cannot be sustained and that relationships tend to continue.

What is less frightening is the fact that the Argentine says he is guided by a dog that died in 2017, was cloned and with which he claims to communicate through a medium. What worries are the proposals of an ultra-liberal, who presents himself as anti-system, who defends the end of the State, who is conservative on the usual issues, such as abortion, and who claims that climate issues, which are plaguing the world and seem to be an obvious risk to humanity, they are a “leftist farce”.

The worst of all worlds. And he also has as vice-president a woman who is the daughter of a military man and who denies that a dictatorship existed in Argentina. She misses the bad times and that she should be the one who commands Security and Defense. I am reminded of Ferreira Gullar, in the poem “The dead and the living”:

“It’s useless to ask for forgiveness. Saying that you have it in your heart. The dead don’t hear.”

Therefore, it is opportune for us, Brazilians, to consider the paths to democracy here and in the neighboring country. There, there is a democratically elected president who, clearly, used this bizarre speech to get closer to Argentine voters, frustrated with the terrible economic situation.

To beat a candidate who was responsible for the chaotic economy last year, with an incredible 142.7% inflation in the last 12 months, I don’t think it’s necessary to talk to a dead dog. In Brazil, the rate of 4.82% in the last 12 months still causes the economy to receive criticism.

The point necessary for a mature reflection does not need to involve the eccentric hypothesis of a politician having a pet that died in 2017 as an interlocutor and guide, but rather the indisputable fact that, in Brazil, we have had a president who speaks, decorates and flatters a militia group. Much more serious than having a dog that liked to drink champagne with its advisor is allowing promiscuity with the militia. We cannot trivialize these signs of the power of the Bolsonarist group.

In Rio de Janeiro, the Bolsonaro family’s electoral base, the militia openly dominates the political scene. Data collected by researchers at UFF (Universidade Federal Fluminense) inform that 65% of Rio’s territory is frankly dominated by them and 15% by drug trafficking. And militia members are not shy about seeking politics as a shield of protection. The libertinism is such that relationships were vulgarized.

In the next elections, democracy and barbarism will be put to the test once again. There is no point in having a formal democracy if, increasingly, the State is dominated by agents who do not follow the parameters of respect for citizenship. Between a group that lets itself be guided by the barking of a dog that is expressed through a medium, and another that has the militia as a reference, I’m starting to think that, for the sake of democratic stability, the dog is much less scary.

As the great Jorge Luís Borges taught us:

“I don’t know which face is looking at me when I look at my face in the mirror. I don’t know which old man lurks in his reflection, with silent and already tired anger”.