diego.blogger.de

Yesterday I wore a T-Shirt that I brought in Brazil end of 1991 or beginning of 1992. There used to be a market on the Praça da República in São Paulo where one could buy handicrafts. The shirt shows the Brazilian flag rolled up and fixed by a rope noose as used for gallows. Further it says “A corda – Brasil” which is a word play, meaning either “the rope, Brazil” or “wake up, Brazil”. At the time I liked it because it is anti-nationalistic and I think one should be careful with any kind of patriotism, nationalism, or chauvinism – not only in germany. The funny part is that people in Brazil are so patriotic that I rarely could wear the motive since I did not want to offend them (too much). The interesting part is that at that time the president Fernando Collor del Mello (who by the way was the first directly elected president after the military government, which ended 1985) was accused for corruption and resigned in 1992 to avoid an impeachment (Amtsenthebungsverfahren). Thus, today I think the T-Shirt is already some kind of historical source since to some extend it reflects the attitude and anger of the people.

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