“A Brazilian Walks Into An Amsterdam Hash Bar”: Gabeira on The Clockwork Orange

Gabeira of the Greens: Self-styled quirky ass-kicker with a colorful past. And a blog.

Fernando Gabeira: Drogas e violência (Folha de S. Paulo).

Rio de Janeiro governor Sergio Cabral (PMDB) has lately been talking up the notion of legalizing drugs as part of a long-term plan for reducing violence in the cidade maravilha and its environs.

Former Sâo Paulo interim governor Claudio Lembo (PFL), who assumed office when Alckmin resigned to seek the presidency, was the first to come out against the idea. Lembo will start writing a regular column, one reads, for Terra Magazine.

Lembo, recall, during the PCC attacks on police last May, with the subsequent wave of reprisal killings and the public display of support for death squads on the floor of the state assembly — T-shirts were printed up and brandished — said:

“We have a really malevolent bourgeoisie here, a perverse white minority. The pocketbooks of the white bourgeoisie will have to be opened up for the sake of lifting the rest of Brazil out of abject misery. … The problem of violence in this state will only be resolved when the white minority changes its mentality.”

Former federal judge Walter Fangiello Maierovitch, a prominent public policy pundit and CartaCapital spies and mafias columnist, writes:

Faced with the escalation of violence, the failure of the public security system is only hastened along by the kinds of proposals presented by tiny minorities who have the means to acquire armored vehicles and hulking 24-hour guards, the ones who turn their mansions into electrified fortresses. These are the people calling for the death penalty, medieval reform schools for youth offenders, arrests upon a weaker standard than probable cause, a ban on private defense attorneys in favor of public defenders, and the inversion of the burden of proof, so that the defendant must prove his innocence rather than the state being required to prove his guilt.

Closer to home, our blogging vereadora, or (proportionally elected) local municipal representative, Soninha (PT), a former MTV veejay, has been spotted pushing this idea as well on the local TV Assembléia — warming up for a talk show of her own, soon to launch, one hears. Rikki Lake on ayahuasca, something like that. While seated in the full lotus position. And emitting Aguas Espraiadas of nonsense.

Now, congressman Fernando Gabeira of the Brazilian Green Party puts his oar into the waters of the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas of public debate on the topic.

Gabeira is the other former exiled urban guerilla with a spectacularly colorful past and personality. In the Zé Dirceu mold, but leading the charge against the fallen Ur-petista turned carioca corporate lawyer when he was Minister — “but not superminister!” — of the Casa Civil.

Legalization is an interesting theory.

The Rockefeller Laws back home in Gringolândia, as you know, have done nothing but swell the national prison population — more than 2 million people — with pitiful foot soldiers and mules, left to rot for 35 years at a stretch without contributing anything to bringing the wholesale trade to heel.

Singapore puts drug dealers to death.

Brazil does, too, only na informalidade — extralegally, thanks to the continuing tradition of “I, The Jury” street justice.

“Resistance followed by death.” If the police just happen to kill you, then you were an evil drug dealer. The recent news item on a shoeless, shirtless shantyown motoboy trying to flag down a taxi for a parent who was having a stroke — he received one under the armpit and one in the head from a passing PM who assumed that he was assaulting the taxi — is a contemporary classic.

But when you apply the death penalty to chicken thieves — as opposed to making the chicken thief pay for the damn chicken, and the lost egg production, which is only fair — you get a rather more militant labor union for chicken thieves than you would like to see.

But then again, when you start thinking about how legalization stricto sensu will work in practice, it does get murky.

But Gabeira is an interesting character. I would like to know more about the guy.

So I translate.

NO AUGE do debate sobre violência, Sérgio Cabral mencionou a legalização das drogas como um tema importante. Aparentemente, todos os que acreditam nesta saída futura deveriam lançar-se na batalha.

At the height of the debate over violence, Cabral brought up the idea of the legalization of drugs as an important topic. Apparently, all of those who believe in this future way out of the problem are to take up the battle cry.

Mas quem conhece o processo de legalização fora daqui sabe que ele tem premissas que não foram cumpridas no Brasil. Uma delas é uma polícia mais ética e competente. Enquanto não se fizer uma reforma profunda nos organismos policiais, a mudança pode contribuir com a violência. Com o tempo e observação internacional, passei a ver a legalização não como como uma renúncia ao controle, mas um salto de qualidade no próprio controle.

But anyone who has followed the process of legalization outside Brazil knows that it has preconditions that Brazil has yet to satisfy. One of these is a more ethical, more competent police force. Until we accomplish deep reform in the police agencies, the switch to legalization might actually contribute to violence. Over time, and after monitoring the international scene, I started to see legalization not as an abandonment of control, but as a qualitative leap forward in the methods of control.

Aqui, no Brasil, é evidente que a súbita retirada dos mercados clandestinos jogaria os criminosos em outros tipos de crime. Logo, é preciso estar preparado para esse deslocamento, de um modo geral para seqüestros e roubos de carro.

Here in Brazil, it is obvious that the sudden disappearance of underground markets would force criminals into other areas of crime. Therefore, it is necessary to be prepared for this mass exodus into kidnappings and carjackings.

Um brasileiro entrou num bar holandês onde se vende maconha.

A Brazilian walks into a Dutch bar where marijuana is sold.

Estava de gorro, e o gerente do bar se assustou. Chamou os seguranças que cuidam da entrada e os advertiu seriamente. Tinham esquecido da norma? É proibido entrar de gorro. Isto significa que os lugares são monitorados por câmeras.

He is wearing a ski mask, and the bar manager is alarmed. He calls the security guards who watch the door and gives them a serious warning. Have they forgotten the rule. It is forbidden to enter wearing a ski mask. This means that these places are monitored by surveillance cameras.

Os armazéns suecos que vendem bebida possuem um grande fichário de clientes que não podem usar álcool. O fichário é consultado e uma luz vermelha se acende no caixa, indicando que, naquele caso, era proibido vender.

Swiss liquor stores have a long file of names of persons they are not allowed to sell alcohol to. The file is consulted and a red light lights up on the cash register, indicating that, in this case, the sale is not permitted.

Quando a Inglaterra decidiu liberar o uso de maconha numa região de Londres, o fez aconselhada pela polícia. Argumento: quatro horas para abrir inquérito contra um usuário, é tempo preciso para realizar tarefas mais importantes de segurança pública.

When England decided to permit the use of marijuana in a district of London, it did so on advice from the police. Argument: The four hours required to process charges against a drug user could be used to do more important public safety work.

Passei tantos anos falando em legalização e agora, que um jovem e corajoso governador levanta a tese, não posso abandoná-lo. Mas a melhor forma de concordar com ele é apontar e contribuir com a premissa que, realmente, pode nos aproximar, como outros países, da fase experimental: a reforma da polícia.

I have been talking about for so many years now legalization, and now that a young, courageous governor has raised the issue, I cannot abandon it. But the best way of agreeing with him is to point out and contribute an element of the plan that we could, as other countries of done, implement on an experimental basis: Police reform.

Mesmo a Colômbia, com os avanços em Bogotá, está mais perto da legalização do que nós, pois, do ponto de vista urbano, torna a violência administrável.

Even Colombia, with the progress that has been made in Bogotá, is closer to legalization than we are, and from the point of view of the big cities, is getting violence down to manageable levels.

See also Rio: Cabral Backs Off On Bogotá.

A tarefa de reformar a polícia não pode ser feita sem apoio da sociedade. Mas o importante é contar com as forças especiais e o Exército. Isso protege contra bolas pelas costas quando se tocam nos pontos mais sensíveis da corporação.

The task of reforming the police cannot be accomplished without support from society. But the important thing is to count on the special forces of the Army. They can protect against stabs in the back when dealing with the most sensitive points in the law enforcement establishment.

Pensem no Haiti. Em situação muito mais difícil, abriu-se um caminho em Bel Air e, nesta semana, Cité Soleil caiu nas mãos dos brasileiros. De que adianta correr o mundo se não aprendemos as lições?

Think of Haiti. In a much more difficult situation that ours is, a road has been opened in Bel Air and, this week, Cité Soleil was taken over by Brazilian troops. What is the point of acting in other parts of the world if we cannot seem to apply the lessons learned back home?

Haiti é aqui
Haiti não é aqui

In my view of things — the view of an amateur, mind you — the plan behind the Força Nacional de Segurança Pública (FNSP) — see Brazil: What Is the FNSP? — has long been planned and conceived as prioritizing law enforcement reform, including — and this is key — to counter the perception of white collar impunity that swirled, for example, around the Daslu case here in Sâo Paulo.

These people charged astronomical markups that they tried to conceal by asking their suppliers to omit prices from the bills of lading.

And a Brooks Bros. Riot Squad picketed outside FIESP in defense of their sacred right — their droit du seigneur — to do so.

One of the most grotesque things I have ever seen.

This was a case in which the daughter of the governor — Geraldo “I am not responsible” Alckmin — who worked as a senior buyer for the luxury boutique — lobbied the state treasurer for an exception to accounting rules, according to sworn testimony from the official to the legislature.

Cracking down on financial crimes and tax evasion seems to me, just from keeping an eye peeled on the Federal Police press release bragging and perp walk page, to have roughly equal priority with operating in the grotões — rural municipalities — to interdict wholesale manufacturing and transportation operations of entorpecentes.

Which I personally tend to think is worth trying out.

Yes, you will find my signature on petitions back home to decriminalize marijuana use.

No, no, no, no, I don’t smoke it no more, or even recommend it, but you go ahead and have mine.

But I also do not think pot smokers are going to start dying in the streets if they have to do without for a while. Try doing that whirling dervish dance. Some folks may need rehab, however. You might want to invest in that.

One of the best anti-drug ads I’ve seen, in fact, was a Brazilian spot in a which a young person says just this: “I do not think pot-smoking is such a big deal, but on the other hand, do I really want to be supporting an industry with blood on its hands?”

That sure got me to thinking.

And it sure beats the hysterical, and savagely satirized by generations of bong-sucking dudes and dudettes, “this is your brain on drugs” ad, with the frying egg. Remember that? Not a good use of taxpayer money.

Visibly opposed to that plan of action — bloody-mindedly, in tooth and claw — are the folks at Veja magazine, wth their constant battle cry of “The drug-dealing communist Interahamwe from the MST want to eat white babies”!

And when Mr. Lembo and Mr. Gabeira allude to the podres pederes, they might well have in mind Sen. Alberto Goldman (PSDB-SP), who said of the charges brought against the proprietors of the luxury boutique:

“… this arrest could lead to an economic crisis. Businesses will say: why invest in Brazil if we are going to wind up getting arrested?”

As the Brazilian Communist Party — sorry, the post-schism Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) — newspaper Vermelho noted:

That is: in the Toucan view of the world, the only folks that ought to be in jail in this country are the chicken thieves! The businessman who evades taxes, sends money out of the country illegally or commits other crimes can’t be touched, and can even count on the help of certain politicians — who will later get a nice campaign contribution. The Daslu scandal is proof that corruption rules the day in the world of capitalist business.

Look, I get just as annoyed as anyone when Communists happen to have a valid point.

And I have yet to clasp hands with my red-clad friends to take that precipitous leap of logic at the end there.

I am, after all, a faithful son of Pérola Negra.

We promote the fashionable distinction between “savage capital” and “civilized.”

On the other hand, as Mexico’s El Financiero was emphasizing not long ago, the folks who administer poisonous criminal injustice also have the power to enforce contracts.

Which leads us to the topic that everyone here, even the outspoken Gabeira, still tiptoes around: the reform that dare not speak its name.

Judicial reform.

Which has more to do with the overarching theme of reform here than you would think — namely, demilitarization.

Civilian control of the military rather than vice-versa.

See also

• “The Army Will Not Police the Streets of Rio de Janeiro”
• “The Army Will Not Patrol the Streets of Rio de Janeiro”: Pan-American Games Edition

 

Like drug legalization or Brazil’s rejection of the death penalty, this has been a theoretical principle driving Brazilian “redemocratization” for quite some time now.

But in practice …

Which is why Gabeira’s support for militarizing the fight against crime in Rio de Janeiro kind of surprises me.

I have been studying up on the MiniJ’s proposals in this area so as to improve my Kremlinology chops. More later soon.

Counterpoint: The Cloven Hooves of Clovis Rossi

In the meantime, a noise-machine counterpoint from the Folha’s scabrous perennial op-ed pundit, Clovis Rossi — “We used to respect this guy. What the hell happened to him?” says a local journo to me on Rossi — serves to illustrate the “exterminate the naked savages” school of thought.

To a tee.

See also Reuters: “Lula Is Soft on Crime”.

I’ll give that translation as well in a bit, pra inglês ver who he is really doing business with down here before signing any deals.

SÃO PAULO - O presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva vem desenvolvendo repetidamente dois tipos de enfoque sobre a questão da violência/criminalidade. Um é perigoso. O outro é demagógico.

President Lula has repeatedly put the focus on two perspectives on the issue of violence and crime. One is dangerous. The other is demagogy.

Primeiro enfoque: não há por que mudar leis, reduzir a idade da maioridade penal, pôr mais polícia na rua, porque o problema é só social.

First perspective: There is no way to change the laws, reduce the age of adult criminal responsibility, put more police in the streets, because the problem is purely social.

This is a straw man argument.

I have never heard the Squidsters defending that proposition.

It’s more of a “let’s try to do a better job of enforcing the laws we have.” Starting with crooked cops and judges in order to address public cynicism about the infamous double standard: “For our friends, everything; for our enemies, the law.”

Lula chegou a dizer que cometer crimes é, às vezes, “questão de sobrevivência”.

Lula has even says that committing crimes is, at times, “a question of survival.”

Let me tell you sometime about the pathetic mugging attempt I experienced in São Paulo at the hands of a glue-sniffing eight year-old São Paulo street kid armed with a rusty butter knife, going “this is a robbery, motherfucker.”

It was the most pathetic thing I ever saw in my life.

I gave the kid five pau and a lecture on how he was going to wind up committing suicide by shooting himself twice in the nape of the neck while handcuffed if he did not come up with a better sales pitch. He told me to go fuck myself.

Equivale a dar habeas corpus para a barbárie. Se, para sobreviver, é preciso matar/roubar, cai-se na lei da selva.

This is the same thing as granting blanket amnesty for barbarity. If, in order to survive, it is necessary to kill or rob, we are back to law of the jungle.

Right. So we are.

Welcome to São Paulo under Geraldo “I am not responsible” Alckmin.

In the Alckminist view of the world, the Hobbesian state of nature and free and open markets are the exact same thing.

Vanishing autopsy reports in alleged cases of summary executions for the crime existing while black. Death squad and militia activity continues.

Truculent cops create an international media disaster for the city’s push to build a rep as a tourist destination.

I personally know — well, officially, I know nothing; officially, no one knows anything — people who have to pay off cops, in specie and in “on the arm” good and services, in order to operate their businesses.

Smoking holes in the new subway line, like the mouth of hell as described by Dante.

O raciocínio despreza todos os demais fatores que contribuem para a violência/criminalidade. Não se mata/rouba apenas por falta de oportunidade, do que dá prova contundente o caso do assassinato dos três franceses de uma ONG que resgata crianças pobres. Foi uma delas, já adulta, que matou os benfeitores, aqueles que lhe haviam dado a oportunidade pedida por Lula. Exceção que só confirma a regra?

This line of reasoning scorns all the other factors that contribute to violence and criminality. People do not rob or kill only because of lack of opportunity, as is bluntly illustrated by the case of the three French citizens from an NGO that rescues street kids who were killed. It was one of these, now an adult, who killed his benefactors, those who had given him the opportunity Lula asked for. Is this an exception that confirms the rule?

Yes, what exactly did that NGO get itself mixed up in?

Brazilian NGOs are not all the March of Freaking Dimes, you know.

Were Jack Abramoff’s non-profits operated for the pure benefit of humanity?

Some wind up as front groups laundering money for militias and organized crime — and corrupt politicans. And cases in which two of those, or even all three, inhabit the same body at the same time.

You want to vet your charities more carefully before you give, people — unless you actually meant to be building the minister of food a new ski lodge in Davos.

Tolice. O ser humano mata/rouba também por cobiça, apetite pelo poder, drogas, psicopatias várias, por alpinismo social e mais um quilo de razões, que valem para pobres como valem para ricos.

Nonsense. The human being also steals and robs out of greed, the appetite for power, drug addiction, various pyschopathologies, social climbing and a ton of other reasons which apply equally to the poor as to the rich.

This whole tirade is a pure straw man, mind you.

Tratar criminosos como “coitadinhos” é convidar ao aumento da violência, já insuportável. O segundo enfoque é o de que a violência é culpa dos governantes dos 20 anos a.L. (antes de Lula).

Treating criminals as “poor dears” is to invite an increase in violence, which is already at intolerable levels. The second perspective is that the violence is the fault of governments from the B.L. (“before Lula”) era.

This was, it is true, a major talking point of the reelection campaign: “Under us, the federal police, for example, carried out ten times more operations than under the 8 years of FHC I and II.”

Which, as factoids go, has the virtue of being true, without too much fudging, at least.

And on the corruption front, see also Alckmin’s 69 Unconstitutionally Quashed Investigations.

Falso, completamente falso. A obscenidade social que é o Brasil vem de muito, muito antes, como sabe qualquer um que não ache, ao contrário de Lula, que a história da humanidade começou com ele.

False, utterly false. The social obscenity that Brazil is comes from long before that, as anyone knows who does not believe, as Lula does, that the history of mankind began with him.

Brazil is a social obscenity? Brazil is a bad, bad bagunça, it is true, in many quarters. But it certainly is not hopeless. Me and my wife are very hopeful, in fact.

Even if I someday get zapped by a stray round from an AR-15 while basking on Ipanema Beach — and the ballistic report comes up negative as to the ostentatiously seized weapons of PMs who were in the Barra de Tijuca at the time of the shooting — you can still put that on my tombstone: “This dead gringo still thinks there’s hope for Brazil.”

Começou antes e continuou com Lula, que, nos 50 meses de governo, nada mexeu na estrutura econômico-social, além de ter se aliado a muitos dos que acusa pelo desastre social chamado Brasil.

It started before Lula and continues under Lula, who, in his 50 months of government, has changed nothing in the socio-economic structure, aside from allying himself with many of the people he accuses of being responsible for the social disaster called Brazil.

The Brazilian Class B & C demographic has grown appreciably, if not dramaticaly, as attested to by the sales of midmarket retailers of domestic appliances like Casas Bahia.

See my The NMM Tupi Prize for Anti-Punditry.

Culpar os outros é sempre fácil; fugir das próprias responsabilidades é covardia.

Blaming others is always easy; fleeing from your own responsibility is cowardice.

Rossi is a real canalha.

Local journalist friends tend to have this take on the guy: “Jesus, we used to respect Rossi. What the hell happened to him? Maybe he has a brain tumor or something.”

Also known as Christopher Hitchens syndrome.

I missed it, but I hear that during a debate with Mino Carta, he nearly physically assaulted Carta for saying as much, too.

On the air, in the studios of, I think it was, TV Cultura.