Anything Goes — and Mr. Summa (Olavo de Carvalho)

Anything Goes — and Mr. Summa (Olavo de Carvalho)

After doing everything imaginable to suppress the impact of the accusations linking it to the Colombian narco-guerrillas — even going so far as to make the outrageous claim that these were bizarre speculations by a lone “fraud” in Miami — the Workers’ Party (PT) finally admitted it had been pretending all along. The case had, in fact, received extensive coverage in the international press. And now, at last, the party decided it was time to come out of hiding and say something. Anything.
The task of writing that “something” fell to Mr. Giancarlo Summa, “foreign press advisor” for Lula’s campaign — a very classy title, which only proves that the candidate is quicker to explain himself to the foreign media than to the domestic public. Brazilians, so far, have had to settle for flat denials and vague evasions. The official statement issued by Mr. Summa the day before yesterday consists, in essence, of six claims, which I will now list and comment on:
1. “The PT has nothing to do with the FARC.”
To reduce this claim to dust, one need only read Resolution No. 9 from the 10th São Paulo Forum, dated December 7, 2001. After denouncing the Colombian government's repression of the guerrillas as “state terrorism” and a “veritable war plan against the people,” the assembly concludes:
“9. We reaffirm the legitimacy, justice, and necessity of the struggle of the Colombian organizations and express our solidarity with them.”
This statement is signed by representatives of 39 organizations, including the PT. A promise of solidarity, followed a few months later by a claim of having nothing to do with it. So, which of the two PT signatures was forged?
2. “The São Paulo Forum” — where the PT and the FARC have been meeting regularly for the past 12 years — “is a forum for debate, not an international political coordination structure.”
For crying out loud, when has a mere debating forum ever issued “resolutions” at the end of its assemblies? A resolution is a decision — a directive, a practical guideline, a rule of action. An assembly that issues resolutions unanimously signed by organizations from several countries cannot be doing anything other than political coordination. In fact, that’s precisely what the final resolution of the 1st Forum (São Paulo, July 4, 1990) states, expressing its goal to “advance consensual proposals for unity of action.” A joint effort to formulate a “unity of action” isn’t mere debate — especially when it results in formal resolutions. It is, in the full sense of the term, political coordination.
3. “The PT’s contacts with the FARC were solely intended to assist peace negotiations between them and the Colombian government.”
Then the PT must possess prophetic foresight, since its contacts with the FARC at the São Paulo Forum began eight years before the failed peace initiatives.
4. “Some of the first Brazilian lawmakers to meet with the FARC in late 1998 were PSDB congressmen Tuga Angerami (São Paulo) and Arthur Virgílio (Amazonas).”
Nonsense. The first official contacts between PT politicians and the FARC date back to 1990, during the 1st São Paulo Forum. And that’s only considering the official contacts — not to mention the highly plausible scenario of informal encounters that may have taken place long before, perhaps in some five-star Cuban hotel in the presence of host Fidel Castro. The two mentioned PSDB congressmen only approached the guerrillas much later, during the peace talks.
5. “Plan Colombia” — the U.S. technical and military aid to the Colombian government in its fight against drug trafficking — is an “extremely dangerous initiative, as it may lead to a ‘Vietnamization’ of the region, that is, the spread of conflict to neighboring countries, especially Brazil.”
What a lovely argument. The FARC have already entered the Amazon region, are shooting at our soldiers, recruiting Brazilians for the drug trade, conducting propaganda in our schools, and exchanging drugs for weapons with Fernandinho Beira-Mar. Yet the real, the terrifying, the imminent threat to Brazil isn’t them — it’s an American aid program that doesn’t even involve sending troops to the region!
Remember that Ionesco quote I mentioned in the previous article? Well, there it is — the logic of the absurd in all its radiant splendor.
6. “The future government” — that is, Mr. Lula’s government — “will act decisively to break the link between Colombian drug traffickers and Brazilian criminal groups.”
Up until now, Mr. Lula — staking the weight of his word against the evidence gathered from Fernandinho Beira-Mar — had assured us that the FARC were not involved in drug trafficking, and therefore could have no ties with Brazilian traffickers. Now, suddenly, his party promises he will sever links it previously claimed didn’t exist.
What kind of joke is this? How far does the PT believe in the hypnotic power of word games?
After this literary debut, Mr. Summa — whose last name happens to match a medieval literary genre — should perhaps begin signing his name for the public’s benefit as Summa mendacitatis: “The Sum of All Lies.”

P.S. (Friends Forever) — Confirming Lula’s statement in Le Monde that this election is “nothing but a farce necessary for seizing power,” PT theorist Marco Aurélio Garcia declared to the Argentine newspaper La Nación on October 5, 2002:
“The impression that the PT moved to the center arises from the fact that we had to make certain commitments in that area. That means we will have to accept certain practices at first. But that won’t last forever.”