Fernando Alcoforado *
The “ship of foolish” is an ancient allegory widely used in Western culture in literature and paintings. Imbued with a sense of self-criticism, she describes the world and its human inhabitants as a ship whose troubled passengers neither know nor care where they are going. The ship of foolish is an allegory increasingly familiar in Brazil, since Brazilian society is like a boat sinking. And we, passengers who are going nowhere, are sinking with the ship of foolish called Brazil.
This image is part of a medieval allegory represented in the most distinct forms over the last five hundred years: The Ship of foolish. Not a few have brought to light all the splendor of this idea. He would highlight Erasmus of Rotterdam with Praise of Madness, Michel Foucault with The History of Madness in the Classical Age, and Federico Fellini in the cinema with E la nave va, among others. Imagine the situation of a ship going to the brink without its occupants noticing the catastrophic situation that slowly imposes itself as it is the case of Brazil that tends to evolve politically towards the aggravation of the political conflicts between the forces of left and right and economically for the unfeasibility in resolving the economic crisis due to the inability to achieve governability by any candidate who wins the presidential elections.
Erasmo de Rotterdam’s Praise of Madness (Porto Alegre: L & PM Editores, 2013) is a satire written in 1508 directing scathing criticism of life in a medieval society impregnated with a mediocre and hypocritical traditional culture. The critics are held in defense of the central character, Madness. In this work Madness is personified in the form of a goddess who leads human actions. For the author, Madness is the natural state of the human being. For Erasmus, madness is everywhere, and the number of madmen is infinite. Michel Foucault, in History of Madness in the Classical Age (São Paulo, Perspectiva, 1997), recalls that “imaginary heroes, ethical models or social types embark on a great symbolic journey that brings them, if not fortune, at least the figure of its destinies or its truths”. In E la la nave va – baptized as The Ship, in Portuguese – by Fellini, the high artistic and social class of Italy embarks on a farewell trip of the opera singer Edmea Tetua. There, amid the chaos established by the ego, by death and non-grateful presence of Serb refugees on the ship, outcrop the most obscure and selfish facets of the human being surface. By reproducing with masterly dexterity the most disturbing aspects of individuality over the medium, Fellini exposes the most pitiful face of human existence.
To think of an allegory conceived even in the medieval period, before the discovery of America, could lead us to believe that we are dealing with the representation of a society completely distant and different from our era. The bad news is that most of the elements that make up the Ship of Fools are still noticeable in our own reality. It is not necessary to be an expert in social psychology to realize that in the Brazilian presidential elections the country is deeply divided with some people politically positioning themselves alongside Lula and the PT and others in radical opposition to Lullism and Petism. In general, the choice of presidential candidates in the first and second rounds of presidential elections is not made by voters based on the evaluation of the candidates’ ability to exercise the government and their government proposals aimed at resolving the current economic crisis and promoting the country’s development.
The Brazilian population is embarking on the same Ship as the characters of Fellini on a trip to nowhere or towards the end, if we want to be pessimistic, facing the most terrible storms, strong winds, natural inclemencies and accidents of course. In a Nau like Brazil characterized by having its passengers (Brazilian population) in conflict, deeply divided, some of them justify the absence of an altruistic stance, that is, that dedicates itself to others that is in solidarity with the others by simple fact that the other occupants of the ship do not care about them either. And so, concerned to destroy their enemies, the parties to the conflict in Ship called Brazil they look obstinately forward without realizing that the ship is sinking and the water is already touching the waist and that there is nothing more to do until all join to avoid the shipwreck of the Ship called Brazil.
This is the situation in Brazil today that would require the constitution of a government of national union to avoid the shipwreck of the Ship called Brazil and to be able to unite the Brazilian people around a common development project. Regrettably, neither candidate is able to establish a government of national unity to conquer social peace, which is a state of balance and understanding among the inhabitants of the same national state, where respect between them is acquired through the acceptance of differences and conflicts are resolved through dialogue, people’s rights are respected and their voices are heard and everyone is at their highest point of serenity without social tension. If it is not possible to establish a national unity government in Brazil, the candidates Jair Bolsonaro and Fernando Haddad must assume before the second round of presidential elections the commitment to build social peace, regardless of the outcome of the presidential elections.
The antithesis of social peace is the civil war which is characterized by being an armed conflict between groups organized within the same national state. The main objective among the contenders of civil wars is to take control of the national state apparatus to adopt government policies in function of their interests. Civil wars (also known as internal wars) are very serious conflicts for the nation involved, whether in the political, economic or social spheres that can result in the establishment of a dictatorship by the winning forces of the conflict. These conflicts are responsible for the death of a large number of civilians, as they are characterized by the active participation of the people in the fighting. The main victims are children, women and the elderly, who, even without fighting in conflicts, are the most affected by the attacks. Candidates Fernando Haddad and Jair Bolsonaro have a duty to make a commitment to build social peace in Brazil after the second round of presidential elections. The construction of social peace is the sine qua non condition so that the economic crisis can be overcome in Brazil and reduces the levels of unemployment that affects 13 million Brazilians. The condition for social peace is to ensure in an effective national state governability and governance to promote economic and social progress that is shared by the entire population. Only then will it be possible for Ship with the name Brazil to go to a safe harbor.
* Fernando Alcoforado, 78, holder of the CONFEA / CREA System Medal of Merit, member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional Development by the University of Barcelona, university professor and consultant in the areas of strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is the author of 14 books addressing issues such as Globalization and Development, Brazilian Economy, Global Warming and Climate Change, The Factors that Condition Economic and Social Development, Energy in the world and The Great Scientific, Economic, and Social Revolutions that Changed the World.
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