Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

A Baixada Fluminense e a ditadura militar: Movimentos sociais, repressão e poder local

2018; Duke University Press; Volume: 98; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1215/00182168-4294900

1527-1900

Tyler Ralston,

Urban Development and Societal Issues

Jean Sales and Alexandre Fortes have compiled a collection of essays relating to the Baixada Fluminense (the periphery of a periphery that lies beyond Rio de Janeiro's city limits) during the military dictatorship (1964–1985). With the intent of bringing to light the forgotten struggles and social memories of the oft-neglected region's neighborhood organizations, religious groups, labor movements, municipal councils, and individuals, the authors examine the dark days of the dictatorship, focusing on how these diverse people and groups resisted, fought, collaborated with, accommodated, and ultimately came to terms with each other as well as local and national power structures during this time of authoritarian uncertainty.Much of the compilation covers the fascinating figure of Dom Adriano Mandarino Hypólito, the bishop of the Baixada municipality of Nova Iguaçu from 1966 to 1994. During his long and eventful career, Hypólito guided his diocese through many tumultuous times, including the various phases of the dictatorship, the internal tension in the Catholic Church resulting from Vatican II and liberation theology, and the tricky process of redemocratization. The bishop, facing intense pressure from across the political spectrum, maintained a middle ground in order to address the spiritual needs of as many of his parishioners as possible. Abner Sótenos observes in his study of neighborhood groups in the region that Hypólito, who was critical of capitalism, never advocated in favor of communism or even the principles of liberation theology. Nevertheless, the bishop adopted a coat of arms for his diocese that featured a stylized sickle and cross in an effort to welcome members of more radical neighborhood organizations and workers' movements. This gesture did not go unnoticed by the military government and its supporters, who eyed the bishop with increasing displeasure.Alexander Souza Gomes demonstrates that the center that Hypólito cultivated proved to be far too radical for the dictatorship. Labeled a communist by conservative parishioners and clergy as well as regime supporters and government agents, the bishop drew the ire of those who opposed his efforts, which ultimately culminated in his kidnapping and torture by a paramilitary group, the bombing of his cathedral, the torching of his car, and the vandalism of churches that supported him. Adriana da Silva Serafim, focusing on internal opposition within the Catholic Church, documents the challenges of Father Valdir Ros, an upstart priest who opposed the bishop because of his supposed support for communism. He eventually led an uprising by encouraging his followers to occupy the churches that supported the bishop. These authors demonstrate that matters of religion, in spite of Hypólito's protestations to the contrary, were political, both inside and outside the church.The branding by the military government and its supporters of all but its ardent supporters as communist thematically underpins much of the book. Felipe Augusto dos Santos Ribeiro argues that the predominance of working-class people in the region and, in the minds of the regime's supporters, the blanket association of laborers with communists contributed to the Baixada becoming part of a menacing “Red Belt” that surrounded the city of Rio (pp. 27–28). He demonstrates, however, that most labor activists had little or no affiliation with communist groups and generally advocated for bread-and-butter issues. He claims that to strike, as far as the military government was concerned, was a “communist thing” (p. 37).Luiz Anselmo Bezerra explores this theme further by demonstrating that alignment with the military government against its opponents could reap significant rewards. He chronicles how the Sessim and Abraão families in the municipality of Nilópolis, heavily involved in clandestine games of chance and a little-known second-tier samba school called Beija-Flor, advanced economically and politically by showcasing military government propaganda in the samba school's carnival theme. As a result, Beija-Flor earned a first-tier berth in the highly competitive carnival competition, a status that it has enjoyed ever since. The family alliance, parlaying these gains into local politics, marginalized political opponents while further consolidating its symbiotic relationship with the regime, gaining legitimacy, great wealth, and vast political power in the process.These essays will delight the specialist in the Baixada. Serious academic attention to the region, such as this collection, has been scant and is long overdue. The collection, however, presupposes significant knowledge and understanding of the Baixada and would not be the best work for a preliminary foray into the region. Moreover, because the essays tend to examine the urban Baixada, the collection also provides a starting point for further research into the Baixada during military rule, especially in the region's even remoter rural sphere, where peasant movements and self-styled guerrilla movements proliferated in the early 1960s. The compilation, beyond providing valuable insights into the workings of the Baixada during the military regime, also serves as a valuable contribution to the ongoing reexamination of the military dictatorship as a whole.