Regina Duarte’s statements are criticized by Adriana Esteves, Alice Wegmann, Caetano Veloso, Cauã Reymond and more than 500 other artists; see list | Pop and art

Among the signatories are the actors Cauã Reymond, Adriana Esteves, Alice Wegmann, Malu Mader and Drica Moraes; the composers and singers Caetano Veloso, Arnaldo Antunes, Lulu Santos and Chico Buarque; directors Anna Muylaert, Cao Hamburger and Fernando Meirelles; journalists Edney Silvestre and Juca Kfouri; and presenters Fábio Porchat and Gregorio Duvivier.

See the complete list with the names of those who signed the document.

The group criticized Regina Duarte’s position during an interview with CNN Brazil last Thursday (7). When faced with President Bolsonaro’s support for the military dictatorship, he sang an excerpt from the song “Para Frente, Brasil”, a symbol of the period of repression. It also minimized the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. (read below)

In the manifesto of repudiation of Duarte’s statements, artists and intellectuals ask for respect for those killed by the new coronavirus and for those “who fight for their own survival in the country devastated by the pandemic and the dire inefficiency of public power.”

The text also states that the group does not accept “repeated attacks against art, science and the press, and that it does not admit the destruction of the cultural sector or any threat to freedom of expression.”

In conclusion, the manifesto states, referring to Secretary Regina Duarte: “She does not represent us.”

Regina Duarte’s statements

In an interview with CNN Brazil, Regina Duarte stated that “torture has always existed” and that “where there is life, there is death”. The secretary also cited dictators Joseph Stalin, from the former Soviet Union, and Adolf Hitler, from Germany, responsible for the deaths of millions of people in the 20th century.

During the interview, he did not respond to criticism for failing to speak publicly about the recent deaths of important names in culture, such as writer Rubem Fonseca and composer Aldir Blanc.

Wanted, Duarte has not yet manifested himself.

Read the full statement signed by more than 500 personalities below:

“Brazil, May 8, 2020

We are Brazilian artists and we are part of the majority of citizens who defend democracy and support the independence of institutions to enforce the 1988 Constitution.

We are part of the majority that understands the seriousness of the moment in which we live and ask for respect for the dead and for those who fight for their own survival in the country devastated by the pandemic and the dire inefficiency of public power.

We are part of the majority of Brazilians who do not tolerate crimes committed by any government, who repudiate corruption and torture, and who do not want the military dictatorship to return.

We are part of the majority that does not accept repeated attacks against art, science and the press, and does not accept the destruction of the cultural sector or any threat to freedom of expression.

As artists, intellectuals and cultural producers, we form a majority that rejects the words and attitudes of Regina Duarte as Secretary of Culture.

It does not represent us. “