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The brochures and publications are misleading, stating that federal deputy Marília Arraes (PT), a candidate for the City of Recife, wanted to prohibit the reading of the Bible in the sessions of the City Council of the capital of Pernambuco when she was a councilor. The materials assert that the “true Christian” does not vote for the PT and prints a part of a candidate’s speech taken out of context.
The verified contents suggest that the PT would be against the Bible, but hide that the highlighted phrase implied a defense of the secular state and not an anti-biblical action.
Marília’s phrase that appears in the pamphlet is the following: “Even in the edition of the new regiment, I was opposed to maintaining the custom of reading passages from the Bible and speaking in the name of God.” The candidate made this statement in 2017, in an interview with Folha de Pernambuco, commenting on the decision of the Public Ministry of Pernambuco (MPPE) to recommend the prohibition of religious practices in the Chamber.
The brochures are not signed and, at the request of the candidate, the Electoral Justice determined that they should no longer be distributed.
The website of the PT, the candidate’s party, published a text stating that it is false that Marília is against the Bible and Christians. Comprarva searched the candidate’s press office, but did not get a refund until the publication of this text.
How do we verify it?
Comprava looked for old reports, in Pernambuco newspapers and on the websites and social networks of the Recife City Council, to find out if the phrase attributed to Marília Arraes existed and in what context it would have been said. The report also sought the Public Ministry of Pernambuco (MPPE), to have access to the resolution that motivated the candidate’s statement, and to the Regional Electoral Tribunal (TRE-PE), to know the judicial measures regarding the distribution of brochures and publications . In Internet.
We searched the page that published the publications, as well as the press office of the PT and PSB candidate, João Campos. Publications on the social media pages of both, and previous interviews, were also consulted to find out Marília’s position on issues related to the statement mentioned in the marked publications. The candidate’s government program and the PT website were also used for verification.
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Marília and reading the Bible in the Town Hall
The statement of Marília Arraes, which appears in the images published on the Internet, was extracted from an article published in Folha de Pernambuco, on April 21, 2017. The newspaper transmitted to the parliamentarians a resolution of the Public Ministry of Pernambuco that recommended the The president of the Recife City Council abstained from “authorizing / allowing the celebration in that legislative house and / or its annexes, of a meeting / meeting or similar, in which there is the practice of liturgies and rituals typical of religious worship.”
Marília Arraes was consulted on the recommendation of the MPPE to, at that time, occupy the position of opposition leader in the Chamber. According to the report, the complete sentence she said was: “The defense of the Secular State is a struggle that has been going on since the first term. In the edition of the new regiment, I even opposed the custom of reading passages from the Bible. and speak in the name of God. We have to appreciate the secular state, especially because of the setback that we live in Brazil, “he emphasized.
According to the report, then Marília Arraes said that she would study a way to remove the Bible from the plenary, but that it was “important to emphasize that this position of ours is not against any religion. In fact, it is in favor of all and why we have a state without discrimination. ”TV Câmara do Recife recorded the positions of the parliamentarians in the plenary, the day the MPPE recommendation was issued, but there is no statement from Marília Arraes or any manifestation of the PT.
The context of Marília Arraes’ speech
The sentence was pronounced by Marília Arraes within the framework of recommendation number 002/2017, published by the Public Ministry of Pernambuco in the Official Gazette on April 20, 2017. At that time, the 27th Prosecutor’s Office for the Defense of Citizenship of The Capital Promotion and Defense of Public Heritage made the recommendation considering a preparatory procedure to investigate “the alleged use of the premises of the Municipality of Recife for the realization of a religious event.”
The MPPE granted 20 days for the Chamber of Councilors, in the figure of the president, to inform the Public Ministry about the measures taken in view of the recommendation. The subject was the subject of articles in the local press. The issue also prompted demonstrations by parliamentarians at regular meetings in April 2017.
The regiment of the Recife City Council says that “the Holy Bible must remain open during the entire time of the meeting on the table, available to those who intend to use it” and also says that “being present in the House, at least one fifth of the The total number of councilors, regardless of the fraction, the President will declare the meeting open by pronouncing the following words: ‘Under the protection of God and on behalf of the people of Recife, we begin our work’ ”.
By email, the Public Ministry stated that “the recommendation was made in a preventive manner and that the MPPE was not aware that the Recife City Council did not comply with the recommendation.”
Apocryphal posters motivated actions
The brochures are unsigned. The candidacy of Marília Arraes presented a representation to the Electoral Justice to prevent the circulation of these brochures and reported that they would be delivered in front of a church on November 22. The candidate’s defense alleged that the campaign of the opposition João Campos (PSB) “was in charge of carrying out and sponsoring the delivery of the material, since the stickers attached to the car used in the distribution and the complementary material of the candidate delivered with the opposite advertising they have a typical design. ” of your campaign printed in high quality “.
In the decision, the judge of the Seventh Electoral Zone of Recife, Virgínia Gondim Dantas, granted an injunction in favor of the PT candidate prohibiting the distribution of the material and accepted the coalition’s argument that it was irregular advertising, saying that the distribution of the printed materials was carried out “in an irregular manner, since none of them included the identification of the person in charge of the manufacture, as well as who contracted it and the circulation.” This information is mandatory in the advertising materials of the candidacies, according to a resolution of the Superior Electoral Court (TSE).
The magistrate also indicated in the court order that the announcement “could not be disseminated because, in addition to the [de campanha] negative, presents the contours of fake news, since it induces the voter who professes the Christian faith to have feelings of hatred and displeasure towards the candidate, because he imputes notoriously false facts and that provoke the rejection of the population “, according to an extract from the decision.
The coalition led by João Campos manifested when being summoned to represent the opposing candidacy and denied any relationship with the materials. The group said that it was “apocryphal propaganda, without any information about the coalition or the person responsible for doing it,” and that there is no proof of authorship or knowledge of the fact on the part of Campos’ campaign.
In a series of Instagram posts on November 23, João Campos also denied any connection to the materials, saying that he would “never authorize any kind of low-level attack.” He also stated that he was “the first to request the Public Ministry to investigate complaints about apocryphal materials seen in Recife. For my part, there will never be personal assaults, harassment, accusations or false news.”
Wanted by Comprava, Campos’ advisor did not return the message until the publication of this verification.
In addition to the representation requesting a precautionary measure to prohibit the circulation of the brochures, the Marília Arraes campaign also filed an Electoral Justice Investigation Action (Aije) against Campos and his vice candidate Isabella de Roldão (PDT) for alleged abuse of economic power in the distribution of materials. This action had not yet been analyzed by the electoral tribunal until 1:00 p.m. on November 26, 2020.
Where brochures were shared
The information that Marília Arraes tried to prohibit the reading of the Bible at City Hall was published in a montage with a photo of the mayoral candidate, above the image of a bible with a prohibition sign and a phrase in quotation marks attributed to Marília , saying that he would have objected to reading the Bible “in the edition of the new regiment”.
This same pamphlet that circulated in print in Recife is published by users on Facebook in a group supporting the candidate for mayor of Recife, Patrícia Patrícia (Pode), who came in fourth place in the first round and received the support of the President Jair Bolsonaro. (no party). A user published in the same group another version of the pamphlet with similar information, that Marília Arraes “took the Bible from the Recife Chamber”, that “the PT persecutes Christians throughout Brazil”, among other accusations.
The publication of the first poster was also replicated in a group called “Bolsonaro Pernambuco.” The photograph of this montage in printed format was also shared by the “Assembleianos de VALOR” page on Facebook. In this case, the image was published along with a phrase asking if “a large number of ‘Christians’ will vote for it. [Marília Arraes]? “. The post also copies a text from the Folha de Pernambuco newspaper about the support of Pastor Cleiton Collins (Progresistas), who is a state deputy and has influence in the evangelical sphere, for the candidacy of João Campos (PSB).
Wanted by Comprava, the page that shared the photo of the pamphlet responded that the content would be published in the newspaper Folha de Pernambuco. The page was asked if it had any evidence that a request to remove the Bible had come from Marília Arraes, but, until the publication of this check, it did not send any new messages.
The Assembleianos de VALOR page has 881 thousand likes and publishes most of the content on religion. However, in the last month there are positions favorable to President Jair Bolsonaro and candidates supported by the same religious group in the country’s capitals, such as Bruno Covas, in São Paulo (SP).
Why do we investigate?
In its third phase, the Comprava Project verifies content that is viralized on social networks linked to municipal elections, public policies of the federal government and the pandemic.
This verification is unprecedented for Comprava, as it began with physically distributed leaflets, it is the first case of disinformation verified by the team that did not start on social media. By decontextualizing Marília’s statements and unjustly accusing a candidate for the second round, the contents put the democratic process at risk. Together, the publications had, as of November 26, more than 500 shares.
Comprava has already investigated other content related to this year’s elections, such as a video that takes Ana Arraes’ phrase of ‘aggression’ from her grandson João Campos out of context, a publication that wrongly accused the São Paulo candidate Guilherme Boulos of accusation. rent of homeless residents, and what was misleading in stating that the votes received by the councilwoman in Tocantins would have decreased during the count. The electoral process was also present in the team’s verifications, which led to investigations denying that the software used in the Brazilian polls was the same as in the United States and that the hacker attack on the TSE system would violate the security of the election (produced in partnership with the agency Facts).
Deceit, for Comprava, is content that uses inaccurate data; that confuses, with or without the deliberate intention of causing harm; or that it is taken out of its original context and used in another, so that its meaning changes.
* The material was produced by vehicles belonging to the Comprava project: Coletivo Bereia, Folha de S. Paulo, Jornal do Commercio, Marco Zero and NSC
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