The importance of September 07th for Brazil

September 07th is the Independence Day of Brazil. Not very different from July 04th in America, or many other countries that also have such a date. So, you must be asking why there is so much controversy about people celebrating this date in Brazil this year. Shouldn’t it be the most normal thing on Earth that people celebrate the date using the colors of the national flag? Well, for very particular reasons, it has become a political debate in Brazil.

The truth is: it has never been in any way normal or usual that Brazilians really celebrate the date. If you ask people on the street, you will see that many Brazilians don’t even know what the date is, they only know it’s a holiday. Some don’t even know it’s a national holiday at all and those who do usually confuse it with other national days, like the proclamation of republic. But the good side is: many people know the cry of independence “Independência ou Morte” (Independence or death) proclaimed by Dom Pedro I while raising his sword on the back of a horse at the banks of Ipiranga River. Hadn’t this scene been immortalized by Pedro Américo’s painting reproduced hundreds of times in History text books, maybe people wouldn’t even have an idea of what happened on September 07th 1822.

About the colors of the flag, green and yellow, you can imagine by reading the last paragraph that people don’t really wear them or paint anything in them on September 07th. Well, they didn’t up to some years ago. But now apparently it has been revived, and people are now not only looking at the country’s past, but also seeing the date as an opportunity to think about its future. I remember when I was a child the only occasion in which it wasn’t considered ridiculous to show patriotism was during the World Cup. In the neighborhood of São Paulo I grew up in there was even a competition for the best decorated street during World Cup. We would paint the sidewalks in green and yellow, put up buntings on these colors from one side of the street to the other, put Brazilian flags on almost all windows, etc. Not to mention the fireworks, horns and whistles for the days of the games. And the huge celebrations. That was every four years. September 07th? Just another holiday. After all, we all need some rest, don’t we?

Many people find it ridiculous when Brazilian patriots go to the street to protest wearing T-shirts of the national soccer team. I find it highly symbolical. It shows that for decades we were only encouraged to show patriotism during the World Cup and not fight for political rights at all. It shows that it now has changed and that we see these colors now as a symbol of who we are, and not anymore as a soccer team. Don’t get me wrong, Brazilians’ passion for soccer is pretty much alive. The difference is, we don’t get distracted by it anymore. And we have learned to fight for our rights.

“What rights?”, you might ask. Well, first of all, the simple right to have a memory of our history, to live in a country that is more than “soccer and samba”, to say out loud that the Amazon belongs to us, that we take no foreign interference, and also that we won’t tolerate corruption in this country anymore. And most importantly: that we won’t accept communism in this country. The left will often tell you that this latter idea is ludicrous, that Brazil has never been communist and that we don’t face this risk either. But the point is much simpler than defining what communism is or not: look at countries like Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and, more recently, Colombia, Argentina and Chile: disastrous socialist politics, economic meltdown, priests being prosecuted, churches burned, abortion legalized and so one… communists or not, these governments are all friends with each other and all of them are friends with Lula´s PT party. And yes, despite everything PT supporters might tell you, all of these governments are heavily influenced by marxist ideas, including the disdain for religion and the role of the family in society. Communist ideas, pure and simple. And the communist color is red. Sure it’s just a coincidence that there’s no red in the Brazilian flag. But that is the whole symbolism of one of the most popular chants among patriots: “A nossa bandeira jamais será vermelha” (Our flag will never be red). And yes, they chant with with national soccer team T-shirts on.

By this time it shouldn’t be a surprise for you that these patriots are hated by the system and legacy media, and of course when international globalist media and Big Tech all describe them as extremists and “far right”. And also the reasons for so much debate and controversy over celebrating the Independence Day of a country. It’s pure leftist propaganda replicated internationally by the same usual suspects: legacy media, big tech, academia and so on. It’s not even worth getting into details on how they build this propaganda, since you already now the reality: these people are hated by the system and the system is trying to silence them. Oh yes, I know, your leftist Brazilian friend “explained to you” that Jair Bolsonaro took the flag colors for himself and they’ve now become a partisan symbol. Hmmm … nope. Actually, these colors and the love for the country have aways been there for anyone to use, and Bolsonaro was just the first politician in decades who actually honors them. He has never “stolen” the idea of patriotism and it’s actually the other way around: He is the only one who represents Brazilian patriotism. And no wonder September 07th has become strong again under his administration.

Well, please bare in mind that this text is just an explanation in a nutshell and there are many other aspects to it. So you might have heard about issues I haven’t covered at all, like the Brazilian Supreme Court or the polemics around election safety. But these topics would need separate texts and I imagine they won’t be so relevante some years from now. I wanted to cover the eternal symbolism of September 07th and link it with the political spirit of the Brazilian awakening we are currently living. And also to point out that the fight against the globalist order is not just a Brazilian thing. It envolves all kinds of nationalism all over the world. So, September 07th might have a lot more to do with your own country than you imagine.

Two hundred years later (we are celebrating the bicentenary of independence this year), our fight is still for independence. This time not from colonial masters, but from all who intends to silence voices that go against the new globalist order. And against all remains in Latin America of one of the most perverse ideologies ever created: Communism. Green, yellow, white and blue. Our flag will never be red. And our people will never stop fighting for this land. Happy September 07th to all of us Brazilians and (why not?) our friends from abroad, too.

Roberto Palopoli