Leia abaixo, em inglês, o manifesto lançado pelas acadêmicas Yara Frateschi e  Miriam Madureira :

MANIFESTO

IN DEFENSE OF THE DEMOCRATIC RULE OF LAW IN BRAZIL

On the 31st of March 1964, a coup d’état installed a civil-military dictatorship in Brazil, inaugurating a dark 21-year period of suspension of civil and political guarantees. Today, 52 years after, the Brazilian people face once more a break of the democratic order. As a result of the acceptance by the Senate of an impeachment process based on accounting irregularities, Dilma Rousseff, who had been elected in 2014 for a mandate of 4 years, was forced, on the 12th of May 2016, to stand down as President of the Republic. Even though this removal is supposed to be temporary, lasting up to 180 days, period during which the senators should reconvene to evaluate the motives that have resulted in the impeachment process, it is unlikely that Dilma should return to office.

Dilma Rousseff’s temporary removal from office is the culmination of a process characterised by unprecedented arbitrariness and polarisation in democratic Brazilian society, perceptible at least since her re-election in 2014. By attributing the recent corruption scandals exclusively to the Worker’s Party’s (PT) administrations (although they were the only ones who had the courage to investigate them through, even when investigations turned against their own) and by manipulating  public opinion against the supposed risks of a left-wing takeover of the country, the right-wing opposition to Dilma Rousseff’s government took advantage of the economic crisis that emerged after years of stability and growth and led a violent media campaign against it. It managed to aggregate against the Workers’ Party (PT) and Lula’s and Dilma’s governments large sections of business elites and conservative middles classes, as well as authoritarian sectors represented in Congress and in the Judiciary, evidently aiming the hammering down of the social rights secured by Dilma’s government and the deregulation of economy. Besides, once in power, they will probably decline to further investigate corruption as it is likely to involve their own people, as opposed to Dilma Rousseff, whose probity in the administration of public affairs is not doubted, as corruption charges are not part of the impeachment process.

The impeachment is a juridical tool of extremely restricted scope in Brazilian presidentialism. It is regulated by Art.85 of the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, and its use is restricted to cases involving serious offenses (crimes de responsabilidade, “responsibility crimes”) carried out by the President. As the accounting irregularities in the administration of public funds that Dilma Rousseff is accused of are not serious offenses in the sense prescribed by the Constitution, it is evident that this impeachment is not legitimately grounded. Furthermore, the whole process was full of questionable aspects, which contribute to add further illegitimacy to its results. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to consider the present impeachment process against Dilma Rousseff a white coup, which will yield long-lasting consequences to the democratic Rule of Law in Brazil.

In the face of all this, we consider necessary to state our absolute repudiation of the illegitimate destitution of President Dilma Rousseff, and our strong support for the maintenance of the Rule of Law in Brazil.

Albena Azmanova – University of Kent, Belgium

Alessandro Ferrara – University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy

Alina Valjent – Witten/Herdecke University – Germany

Allan Breedlove –Loyola University Chicago, USA

Alois Blumentritt – University Wien, Austria

Amy Allen – Pennsylvania State University  – USA

Anahi Wiedenburg – London School of Economics, Argentina/UK

Andreas Niederberger – Universität Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Anna Dißmann – Witten/Herdecke University – Germany

Arthur Oliveira Bueno –University of Erfurt, Germany

Asger Sorensen – Aarhus University, Denmark

Axel Honneth – University of Frankfurt/Columbia University, Germany/USA

Aysen Candas – Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey

Barbara Fultner  – Denison University, USA

Bernat Riutort Serra – University of Illes Ballears –Spain

Brian Milstein – Goethe University Frankfurt, USA/Germany

Carlos Henrique Santana – TU Darmstadt, Germany

Charles Taylor – Mc Gill University, Canada

Christopher Zurn – University of Massachussetts/Boston, USA

Cora McKeena – Trinity College, Ireland

Cristina Sánchez – Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain

Dan Swain – Czech University of Life Sciences, Czech Republic

Daniele Santoro – CNR, National Research Council of Italy, Italy

David Alvarez – University of Minho/Braga, Portugal

David Rasmussen – Boston College, USA

Debora Spini – Syracuse University in Florence, Italy

Dónal O’Farrell – Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Elisabeth v. Thadden – University of Jena, Germany

Felicia Herrschaft – Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany

Filip Vostal – Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic 

Firica Stefan – University of Bucharest, Romania

Francisco Naishtat – Universidad de Buenos Aires –Argentina

François Calori – Université de Rennes 1, France

Gesche Keding – Jena University, Germany

Giulia Lasagni – Università de Parma, Italy

Giuseppe Ballacci – University of Minho, Portugal

Gorana Ognjenovich – University of Oslo, Norway

Gustavo Leyva Martínez – Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México

Hans-Herbert Kögler – University of North Florida, USA

Hartmut Rosa – Jena University, Germany

Heikki Ikäheimo – University of New South Wales, Australia

Igor Shoikhedbrod – University of Toronto, Canada

Isadora Henrichs – Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Italo Testa – Parma University, Italy

Jazna Jozelic – University of Oslo, Norway

João Honoreto – University  of Witten/Herdecke, Germany

Joaquín Valdivielso-Navarro – Universitat Illes Balears, Spain

Johan Söderberg – Göteborg University, Sweden

Johanna Oksala – University of Helsinki, Finland

Johannes Schulz – Frankfurt University, Germany

John Lumsden – University of Essex, UK

Jonathan Bowman – University of Arkansas, USA

Julian Culp – University of Frankfurt, Germany

Jürgen Habermas – J.W. Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Germany

Karoline Rhein – Witten/Herdecke University – Germany

Kendralyn Webber  –University of California Riverside, USA

Lenny Moss – University of Exeter, UK

Leonardo da Hora Pereira – Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, France

Lorenz Mrones – University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany

Luiz Gustavo de Cunha de Souza – Institut für Sozialforschung/Frankfurt –Germany

Marco Solinas – Florence University, Italy

Marek Hrubec – Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic

Maria Ines Bergoglio – Universidad nacional de Córdoba, Argentina

María José Guerra – Universidad de Laguna –Spain

María Pía Lara – Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico

Marjan Ivkovic – University of Belgrade, Serbia

Mark Haugaard – University Galway – Ireland

Marlon Urizar Natareno, Universidad Rafael Landívar, Guatemala

Martin Javornicky – University of Galway, Ireland

Martin Sauter – n/a –Ireland

Martin Seel – J.W.Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Germany

Masao Higarashi – Ritsumeikan University –Japan

Matteo Bianchin – University of Milano, Italy

Matthias Kettner – University of Witten/Herdecke, Germany

Matthias Lutz-Bachmann – J.W. Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Germany

Melis Menent – University of Sussex, UK

Miriam Mesquita Sampaio de Madureira – Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, México

Mykhailo Minakov – Kiev-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine

Nancy Fraser –New School for Social Research, USA

Nancy Love –Appalachian State University, USA

Natalia Frozel Barros –University of Paris 1, France

Nathan Cogné – Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Nicola Patruno – Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany

Niklas Angebauer – University of Essex, UK

Odin Lysaker – Agder University, Norway

Ojvind Larsen – Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

Onni Hirvonen – University of Jyväskylä, Finland

Pablo Gilabert – Concordia University, Canada

Patrick O’Mahonny – University College Cork –Ireland

Philipp Schink – J.W. Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Germany

Philippe Sonnet – Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium

Pierre Schwarzer – Universität Witten/Herdecke, Germany

Radu Neculau – University of Windsor, Canada

Rahel Jaeggi – Humboldt University Berlin, Germany

Rainer Forst – University of Frankfurt, Germany

Richard Stahel – University of Constantin the Philosopher in Nitra, Slovak Republic

Robert Fine – Warwick University, UK

Robin Celikates – University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Rodrigo Cordero – Universidad Diego Portales –Chile

Ronan Kaczyznski – Goethe University, Germany

Rosie Worsdale – University of Essex, UK

Ruy Fausto – USP/Université de Paris 8, Brazil/France

Steven L. White – Wayne State University, USA

Susan L. Foster – UCLA, USA

Thomas Fossen – Leiden University, The Netherlands

Valerio Fabbrizi – University of Rome, Tor Vergata, Italy

Wolfgang Heuer – Freie Universität Berlin, Germany

Zuzana Uhde – Czech Academy of Sciences, Czech Republic