An act in honor of journalist Vladimir Herzog on Saturday night (25) leaves the Sé Cathedral, in São Paulo, packed and brings together family members of victims of , religious people, artists and politicians, with speeches in defense of democracy and human rights.
The celebration recalled exactly 50 years ago by the military dictatorship and referred to the, also in the Cathedral, by the Archbishop of São Paulo, Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns, together with Rabbi Henry Sobel and Presbyterian pastor Jaime Wright.
This Saturday, the trio was represented by the current archbishop of São Paulo, Dom Odilo Scherer, by rabbi Uri Lam, from the Congregação Israelita Beth-El, and by pastor Anita Wright, daughter of Jamie Wright.
The vice-president () attended representing the president (PT), who had been Ivo Herzog for the event, but is currently fulfilling a series of agendas in Malaysia.
Asked by journalists before the start of the event about what he thought of the review of the 1979 Amnesty Law, which was something of a demand for Herzog’s family, the politician avoided answering, saying only that “we have already taken good steps on this issue”.
Part of civil society and families of victims criticize the delay of the (Supreme Federal Court) in judging an action stopped since 2014 in court on the matter. The law approved during the authoritarian regime granted pardon to soldiers who committed crimes during the dictatorship.
In a statement to journalists before the event, the president of the STM (Superior Military Court), Maria Elizabeth Rocha, stated that in her view the 1979 Amnesty Law is unconstitutional.
“I always understood that the amnesty law was unconstitutional. Either because it was incompatible with our political Charter of 1988, and now because the Supreme Court understood that human rights treaties have a supralegal character”, she said, pointing out that crimes against humanity would be imprescriptible under international treaties and not subject to any type of pardon.
“Forgiveness that was granted, but that does not generate forgetting. That is why we are here today. Because if there was forgiveness, there was no forgetting.”
Organized by the Vladimir Herzog Institute and the Arns Commission, the event began shortly after 7pm, with a performance by the Luther King Choir. Most of the public present wore white robes and carried white flowers, as suggested by the event organizers.
In addition to Alckmin, minister Paulo Teixeira (Agriculture), former minister José Dirceu and federal and state deputies also attended.
After the choir’s performance, a ceremonialist asked for a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the dictatorship. Those present then held up posters with photographs of the dead and missing during the period. Others held up papers with the phrases “where are our missing people” and “the dictatorship is still present in the outskirts”.
Afterwards, the choir began to sing “O Bêbado e o Equilibrista”, whose lyrics, by João Bosco and Aldir Blanc, quote “Marias and Clarices cry” in reference to Clarice Herzog, Vlado’s wife, who fought for recognition that her husband had been murdered by the State – and not that he had committed suicide.
Images of Vlado with his wife and children were shown on the screen while the public sang along with the choir. The song, released in 1979 by Elis Regina, became known as one of the anthems for redemocratization.
Rabbi Uri Lam was invited just two days before the celebration. Initially, Rabbi Ruben Sternschein, from Congregação Israelita Paulista, would perform the ceremony, but allegations that he had, revealed by Piauí magazine on Wednesday (22), led the organization to change the celebrant.
In October 1975, around 8,000 people attended the inter-religious event at the Cathedral, which challenged the military dictatorship by contesting the version given by the regime that Vlado, as Herzog was known, had committed suicide – he was tortured and killed in São Paulo, after having presented himself spontaneously to provide explanations about his activism for the PCB (Brazilian Communist Party).
At the time, 800 repression agents blocked the streets leading to the city center, where the cathedral is located, and 500 monitored the surroundings of the church – two agents remained inside to document the event.
Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns, Henry Sobel and Jamie Wright were already critical and active against the dictatorship before Vlado’s murder. Wright’s brother, , was interrogated and killed at the same DOI-Codi in 1973. The body was never located. The episode brought him closer to Dom Paulo, who was already taking a stand against the regime’s violent repression.
“The Wright family’s pain is not knowing what happened to Uncle Paulo’s body and not being able to give him a dignified burial,” Anita Wright told Sheet before the act.
In 1985, the trio released the book “Brasil: Nunca Mais”, which maps cases of deaths and torture committed by the dictatorship between 1964 and 1979.
