It is, perhaps, one of the most famous advertising slogans in the world. In 2003, an agency summed up the essence of the American city of sin and freedom in the phrase “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” The image of a large amusement park for adults, where it was possible to escape the routine and rules of everyday life and do almost anything, because excesses remained secret, spread around the world and remains popular to this day.
I remembered her in one of the dead moments at the opening of the 14th Forum, while pondering the countless ethical doubts that assail me when I see a minister of the (Supreme Federal Court) promote, through his university company, the largest legal lobbying festival on the planet. Dead for me, of course, because, for the audience, or committed wannabes who happily socialize, every minute is good for, so to speak, socializing. Especially in the many almost secret meetings that take place, behind closed doors, in parallel private events, where magistrates, politicians, lawyers and businesspeople meet in mild banter and questionable proximity.
Last year, at the time of the controversial conference, Lisbon’s skies became gridlocked, and the airport reached its landing limit thanks to the number of private jets flying over the city. This year, I confirmed with my sources, the same extravaganza: in the first two days of the Brazilian establishment’s annual getaway across borders. There is money and a desire to do business. Forgiveness: willingness to hear about law and democracy.
In the rectory today, you could see the enthusiasm of the crowd — a uniform group of men in good suits, punctuated here and there by ladies with up-to-date Botox and wallets with the Louis Vuitton monogram — in the hugs, the pats on the back, the loud greetings and the repeated kisses. The excitement was so much that it required an extra effort from the two beautiful “hosts” on duty, driven to despair by the rebelliousness of the excited audience, who insisted on not sitting down or keeping quiet.
Once again, Gilmarpalooza did not disappoint. It’s an overproduction of a luxury “legal” (the quotation marks are not incidental) festival, with more than 470 speakers and 70 debate panels taking place in different spaces in Lisbon. The event’s schedule is only announced the day before, but that doesn’t matter for the hundreds of participants who are keen to be present: it is already known that it will be fruitful enough (and I’m not referring to legal information) to be worth the investment of heading to the old capital of the empire.
And this fact doesn’t mean it’s no longer impressive because it’s been repeated 14 times. If the promoters are Brazilian; whether the topics discussed have a Brazilian focus; if the speakers are mostly Brazilians; if the production is Brazilian; if the national anthems are heard at the beginning, as only happens at Brazilian conferences; if the participation is overwhelmingly Brazilian; If the media coverage is only Brazilian… why doesn’t all this happen, I ask, in an extraordinary place: I don’t know, how about maybe Brazil?
I imagine the writer, the same one who said that “the Brazilian is the Portuguese, dilated by the heat”, stroking his mustache, laughing at this provincialism and saying: yes, if it were in Brazil, it would be stupidly cheaper, but it wouldn’t be “real chic”. And, of course, it would be less discreet. What happens in Lisbon stays in Lisbon.
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