The Historical Relevance and Socio-political Function of the Brazilian Truth Commission (2012-2014): Reception of the Final Report
African, American and Oceania Studies
Political Science
Final Report Abstract
The overarching Research Question of the project is: What has been the Historical Relevance and Socio-political Function of the National Truth Commission (2012-2014) in Brazil? To answer the question, the project is grouped into three subsections: a) Report Analysis, b) Reception of the Report, and c) the Report's historical Relevance and socio-political Function. Report Analysis: The Final Report -a voluminous 3383-page document- is divided into three volumes: the first is a collective text signed by all six commissioners. It uncovers the military chain of command and links the crimes to high-ranking officials (including Brazilian Presidents!). The second volume presents findings from the commissions' working groups for which no consensus was reached among the commissioners. It entails some novel topics: crimes against women, the indigenous population, rural workers, homosexuals, and corporate complicity. The fact lhat these new victim groups (e.g. indigenous) were not integrated in the first volume unleashed a lot of criticism. Yet conversations with the staff responsible for the writing-up of the report revealed that these groups were not omitted for ideological-political reasons, but rather (or also) as the result of pragmatic-procedural reasons (e.g. difficulties to find a consensus among the commissioners, lack of time or evidence regarded as "insufficient"). The report's third volume is a case-by-case analysis of crimes committed against political opponents and it appears to be copied from a 2007 human rights report. It presents 434 cases and names 377 names of civilian and military perpetrators. Both numbers are conservative estimates and may increase with future research (if indigenous victims were to be included, the figures would raise significantly). The report ends with 29 courageous recommendations that have been praised by politically diverse groups. Most importantly, they include: to obey international human rights legislation (or: to punish the perpetrators) and to reform the police and military institutions. In sum, a preliminary analysis reveals that the report is largely based on previous reports (offering relatively little new information), yet it provides a systematized and official document on the systematic state crimes of the regime (high symbolic value). Reception of the Report: Participation observation, thirteen interviews and a preliminary press analysis suggest that the reception of the report (and the commission) varies among different groups. In the larger public, the report received little notice and was soon forgotten. Most interviewees including victim families who had previously criticized the commission were positively surprised by the outcome, for they had very low expectations (in fact, many had doubted that the commission would survive the two years and publish a report at all). Most interviewees also praised the recommendations. Report's historical relevance and socio-political function: The Rousseff government has completely ignored the recommendations. The government is currently facing a deep political crisis and (as of this writing) it is unclear whether Dilma will be discharged (impeachment). Still the government's complete failure to respond to the recommendation (not even in their discourses) indicates that the report's overall meaning is minimal, at least when privileging the state's perspective. Whether the report will have a long-term impact may largely depend on civil-society actors: the social movements, schoolteachers and university professors, intellectuals, and artists. Interview for the University Television of the National University of Brasilia (UNB) on Transitional Justice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR874MhwPuM
Publications
- 'Ambivalenzen der brasilianischen Vergangenheitspolitik und Erinnerungskultur', in Jakob Burghart, and Stefan Peters, (eds.) Geschichte wird gemacht: Tagungsband Weingartner Lateinamerikatage (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2015), 73-88
Nina Schneider
- Simpósio Nacional de História ANPUH 2015 (XXVIII), Conference proceedings: '"Brasil: Ame-o ou deixe-o," ou: como os militares discordaram sobre a propaganda oficial durante o regime'. Florianopolis (27-31 August 2015)
Nina Schneider
- Transitional Justice in Brasilien. S. 457-474 in: A. Mihr, G. Pickel, and S. Pickel, (eds.) Handbuch Transitional Justice: Aufarbeitung von Unrecht - hin zur Rechtsstaatlichkeit und Demokratie. Wiesbaden, Springer VS, 2018. - 978-3-658-02391-1 (SRS)
Nina Schneider
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-02392-8_30) - Transitional Justice: Historische Aufarbeitung und Geschichtsschreibung. S. 105-124 in: A. Mihr, G. Pickel, and S. Pickel, (eds.) Handbuch Transitional Justice: Aufarbeitung von Unrecht - hin zur Rechtsstaatlichkeit und Demokratie. Wiesbaden, Springer VS, 2018. - 978-3-658-02391-1 (SRS)
Nina Schneider
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-02392-8_6)
