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 Before he assumed the presidency, President Lula had dinner at my house more than once. On those occasions, I would have liked to have served him pizzas that I had made myself and for him to have called me a "good pizzaiolo." Using the word as a noun that refers to someone who makes pizza.
Since I am incompetent in the kitchen, however, I do not deserve to be called a "pizzaiolo." Nonetheless, I disliked hearing him call the senators "pizzaiolos." Using that word as if it were an adjective for a politician who conceals wrongdoings and misleads the people. As a politician, I do not feel personally insulted because I have never participated in a Parliamentary Investigation Committee (CPI); therefore, I never made "pizzas"; I an not a "pizzaiolo." But, as an educator, I feel obliged to protest the President's unfortunate declaration. The President corrupted the dictionary, as others have done in the past by using "barber" as a synonym of "bad driver," "butcher" as a synonym of "ferocious murderer," and "poet" as a synonym of "lunatic." No barber complains when his job title is used pejoratively as an adjective; nor do the poets or the butchers feel insulted. They know that a word has different meanings. The pizzaiolos, meanwhile, are complaining, correctly, because they were surprised by this new meaning. The word was used as an adjective: a pizzaiolo senator, one who covers up corruption. Had anyone else said this, the additional meaning would possibly not have stuck. Coming from the President of the Republic, however, the term will acquire this new meaning. This is the why the President's use of the word is serious: he forms public opinion. For this reason, it was necessary for some senators to protest. Not because they were praised as makers of pizza, but because they were demoralized as makers of lies. It would be the same if, taking advantage of the moral crisis in the Senate and that of many senators, the President had used the word "senator" as an adjective for a pizzaiolo who is incompetent at making good pizzas. Or for those who mislead their customers by making pizzas different from the menu description. As an educator and a democrat, I protested because, coming from the President of the Republic, the generalized criticism of the Senate corrupts public opinion - especially that of the young people and the children - by demoralizing the republican institutions. By making this generalization, he moved from criticizing the senators to criticizing one of the houses of Congress. And the population, the young people and children, will have even less respect for the Senate, which is already demoralized by the behavior of the senators themselves. The society has diminished its commitment to democracy: the President has miseducated the people. For good or bad, the President of the Republic is the principal educator of a country. What he says forms concepts. This happens even more when the President is charismatic and popular. It is a shame that there is no one near him to sound the alarm for that immense responsibility that he bears. Perhaps because, prisoners of their offices and of the respect that, nowadays, borders on deification, the people around the President have become cowards or have lost their republican sense. The idea has been created that to criticize President Lula is political suicide. The intellectuals remain silent, the unions make accommodations, and the politicians adjust. It is therefore necessary for someone to call this to his attention, even if that means the political suicide of the person taking the initiative. After all, if in the past people died fighting for democracy, even more justified is political defeat in defense of the Republic and of the education of the young people and the children. Cristovam Buarque is a professor at the University of Brasília and a PDT senator for the Federal District. You can visit his website - www.cristovam.org.br - and write to him at cristovam@senado.gov.br. Translated from the Portuguese by Linda Jerome LinJerome@cs.com.
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500 PIZZAOILOS STUDENTS out of the 10'000 employees in the SENATE
And 9500 pizzas eaters out of the 10'000 employees in the SENATE ... eating pizzas for their breakfeast, at midday, and taking doggy bags for their whole families for their dinner AND WEEKENDS at their homes !
They are forced to eat pizzas, otherwise they are threatened to be sent as..... sugarcane cutters !
And as long as they each eat 10 pizzas a day..FREE OF CHARGE.....they will keep their generous salaries.....as employees in the SENATE.
And if not true, how come that 81 SENATORS ...have an army of 10'000 employees ?????
What are they doing during their working hours...if working hours there are ?
And Nooooo doubt in my mind that Buarque is as corrupted as the other 80 SENATORS !
How otherwise could he have been tolerated/accepted by the other 80 ?
How otherwise could he have been chosen by Robbinbg Hook, for a short wile, as Minister of Education ? A Ministry well known for their deep corruptions practices !Same for the title of Governor that Buarque also held, just as corrupted as the SENATORS !