Travessias (Apr 2020)
Bolsonaro’s discourse at the un in 2019: the strength of mitemas and the truth of myths
Abstract
Present-day political and media discourses on the perception of the interactions between humans and the environment quite often contain fairly hidden overtones that are not always clear when it comes to sustainability and the planet’s health. For this reason – and taking into consideration the fact that humans apprehend nature through symbols – the objective of this article is to discuss the way symbolic and mythical aspects are brought to the fore in order to construe the recurrent discourses about Amazonia. We’ll analyze the discourse proferred by Bolsonaro during UNO’s General Assembly in September 2019. The analysis, based on Gilbert Durand’s mytocritics, points towards the founding myth of Maha-Maya, or simply Maya, the Hinduist goddess of Illusion, the goddess who creates the world together with Brahma. While Brahma creares the real, Maya crates the illusory and the dreams. The veil of illusion permeates the Brazilian president’s discourse concerning what is new and the resurgence of Brazil. However, at the same time that resurgence and renaissance are looked for one can see that there is a sense of death, of what puts an end to life. In this case the god Antaka, an epithet of Yama – the god of death – comes up. The world must be destroyed in order to be reborn. Therefore, the president’s discourse implies destruction due to a personal desire, far from the desire of the majority of the country’s inhabitants. This myth unveils the Erinias, the third group of Grey Goddesses (beyond the Moiras and Greas). These were older than the gods that arrived with Zeus and had serpents in place of hair as well as dark skin. Their names were: Aleto (what never ends), Tisifone (retaliation), and Megera (rage). These goddesses can be invoked together by the name of Erinis (spirit of rage and revenge). In the present connection it is possible to say that there is a sense of revenge, retaliation and rage not only in the UNO’s discourse but also in the president’s everyday speeches.
