Flaviopédia Português
Brazil that Upholds the Constitution

Scissors to Censorship ("Tesouraço na Censura")

Proposes ending any state structure that monitors, labels or punishes what people say and revoking acts that, according to the text, the current government produced to silence critics.

In the program: [p. 66, 67] · Translated by Flaviopédia from the official Portuguese text; the Portuguese quote is authoritative. Read the original in Portuguese

What the program says

In a democracy, every citizen has the right to agree or disagree, to criticize and to question, and no government may punish those who think differently from it. Under the current government, however, an apparatus nicknamed the “Ministry of Truth” has grown: structures created to treat as disinformation whatever bothers those in power, which opens the door to the censorship of opposition figures, journalists and ordinary citizens. We will carry out a “Tesouraço da Censura” (literally “big scissors to censorship”): ending any state structure that functions as a “Ministry of Truth”, tasked with monitoring, labeling or punishing what people say. And we will revoke all the acts that the current government produced to silence its critics, so that the censorship already practiced leaves no legacy. Crime is fought in the courts, with clear rules and the right to a defense. What the government cannot do is turn criticism into an offense. We defend the right to be criticized, with a focus on the freedom of expression provided for in the Federal Constitution. [p. 66, 67]

In plain language

  • The text states that every citizen has the right to agree, disagree, criticize and question, and that no government may punish those who think differently from it.
  • According to the program, under the current government an apparatus nicknamed the “Ministry of Truth” has grown, with structures created to treat as disinformation whatever bothers those in power. The text states that this opens the door to the “censorship” of opposition figures, journalists and ordinary citizens.
  • It proposes ending any state structure that functions as a “Ministry of Truth”, tasked with monitoring, labeling or punishing what people say. The text calls the measure the “Tesouraço da Censura”.
  • It provides for revoking all the acts that, according to the text, the current government produced to silence its critics.
  • The text states that crime is fought in the courts, with clear rules and the right to a defense, and says it defends the right to be criticized, with a focus on the freedom of expression provided for in the Federal Constitution.

What is not in the program

  • It does not identify which state structures would be abolished nor which acts would be revoked.
  • It presents no criteria for deciding whether a structure functions as a “Ministry of Truth” or whether an act was produced to silence critics.
  • It does not define what it means by “censorship” or by disinformation.
  • It does not name the instrument (decree, law or other) nor a timeline for the measures.