Opinion: Does Portugal need Brazil to be Portuguese?

By Rodrigo Tavares*

(Opinion) There is no other comparable case in history.

After bringing about the independence of a former colony, D. Pedro returns to the metropolis to assume the colonizer’s crown, adding to his royal title the phrase “eternal defender of Brazil.”

In the past 200 years, celebrated this Wednesday (7), relations between the two independent countries have changed over time due to changing national interests, unexpected circumstances, cyclical ideological views, and personal affection between some leaders.

Nothing unusual in international relations between states.

In Brazil and Portugal’s case, however, an intangible element makes the relationship incomparable and complex: Portugal’s self-inflicted awareness of its unique position.

As the Brazilian Republicans have taught us, collective identities can be shaped. And for hundreds of years, Portuguese identity was shaped by the idea that the country’s weaknesses (poverty, territorial smallness, and geographic isolation) could be overcome by the heroism of its people.

The country’s messianic function as a pluricontinental, and multiracial nation is a structural element of its identity.

Camões, António Vieira, Pessoa and Freyre celebrated it without semitones.

The same is true of all contemporary Portuguese politicians of all parties who emphasize the Portuguese impulse toward universalism in public speeches.

Modern public buildings are also repeatedly named after navigators who gave the world “new worlds.”

After 1974, with the colonial empire’s end and the country’s territorial drying up, Portugal embraced the idea of lusophony to continue radiating its influence worldwide.

It founded the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), based in Lisbon, which currently includes nine countries, including Brazil.

Portugal is also a European country, but it moves around Europe aimlessly; its influence is directly proportional to its vulnerability.

Only in the field of lusophony has Portugal been able to complete its universal identity.

This means that to be Portuguese, Portugal must believe that it exerts some influence on Brazil and enjoys its respect.

However, this is not the case.

Brazil is a superlative country that has never recognized Portugal as a long-standing priority.

And whenever Brazil shows more coolness, Portugal squirms, twists, feels uncomfortable, and gets angry while speaking in the tone of “in the bonds of friendship that unite two fraternal peoples.”

Bolsonaro, Temer, and Dilma have been supremely indifferent to Portugal. Passage through the country has been rare and fleeting.

How has the current president of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, responded?

Six visits to Brazil in six years, a record that violates the diplomatic code of reciprocity.

Marcelo, as the Portuguese affectionately call him, was born in the cradle of Portuguese universalism.

In the 1960s, his father, Baltazar Rebelo de Sousa, was appointed governor-general of Mozambique. After the Carnation Revolution, he sought refuge in Brazil.

Marcelo’s grandfather, António Joaquim, lived in Angola and worked in Rio de Janeiro.

For the Portuguese president, the Lusophone capitals, from Dili to Luanda or Maputo, are not chapters of Portuguese history but pages in the family album.

Brazil is a state affair, but it is also a personal memory.

In recent weeks, there has been a consensus in Portugal that the president’s presence at the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Brazilian independence is a historical necessity.

Relations exist between states, not rulers, and Brazil cannot be limited to the person of Bolsonaro, a leader widely despised by the Portuguese.

But was the presence of Marcelo inevitable?

Was the Spanish king present at the 200th-anniversary celebrations of the independence of Colombia (2010), Chile (2010), Argentina (2016), or Venezuela (2010-2011)? No.

There are countless examples of heads of state from countries with colonial traditions not attending such ceremonies.

Marcelo’s presence in Brazil is a rhetorical gesture by a president mainly concerned with keeping Brazil within his sphere of influence. His sixth visit to Brazil is more important for the Portuguese than for the Brazilians.

But is the relationship between Brazil and Portugal doomed to be a litany of insignias, a permanent past tense, a panegyric discourse?

Former Foreign Minister Celso Lafer (1992, 2001-2002) pointed out in the column that the two countries have always managed to find “useful convergences” on specific issues, especially when there is a personal affinity between the Luso-Brazilian leaders.

Cardoso held Prime Minister António Guterres and President Jorge Sampaio in high esteem, which facilitated Portugal’s intervention within the European Union to prevent Brazil from being harmed by the 2001-2002 mad cow outbreak.

Other examples are the excellent relations between Lula da Silva and Prime Minister José Sócrates or between Chancellors Celso Amorim and Luis Amado and Celso Lafer and Jaime Gama.

But Brazil is pragmatic and transactional. It only engages in Portuguese universalist rhetoric when it sees the possibility of concrete benefits.

What does the future hold? A possible victory by Lula da Silva will open up a field of new possibilities.

He will pursue a vigorous foreign policy if the electoral program is fulfilled. While Alckmin will clean his internal house from Jaburu, Lula will try to clean the world from Planalto.

Former Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado (2006-2011) emphasized in his column that we are in a “large-scale geopolitical realignment.”

While the global North follows a binary logic that pits democratic countries against autocratic states, the global South has a more practical and less principled vision of international relations.

When a vote was scheduled in April to expel Russia from the UN Human Rights Council, 82 countries in the South pulled the emergency brake, including Indonesia, India, Mexico, and China.

These countries have taken a neutral stance in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. European banks and consultancies estimate that by 2030, seven of the world’s ten largest economies will be from the global South, including the two largest (China and India).

Lula da Silva’s public statements align with this new context, facilitating his rise as one of the leaders of the Global South. Today, the throne is empty.

Here is an opportunity for Portugal to forge an alliance for the future with Lula da Silva’s Brazil and serve as one of the countries of the Global North capable of building bridges with the South.

Although the two hemispheres are currently enmity with each other and shrouded in a cloak of hostility, Portugal and Brazil can be strategic partners in a mission beyond bilateral relations.

By giving Portugal access to new spheres of influence in the South, Brazil would help the Portuguese revive their universalist ideal and understand that the ideology of lusophony also has its limits.

The Portuguese language is a powerful instrument of unification between countries and a currency that divides peoples. Portugal and Brazil are perhaps greater than their common language.

*Rodrigo Tavares is the founder and chairman of Granito Group and; visiting Professor at NOVA School of Business and Economics in Portugal. Appointed Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum 2017.

This opinion piece was published first in Folha in Portuguese