Foreign policy is not commonly called State Policy for nothing. More than expressing the president's most immediate wishes, it focuses on the deepest interests of the country.. It is an intricate complex of actions and commitments, delicately built over time.
The Bolsonaro government, apparently with the explicit support of chancellor Ernesto Araujo, is ignoring this idea and treating foreign policy as a political-ideological platform. only that, in this case, the consequences don't wait.
At the beginning of the government, President Bolsonaro declared that he would move the Brazilian embassy to Jerusalem. This was a way to show the international alignment with the United States, but it just seems to have considered this agenda, ignoring the other consequences. at the end of March (2019) President Bolsonaro went to Israel on an official visit and there magnified the number of foreign policy mistakes, continuing to think that speeches and posts on social media solve the problem.
He decided to take a step back and, instead of changing the embassy, just open a commercial representation office. The result was disastrous. Israel didn't get what they expected, since the opening of the embassy was something important for its international positioning. Palestine did not like it as this indicates some recognition. The Arab countries did not like it as this indicates an intrusion into a discussion that does not belong to us.
The concrete result was to displease everyone. The Arab country ambassadors in Brazil requested a meeting with President Bolsonaro and already indicate that they may impose trade losses on Brazil. Israel could also impose commercial losses to force the country to keep its original idea. Like this, not only do we not gain from what was done, as we are also losing.
This is just one of the cases in which our foreign policy seeks to show the United States how aligned we are, but without understanding the deepest reality of the country, your long-term commitments and interests.
The tradition of Brazilian foreign policy shows that we are a country that is averse to the contradictory and that it prefers to act in the construction of consensus, more than taking a unilateral position. A chancellor must be someone who seeks to translate government policies into foreign policy, transforming them into state policies. what have we seen, However, he is a controversial chancellor who expands the president's even more controversial positions.
If there are no quick changes in the orientation of Brazilian foreign policy, the consequences will be lasting. In a short time, relationships and commitments forged over decades are destroyed. It is time for Brazil to return to being a country that seeks to build a multilateral and peaceful world, that expands the dialogue channels with various players international, with special emphasis on the BRICS countries.
It's time for us to understand that lines are beautiful and inspiring, but actions effectively leave the consequences.
Revision: this article was originally published in 2/4/2020. Below is an article on the same topic published in 8/5/2020 which reads in the same direction. worth reading
The reconstruction of Brazilian foreign policy
Covid-19's extremely serious health crisis revealed the irrelevance of Itamaraty and its counterproductive role in helping Brazil obtain medical and hospital products and equipment; the current picture is one of shameful subservience and irrationality
Fernando Henrique Cardoso placeholder image, Aloysio Nunes Ferreira, Celso Amorim, Celso Lafer, Francisco Rezek, José Serra, Rubens Ricupero and Hussein Kalout
08/05/2020 – 04:30
Despite our different trajectories and political opinions, we, that we exercise high responsibilities in the sphere of international relations in various governments of the New Republic, We express our concern about the systematic violation by current foreign policy of the guiding principles of Brazil's international relations defined in Article 4 of the Constitution of 1988.
Innovative in this sense, the Constitution determines that Brazil "is governed in its international relations by the following principles: I- national independence; II- prevalence of human rights; III- self-determination of peoples; IV- non-intervention; V- equality between states; WE- defense of peace; VII- peaceful resolution of conflicts; VIII- repudiation of terrorism and racism; IX- cooperation among peoples for the progress of humanity; X- granting political asylum”.
"Single paragraph. The Federative Republic of Brazil will seek economic integration, politics, social and cultural of the peoples of Latin America, aiming at the formation of a Latin American community of nations.”
It is enough to compare the dictates of the Constitution with the actions of foreign policy to verify that current diplomacy contradicts these principles in letter and spirit. National independence cannot be reconciled with subordination to a foreign government whose avowed political program is to promote its interests above all other considerations.. Alienates the independence of the government that declares itself an ally of that country, assuming as its own an agenda that threatens to drag Brazil into conflicts with nations with which we maintain relations of friendship and mutual interest. walk away, in addition, the universalist vocation of Brazilian foreign policy and its ability to dialogue and build bridges with different countries, developed and in development, for the benefit of our interests.
Other examples of contradiction with the provisions of the Constitution are the support for coercive measures in neighboring countries, violating the principles of self-determination and non-intervention; the vote in the UN for the application of a unilateral embargo in disregard of the norms of international law, to the equality of States and the peaceful solution of conflicts; the endorsement of the use of force against sovereign states without UN Security Council authorization; the official approval of political assassination and the vote against resolutions in the Human Rights Council in Geneva condemning the violation of these rights; the defense of the policy of denying indigenous peoples the rights guaranteed to them in the Constitution, the contempt for issues such as discrimination based on race and gender.
In addition to transgressing the Federal Constitution, the current orientation imposes on the country costs that are difficult to repair, such as the collapse of external credibility., market losses and investment flight.
Admired in the environmental area, from to Rio-92, as an unavoidable leader in the theme of sustainable development, Brazil now appears as a threat to itself and to others in the destruction of the Amazon and the aggravation of global warming. Brazilian diplomacy, recognized as a force of moderation and balance at the service of building consensus, became a subordinate supporter of the most aggressive unilateralism.
In Latin America, of inductors of the integration process, we started to support interventionist adventures, ceding land to extra-regional powers. We give up the ability to defend our interests, by collaborating with the deportation of Brazilian workers from the United States under inhumane conditions or by deciding for ideological reasons to withdraw from Venezuela, bordering country, of all Brazilian diplomatic and consular personnel, leaving our nationals who reside there to be helpless.
in Western Europe, we antagonize relevant partners free of charge in all domains such as France and Germany. The current anti-diplomacy distances the country from its strategic objectives, by harassing nations essential to the very implementation of the government's economic agenda.
The very serious health crisis at Covid-19 revealed the irrelevance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its counterproductive role in helping Brazil gain access to medical and hospital products and equipment. The sectarianism of unexplained attacks on China and the World Health Organization, added to the disrespect for science and the insensitivity to human lives demonstrated by the President of the Republic, made the government the object of international derision and revulsion. created, at the same time, obstacles to governors' efforts to import products desperately needed to save the lives of thousands of Brazilians.
The rescue of Brazil's foreign policy requires a return to compliance with constitutional principles, to rationality, to pragmatism, to the sense of balance, moderation and constructive realism. In this reconstruction, it is necessary that the judiciary, guardian of the constitution, and the National Congress, representative of the will of the people, fulfill their role in controlling the constitutionality of diplomatic actions.
In order to respond to the wishes of our people and respond to the real needs of Brazil, foreign policy needs to be widely supported by public opinion., and the collaboration in its conception of all sectors of society. It also requires the engagement of our corps of diplomats: a State policy and not a factional action aimed at stirring up the spirits and exacerbating the prejudices of an obscurantist and reactionary minority. Our solidarity and firm support for diplomats humiliated and constrained by positions that clash with the best traditions of Itamaraty.
The reconstruction of Brazilian foreign policy is urgent and indispensable. Leaving behind this shameful page of subservience and irrationality, let us put the defense of independence at the center of diplomatic action., of sovereignty, of dignity and national interests, of all those values, as solidarity and the search for dialogue, that diplomacy helped to build as a patrimony and a source of pride for the Brazilian people.
Fernando Henrique Cardoso placeholder image he is former president of the republic and former minister of foreign affairs;
Aloysio Nunes Ferreira, Celso Amorim, Celso Lafer, Francisco Rezek eJosé Serra are former foreign ministers;
Rubens Recoveryhe is a former minister of finance and the environment and former ambassador of Brazil to Washington;
Hussein Kalout is former Special Secretary for Strategic Affairs of the Presidency of the Republic.
Article originally published in https://oglobo.globo.com/mundo/artigo-reconstrucao-da-politica-externa-brasileira-24416079
