Marcelo Teixeira

Poetic-Solidarity Sandwich

A sandwich takes two slices of bread and a filling. Although its origin is lost in time, it was in the 18th century in England that the name sandwich appeared thanks to John Montagu, fourth  Earl Sandwich (hence the name of the delicacy). He ate bread with salami so as not to interrupt the game of whist, a traditional British card game.

My proposal in this text is a sandwich that feeds and shakes the soul. Two slices of poetry filled with what the Spiritist literature has to say about solidarity, a word that comes from the Latin solidare. Meaning: solidify, confirm. Something solid is not hollow and it is not easily destroyed. However, the lack of solidarity shows how unstable we are to insist on leaning on false foundations. 

First poetic slice 

The Innocents of Leblon 

Author: Carlos Drummond de Andrade 

The innocents of Leblon
did not see the ship come in.

Did it bring ballerinas?
Did it bring immigrants?
Did it bring a gram of radio?

The innocent, definitely innocent, all ignore,
but the sand is hot, and there is soft oil
that they pass on their backs, and forget.
 

Filling

It is not the first time that the Rio’s suburb, Leblon, appears in my texts. I mentioned it previously when I spoke about the attacks to Regina Case, who lives in Leblon, and to Chico Buarque, when he left a restaurant in the refined suburb of the Zona Sul (south area) in Rio de Janeiro.

Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902-1987), a Brazilian poet and columnist - of whom I am a fan - wrote the poem I used as the first slice of the sandwich. There is a very lucid analysis of him in the site www.trabalhosfeitos.com.

In Leblon live the high class people and it has one of the most expensive square meters in the country. We cannot generalize and say that they all fit into what Drummond describes in the poem. However, it is necessary to admit that such innocents are a faithful portrayal of the way of thinking and acting of many people, whether in Leblon or any other neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Sul, Argentina, USA, France, Russia or wherever there are innocents like the ones mentioned living in Leblon.

The mentioned poem was written at the time of World War II, a black period in the History of Humanity.

The ship that such innocents (read indifferent or ignorant) did not see refers to the vessels that brought to Brazil all sorts of people, such as immigrants - people who were fleeing from war and Nazi persecutions - and dancers, word that encompasses not only professional dancers, but also prostitutes, since, at that time, to dance was commonly associated with prostitution. And the gram of radio? It concerns the radiation from the atomic bombs that the Americans cast in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Was she on board?

Why does Drummond use question marks when he refers to the ship's cargo? Because, according to the assessment on the site, the poet wants to show that they do not seem to be heard by the innocent. Therefore, they are not answered. And why not? Because "The innocent, definitely innocent, all ignore". Although Humanity was experiencing a period of intense pain, Drummond wants to show that the lack of existing solidarity makes people who ignore everything and refuse to face reality. For them, what really matters is to pass a suntan on their backs, lying on the hot sands, sunbathing and forgetting. The pain of the world does not interest them. They do not want to be bothered in their comfort. They prefer to stay in their bubbles and not realize that the rest of the world - with its contrasts and struggles - exists.

The club and the nannies

The innocents of Leblon have apparently crossed the decades and have made their mark on the world to this day. They lie on the hot sands of their worldly comfort, totally ignoring the pains around them. This is a sad reality of a Humanity that does not change and does not see the neighbor who is not socially close.

In 2015, a select club from the city of Sao Paulo ended up in the news because of the following: Roberta, one of the members, whenever she sent the nanny to take the small daughter to the club, was stressed. Reason: the club required nannies to wear white. So Roberta never knew whether or not they would let her daughter in with the sitter. After all, not everyone who employs a nanny sees the need to make her wear a uniform. After much argument and not being heard by the club's management, Roberta filed a suit with the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP), which opened an investigation.

The club defended itself by saying the following: - The use of white uniforms by nannies is duly regulated by our internal regulations (...) just as it is common in organizations to wear uniforms and badges.

However, Beatriz Helena Fonseca, prosecutor of the MP, did not agree with the allegation and countered: - In demanding the use of different clothing by the nannies, the club intends to mark the people who are in the place, circulating between the members, but that belong to another social class. If so, he pointed out, other members' companions, as relatives, should be forced to wear white as well. And she concluded: - Discrimination is evident because it violates the constitutional principles of equality and dignity of the human person. The rule is discriminatory.

Roberta, the child’s mother, also stated that this rule of the club was not hung on bulletin boards, that is, it is not explicit. On the first few times the nanny, whom the report calls Deborah (fictitious name) and who can easily be passed as the child's mother, had never been harassed.

The problems began only when Deborah was identified as a nanny; most likely because many of the other members mistook her for the child's mother. When they discovered that it was a nanny, they demanded the uniform so that the members would no longer treat her equally. That's what Deborah told her mistress. "She has already reported that a member interrupted her conversation as soon as she discovered that she was my daughter's nanny and not her mother.

Master's degree that has become invisible 

The saddest part of all, according to Roberta, is that the nanny thinks they're buying a fight for nothing. "She is so accustomed to this kind of treatment, that she does not realize the seriousness of the problem, she thinks it's just a matter of clothing".

This fact reminds me of two similar events in Rio de Janeiro. In one, it was discovered that a refined club on the Southern Zone of the city, forbade the nannies of (My God!) using the bathrooms. Some playful artists, then, representatives of Rio de Janeiro’s naughtiness, created in the internet a collective fund to buy that club and to turn it into a “macumba” * yard. This joke became the center of gossip and exposed the club to an endless shame. 

The other fact was told in the classroom by my dear master Fernando Sa. It is about someone that was presenting his thesis for a master's degree in Social Sciences. This thesis was based on social justice, exclusion and the like. Throughout the period of the Master's degree, he agreed with the company responsible for cleaning the university campus to work as a uniformed servant. His intention was to see if his colleagues and teachers would see him in that condition. They did not see him; they passed by him several times and were not even aware of his existence. The uniform, for months, had made the student an invisible being. When defending the thesis, he revealed the disguise, stated his arguments and won the title of master in the area.

It is curious to see how all the innocents - whether from Leblon or from wherever they come - ignore those who wear uniforms, ignore who is poor and so on. Drummond calls them definitely innocent, that is, those who make a point of being as they are. An emblematic example is the woman from the club from Sao Paulo, who stopped talking to Debora, when she discovered that she was not the mother, but the child's nanny. It appears that the uniform was required so that the members of the club no longer confused a servant with someone of their level. And it is sad to see Deborah’s reaction. She is so accustomed to being treated in a discriminatory manner by the innocent of every level that she does not even perceive the existence of social prejudice. But the uniform is a way of making her invisible and then ignored.

In the book We Are Ready, the Spirit Hammed, through the mediumship of Francisco do Espirito Santo Neto, observes that solidarity is first and foremost a matter of respect for individual dignity.

How many people are demeaned every day in their dignity by performing subaltern functions, because they do not have the money to go to certain places, etc.!

Violence and solidarity

When one speaks of violence, we think of cases of murder, rape, assault and the like. However, wearing a uniform to be marked as a nanny within a club is also violence. Waiting for the bus in the rain or the sun is also violence. Traveling on crowded trains and buses to get home or work is also violence. To wake up at dawn to pick up a number for medical consultation is also violence. Not to mention the way people are treated in public hospitals. However, all this has to do with a tremendous lack of solidarity from the innocent of Leblon, who prefer to ignore everything. But it does not matter, the sand is hot, the suntan lotion from Argentine is at hand and the beach is a delicious.

Perhaps that is why so many European countries are bothered by the arrival of thousands of immigrants; a fact that even made England leave the European Union. And maybe that's why in Brazil so many people have taken to the streets to protest recently. Basically, they may be feeling uncomfortable with the low-income people at airports and universities. The Leblons of life are getting lesser and lesser. Therefore, the innocent, who do not want to stop being so, protest, cheer or simply ignore.

Hammed also says that the goal of solidarity is to help and comfort others in their difficulties and effectively collaborate for a better life in the social environment. Usually, we interpret the verb to help as to provide relief. But to help is also to give constant subsidies so that there are no more invisible people who pass at a distance from the always innocent ones. Acting in this way, we comfort, that is, we make life comfortable for everyone and we collaborate, as Hammed says, in an effective way so that the social environment is healthier.

If anyone doubts, it is enough to observe the Golden Rule - "Whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, so do ye also unto them, this is the law and the prophets" (Matthew, 7:12). It is by not treating people as we like to be treated that the world is impersonal and devoid of solidarity. After all, we want Leblon just for us.

In The Book of Spirits, Allan Kardec, in question 768 (Law of Society), asks whether man, in seeking society, is only following a personal feeling or something providential of a higher order. The friends on the other side answer that the isolation brutalizes and drains people. Therefore, the human being seeks the social environment since, insulated, no one progresses. Even when we isolate ourselves, we are deprived of what others have to offer us, be it their aptitudes, qualities, feelings, etc.

The social islands and their near end 

No one wants to live in isolation, not even the innocent discriminators of nannies, garbage collectors, and servants. We all need their work just as we need the services of doctors, engineers, or lawyers. The problem is: if this contact with people of less prestigious social professions sums up to the question of "you do this for me". That apparent servant is also a person rich with experiences with whom we have much to learn. Otherwise, as The Book of Spirits says, insulation will brutalize and weaken us. Not the insulation of a hermit's life, totally distant from society, but the brutalizing insulation of those who refuse to pay attention to those who are not of the same social level. This is the worst of all isolation because it is based on total lack of solidarity.

Nothing that is solid stands, as evidenced by the meaning of the word solidarity. The less favored classes are claiming in an increasingly active voice in the world, showing what barriers need to come to the ground.

The social islands based on the Leblonian indifference of Drummond tend to disappear. Whoever does not care about others will have to sharpen their gaze toward any and every neighbor and see him as he really is: a neighbor who deserves to be treated not with this hollow and hypocritical feeling, but with solidarity.

Otherwise, we will be swept away by the inevitable changes that are leading us toward a regenerated world. And those who refuse to change will suffer the consequences of their own indifference; in what way? Perhaps they are put to hard tests that lead them to re-evaluate their conduct. Who knows, reincarnating in worlds in which the problems they face will cause them to soften their hearts.

The German poet and playwright Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), in the poem called Intertext, says much about the indifferent of all orders who refuse to be in solidarity. I do not know if the outcome that Brecht gives to the verses has to do with the death that snatches us all; much less with the reincarnation, which makes that the next step in a body of flesh is the consequence of what we do today. But it shows how people, who are indifferent to everything and everyone, tend to be ignored, to end up alone or even to experience their own bitter medicine. The cause and effect law is for that, right?

Now it is time to finish the sandwich.

Second poetic slice

Intertext

Author: Bertolt Brecht

First they took the blacks
but I did not care about that.
I was not black

then they took some workers
but I did not care about that.
I was not a worker either

then they arrested the miserable
but I did not care about it.
Because I'm not a miserable

then they grabbed some unemployed
but since I have a job,
I did not care either.

Now they are taking me.
But it's too late.
Since I did not care about anyone
nobody cares about me.
 

* Translator’s note: “Macumba” is a Brazilian cult incorporating the use of sorcery and originated in Africa.