|
VEJA Magazine of August 29, 2018 - Pages 54 to 57: “To expel is the wrong solution - Venezuelans on the run swell the little Pacaraima in Roraima. The city is unable to receive them. The government does not take measures, tempers are heightened and xenophobia hangs in the air”.1
The arrival of Venezuelans to Brazil and especially to the small town of Pacaraima in the state of Roraima (12,000 inhabitants according to IBGE data) puts us to the test of how a traditionally welcoming immigrant people, such as the Brazilians, are having difficulties regarding this issue, besides Brazil’s legal obligation to receive them due to the fact that it is a signatory to the International Laws on this subject: “International law states that it is the right of refugees to be received in Brazil and sent to places where there is employment and accommodation”.1
Our country has always had a historical predestination to welcome the afflicted and disinherited from their origins and this Spiritist vision is portrayed in the book “Brazil Heart of the World Gospel Fatherland - spiritual authorship of Humberto de Campos, psychographics of Chico Xavier: “ First, came the Indians, who were the simple in heart; second, the thirsty of divine justice came, and later slaves would come, as the expression of the humble and the afflicted, to form the collective soul of a people blessed by their meekness and brotherhood. In the future centuries, this generous homeland will be the land of promise for all the unfortunate”.3
In this context, both by the aspects of the current human legislation, and by the spiritual mission of Brazil, we have a moral obligation to welcome and, despite the resulting difficulties, we cannot be indifferent.
Allan Kardec, in the book The Gospel According to Spiritism, Chapter 9 - item 8, brings us a message from Lazarus (Spirit), which states: “(...) the virtue of your generation is the intellectual activity; its vice is the moral indifference... Submit yourselves to the impulse we have come to give your Spirits; obey the great law of progress, which is the word of your generation. (...) Every proud resistance must give in sooner or later”.2
As portrayed in the article: “Pacaraima is the gateway to Brazil of desperate Venezuelans who can no longer survive in their country, crushed by the worst crisis in their history, without food, medicine or money. For them, immigrating is not a choice, it is imperative”.1
For economic science, the Venezuelan crisis is due, among other reasons, to the predominance of the oil extraction activity as a support for the economy, the price of which has suffered large negative variations in the price of the product in the international market in the last 5 years. Allied to this fact is the internal political crisis, caused by the search for power between rival parties.
In the Spiritist view, portrayed in the work “Divaldo Franco answers - volume 2 - Page 139”, what is happening today to the Venezuelan people and especially to immigrants“ are collective trials for society, which one day sensible and honest governments will diminish by applying their technological and financial resources to the benefit of the community”.4
Although we are looking at the problem of Venezuela, we have the same problem in other parts of the world, especially Europe, where people from various countries at war are trying to immigrate to the Old Continent for a better life.
Whereas, according to the Spiritist work: “Plantao de Respostas - Emmanuel and Francisco Candido Xavier. Page 16”, we are living moments close to the transition of the planet Earth from a world of trials and atonements to a world of regeneration, it is up to each one of us a long and arduous task of ascension”. “Work and love of neighbor with Jesus, this is the way”. 5 We are facing a challenge as a final proof of this process, certainly prepared by Divine Providence for the “Brazil Heart of the World Homeland of the Gospel”.3
Our country is also going through the worst economic crisis of the last 10 years, with an unemployment rate of around 12%, according to IBGE data. Little Pacaraima, in the state of Roraima, has no urban infrastructure to accommodate this flood of immigrants, as approached in the reference report.
The reaction of the residents to the chaotic situation caused by the avalanche of immigrants who “fled 1,200 Venezuelan refugees piled into the city” does not reflect, however, the traditional nature of our people, who always welcomed foreigners who came to Brazil. It is, therefore, an isolated act of despair of the residents of this small Brazilian municipality.
In the Spiritist view, we are facing a historical opportunity for the practice of moral and material charity: “Submit all your actions to the control of ///charity, and your conscience will answer you: not only will it prevent you from doing evil, but it will also lead you to do good” 2 (ESE, Chapter 15, Out of Charity there is no Salvation, item 10, Paul the Apostle), mainly because we are trying to share what we do not even have for ourselves. (Our emphasis). “To please God and secure his future position is it enough that man should not do evil? - No; he is to do well to the limit of his strength, for he will answer for every evil that result from not doing good”. 7 (L.E., question 642).
Creativity must be exercised in order to urgently redistribute these immigrants among other states of the Federation, compatible with the vocation and ability of refugees, the immediate establishment of refugee centers, the participation of international UN / OAS organizations and the like, as well as counting on the solidarity of the entire population through calls from the press.
The Spiritist community, in turn, besides participating in the general efforts of the population, in the sense of good emergency relief works, must mobilize prayers of moral strengthening for these brothers in collective trial: “Noting that if this collaboration is not possible, you can surely pray for your brothers”. 6
The hunger, misery, and hopelessness of our Venezuelan brothers, cannot wait for their country's political disputes to end. If they landed here, it is because we Brazilians inspire in them, through our “collective soul”, the trust of a welcoming and peaceful country that receives everyone without distinction of nationality. “He has often told you that he does not put heavy burdens on weak shoulders. The burden is given to the forces, as the reward will be to resignation and courage”. 2 (ESE, Chapter V - item 18).
May the Good Spirits inspire all of us involved in this case.
(*) Juracy de Abreu e Silva, Ioná Rosilane Valéria do Nascimento and Gláucio Marcus do Nascimento Guerra are co-authors of this article.
References:
1 – Magazine VEJA - Edition 2597 - Year 51 - No. 35. August 29, 2018. Authors: Joao Batista Jr. and Duda Teixeira.
2 - KARDEC, Allan, The Gospel According to Spiritism, translation of the 3rd. 1866 edition, by Renata Barboza da Silva and Simone T. Nakamura Bele da Silva. Sao Paulo: Petit Publisher, 1997.
3 - CAMPOS, Humberto. XAVIER, Francisco Candido. Brazil Heart of the World Homeland of the Gospel. Brasilia: Publisher FEB.
4 - FRANCO, Divaldo. Divaldo Franco answers, volume 2. 1st. Sao Paulo edition. Intelitera Publishing House, 2013.
5– XAVIER, Francisco Candido, Plantao de Respostas – Pinga Fogo II –1971.
6 - XAVIER, Francisco Candido, Sinais de Rumo - Various Spirits - Editora Geem - 1979.
7 - KARDEC, Allan, The Book of Spirits, translated by Evandro Noleto Bezerra.
This article was included in the contest “The Doctrine Explains”, held in 2018, promoted in the class of the Spiritist Speakers Course of the Federal District, in the Spiritist Federation of the Federal District (FEDF). The authors are lecturers and Spiritist writers in Brasília (DF). |
