Rodrigo Constantino

In a 2007 article titled "Feriado racista" ("Racist holiday"), Constantino criticized the existence in Brazil of Black Awareness Day, although this is not a national holiday (but that has been implemented in some states, such as Rio de Janeiro). He illustrated his view remembering Martin Luther King Jr. and his "I Have a Dream" speech, which condemns racism, as for Constantino, this holiday can be considered racist. Constantino says that "Brazil is a country with a recordist number of holidays, as our country isn't rich enough to have that luxury." He believes that, in Brazil, politicians always focus on minority groups, seeking to guarantee privileges in exchange for votes. About the people of the country, he claims that "people do not care about the amount of holidays because it is one more lazy day for a people who idolizes sloth."[20]

Constantino in particular cites King's quote of "it's my dream that my four children would one day live in a nation where they would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of character", claiming that in Brazil the opposite has been going on, and "people would be taking advantage of his black condition to get privileges, wanting to be judged by the color of their skin and not by character." He gives as an example the implementation of racial quotas in Brazilian universities and the establishment of black holidays, saying: "This is what they are encouraging in the country: totally abandon of the concepts of individual merit, and adopt the skin color criterion, still subject to gross errors like white people who claim to be black, and still manage to enter into Brazil's universities by racial quotas. Whether the individual is black, yellow, brown or white, it says absolutely nothing about their values and character. There are admirable blacks and perfidious blacks, as well as admirable whites and perfidious whites. But nobody is brave just for being black, because there is no moral choice about it. This would be like admiring someone for being tall or short. It makes no sense."[20]

Constantino concludes the article claiming that the adoption of this type of holiday in Brazil would be part of a "traditional leftist strategy", "inflating the class struggle" between the inhabitants of the country. He says: "the left loves to spread hatred between groups, preaching the struggle between employers and employees, blacks and whites, women and men, heterosexual and homosexual. Our left looks like a vulture, who lives in carrion of others, and propagate ideas which divide rather than unite. Soon, may suggest the 'Gay Awareness Day', or maybe the 'Day of Proletarian Consciousness'. A typical leftist can not judge individuals alone, always calling for tribalist collectivism. And so left will spreading a climate of constant dispute between groups, ignoring that those acts, in fact, are always individuals. It's in this context that we have the 'Black Awareness Day', a totally racist holiday."[20]

In a text published at the newspaper "O Globo" in 2012, Constantino defends the privatization of Petrobras, considered by him as an ineffective company, and argues that "the political use of Petrobras has cost increasingly more to their investors, whose interests are ignored by the government. He cites that Petrobras, which had U$26.7 billion of net debt in 2007, ended the first half of 2012 owing more than U$130 billion, and that its return on equity does not reach 10%, half of the average of their international peers, and that since 2009, its shares fell 5%.[21]

Constantino also mentions an "oil curse": that countries that have oil production much above its consumption, and its economy based on exporting oil, usually have their wealth extremely poorly distributed (which he argues are "usually concentrated in the hands of a small elite, which becomes totalitarian"), and do not develop other economic potentials due to the ease that too much oil extraction provides, as is the case with almost all countries of OPEC.[22][23][24] He cites "countries like Venezuela, Mexico, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Russia have state companies controlling oil exploration. No one would dare say that it did well for their respective peoples, victims of authoritarian regimes."[21] Brazilian government owns 64% of Petrobras.[25]

In a text published in the newspaper O Globo in 2012, Constantino used the mayoral election of Rio de Janeiro, disputed mainly between Eduardo Paes (PMDB party, elected) and Marcelo Freixo (PSOL, an left party) as an example to write about what he sees as a "Brazilian caviar left", a pejorative term broadly similar to the English "champagne socialist" and the American "limousine liberal", stating: "Rio de Janeiro is a victim of a real plague: the 'caviar-left', formed by the financial and cultural elite of the country. Their members pose as altruistic, while praising bloody dictators like Fidel Castro. From the comfort of their apartments in Paris, because no one is made by iron." Constantino further claims that "our artists and leftist intellectuals have schizophrenia, because admire socialism but also love three things that only capitalism can give to you: Good caches in hard currency, no censorship, and bourgeois consumerism. Hypocrisy is useful: approaching the power, these intellectuals get privileges. Petrobras, for example, has allocated R$ 652 million for 'cultural sponsorships' between 2008 and 2011."[26] Constantino went on to claim that one of the reasons for the formation of the "caviar left" is "a sentiment of guilt", saying that "culturally, in a country that condemns profit, and sees the economy as a zero-sum game, where Joseph, to get rich, need to take from John, the success ends up being a 'personal offense', as Tom Jobim said."[26]

In 2013, he again used the term, commenting on the murder of a police officer, Colonel Simões Rossei Reynaldo, saying in regards of President Dilma Rousseff condemning the act, "It's the least that is expected of our leaders, usually remaining silent when the victims are police officers, not the 'protesters'." He went on to claim that "the historical position of the PT in particular, and the Left in general, has been to ease into the side of violent groups or even criminals who speak in the name of 'social justice.' It is the case of MST, among others. PT helped create this monster, which today seems somewhat out of control. There are clear signs that leftist parties are behind some of these movements that have brought chaos to our streets.", and that those groups "come with the support of artists and intellectuals of the caviar-left. Some even dress up in black bloc clothes, others recorded videos condemning the police on the streets... and defending the 'political prisoners'. Police, for this class, is 'fascist', while the real fascists are masked and armed 'young idealists' who need to 'dream'. The useful idiots are not my biggest concern. Always existed in a reasonable amount and below the equator. What really takes my sleep is the silent moderate majority. We can never forget the warning given by Burke: 'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil, is that good men do nothing.'"[27]