An imaginary journey with Franz Kafka

If he was in a stroll through S?o Paulo, the writer Franz Kafka could think that this was a plot of his story, and possibly reflect that there being no responsible people, there is no way to think about planning, organization, management. By learning about the scandals and different types of treatment applied to different situations in Brazil, the models of knowledge management, integration of public and private spheres, and state strategy to achieve fiscal equilibrium, economic recovery and growth could be look very complicated to this accomplished visitor. The respected scribe could also find it difficult to understand the local versions of public safety and legal certainty.

I place myself in the shoes of the illustrious visitor on his imaginary visit to three of our largest cities.

Visiting Sao Paulo

The man arrived and heard of a forty-year work without maintenance and that, on the day of the commemoration of the Proclamation of the Republic, November 15, it collapsed. The next day the newspaper Folha de S?o Paulo - Gest?o Covas diz que viaduto que cedeu na marginal Pinheiros pode desabar - revealing that the City hall interdicted almost 20 km of expressway, which should generate saturation in neighborhoods, later mitigated with the reduction of the extension of the interdictions over the days. Same article remarks that

After technical analysis conduct through the night, Mayor Bruno Covas (PSDB) reported that the situation of the viaduct that bent in Pinheiros Expressway is much more worrying - viaduto que cedeu na pista expressa da marginal Pinheiros - with risk of total structure full collapse.

The days passed by and, in the aftermath, the citizens of the largest city of the country knew, still through the Folha de S?o Paulo, that Project of viaduct disappears, and city hall resorts to collections and even the widow of engineer - Projeto de viaduto some, e prefeitura recorre a acervos e até a viúva de engenheiro. To crown the horror show scenario the mayor expressed himself on the morning of November 27, saying:

"To blame an administration that has been in power for eight months in relation to the maintenance of a 40-year-old overpass is more difficult to argue than to do a double-jointed twist."

Worh Reading full article in Covas responde à Promotoria sobre viaduto: 'Mais difícil que um duplo twist carpado' Ministério Público questiona aplica??o de só 5% do Or?amento para manter estruturas da cidade

And to complete this amazing picture he read the revelation of the CBN Radio network on how it is managed the documentation of infrastructure projects in the most economically important state in the country: Overpass projects that overcame and highways are lost in piles of old files -Projetos de viaduto que cedeu e de rodovias est?o perdidos em pilhas de arquivos velhos.

The much-sought executive project of the viaduct that ceded in Marginal Pinheiros is lost amid stacks of old documents stored in a warehouse of the S?o Paulo government. The CBN report was on the spot. So far, a group of engineers has managed to find one of six parts of the project.

Informed that at the beginning of this year another collapse occurred in the city, the writer would surely seek refuge in the most important of the baths of the country.

Rio 400 degrees

As soon as he arrived and settled in Leblon, he was intrigued by a suggestion to take a "Little Boy" (Garotinho is how a small draft bee is called in the city), in doubt as to whether it was wise to drink such a drink, he finally accepted and learned more about the federal intervention in public safety in Rio de Janeiro the latest murder statistics in the year when the National Museum also collapsed, hit by fire, revealing the precarious safety measure of its facilities. He learned that the National Museum remains on the agenda of bureaucracies, but regrettably, a significant part of the collection was lost in an event that was considered a disaster of international proportions.

The illustrious tourist read about another current issue read in the newspaper O Globo - Minister of Justice Barroso prevented the application of the benefit, which ensures the freedom of white collar criminals - - Liminar do ministro Barroso impediu a aplica??o do benefício, que assegura a liberdade criminosos do colarinho branco - where he was informed that the Supreme Court is working to resolve Christmas pardon rules that can benefit convicted of corruption.

Frustrated by what he saw in the newspapers, which seemed to him incompatible with organization and balance, something in the intellectual triggered the spring of curiosity. So, he took another creamy "stupidly cold" draft beer pint and decided to go where supposedly everything is decided.

Brasilia: Under the Empire of the Law

Arriving in the planned city, the imaginary visitor knew that the country was in a Holy Crusade to correct unrepublican habits on the part of its business and political elites (as sports writers would say in describing camp battles among soccer supporters: a turbulent minority which harms the efforts of the vast cordate and hardworking majority, inspired only by the highest values of civilization). Won the battle and the country would inevitably be heading to its global leadership role in an atmosphere of harmony and inner peace.

The man was shocked to read the news in Correio Braziliense - Fim do auxílio-moradia n?o compensa gastos que vir?o com aumento ao STF – revealing possible contradictions between the approval of wage increase for civil servants and another objective harshly pursued in the two years preceding his imaginary pilgrimage to the Land of Santa Cruz: fiscal balance. He also tried and struggled to understand the presidential pardon of many of those responsible for national ills related to such practices, but thought that, after all policy is a field for pragmatists and personal security can be more important than legal balance, what is clearly demonstrated by the appeal of the Magistrates' Front to reverse decision on the end of housing assistance, as explained by Correio Braziliense, stating that - Frente de Magistrados quer reverter decis?o sobre fim do auxílio-moradia – stating that "Frentas met on Tuesday morning to discuss legal options to block the decision of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Minister Luiz Fux."

Upon hearing from the restaurant customers that many of the last presidents of the country have issues with justice, the imaginary writer felt a bit confused. More surprised and confused was when introduced to the information that the same Judiciary tries to resolve the issue raised the previous year by the current president when proposing a Christmas pardon, raised by public men concerned about the smoothness and impartiality of the distribution of justice in the country. 

Tired, he let the newspaper fall to the side of his chair, drunk the coffee – that seemed a little expensive and very bitter - paid and returned to the hotel, giving up looking for the sights of the city, almost without taking advantage of the visit to the virtually empty National Congress, interrupting a discussion about certain Senator Delcídio and a birthday party, the late writer was informed that this is all the consequence of a transitional period but institutions function normally. In any case, he carried in his luggage important material for a posthumous work, among other things, newspaper clippings of November 2018, carefully avoiding the ideological / partisan news that seemed to him more suited for the analysis of specialists in the land of Macunaíma.

 Good luck!

 Adhemar Garcia Neto