Speaking of Flowers: Student Movements and the Making and Remembering of 1968 in Military Brazil

Introduction: Making and Remembering 1968 in Military Brazil

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Introduction making and remembering ∞Ω∏∫ in military brazil In 1968 the song known as ‘‘Pra não dizer que não falei das flores’’ (So they don’t say I never spoke of flowers) by the singer and songwriter Geraldo Vandré enjoyed immense popularity among university students and other young people. Its rhythmical and lyrical invocations of street marches, encapsulated by its o≈cial title ‘‘Caminhando’’ (Walking), made this poignant protest song resonate especially powerfully in that moment, four years after military o≈cers and their civilian allies had deposed the democratically chosen president and inaugurated what would become twentyone years of military rule (1964–85). As student demonstrations against the military government led to national discussions about the legitimacy of the current regime, the role of student activism, and the meanings of police and opposition violence, the song touched a nerve—both in its fans and in its detractors. In September 1968, at the finals of the Third International Song Festival, for example, large groups of young supporters bearing laudatory banners and placards came out specifically to cheer for the song. When the jury nonetheless denied the piece first prize, the youthful crowd vociferously protested the perceived foul play and pointed to the inclusion of Donatelo Griecco, chief of the Cultural Division of Itamaraty (the Brazilian foreign relations department) on the jury as evidence of military interference. He in fact later publicly commented that the piece was ‘‘a dangerous left-wing song.’’∞ Another military o≈cial, Octávio Costa, became so incensed by Vandré’s composition that he felt compelled to respond to it by writing a literary analysis of its lyrics for the Rio de Janeiro newspaper the Jornal do Brasil. Costa claimed to speak for the whole military class, including ‘‘the immense majority of anonymous functionaries,’’ 2 introduction when he later told interviewers that they had all found the composition profoundly irritating.≤ If young people’s enthusiasm for the song in 1968 was no secret, neither was the extreme displeasure it provoked among military o≈cials. One particularly provocative section of the lyrics that observers often pointed to as the source of the military’s displeasure described soldiers as unreasonably following deleterious orders: ‘‘In the barracks they are taught an old lesson/To die for the fatherland and live without reason.’’ Certainly this kind of criticism of the armed forces aggravated some military o≈cials. But what made ‘‘Caminhando’’ resonate so deeply was how the song as a whole—and students’ uses of it—encapsulated the ethos of 1968, a year in which massive student street protests at home and abroad, fierce debates about militancy and violence, and students’ disruption of gender norms all roused military concern. With its steady marching rhythm, smoothly repetitive rhymes, and refrain of ‘‘walking and singing and following the song,’’ ‘‘Caminhando’’ became a regular musical presence at the many massive street protests of 1968. As students organized a series of record-breaking public demonstrations throughout the year, many in responsetopoliceviolenceagainstthem ,theyexposedandbroadenedgrowing opposition to the military government. As they did so, they sang ‘‘Caminhando ’’ repeatedly: at street marches and during occupations of university buildings; at university assemblies and at funerals for assassinated colleagues ; and at a disastrous student union gathering in October when the police raided their secret meeting site and arrested them by the hundreds. Marching single file across the muddy fields to the police buses waiting to take them to jail, students broke out into song, alternating between ‘‘Caminhando ’’ and a decidedly apolitical ditty about picking up girls in a Volkswagen bug. Before year’s end ‘‘Caminhando’’ had become the quintessential demonstration song of 1968, accompanying student protests across the country and leading some, like the journalist and cultural critic Nelson Motta, to complain that it had been sung excessively. In his end-ofthe -year list of the hip and square in Brazilian culture he placed ‘‘Caminhando ’’ firmly in the square category, suggesting that students had drained the piece of its coolness through overuse.≥ Students sang ‘‘Caminhando’’ at their street protests notwithstanding the fact that, after conjuring up visions of such demonstrations, the song goes on to critique them. Referring to ‘‘indecisive chains’’ marching in the streets, it ridicules the idea of making flowers ‘‘their strongest chorus’’ and introduction 3 believing in ‘‘flowers defeating canons.’’ As the scholar of Brazilian music Christopher Dunn has written, ‘‘Symbolic protest marches and ‘flower power’ were useless in the face of armed forces...