The freedom of artistic and cultural expression is the human and fundamental right to express oneself freely through artistic languages and cultural manifestations, without being subject to censorship or license. It is established in the n 5th and 220th articles of the Brazilian Constitution:
Art. 5, IX – the expression of intellectual, artistic, scientific, and communications activities is free, independently of censorship or license.
Article 220 – The manifestation of thought, the creation, the expression and the information, in any form, process or medium shall not be subject to any restriction, with due regard to the provisions of this Constitution.
Paragraph 2 – Any and all censorship of a political, ideological and artistic nature is forbidden.
It is also present in international texts to which Brazil is a signatory, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, which states that:
Article 27
1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to 81 enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting 82 from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.
As expressly provided in the Constitution, and implicitly in the Declaration, the curtailment of artistic freedom is prohibited. Censorship is any action organized to interrupt the free flow of information protected by the right to freedom of expression.
It is usually, but not exclusively, carried out by the State, and can impact the process of evaluating, filtering, elaborating and circulating artistic production. Therefore, it can go beyond the content of the works and equally reach their vectors and vehicles of expression.
Although censorship is more usual under authoritarian regimes, such as during the Brazilian military dictatorship, it is currently an issue that has coexisted with democratic regimes. In these contexts, it presents itself in new guises, but it is equally damaging to the freedom of expression.
Check out below some cases involving artistic freedom and censorship since 2019:
Read more about it, in Portuguese, here [find out here] and here [1] and read about the dismantling of Brazil’s public media [2] and the censorship promoted by the military regime [3].
Read more about it here – in Portuguese [find out here]. Watch the videoclip from the song criticized by Bolsonaro, ‘Proibido Carnaval’ (Forbidden Carnival) [1]. Read an interview by Caetano Veloso about Brazil, on the following year [2]
Read more about this episode – in Portuguese [find out here]. Read more about police brutality in São Paulo and in Brazil here [1] [2]
Read more about it, in Portuguese, here [find out here] and here [1], and read more about this exposition [2], another exhibit about brazilian authoritarianism in arts [3] and the denounce made by a political party to the United Nations about the growing censorship against arts and culture in Brazil [4].
Read more about the increase in of violence against indigenous people in the Bolsonaro government here [1], about the erosion of freedom here [2] [3] and about this episode – in Portuguese [find out here]
Read more about this context, in Portuguese, here [find out here] and here [1], and read about the artist Linn da Quebrada [2] and what Bolsonaro’s election means to LGBTQ people [3].
Read more about this context, in Portuguese, here [find out here] and here [1] and read more about the conflicts between the government and the cutlural sector [2].
Acts that employ tools of constant authoritarian reinvention. Authoritarian manifestations that coexist with the democratic regime and affect democracy as a system of choice of legitimate representatives or as institutional dynamics that protect rights and guarantee pluralism.
Acts justified by tackling the covid-19 pandemic or another emergency. Under the democratic constitutional regime, emergency acts must respect the Constitution and protect the rights to life and health. Even so, because they create exceptional restrictions related to the health crisis, they require constant control over their necessity, proportionality and temporal limitation. In the long run, they demand attention so as not to become an anti-democratic 'new normal' beyond the moment of emergency.