Klaus Hart Brasilientexte

”The rules of the game must have ethical quality. Hence the Church™s social doctrine is critical of capitalism the archbishop affirms. He adds: ”Capitalism which lacks a regulating framework is hostile to people.

He reflects very well on the official position of the Catholic Church regarding capitalism: its ”abuses are criticised as though they were not part of its own essence based on the private accumulation of wealth.

But who wants to place the bell around the cat™s neck?  Is the capitalist State capable of exercising the job of a ”regulating framework and of imposing limits on speculation and exploitation? If a popular-democratic government does this, as happens in South American countries today, there is a general outcry about it being ”populist and ”totalitarian.

The book begins with a letter from Reinhard Marx to Karl Marx who died in 1883 and to whom he refers as ”dear namesake. He implores him to now recognise his mistake regarding the non-existence of God. What he suggests, between the lines, is that the bishop admits that the author of the ”Communist Manifesto is amongst those who enjoy the beatific vision of God on the other side of life.

The launching of the book coincides with the financial turmoil which in a way confirms Karl Marx™s theories regarding the cyclical crises of capitalism. However, the bishop points out that his namesake wasn™t very accurate in his revolutionary predictions such as the surge of socialism in countries which are well developed capitalistically. What happened is the opposite, socialism flourished, first of all, in a semi feudal country like Russia.

The book does not explain why the German Catholic Church never excommunicated Hitler who called himself a Catholic and also was mistaken when it invested part of its funds in the Lehman Brothers bank whose bankruptcy does confirm the predictions of the senior Marx.
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It is likely that Monsignor Reinhard™s book will revive new interest in his namesake™s works, just as in the 1960s and 1970s many young people who were happy to embrace Marxism learnt about it in ”The Thinking of Karl Marx written by Jean-Yves Calvez SJ in order to refute it. The Portuguese edition, in two volumes, was very popular during my time in prison under the military dictatorship.

Between one Marx and another we must not forget that a third one figures in between: Groucho Marx. In matters of American materialistic and humorous theories he requires no observations: ”There are things that are more important than money however…  they cost so much!
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Ask those who, when they take on positions of power, abandon their old socialist theories and today are handing out R$8 billion (half each between the federal government and the government of Sao Paulo) to the automobile industry in Brazil in order to rescue them from the crisis. Why not earmark those funds towards increasing the underground system, in favour of the community?

Only Groucho Marx can explain: ”These are my principles, if you don™t like them, I have others.

In 2003-2004, he was Special Adviser to President Lula and Coordinator of Social Mobilisation for the Brazilian Government™s Zero Hunger programme.
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