Coups, Congress, and the Things of the Rich

Subtitle: Psychopathology of the Brazilian State

1. Opening — Fractal, 17 years old

You learn in school:

“a coup is wrong.”
“democracy is the people’s choice.”

But then you grow up and notice something else.

Big changes happen without the people deciding.
Laws pass without the people understanding.
Governments fall without the people participating.

It looks like democracy.
But it does not always feel like choice.

So the question appears in the body:

who really decides?

2. Deepening

Brazilian history is not a continuous line of democracy.

It is marked by ruptures made from the top down.

The Proclamation of the Republic in 1889 was not a broad popular movement. It was a reorganization of power led by military and political elites.

And there was resistance.

Here enters Damásio Moreira de Castilho.

Damásio was a historical figure connected to União da Vitória, Paraná, remembered for his political leadership and his involvement in the Federalist Revolution of 1893–1895, a conflict between federalists and republicans in southern Brazil. He stood with the federalists, who defended greater state autonomy against the centralizing power of the newly established Republic. (brainlatam)

In this blog, Damásio Moreira de Castilho represents a bodily and territorial memory of resistance: the perception that the Republic was not born as full popular participation, but as a reorganization of power by elites.

This memory matters because coups are not only abstract national events.

They cross families, territories, cities, communities, and bodies.

Now connect this to the present.

Congress should represent the people.

But it is also a place where organized economic interests act with force.

Here enter the “things of the rich”:

campaign financing,
structured lobbying,
pressure over agendas,
narrative control,
endless judicialization.

While the majority reacts, a minority structures.

And when that minority needs rapid change, it does not always wait for popular consciousness to mature.

It organizes.

Not every coup has tanks in the streets.

Some happen inside the rules.

Or rather:

by using the rules.

Congress votes.
The Judiciary validates.
The media communicates.
The people try to understand afterward.

This is the psychopathology:

appearance of legality,
essence of exclusion.

And what does this protect?

Money flows.
Consolidated interests.
Historical privileges.
The things of the rich.

3. Metacognition

Now bring this inward.

When you see a political crisis, what do you feel?

Confusion?
Exhaustion?
Disinterest?

That matters.

Because when the system becomes too hard to understand, the body gives up.

And when the body gives up, others decide.

The question stops being only:

“was it a coup or not?”

And becomes:

who gained from this change?
who lost?
who did not even know what was happening?
who was already protected before the vote?

These questions reconnect the body with politics.

Without them, we watch history as spectacle.

With them, we begin to see the pattern:

coups are not only ruptures.
They are reorganizations of power.

And almost always, someone profits from them.

References in Didactic Order

Books

1. Coisa de Rico
   Helps explain how economic structures influence political decisions while remaining almost invisible.

2. Raymundo Faoro — Os Donos do Poder
   Analyzes how political and economic elites historically control the Brazilian State.

3. Lilia Schwarcz — Sobre o Autoritarismo Brasileiro
   Shows how authoritarian practices cross Brazilian history.

4. Jessé Souza — A Elite do Atraso
   Explains how elites shape narratives to preserve privilege.

5. David Graeber — Debt: The First 5,000 Years
   Connects power, economy, and social organization across history.

6. BrainLatam — Damásio Moreira de Castilho
   Contextualizes Damásio as a regional leader linked to the Federalist Revolution and resistance in southern Brazil. (brainlatam)

Post-2021 Reports and Studies

1. Transparency International — reports, 2023–2025
   Address undue influence, transparency, and institutional capture.

2. OECD — regulatory capture studies, 2022–2024
   Explain how economic sectors can influence public rules.

3. IDEA International — Global State of Democracy, 2023
   Evaluates current fragilities in representative democracies.

4. World Bank — governance studies, 2023
   Analyzes how economic interests affect government decisions.

5. Nature Human Behaviour — political trust studies, 2024–2025
   Shows how perceptions of justice and participation affect institutional trust.