bout de papier, Vol. 8, No. 1 (1990), p. 17
The following is an unclassified report dated June 8, 1990, received from “our” illustrious diplomat in Brasilia.
Brazilians are an odd people. A week ago, in the midst of a ruthless administrative reform — their government plans to eliminate 350,000 civil servants’ jobs by mid-June, of which 779 are Itamaraty positions — they celebrated “Diplomats Day.” President Collar, F.M. Reżek and a large number of distinguished guests assembled at the Itamaraty Palace to celebrate Commencement Day for the Il graduates of the Rio Branco Diplomatic Institute. The event was widely broadcast in local newspapers and on TV.
Brazilians are proud of their Foreign Service. Perhaps because they remember how old Baron Do Rio Branco, a wily fox; proved that it is cheaper and more enduring to negotiate secure borders with all neighbours than to wage war on one of them. Perhaps also because they feel that the outside world is complex and potentially dangerous. In their eyes; the need to understand and influence this world warrants an investment in time, money and in the energies of bright and dedicated people, or perhaps it is simply because from minister to third secretary, Itamaraty is a seamless web. Quality and solidarity go hand in hand. The model is straightforward: no masters, no servants; no management, no unions, It works; Itamaraty is a maison sérieuse:
Be as it may, last week the Brazilians celebrated Diplomats Day. President Collor opened the festivities with a short speech designed for a “working meeting” with the I new graduates: He synthesized for them the main elements of the foreign policy he wants Brazil to adopt. He underlined how diplomacy is important for the preservation of civil society and democratic institutions, its unique role in the service of a country that has a vision of a greater self that is not satisfied with its peripheral status quo and that expects no special help from others. Collor made his the words of Santiago Dantas; long ago a Brazilian diplomat, “our foreign policy is the cry of a nation anxious to grow.”
After Collor, the microphone was handed to the godfather of the diplomatic promotion, Antonio Houaiss, a man who would have had a distinguished foreign service career had he not opposed the military officers who decided to take charge of the country back in 1964. Houaiss was destined to become instead a noted philologist and to make a remarkable contribution to modern Portuguese. He advised the young diplomats to stay true to their linguistic heritage, to spread their culture, and to be guided by democratic principles. He asked them to beware of old avatars dressed up in fancy jargon like the population explosion. The risk of being seduced will be your constant companion, he told them, and he prepared both for the tedium that a life of ease will bring you as much as for the eternal apprenticeship that good diplomacy requires.
It was then time to remit medals. Brazilians love awards and one of the most esteemed is the cross of Rio Branco (that man again). Supposedly, its bearers represent an elite whose vocation is to serve the nation unselfishly. 117 lapels were adorned. Ministers, state secretaries, senators, and officials were so honoured as well as Gilberto Gil, a composer from Bahia, and the School of Medicine of Sao Paulo on account of its unique contribution to the welfare of Brazilians.
Such was Diplomats Day in Brasilia where the idea of the foreign service is not so much foreign as service.
Editor’s Note: Itamaraty is the name for the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 8, No. 1 (1990), p. 17. Read the rest of this issue →
