Cancelled the presentation of CADAL's new book: ''Violence is enemy of thought''

CADAL was forced to cancel the presentations of its new book “América del Sur en el mundo de las democracias de mercado” (South America in a world of market democracies), schedulled for Friday, June 13. The authors of the book, Eduardo Viola and Héctor Leis, borned in Campana and Avellaneda respectively, political exiles and prestigious political scientists living in Brazil since the begining of the Argentina military dictatorship, decided to cancel their trip due to the threat of ''escrache'' (violent demonstration) in Rosario, saying that they are ''obliged to wait for better conditions for the public presentation of our ideas''.

We inform that CADAL was forced to cancel the presentations of its new book “América del Sur en el mundo de las democracias de mercado” (South America in a world of market democracies), schedulled for Friday, June 13 at Universidad de Belgrano in Buenos Aires and in the afternoon at Centro Cultural Bernardino Rivadavia in Rosario. The authors of the book, Eduardo Viola and Héctor Leis, borned in Campana and Avellaneda respectively, political exiles and prestigious political scientists living in Brazil since the begining of the Argentina military dictatorship, decided to cancel their trip due to the following reasons:

“Argentine society is obliged to debate deeply on its incapacity to learn from its mistakes. A great deal of this incapacity comes from the easyness with which some of its members appeal to violence to impose their ideas. It seams that periodically the country finds the way to overcome its problems to subsequently submerge in caos and useless violence a little later, instead of take advantage of this progress to preserve peace and solidify the rule of law. As authors, we have suffered in our own flesh the savagery that represents a style of doing politics for certain groups, who think it possible to act in democracy by totalitarian means, and so the act with a great deal of impunity.

On June 13, we had to be at Rosario for the public presentation of our book. But we were informed that we would be victims of an 'escrache' (violent demonstration) and so we were obliged to cancel the event. When in a country, authors or editorials are put under these kinds of threats or agression, there are few chances to open a fruitfull dialogue between different positions from the Argentine political arch, pointing to public and collective interest. The authors of an 'escrache' judge themselves as owners of truth, because they don't even think in going to an act to debate about the reality of the country, and their aim is just to assault people they dislike and hinder a debate. Being authors we feel sad and powerless in front of the circumstances and we thought that it would be better to cancel our trip to Argentina, which included another presentation of our book in Buenos Aires and some other activties. We know that violence is enemy of thought. We are not political actors but thinkers and we are obliged to wait for better conditions for the public presentation of our ideas. We regret all the nuisance of this decision, since it means, in certain way, to give way to savagery. But we believe that a better opportunity awaits that will allow us to study in depth the debate in a more fruitfull way, and this is what matters. Please excuse us for all the troubles caused and we are committed to carry on with our activities in the future.

Sincerelly, Eduardo Viola and Héctor Ricardo Leis”.

For more information on the book (In Spanish): https://www.cadal.org/libros/?id_nota=2375