Haiti

Lyrics from “Haiti” by Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil (1993)

Quando você for convidado // When you’re invited
Pra subir no adro da Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado // To go up to the gallery of the Jorge Amado House Foundation
Pra ver do alto a fila de soldados, quase todos pretos// To watch from up there the line of soldiers, almost all Black
Dando porrada na nuca de malandros pretos // Beating Black malandros on the back of the neck

De ladrões mulatos // [Beating] mulatto thieves
E outros quase brancos // And other near-Whites
Tratados como pretos// Treated as Blacks
Só pra mostrar aos outros quase pretos// Just to show the other almost Blacks
E são quase todos pretos// And they’re almost all Black
Como é que pretos, pobres e mulatos// How Blacks, the poor, and mulattos
E quase brancos, quase pretos de tão pobres são tratados// And nearly Whites — but so poor they’re almost Black — are treated

E não importa se olhos do mundo inteiro possam // And it doesn’t matter if the eyes of the whole world might
Estar por um momento voltados para o largo // Turn briefly on the Largo [square]
Onde os escravos eram castigados // Where the slaves were beaten [Salvador’s Pelourinho]
E hoje um batuque, um batuque // And today, a batuque, a batuque [drumming circle]
Com a pureza de meninos uniformizados // With the wholesomeness of boys in high-school uniforms
De escola secundária em dia de parada // On parade day

E a grandeza épica de um povo em formação // And the epic greatness of a people in formation
Nos atrai, nos deslumbra e estimula // Attracts us, enchants and animates us
Não importa nada // Nothing makes a difference
Nem o traço do sobrado, nem a lente do Fantástico // Not the vestige of the mansion, not the lens of Fantástico

Nem o disco de Paul Simon // Not the Paul Simon album
Ninguém // Nobody
Ninguém é cidadão // No one is a citizen
Se você for ver a festa do Pelô’ //If you go to see the party in the Pelô [Pelourinho]
E se você não for // And if you don’t go

Pense no Haiti // Think about Haiti
Reze pelo Haiti// Pray for Haiti
O Haiti é aqui // Haiti is here
O Haiti não é aqui// Haiti is not here

E na TV se você vir um deputado em pânico // And on TV if you see a congressman in panic
Mal dissimulado // Poorly veiled
Diante de qualquer, mas qualquer mesmo // Before any, but really any
Qualquer, qualquer // Any, any
Plano de educação // Education plan

Que pareça fácil // That might seem easy
Que pareça fácil e rápido // That might seem easy and fast
E vá representar uma ameaça de democratização // And may represent a threat of democratization
Do ensino de primeiro grau // Of elementary instruction

E se esse mesmo deputado defender a adoção da pena capital // And if that same congressman defends the adoption of the death penalty
E o venerável cardeal disser que vê tanto espírito no feto // And the venerable cardinal says he finds so much spirit in the fetus
E nenhum no marginal // And none in the marginal [blanket designation for poor criminal]
E se, ao furar o sinal, o velho sinal vermelho habitual // And if, upon running the light, the standard red light
Notar um homem mijando na esquina da rua // You see a man pissing on the street corner
Sobre um saco brilhante de lixo do Leblon// On a shiny bag of garbage from Leblon
E ao ouvir o silêncio sorridente de São Paulo diante da chacina // And upon hearing the grinning silence of São Paulo before the massacre

Cento e onze presos indefesos // One hundred and eleven defenseless prisoners
Mas presos são quase todos pretos // But prisoners are almost all Black
Ou quase pretos // Or almost Black
Ou quase brancos, quase pretos de tão pobres // Or nearly White, but so poor they’re almost Black

Pense no Haiti // Think about Haiti
Reze pelo Haiti // Pray for Haiti
O Haiti é aqui // Haiti is here
O Haiti não é aqui // Haiti is not here

E pobres são como podres // And the poor are considered rotten
E todos sabem como se tratam os pretos // And everyone knows how Blacks are treated
E quando você for dar uma volta no Caribe // And when you go take a trip around the Caribbean
E quando for trepar sem camisinha // And when you have sex without a condom
E apresentar sua participação inteligente no bloqueio a Cuba // And present your intelligent participation in the embargo of Cuba

— Commentary —

In 1993, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil decided to release an album in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Tropicália: Ou Panis et Circensis (1968), the iconic album that unofficially launched their short-lived late-sixties tropicalist movement.

In a 1993 interview, Caetano and Gil told Jô Soares, the Brazilian late-night host, that they’d had the idea for the album while attending a birthday celebration for renowned Bahian author Jorge Amado. The party, like so much of cultural life in Salvador, took place in the Pelourinho, the city’s central square where the enslaved used to be brought, tied to the central post, and whipped. The pair recalled that several friends at that party, including government officials, told them they wanted to hold events commemorating 25 years since Tropicália. Wary of tributes, Caetano and Gil decided quickly that they would make a new album to commemorate the date, which would give them more control over the entire anniversary and any surrounding events, they told Soares.

The famous Bahian drumming group Olodum, who had recorded with Paul Simon on his 1993 album The Rhythm of the Saints, was meanwhile preparing a 1993 Carnival tribute for Caetano Veloso, and performed for Caetano that summer (December 1992 or January 1993). Caetano recalled that party quickly devolved into mayhem as he looked on from above. The composer watched as a series of fights broke out, the police began beating people and continued beating people even after they had their hands cuffed behind their backs. Meanwhile the public looked on, as if nothing out of the ordinary were happening, Caetano told Soares. He said it all gave him a terrible feeling of “social degradation, degeneration,” and inspired this song lamenting Brazil’s (and Haiti’s) struggles as violent post-slave societies.

The lyrics offer perspective on Brazilian constructions of race, and particularly how race and social class are fundamentally intertwined, especially through the reference to young men “almost White, but so poor they’re almost Black.” The song also reveals how police violence was systemic, practiced by Black and White alike, rather than following a clear breakdown along racial lines.

Caetano wrote the song shortly after the Carandiru prison massacre of October 1992, in which 111 prisoners awaiting trial in the São Paulo detention center were killed by military police.

Chaotic and brutal scenes from Haiti were also on the news as Caetano wrote. A military coup in late 1991 had overthrown that country’s first freely-elected president, Jean-Baptiste Aristide, installing a repressive military dictatorship. The coup reinforced the Haitian military’s long refusal to submit to civilian authorities, a trend that also emerges throughout the history of Brazil, culminating with the military dictatorship of 1964-85, when a rotation of generals governed the country. During the dictatorship, the state military police were treated essentially as a branch of the armed forces, and trained as army combatants targeting subversive or “marginal” elements of their own population. With the transition back to democracy in 1985, and the new constitution of 1988, the military police were put back under the jurisdiction of state governors, but still referred to as soldiers, and the culture of brutality and impunity — and of targeting internal enemies — persisted in the early 1990s as Caetano wrote, as it persists today.