Luiz Roberto Salinas Forte’s “retrato calado” as political action

Abstract

The abject torture inflicted on professor Luiz Roberto Salinas Fortes by the last Brazilian dictatorship meant to him a barbaric effort to snatch something specifically human from him; a word. To stand against this undignified word pulled out of him in the darkness of the prison cell, Salinas artistically created a speech meant to bring the gloom in which he was absorbed to the light of the public sphere. The outcome is Retrato calado, (literally "Mute portrait", but a wordplay out of "Retrato falado" Portuguese for "facial composite"), a book containing a noble speech about ignoble acts and sketching a portrait that unveils a person who is broken into pieces but is struggling to keep his integrity. Transcending the almost inevitable paths of allegation and grievance, Salinas
appears rather as someone who fulfills his duty to bring into the light of public sphere what was done to him; a duty out of the love for the world, where one can find his integrity. In this authentic political action, the philosophy professor embodies and exemplifies the dignity of the public speech by speaking about its opposite.