The Arab Spring, seen from Brazil

Matias Spektor – New York Times, 12/23/2011

 

Dilma Rousseff before a military court in Rio de Janeiro in November 1970. Handout/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Last week, a photograph of Dilma Rousseff’s terrorism trial in 1970 circulated on the Internet, sending shockwaves across Brazil. She was 22 and an active member of a guerrilla cell fighting the dictatorial regime of the day. In the shot, young Dilma looks pretty and clean-faced, like a freedom-fighter girl taking on a gerontocracy of mighty generals.

The contrast with her accusers is stark. They may be the ones wearing the uniforms and carrying the guns, but it is they who look frightened, too meek to face the camera. When the photo was taken, Rousseff was already in custody and had been repeatedly tortured. She ended up serving a three-year sentence.

Looking at that picture today, you cannot but think of the thousand youths who are now taking up arms against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria: Perhaps one day one of them will be democratically elected to run the place.

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