BRAZILIAN SOCIOLOGIST JAILED
[Under the title “Imprisonment of Florestan Fernandes, Sociol= ogist" (Detido o sociologo Florestan Fernandes), the soe IDS. article appeared in the conservative Folha de Sao Paulo’ (September 12
[Florestan Fernandes is one of Brazil's best-known sociologists, a prolific author, He has represented Brazil in numerous international symposiums, scholarly meetings, etc.
[In the final paragraph it is reported that authorities had promised to release the distinguished professor. We do not know whether this promise was actually kept, Protests over this shocking case would seem to be in order,] -
-- About 1:50 p.m. yesterday Professor Florestan Fernandes was taken prisoner in the offices. of the Faculty of Sciences and Letters of the University of Sao Paulo by Lieutenant Colonel Bernardo Schumann, in charge of the Military Police Inquiry [MPI] in that faculty, The professor was imprisoned because he refused to recant statements made in a letter which he had given to the military police officer the day before yesterday when he was called to testify,
The imprisonment of the sociologist: Florestan Fernandes caused great consternation among both teachers and.students, Students did not show up for classes last night. According to declarations made by students to our staff, it was not a student strike, It was Simply that they were in no condition to concentrate on class work in view of the prevailing atmosphere of terror.
"Terror"
Professors and instructors interviewed by our staff were unanimous in saying that those in charge of the MPI had behaved with tact, still this did not dissipate the atmosphere of terror within the faculty. The way in which the. investigators went about checking the patriotism or ideology of the professors under interrogation seemed strange: they were asked childish questions about nationalist . symbols or ordered to sing the national anthem. During the investigation of Prof, Florestan.Fernandes they asked him to sing the last. part of the national anthem, He excused himself because.of his voice, but he at once recited the required part of the anthem,
- We learned that when Prof. Florestan Fernandes submitted his letter, he asked if he had the right to do so. Lt. Col, Bernardo Schumann is. supposed to have responded, after reading the letter, that it was arrogant, Early yesterday. afternoon, Prof, Florestan Fernandes was called into the main office of the faculty. The director, Prof, Mario Guimaraes Ferri, asked him to take back what he had written in the letter, but he refused. In face of this refusal, Lt,
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Col, Bernardo Schumann placed him under arrest,
In his letter, Prof. Florestan Fernandes expresses displeasure and indignation over the schools and institutes of the University of Sao Paulo being included in the network of highshanded military police investigations that aim at "uncovering the centers of corpup= tion and subversive agitation:in the midst of public services maintained by the state government." After. pointing “out that university ethics do not permit professors to back partisan political causes, and that higher education, since it only brings heavy work and responsibilities, does not attract dishonest and corrupt people, he went on to say that he was submitting to the orders of the MPI only because he was unable to modify these orders, "Nevertheless , this does not signify any compromise or any negligence on my part," the professor made clear, He affirmed: “As in the past, I remain. and will continue to remain faithful to the same standards that have always governed my intellectual work as. professor, researcher and scientist," Accusations _
Various persons in the teaching staff of the Faculty of Philosophy attribute the accusations, made to the MPI, to a History Professor, He apparently denounced several of his colleagues ag Communists, thus creating an atmosphere of insecurity among the mem= bers of the faculty, particularly since the accusations are lies,
The Technical-Administrative Council of the Faculty of Philosophy, Science, and Letters of the University of Sao Paulo met last night and requested the appearance of Lt. Col, Bernardo Schumann so that he could clarity the reasons for the imprisonment of Professor Florestan. -
The officer said that the imprisonment was motivated by the disrespectful content of the letter sent by the professor, and eens that_the sociologist would be freed next Monday morning September 14]. Prof. Florestan Fernandes is being held prisoner at the 7th Company of Guards of Pedro it Park, f