“Democracy is still here, and we stand with it”: read the message from H360’s president following Fernanda Torres’ Golden Globes victory
On this Three Kings’ Day, we shout out loud: Democracy is still here, and we stand with it!
It was with deep civic emotion that my husband, Ricardo Villela Marino, and I embraced Fernanda Torres shortly after her award, alongside director Walter Salles and the cast of I’m Still Here, on this unforgettable night in Los Angeles.
A historic evening not only for Brazil or the film industry but for all places where 21st-century populists peddle the illusion that authoritarianism is a solution to corruption and social violence.
In the film, when Eunice, portrayed by Fernanda Torres, urges her children to smile persistently for the photographer, despite his request for somber expressions in a story about her husband Rubens Paiva’s disappearance, she vaccinates us all against the fear sowed by militarism. She also delivers a second, even more timely message: amnesty is not the path to social peace. If the torturers of 1964 walked free, the terrorists of January 8 will not. Democracy is still here, and we stand with it!
The civic emotion in embracing Fernanda mirrors what I feel when embracing women incarcerated for years for carrying small amounts of drugs, Indigenous peoples without access to clean water in their forests, or mothers fighting to obtain Cannabis-based medications for their autistic children.
It is the same emotion in welcoming new social entrepreneurs at CIVI-CO or working tirelessly in Brasília with the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary branches to defend these causes, promote private social investment, and ensure transparency in public administration.
As a symbol of these efforts, sitting on my table at the Golden Globes’ party was a prototype of a new handbag we are developing with women exiting the prison system through the Tereza social business, marking its presence in the City of Angels.
On behalf of my family, I want to once again congratulate Fernanda Torres, Marcelo Rubens Paiva, Walter Salles, and Selton Mello, and honor the memory of Eunice and Rubens Paiva. Let us remind once more: today is a day for celebration! Today is Epiphany!
Patrícia Villela Marino
President of Instituto Humanitas360