How to understand that crude Marxism in a literary text or, otherwise, bring that ideology to a more popular language with which people identify?

These were some questions that many attendees asked during this presentation at the headquarters of the literary festival, given the complex phenomenon of the various Social Economic Formations (FES) through which humanity has passed.

However, Betto, with a clear explanation in the work to reach the majority, broke down each sign of boredom and turned it into accessible words.

He discussed his volumes ¨Is Marxism Still Useful?, For a Critical and Participatory Education and Jesus Militant¨.

In the case of the first title, he narrated how he was born and the dictatorship in Brazil, ended in 1985.

At that time there was mandatory discipline in secondary schools, a social and political organization in Brazil; it was a method imposed by the military dictatorship, he commented.

An editor called me and said: “We want to get into that topic, but make a book in reverse, against the military dictatorship; a progressive, left-wing book. And can you make that book? He asked, well I need you to do it in a month, Betto said to his editorial partner.

And he answered smiling: “Well, but in a month! I have the ability to write it in that time, journalism has given it to me, but we have to create conditions which at that time were exceptional,” the Brazilian author replied to the editor.

When referring to the first presentation: Is Marxism still useful?, the writer -with over 70 books published- pointed out that in just 30 days, without internet, he had to visit libraries, do in-depth research, but in that period everything was facilitated and a month later it was taken to the printer.

The result was a text with a lot of impact that has sold four million copies and has been adopted by many schools, not only secondary schools, but also universities.

However, there were many demonstrations in the country against the book, he noted; In Sao Paulo itself, in the south of Brazil, demonstrations by teachers, because it was a text that taught communism, in short, he recalled.

The only thing that generated was to give more publicity to the book and I really liked it, Betto confessed.

The second book discussed by the important writer and politician was for a critical and participatory education, due to his inclination to always work with popular education, which he considers fundamental in political processes.

A group of friends asked me what I think is important today in the Latin American situation and I answered: “There are three priorities: the first, the second and the third Political Education of the People.

In other words, we live on a planet hegemonically dominated by capitalist ideology and we suffer from this for 24 hours, therefore, we must establish very effective and pedagogical methods so that people have a critical conscience towards this necrophilous system such as imperialism, he pointed out.

And that militant Jesus, because for a long time I have been very concerned about the idea of how people make a rather outdated reading of the Bible, especially the Gospels, explained the theologian.

The Brazilian Dominican friar thanked those present in the José Antonio Portuondo Room for coming to the reading. The right now has a mode of denialism, he stated; The right is afraid of culture, he concluded.

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