Márcia Tiburi asks teacher for R$15,000 in compensation for joke

The PT philosopher, Márcia Tiburi, filed a claim for compensation in the amount of R$ 15,000 against the philosophy professor, Aluízio de Araújo Couto, for moral damages resulting from a comment, made in a joking tone, made by the professor in a publication on the social network X (formerly Twitter), in 2021.

In December 2021, when praising Lula’s (PT) performance, Tiburi wrote the following on his social network profile:

Very cool to see @LulaOficial uniting Latin America (or Abya Yala, as we prefer, averse to these European and capitalist patriarchal heterodenominations). Too bad this arouses fascist and neoliberal anger. Wrath (hatred+anger+envy) is the basic affect of the far right.

Commenting on Tiburi’s publication, Professor Aluízio wrote the following:

The cool thing about Marcia Tiburi is that you can easily imagine her giving a public class on rocks and cave paintings sitting at Ets airport (the famous discoportos) located in the interior of Mato Grosso.

According to the lawsuit filed by Márcia Tiburi, the professor’s post was intended to “ridicule and belittle the author’s intellect, as if the concepts she addressed were extremely abstract, outdated and irrelevant to the point that she could teach rocks and cave paintings ”.

To worsen the teacher’s comment, Tiburi tries to associate the joke with supposed “macho” behavior.

“The scenario of demoralization and public mockery to which the author was subjected generated commotion in the female philosophical community, with the National Association of Postgraduate Studies in Philosophy expressing its opinion on the case by issuing a note of repudiation”, says another excerpt from the action.

The note referred to by Tiburi’s lawyers was published on December 17, 2021 by the National Association of Postgraduate Studies in Philosophy (Anpof). In the note, the entity classifies the professor’s joke as an “attack”, but does not mention Aluízio’s name, nor does it show the content of the publication made by the professor.

“Our sexist and misogynistic society easily ridicules intellectuals when they do not reproduce the model of the submissive and docile woman of patriarchal society. The attack on social media, suffered by philosopher and writer Marcia Tiburi, is a typical example of misogyny”, says an excerpt from the note attached to the process.

Professor Aluízio’s comment was shared by other professors and a debate ensued, on Twitter, about the seriousness and relevance of Márcia Tiburi’s intellectual work.

Wanted by Gazeta do Povo, Professor Aluízio said that he never made any misogynistic comments towards Márcia Tiburi.

“They apparently made the following inference: Once a man criticized a woman, he criticized her because she was a woman”, stated the professor when reporting that the case spent around two years dormant until he was notified in court at the end. last year.

The professor lives in the interior of Minas Gerais and will have to travel to São Paulo to participate in the hearings regarding the process. The first conciliation hearing will take place this Friday (15).

Regarding the hearing, the professor says that “the only argument he would have about it would be a very general philosophical argument about freedom of expression”.

“Of course (the joke) is a criticism of the person, but it is a legal criticism. If I cannot criticize a public intellectual, if I can only praise, freedom of expression is dead”, said Aluízio.

“As a culture, we need to reach a consensus regarding these things because in the discourse we talk about terms such as empowerment, equality… But on the other hand it seems that the path of culture and, eventually, even legislation, makes women a type of being defenseless and incapable and that in the face of any offense she has to be protected and judicially rewarded. These two things don’t fit together. Either we take this discourse of equality seriously and subject everyone, without distinction of gender or sex, to the harshest terms and risks of public debate or we admit that it is not empowerment and equality at all. […] Because I think if it was a man suing me for this thing it would look a little weird,” he added.

Asked about the possibility of agreeing to a retraction, the professor said he cannot apologize for something he did not do. “There will probably be no conciliation,” he concluded.

To cover part of the lawyer and logistics costs, the professor launched a virtual fundraiser with the aim of raising R$5,000.

Wanted by People’s Gazettelawyer Débora Luciano – who represents the professor in the case – said that the defense strategy is to “never lower your head to someone who acts in complete bad faith”.

“Basically, Márcia Tiburi is using a tool called ‘lawfare’, using the law as a weapon to silence any political opponent. She files a compensation lawsuit against Aluízio because of a comment that did not cause any harm to honor or morals. Even though the basis for the request is completely schizophrenic, the cost of the process alone is enough for someone outside the area of ​​Law to feel coerced,” said the lawyer.

A People’s Gazette contacted professor Márcia Tiburi through the channels provided on their official websites, but did not receive a response by the time this article was written. The newspaper remains open for any statements from the teacher about the case.