Project that criminalizes changing the flag advances – 03/08/2024 – Panel

The Senate Defense of Democracy Committee approved in a symbolic vote this Wednesday (6), a bill by Senator Cleitinho (Republicanos-MG) that criminalizes the production, distribution, commercialization and use of the national flag with colors and shapes altered by associating it with the symbol of a political party, groups and social movements.

The project also provides that, for anyone who fails to comply with the rule, the penalty is imprisonment from 3 months to 1 year or a fine.

Cleitinho is an ally of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), whose voters appropriate the national symbol. The report was made by Hamilton Mourão (Republicanos-RS), former vice-president of Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

Now, the text goes to the CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission) for analysis on a final basis.

Sought by the Panel this Thursday (7), the president of the Commission for the Defense of Democracy, senator Eliziane Gama (PSD-MA), declined to comment on the project.

The author of the project justifies that the national flag “is perennial and cannot be distorted”.

“No matter the political orientation, no one is given the right to subvert the colors of our national flag”, said Cleitinho, when presenting the text, in October last year.

To the Panel, the senator said this Friday (8) in a message that “national symbols must be respected” and cited the rumored Caixa Econômica Federal exhibition canceled after protests by opposition and centrão parliamentarians in October last year.

The exhibition – called “The Scream!” – brought together works by seven different artists, including Marília Scarabello, who presented her work “Bandeira”, with reinterpretations of the Brazilian flag based on images cataloged by the artist since 2016.

In one of the works, the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), senator Damares Alves (Republicanos-DF) and the former Minister of Economy Paulo Guedes had their photographs inserted in a trash can with the flag print national. Another work displayed an illustration of former president Bolsonaro squatting, defecating on the Brazilian flag.

“Everyone is free to defend their ideas, but the limit of respect must always prevail”, said Cleitinho.

In his favorable opinion on the project, Mourão stated that the proposal contributes “to maintaining respect for national laws and symbols, a fundamental expression of the civic and republican spirit.”

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