At a ceremony to celebrate the United Arab Emirates admission to BRICS+ in South Africa, a Russian ambassador gifted this symbolic BRICS currency to the UAE ambassador. Here's the back :
Don't like the inclusion of the Brazilian Jesus, pretty obvious and easy choice, and Christians and evangelist on Brazil (and in general everywhere) are enemies of the workers.
It's their independence day today b.t.w.(, 200 and one year since 1822).
I'm christian and i'm a communist, clearly in favor of liberation theology, and it hurts that you're right.
It doesn't make sense, but the Church supports the poors in words and ~not in deeds, perhaps because a lot of communists were anti-clerical, but still, you're right.
St Augustine of Hippo's epitaph is :
What makes the heart of a christian heavy ?
That s·he is a pilgrim, and longeth for h·is·er own country.
That's my words, and those of millions/billions before me.
Far-right christians supporters would probably say that societal (pseudo-)problems are more important than socio-economic ones, and that the inhabitants of communist countries are asking for our help to free them.
But if i ever stumble upon a christian supporter of capitalist political parties, i hope that they'd confirm to me that our vision of the paradise/'city of God' on Earth is mostly the same. Christianity is fundamentally compatible with utopian socialism. And if that's the case, then we only need to produce an effective counter-propaganda to make them realise the usual lies about authoritarianism, the efficiency of free market with its external negativities, the steal of 'lucrative properties'/'passive income'/'capital's revenues', etc. Longing for a better world is half the work of being a communist, and western societies don't even have a long-term vision to attain this utopia.
Okay, I'm a Brazilian atheis but let me give u some trivia about Brazilian catholic church and the liberation theology.
The Brazilian catholic church backed the military coup in Brazil in 1964 but a lot of their members were actually left wing and a lot were communists. One of the most famous was the bishop Dom Helder Camara. He once said something like "if I give bread to the poor they call me saint, if I ask why they don't have bread they call me communist".
The first UNE(National students union) congress after they were banned was held in a church's basement and was heavily supported by local priests. UNE was banned because it was heavily dominated by a lot of communist parties and tendencies as well as other left wing parties. Most of the best, and worst, left wing politicians we have were in UNE in the 70s and 80s.
That being said, this monument is easily the most recognizable we have right now so I totally understand the choice.
The Cristo Redentor is still the most recognisable man-made structure in Brazil and possibly the first thing most foreigners think. And like it or not, Brazil is an overwhelmingly Christian nation (I'm atheist btw), so I think it's a false dichotomy to position Christians as enemies of workers when they're largely the same people.
Given we're the second biggest settler state in America, there aren't really that many physical monuments that are completely uncontroversial, but that one seems to me to be one of the least so.
I think the Cristo Redentor probably one of the most recognizable symbols of Brazil, and whether or not you are Christian it is pretty impressive feat. I am an atheist myself, but that doesn't preclude me from appreciating artistic/architectural achievements that represent religious symbology. Along with Taj Mahal (also pictured) it is one of the New Seven Wonders.
In your mind, what would be a better symbol? The National Congress is pretty recognizable but not nearly as iconic.
Christians and evangelist on Brazil (and in general everywhere) are enemies of the workers.
You mean that the absolute majority of the Brazilian workers are enemy of the Brazilian workers? Grown up from this silly and simplist anti-christian thought. Are you 15?
The Christianity is a important aspect of our culture, mainly the popular Catholicism syncretized with indigenous and African traditions. Furthermore, Christ the Redeemer is our most famous postcard for God's sake.
In addition, those who in fact invariably cause harm, because they are a kind of contemporary colonization project coming from the United States, the neo-Pentecostal evangelicals, are precisely the ones who are against any representation of Christ, if they could they would overthrow Christ the Redeemer tomorrow.
B.t.w., a new candidate to succeed to (the very interesting )Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the 2024 presidential elections has been chosen yesterday, her name is Claudia Sheinbaum, best of luck to her.