The power of the testimony of victims of the military dictatorship for understanding state violence and building a culture of peace in Brazil

Abstract

State violence is historical and recurrent in Brazil. Although it did not emerge during the period of the Military Regime (1964-1985), it was deepened and professionalized at that time. With redemocratization, it continued to be perpetrated against vulnerable groups, especially impoverished and racialized populations. The article aims to analyze how the use of the testimonies of the victims of the Military Dictatorship can be beneficial to the process of understanding state violence and to the construction of a culture of peace in Brazil. To this end, it presents reflections on the atrocities that occurred during the authoritarian period and their calculated oblivion, which stimulates their reproduction today. It analyzes the potential of victims' testimonies for understanding of institutional barbarism and for the construction of a culture of peace, which presupposes the overcoming of state violence. It concludes, inter alia, that the testimonies are profoundly important for the construction of a collective memory about the country's recent past and for raising society's awareness of the current victimization by state violence.