“It’s in the past and that’s all that matters”: Uses of the past in the narratives about the participation of Dilma Rousseff in the struggle against the civil-military dictatorship in Brazil

Abstract

This article examines the use of Dilma Rousseff's past (especially her militancy against the civil-military dictatorship established in Brazil in 1964) by herself, her allies, and her opponents, with an emphasis on the political campaign period that led her to presidential office. Attention is payed to the following matters: the attempts to frame this past in a wider social memory, in the context of the Anos de Chumbo (“Years of Lead”, the period of the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship); the conflicts surrounding the meaning of Dilma’s militancy as well as that of her contemporaries, mainly with regards to the use of violence as a political tool. Also examined are the ways used to legitimize these numerous versions of the past; and the meanings given to the notions of truth and lies. The broadest goal of the text is to contribute to the discussion of the uses of the past, notably the recent past, in Brazilian contemporary society, as well as reflecting more widely on the ever imprecise boundaries between memory and history.