Páginas da guerrilha: uma análise do discurso da esquerda armada brasileira

Abstract

This paper presents some reflections on discourse historicity aiming to contribute to the field of semioticstudies by examining the discoursive structure of texts of the two most important Brazilian armed left-wingorganizations, namely the Acao Libertadora Nacional [National Liberty Action] (ALN) and the Vanguarda PopularRevolucionaria [Popular Revolutionary Avant-Garde] (VPR), in the light of the rhetorical concepts of ethos andpathos. In the context of the dictatorial period in Brazil, and influenced by the ideals of the Vietnam War and theCuban Revolution, amongst other events, left-wing militants decided in favour of the revolution, by forming armedgroups to fight against the government. These groups, in activity in Brazil in the period between 1968 and 1973,were eventually massacred by the military regime, the majority of the combatants being murdered and those whosurvived suffering torture, living clandestinely, or sent to prison or into exile. Aiming at an understanding of theoption for the armed fight as well as of the values and mobilizing impulse of these individuals, we comparativelyanalyzed ethical and passion elements in documents in the ALN’s and the VPR’s respective archives, according tothe theoretical-methodological principles of French discourse semiotics. The approach of the notion of enunciationactor and particularly of the concepts of ethos and pathos, from a semiotic perspective, revealed similarities anddifferences in the discourses of the ALN and the VPR, based essentially on passion aspects.