Jorge Amado entitled one of his most famous works « the country of carnival ». He thus recalled the organic links between his country, Brazil, and this period of trance and lawlessness which since the 19th century has served as an outlet for inequalities and symbolically reverses the social order. Yet this year, the mayor will not release the key to the Carnival and his King, the « rei Momo », King Momo will have to be patient. For the first time since 1912, there will be no festivities.

https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2021/02/18/au-bresil-le-non-carnaval-s-acheve-dans-la-resignation_6070424_3210.html
Certainly, some cities will organize a « catch-up » session in June or July, but will this make sense? Does this break symbolically mark the end of an era of hope and renewed pride for many of those forgotten by the system? The streets of Rio are once again filling up with families forced to rummage through garbage cans to find a few reliefs that will make up their meal in this country, a giant in the food industry. Wouldn’t the new carnival be a reversal, no longer of social order but of social logic, where the goal would no longer be to try to raise citizens and society upwards but on the contrary to maintain it in its role as a beggar? Wouldn’t the carnival be permanent with leaders like Bolsonaro or Trump, once mocked in those same carnivals and who lead or directed the great powers of this world? Wouldn’t this « permanent carnival » lie in wearing masks because capitalist globalization has privileged the economy over those who produce it and money over the health of citizens?