Excerpt from the HQ "Contra Tempo – A Journey of Two Hundred Years", a work produced by Instituto Ciência na Rua. Credit: Reproduction
Excerpt from the HQ "Contra Tempo – A Journey of Two Hundred Years", a work produced by Instituto Ciência na Rua. Credit: Reproduction

the comic Against time – a journey of two hundred years, a dystopia in the form of a comic, a project that questions the crystallized vision around the Independence of Brazil – whose bicentennial is celebrated this year –, ended up becoming the focus of debate this week, when the FSP revealed that the magazine's distribution in the newly opened Paulista Museum had been disallowed by the institution's board. The ban goes against the museum's strategy of privileging social memory, questioning a frozen and officialist view of history. And it reveals much of our fragile political moment.

The institution guarantees that there was no veto, but that it thought it best to postpone an eventual distribution, linking it to a planned dissemination strategy. “We only ask that its distribution take place with mediators, within the context of an educational action, so that it is possible to propose a debate on the issues presented in the work”, says the communication of the museum. The fact is that the direct language of the material scared. Especially with regard to the drawings, which show the main character inserted in a dark scenario, which has a lot to do with the reality of current Brazil, with references to streets renamed in honor of torturers, gun propaganda and the massive presence of neo-Pentecostal churches. on the outskirts of cities.

The magazine began to be conceived in 2020 by the institute Science on the Street, a non-profit journalism project aimed at young audiences. The intention was to take advantage of the event to offer a different narrative about the independence process, says Mariluce Moura, director of the association, which aims to reach public school students and obtained support from the SBPC to print the comic strip. According to her, the museum seemed to be a natural place of distribution. With collective authorship by Ana Cardoso, Hyna Crimson, Igor Marques and João Paulo Pimenta, the magazine addresses important issues, such as popular participation in various emancipatory movements, and emphasizes a vision of independence as a “historical process without heroes”, driven by the fight of anonymous Brazilians.

Overzealous or fear of retaliation in a delicate period like the current one? Hard to know. In any case, the magazine remains at the disposal of those interested in its digital version and launches of printed material are also being planned throughout Brazil, such as the one that took place on the 21st, at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, with a lecture and distribution of material.


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