Arthur do Val
Arthur Moledo do Val (born 21 August 1986 in São Paulo, also known by his pseudonym Mamãe Falei, is a Brazilian politician, activist member of Free Brazil Movement, YouTuber and entrepreneur.[1] In the 2018 Brazilian general election, he was elect State Deputy of São Paulo as member of Democrats (DEM), being the second most voted with 478,280 votes, after Janaína Paschoal.[2]
Arthur do Val | |
---|---|
State Deputy of São Paulo | |
Assumed office 15 March 2019 | |
Personal details | |
Born | Arthur Moledo do Val 21 August 1986 São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil |
Political party | |
Occupation |
|
He is a defender of mostly liberal ideas and uses his channel in the internet to spread it among his followers, which are more than 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube.[3]
Biography
The activist says that his question regarding the Brazilian economy and politics began in his younger years, inspiring him to create the channel "Mamãefalei" on June 2015. In the same period, there were protests supporting former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as Chief of Staff of Brazil.[4] Arthur took the opportunity to expose one of the main points of his job in the following year, in 2016, which would the criticism to the blind political militancy. The video was well receive by the public and has a start point for his career as activist. The format of his videos which he went to political protests (mainly left-wing ones) and questioned protesters about their defended agenda, in an attempt to expose inconsistences, brought growth to his channel. It began to be well noticed, associating itself to groups like Free Brazil Movement (MBL) and, along with the movement, received the Boletim da Liberdade Award, of the homonymous newspaper, in 2017; subscribers of the newspaper also voted for the winners election.
Between June and July 2016, Arthur met the MBL coordinators, beginning to produce content and militate as a member.
On June 2018, Arthur went to the Chamber of Deputies, talking about fake news and MBL accusations, as well as the request of Supreme Court Justice Luiz Fux for an investigation about fake news. Fux has cited an USP study, citing the MBL as a fake news spreader. Arthur said that such study didn't exist and asked for Fux's presence, saying that he would be involved with important questions such as the unconditional right given to the public service. Arthur concluded his speech with the following words:
What I propose here is that we should stop the demagogy, stop the authoritarian speech of the thought patrol! "We're gonna patrol WhatsApp, we're gonna regulate I don't know what..." I think there will be someone wanting to regulate the thinking or the bar talk with your friend. Just let people mature by themselves, as it always was in society, and we will fight fake news in a natural way. No one wants to share fake news. No one want to be ashamed of spreading fake information. And that's what we need to trust more than in a bureaucrat with a pen.
On 23 August 2019, Arthur stated he would leave Democrats to run for Mayor of São Paulo in the 2020 election.[5]
On 19 November 2019, Arthur was expelled from Democrats.[6]
In February 2020, do Val, along with the elite of the Free Brazil Movement, joined the party Patriota (PATRI) and reaffirmed his intentions to run for Mayor of São Paulo.[7]
Controversies
Confrontation with Ciro Gomes
One June 2018, during the recording of one of his videos in Fórum da Liberdade, Arthur approached the then pre-candidate for President Ciro Gomes,[8][9] questioning him about a statement which the politician said he would "receive Moro's gang with bullets", a reference to the then-judge Sérgio Moro.[10] After that, he was hit in the head with a slap from Ciro. Arthur ironized the former Governor asking "Do you think I'm Patrícia Pillar so you can hit me?" Arthur persisted: "He's weak! Weak! See? Ciro Gomes hit me in the head. Do you think you're in Northeast, Ciro?"
The confrontation generated repercussion. Thais Bilenky, writing for Folha de S. Paulo, considered that, in the act, Ciro touched the activist's neck, alleging that it's not possible to measure the intensity of the supposed slap. Ciro commented the fact to Folha saying "Do you think if I had hit him there wouldn't have a mark? As the way I am? I said 'don't be an asshole, man' and left".[11] Yet, the specialist in micro facial expressions and body language, Vitor Santos, certified by Paul Eckman Group,[12][13] evaluated the hypothesis of manipulation on the video of the struggle, analysing the footage of the fact and concluding that Arthur was really assaulted.
Political views
Arthur considers himself as liberal and, for some time, support abortion only in pregnancies when the woman is in risk or is a result of rape, cases in which the Brazilian laws current allow women to interrupt the pregnancy. But later he assumed he had made judgement and information mistakes, clarifying in a video and, since then, not returning to position about the subject. Currently, his points of view, had been criticized by the left-wing due to his positioning pro-capitalism. He is also a supporter of privatizations and criticized the racial quotas system, defending social quotas. In 2015, he openly assumed as a supported of death penalty and the reduce of the age of criminal responsibility with some restrictions.
References
- Belloni, Luiza (7 October 2018). "Arthur Mamãe Falei é eleito deputado estadual em São Paulo" (in Portuguese). HuffPost Brasil. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- Leite, Fabio (8 October 2018). "Bolsonaristas batem recorde de votação na Câmara e Assembleia em SP" (in Portuguese). Estadão. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- "Mamaefalei". YouTube. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- Barros, Michelle (17 March 2016). "Nomeação de Lula como ministro da Casa Civil gera protestos pelo país" (in Portuguese). G1. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- Rebello, Aiuri (23 August 2019). "Mamãe Falei diz que está de saída do DEM por candidatura à Prefeitura de SP" (in Portuguese). Uol. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- Borges, Beatriz (19 November 2019). "Deputado estadual Mamãe Falei é expulso do DEM" (in Portuguese). G1. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
- Venceslau, Pedro; Galhardo, Ricardo (5 February 2020). "Cúpula do MBL migra para Patriota e Arthur do Val vai disputar Prefeitura de São Paulo" (in Portuguese). Estadão. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
- Orrico, Alexandre (10 April 2018). "A briga entre Ciro Gomes e Arthur "Mamãe Falei" não tem lado certo" (in Portuguese). BuzzFeed News. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- "Vídeo mostra confusão envolvendo youtuber do MBL e Ciro Gomes" (in Portuguese). HuffPost Brasil. 10 April 2018. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- Fernandes, Leticia (26 March 2017). "Ciro Gomes diz que, se Moro tentar prendê-lo, receberá 'turma' do juiz 'na bala'" (in Portuguese). O Globo. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- Bilenky, Thais (9 April 2018). "Ciro e blogueiro ligado ao MBL se desentendem em fórum" (in Portuguese). Folha de S. Paulo. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- Vitor Santos (16 April 2018). "Ciro Gomes Pescotapa FAKE NEWS? (Análise de Linguagem Corporal - SCAN)" (in Portuguese). YouTube. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
- "MasterClass - Linguagem Corporal da Mentira" (in Portuguese). Sympla. Retrieved 25 August 2019.