A ordem dos Advogados do Brasil e o ativismo sociojurídico

Abstract

The present text is the result of a research that intended to verify the existence of a new way to do politics that reflects directly in democracy as it is known. From the observation of the civil society and its actors, the research searched for results of social and political engagement, particularly of advocacy, through the Brazilian Bar Association, which was defined as social and legal activism. From empirical observation in which its basis consolidated from the annals of the Brazilian Bar Association National Conferences, the research relates this action to historical moments lived in the country, by searching for the social and historical principles which resulted in the constitutional process of 1988. As a form of study, it is verified how this social and legal activism articulates itself with the other well-known or widely studied engagements, especially the legal activism. The annals of the Brazilian Bar Association National Conferences have been elected as research sources due to the characteristics of those meetings which started in 1958 until its edition in 1988, on the eve of coming into force the Citizen’s Letter. Even if the starting idea is to have a focused look from the discussions that resulted in the process of redemocratization, the research presented here goes beyond, by showing the basis of the discussions about the action and participation of the Brazilian Bar Association in society. The research of the conceptual and historical basis show that the Brazilian Bar Association, by fully intending to assert the fundamental rights, has a privileged function in the civil society interlocution and in the mediation of social conflicts, either from society in relation to its actors or from society to the state. That way, the research concludes that such activism is a result of the heterodox performance of the lawyers that are part of the Brazilian Bar Association, with the intention of consolidating rights enshrined in the constitution. Such performance takes place in a way by a certain fundamental duty of advocacy of defending society and the Federal Constitution. To arrive at this result, besides the citing sources, the activities of the Brazilian Bar Association internal committees were also analyzed, as well as some bibliographic research so to delimit the concepts worked and relate them to the points of empirical observation.