"Racist holiday" In a 2007 article titled "
Feriado racista" ("Racist holiday"), Constantino criticized the existence in Brazil of
Black Awareness Day, although this is not a
national holiday (but that has been implemented in some
states, such as
Rio de Janeiro). He illustrated his view remembering
Martin Luther King Jr. and his "
I Have a Dream" speech, which condemns
racism, as for Constantino, this holiday can be considered racist. Constantino says that "Brazil is a country with a recordist number of holidays, as our country isn't rich enough to have that luxury." He believes that, in Brazil, politicians always focus on minority groups, seeking to guarantee privileges in exchange for votes. About the people of the country, he claims that "people do not care about the amount of holidays because it is one more lazy day for a people who idolizes sloth." Constantino in particular cites King's quote of "it's my dream that my four children would one day live in a nation where they would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of character", claiming that in Brazil the opposite has been going on, and "people would be taking advantage of his black condition to get privileges, wanting to be judged by the color of their skin and not by character." He gives as an example the implementation of racial quotas in Brazilian universities and the establishment of black holidays, saying: "This is what they are encouraging in the country: totally abandon of the concepts of individual merit, and adopt the skin color criterion, still subject to gross errors like white people who claim to be black, and still manage to enter into Brazil's universities by racial quotas. Whether the individual is black, yellow, brown or white, it says absolutely nothing about their values and character. There are admirable blacks and perfidious blacks, as well as admirable whites and perfidious whites. But nobody is brave just for being black, because there is no moral choice about it. This would be like admiring someone for being tall or short. It makes no sense." Constantino also mentions an "oil curse": that countries that have oil production much above its consumption, and its economy based on exporting oil, usually have their wealth extremely poorly distributed (which he argues are "usually concentrated in the hands of a small elite, which becomes totalitarian"), and do not develop other economic potentials due to the ease that too much oil extraction provides, as is the case with almost all countries of
OPEC. He cites "countries like Venezuela, Mexico, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Russia have state companies controlling oil exploration. No one would dare say that it did well for their respective peoples, victims of authoritarian regimes."
"Caviar left" In a text published in the newspaper
O Globo in 2012, Constantino used the mayoral election of
Rio de Janeiro, disputed mainly between
Eduardo Paes (
PMDB party, elected) and
Marcelo Freixo (
PSOL, a left party) as an example to write about what he sees as a "Brazilian
caviar left", a pejorative term broadly similar to the English "
champagne socialist" and the American "
limousine liberal", stating: "Rio de Janeiro is a victim of a real plague: the 'caviar-left', formed by the financial and cultural elite of the country. Their members pose as altruistic, while praising bloody dictators like
Fidel Castro. From the comfort of their apartments in Paris, because no one is made by iron." Constantino further claims that "our artists and leftist intellectuals have schizophrenia, because admire socialism but also love three things that only capitalism can give to you: Good caches in hard currency, no censorship, and bourgeois consumerism. Hypocrisy is useful: approaching the power, these intellectuals get privileges.
Petrobras, for example, has allocated R$ 652 million for 'cultural sponsorships' between 2008 and 2011." Constantino went on to claim that one of the reasons for the formation of the "caviar left" is "a sentiment of guilt", saying that "culturally, in a country that condemns profit, and sees the economy as a zero-sum game, where Joseph, to get rich, need to take from John, the success ends up being a 'personal offense', as
Tom Jobim said." ==Personal life==