I’m sitting here waiting for a sore throat and a cough to get better so that I can drive down to Praia Grande Beach town where the IPF national Bench Press Championship is being held. Several indirect warnings not to go have floated my way during the past weeks. IPF officials have been sending these messages through young friends who feel terrorized. After all, there is the eternal Olympic Blackmail, IPF is far the largest and most organized federation here and they fear they will be redbuttoned even before lifting just for interacting with me. 

That’s why I need to go: I must be there and show young lifters that this country may be backward, but still belongs to the civilized world. In a public event, all citizens are free to come and go as they please. And I will be there for my friends who still participate in that federation. 

I began powerlifting with the IPF, pretty recently. Right from the start I assumed a cooperative approach, translated their rulebook to Portuguese, designed a social project, worked at meets, provided equipment, among other things. Critical attitude, however, is a personality trait: you can’t just wish it away. And very soon I reacted to both local and international issues concerning IPF’s rules, administration and relationship with lifters. 

As I always do, I wrote about many of them in Portuguese. My writing was taken as personal offense by IPF officials and the association of new rules I found specially harmful for the Bench Press and a hostile atmosphere made me decide to stop participating in that federation. 

I firmly believe, however, that minimal civility guidelines must be followed in a country where powerlifting is practiced chiefly by underpriviledged people with no government or private support. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to be born in different social conditions and have a better economic and educational status have the responsibility to set the example. To act as they do, creating an atmosphere of terror, threatening other federations to sue them for having been granted sports scholarships, struggling for hegemonic power, is unacceptable. 

I take part in all other meets, from all other federations (CONBRAFA, WABDL, WPC). I help wherever I can. And I stand against dictatorships and manipulation at all levels. 

That is why I need to go to Praia Grande tomorrow.