"Madonna is still the same, but the world has gone backwards."
Brazilian trans activist Lana de Holanda writes about Madonna's show in Rio: "We're still hypocritical and conservative, maybe even more so than in the nineties. But there's hope precisely in the fact that Madonna maintains her consistency and audacity." Link to the full show.
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The queer community has always been with me. And I will be with you until the day I die.
Madonna's concert yesterday was cathartic in Brazil. Amid the terrible tragedy the country is experiencing with the floods in the south, we were immersed in a show that promised entertainment but delivered so much more.
Madonna pointed to everything we could (and can) be. It was an hour of relief and hope.
Sexual freedom. The diversity of bodies. The utopia of a better world. Romanticism that doesn't negate sexuality. Politics done with glitter, heels, and choreography.
The most daring of all pop artists. The inventor of everything that others do today and that we call pop. Madonna came to put the eyes of the world on Brazil. She received live coverage from the newspapers El País, The Independent, the BBC, Deutsche Welle, and Le Monde, who reported live.
Everyone reported that the concert went off without a hitch, that there were virtually no thefts, and that public transportation ran perfectly. There is a Rio that works. And Madonna also helped make it clear that the only reason this Rio doesn't exist every day, for all its inhabitants, is because of the political decisions made by the city and state governments. When they want to, it works.
Madonna paid tribute to the victims of HIV/AIDS, as well as to Brazilian artists and personalities. She made a point of demonstrating that this was not just another concert. It was the show. And everyone—whether the 1.6 million people on the beach or the millions watching from home—could feel it. It was the show. The grand show.
It's a little sad to see how Madonna remains exactly the same, while the world seems to have regressed. We're still so hypocritical and conservative, perhaps even more so than in the nineties. But there's hope precisely in the fact that Madonna maintains her consistency, maintains her audacity. Her determination and her poetry need to inspire the world. They inspire me greatly.
Lana de Holanda is Brazilian and a transvestite activist.
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