When the Korean War broke out in 1950, Oswaldo de Andrade was not surprised. For the authors of the Cannibal Manifesto, this conflict was just further proof that humanity remains primitive and trapped in its cannibal constant.
“How many people will rejoice at the first outbreak of war! How many will cry!” Oswald wrote in an article published in Folha da Magnhão in the 1950s, just days after the start of the civil war.
In the early 1960s, the newspaper merged with Folha da Tarde and Folha da Noite. sheet.
The author, who is from São Paulo, sees a pattern that is constantly repeated in wars. Sarajevo, Gdańsk and Seoul were just triggers. “La Fontaine’s fable ‘The Wolf and the Lamb’ served as the perfect epitaph: ‘Who started it? You! You! And you two love each other today and tomorrow.'”
The author concludes with bitter irony, “Korea assures us that we are and will always be in the cave of our ancestors.”
Read the full story below. Part of Section 105’s Great Reaction Column recalls the chronicles that made history in Folha. This initiative is part of the newspaper’s 105th anniversary celebrations scheduled for February 2026.
Three Lines and Four Truths (February 7, 1950)
How many people would be overjoyed to see the first war break out! How many people will cry! Humans remain within a certain range of cannibalism. And if the inscription for the Valley of Tears were to be chosen, it would have to be La Fontaine’s wonderful fable, “The Wolf and the Lamb.” Who started it? It was you! It was you! And they love each other today and tomorrow. Today’s lamb will be tomorrow’s wolf.
Sarajevo, Danzig and Seoul are just triggers. And so is the world. Where? According to the theory of the priest astronomer Lemaître, the world is expanding and sooner or later its end will burst like a soap bubble on the infinite horizon of the galaxy. This theory has been confirmed by the great powers of astrophysics, including Einstein.
But before we go to hell, or anywhere at all, let’s give our visible enemies a solid atomic slap and shout loudly that reason is with us and that justice and every other moral argument in our ideological arsenal is on our side.
Amidst the chaos, there is a light that illuminates the future of humanity. That is the power of history. Those who support the forces of history will be victors even if they are defeated on the battlefield. That is the meaning of “Ground Zero”. Dominican Ducatillon has already written a book entitled “War, This Revolution”. What matters is the transformation of the world. Because, as that Indian of Rouen pointed out in the 16th century, we cannot continue this civilization with its cellars, huts, mansions and palaces.
How will the world change? For British workers? For Russian-Sovietism? For a managerial revolution? For progressive liberalism?
In any case, it’s time to shout peace. Enough of this militant nonsense! An old British caricature shows two troglodytes brandishing maces running towards a conflict that has broken out nearby. Let’s go! This will be the final battle!
Korea teaches us that we are still and always in the cave of our ancestors.
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