"We can't approve this," begged a congressman. "If we banish slavery, who will work?"
"Oh, you're so naïve!" the leader of the meeting said, genuinely impressed. "And they say every politician is a fox," he laughed.
The congressman didn't understand. His face showed his confusion as clear as day.
"I know we can't banish slavery; we need slaves. However, we also need to be in good grace with the English. Do you agree?"
The congressman nodded and then added, "We can't do both."
"Oh, but we can," disagreed the leader.
Again, confusion.
"You see, years ago, the English had slaves. Now, someone over there is saying that free work is cheaper than slaves," the leader laughed; the idea was ludicrous to him. "Because of that, they are travelling around the world saying that slavery is wrong and everyone should stop. If we don't stop, they threaten to stop buying our coffee, which is, maybe, even worst than freeing the slaves--"
The congressman interrupted, "I know all that. Why are you repeating something that we all know? We want a solution, not an explanation."
"Now," the leader ignored the interruption, "we see ourselves cornered. Or we free the slaves, or we stop doing business with the English--"
"Again, more solution less explanation."
"What the English didn't know is how creative we are. We're going to approve this Feijó's law—I even named after a known Liberal to give the English a sign that we believe in liberalism—and then we're going to pretend to enforce it."
Everyone was silent. The plan was cruelly brilliant.
"We'll bring the slaves, we'll pretend to free them, and after a while, we'll send them. The law is unambiguous. Newcomers can't be slaves," the leader smiled. "I'll repeat it very slowly; newcomers can't be slaves," he gave it a brief pause to highlight the word newcomers.
Everyone smiled and laughed.
"You see, we are approving a law only for English to see. We pretend we're obeying them, so they keep buying our coffee. At the same time, we keep our slaves."
Everyone laughed and clapped. The plan was perfect. So perfect that worked for decades, and to this date, Brazilians still use the expression for English to see.
THE END
*****
For English to See is an idiomatic expression used in Brazil to define laws, rules, and attitudes understood as demagogic and that no one obeys. The idiomatic expression's origin dates from Brazil's Regency Period and, possibly, was used for the first time to define the antislavery Feijó's law.
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lei_para_inglês_ver
