Brasilia, October 19 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Brazilian intellectuals and academics published Friday a manifesto condemning the procedure of impeachment initiated by radical sectors of the right-wing opposition in Parliament.

The document, entitled “The Brazilian Society Needs to Reinvent Hope,” warned that the impeachment was putting at risk the “democratic constitutionality” of the country and violated the rule of law.

Jurist Fabio Konder Comparato, one of the manifesto's authors, said the arguments supporting Rousseff's dismissal referred to facts that occurred before her second presidential term, when she was only responsible for her current term's actions.

As for political analyst Andre Singer, he said the opposition movement tried to carry out a coup. “We are here to say loud and clear that the attempt to impeach President Dilma Rousseff is a serious institutional setback and a serious attack against democracy,” he said.

Writer Fernando Morais warned there will be political resistance against any plan that would attempt to remove Rousseff via institutional methods, like President Fernando Lugo in Paraguay, or via the use of the force, like the case of Manuel Zelaya in Honduras.

“We have to make absolutely clear that they will not win over via a coup d'etat. Only via a vote. No matter whether this is the Paraguayan or Honduran coup. Only the vote can change the national project that we are committed with. We will not allow this kind of deception,” said Morais.

This is an attack against the democratic advances made after the dictatorship. “[We are going toward a public and republican space, and a democratic space of rule of law. This is what they are trying to refrain,” said philosopher Marilena Chaui.

Rousseff is being seriously challenged by opposition groups' efforts to undermine her administration and initiate an impeachment process against her in the lower house of Congress. The Brazilian Supreme Court, however, decided to suspend the lower chamber's speaker Eduardo Cunha initiative to start the impeachment process, granting Rousseff a bit of a reprieve as well as some extra time to line up support in Congress.