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May 05 2012
Brazil Approves Racial Quotas in Higher Education
This post is part of our special coverage Indigenous Rights.
[All links lead to Portuguese language pages except when otherwise noted]
On April 26, 2012, in a plenary session of the Supreme Court of Brazil, the adoption of racial quota policies in higher education institutions across the country was unanimously approved. With this approval, universities, colleges and educational institutions are legally allowed to devote a specific percentage of places for students of African and/or indigenous origin.
The approval of the policy brings up again the controversial debate [en] on racial discrimination and racial inequality in the country, promoting important reflections and divided opinions.
Commemoration of the judgment of the Supreme Court on affirmative action. Photo of Emily Silberstein (CC BY 2.0).
The measure is a reflection of affirmative action policies being constitutional in the country since democratization in 1988. Diana Costa, on her blog, says that the “discriminatory process [that] affects people negatively are marked by stereotypes that consolidate them as socially inferior, incapable, degenerated, etc., allocating them in situations of sub-citizenship and civil risk.”
She also explains what affirmative actions are:
É um conjunto de políticas que compreendem que, na prática, as pessoas não são tratadas igualmente e, consequentemente, não possuem as mesmas oportunidades, o que impede o acesso destas a locais de produção de conhecimento e de negociação de poder.
The blog Religiões Afro Brasileiras e Política (Afro Brazilian Religions and Policy) says that the result of affirmative action policies in the country through the quota system has already shown results of “a notorious growth in the proportion of graduated blacks and pardos [approximate translation: brown, coloured]”, between 1999-2009, according to IBGE data (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics).
The University of Brasilia (UNB) was the first educational institution to adopt the measure when, in 2004, it started reserving 20% of its university places exclusively for blacks, and some other amount for Indians, without the entry requirement of taking the regular university exam. The Democrats Political Party (DEM) started a lawsuit against UNB in 2009 for considering the racial quota system a kind of racial court (to judge people's race by the colour of their skin). But since UNB adopted the measure, several other higher education institutions also started adopting the quota system.
To make the search process easier, the NGO Educafro provides on its website a complete list of institutions offering quotas for public school students, black students, indigenous students or students with disabilities.
#CotasSim vs. #CotasNao (#YesQuotas vs. #NoQuotas)
Many people celebrated the unanimous approval of the adoption of the quota policy. During the vote, the Supreme Court ministers themselves were very positive about the decision. According to Minister Joaquim Barbosa, the only black among those who voted, “these measures are intended not only to combat manifestations of blatant discrimination, but discrimination in fact, that is absolutely rooted in society, and so ingrained, people do not perceive it”, reported G1.
Photo #YesQuotas from @PriscilaPila on Twitter.
Journalist and teacher Jeso Carneiro also celebrated the decision. In his blog, he said that:
O STF (…) honrou sua importante missão de defender a supremacia da Constituição. A decisão da corte máxima do país é uma vitória de toda a sociedade brasileira, especialmente do movimento negro, que, desde a década de 1980, vem defendendo com firmeza a aplicação de ações afirmativas para combater o racismo e a exclusão social dos negros neste país.
On Twitter, through the hashtag #CotasSim, statements of support were intense.
Musician Sany Pitbull (@SanyPitbull) wrote:
A elite Branca brasileira tem uma divida à ser paga aos negros, aos pobres, aos índios e aos nordestinos desse país #cotassim
Blogger and historian Conceição Oliveira (@maria_fro) added:
Cotas não inventa a racialização bando de hipócritas, a racialização já existe em um país racista que segrega jovens negros #CotasSim
However, not everyone agrees with the decision of the Supreme Court. Videoblogger Daniel Fraga argues in this video that in a country such as Brazil, where racial mixing is very high, it would be difficult to correctly define who really is black or white. This decision would be made based on a “visual criteria,” and mentions UNB's case of two twin brothers, one considered white and the other black, the latter gaining a quota place at the university.
Others argue that the quotas would only be an easy way out for the poor public primary and secondary education system, a claim refuted in an article published by the Federal University of Minas Gerais, which says that “it is a big mistake to think that in the field of democratic public policies, advances are produced by sequential steps: first, improve basic education, and then democratize the university. Both challenges are urgent and need to be taken emphatically and simultaneously.”
The approval also generated racist statements. On April 29, a shop in front of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) had a wall spray-painted with the words: “UFMG will turn black.”
Blog Brasil Escola explains the importance of a better understanding of racism in Brazil for understanding affirmative action policies in the country:
(…) a miscigenação não exclui os preconceitos. Nossa última constituição coloca a discriminação racial como um crime inafiançável. Entre nossas discussões proferimos, ao mesmo tempo, horror ao racismo e admitimos publicamente que o Brasil é um país racista. Tal contradição indica que nosso racismo é velado e, nem por isso, pulsante. Queremos ter um discurso sobre o negro, mas não vemos a urgência de algum tipo de mobilização a favor da resolução desse problema. Ultimamente, os sistemas de cotas e a criação de um ministério voltado para essa única questão demonstram o tamanho do nosso problema. Ainda aceitamos distinguir o negro do moreno, em uma aquarela de tons onde o último ocupa uma situação melhor que a do primeiro. Desta maneira, criamos a estranha situação onde “todos os outros podem ser racistas, menos eu… é claro!”. Isso nos indica que o alcance da democracia é um assunto tão difícil e complexo como a nossa relação com o negro no Brasil.
The discussion will continue in the coming weeks since, besides this action, the Supreme Court is yet to decide the constitutionality of racial quotas when applied to a student who attended public school. It is worth noting that quotas are not mandatory - every educational institution may choose to adopt the policy or not. The University of São Paulo (USP), the largest higher education institution in Brazil, for example, does not use it.
This post is part of our special coverage Indigenous Rights.
May 04 2012
Brazil: Blogging Carnival on the New Forestry Code
Global Voices in Portuguese launched today, May 4, a blogging carnival [pt] about the new Forestry Code, recently approved by the Brazilian Senate. While some claim that agribusiness is hindered by the existing Code and Brazil is missing out on opportunities for economic development, environmental activists demand for a “zero deforestation” bill.
April 26 2012
Brazil: Activists Protest in Memory of Military Dictatorship
Earlier this month, a number of cities throughout the country held both real and virtual events to remember Brazil's Military Dictatorship (1964-1985).
Brazil's president recently sanctioned the law to create a Truth Committee to oversee the opening of the dictatorship's secret files (reported by Global Voices in March 2011), to reveal the location of the bodies of dozens of political prisoners and guerilla fighters and to shed light on the country's somber past.
"Impunity" - a Twitpic cartoon by Carlos Latuff
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS) recently pressured Brazil to revise the country's Amnesty Law, a law instated by the then military regime to provide amnesty for its various crimes, such as torture, kidnapping, concealing bodies and murdering opponents.
Amidst the polemics involved in reviewing the Amnesty Law and the Truth Committee, activists decided to hold protests and to voice opinions on the need to punish the Dictatorship's criminals and to fully open the still classified files.
Protest in Rio and the Cordão da Mentira [Fool's Block]
Projection of the image of reporter Vladimir Herzog, killed by the Dictatorship 1975, on the façade of the Military Club. Photo by Moana Maywall during protest actions organized Beatriz Seigner, Moana Mayall, Thiago Dezan, Luis Felipe and the group Fora do Eixo. Photo reprinted with permission.
On March 29, a group of at least 300 protesters gathered in front of the Military Club in downtown Rio de Janeiro where a group of reserve soldiers and wistful politicians from the so-called Lead Years had also gathered to “commemorate” the military coup of 1964. The actual date of the coup was April 1 of that year, but soldiers and officers have attempted to rewrite history on account of the actual date's corresponding to April Fool's Day.
Cartoonish Carlos Latuff posted a video evidencing police violence against the protestors, siding with the soldiers and officers who defended the Military's decades of torture and assassinations. He writes [pt]:
A polícia militar, como de costume, fez farta distribuição de gás lacrimogêneo, spray de pimenta e muita truculência. Ex-militares como o tenente-coronel Lício Maciel, que participou de operações no Araguaia, e o general Nilton Cerqueira, responsável pela execução de Carlos Lamarca, foram escorraçados pelos manifestantes
The youth who protested were beaten and wounded [pt] by the police, and many are receiving death threats [pt] from soldiers and officers, as exposed by Felipe Garcez in a post reproduced [pt] in the magazine Vírus Planetário, on Facebook.
On April 1, nearly 400 citizens protested [pt] the commemoration of the coup:
O Cordão da Mentira vem por meio desta repudiar o evento de celebração do golpe militar de 1964, realizado no Círculo Militar do RJ, e a ação violenta da Polícia Militar do RJ contra os manifestantes no dia 29/3/12. O Cordão classifica tais acontecimentos como, no mínimo, lamentáveis.
In his blog, Professor Chico Bicudo summarizes [pt] the motives of the protest:
Comemorar o golpe e a ditadura militar significa também comemorar a censura, as prisões, os assassinatos, os desaparecimentos, a tortura, a barbárie.
Photo of the protest. In the forefront are the Mothers of May, who headed the parade. Photo by the author. Unrestricted use.
The protest lasted throughout Sunday afternoon and referenced a number of symbols and landmarks related to the Military Dictatorship, as professor Pádua Fernandes explains [pt] in his blog:
A multidão desceu a Rua da Consolação, entrou na Maria Antônia, onde foi feita uma homenagem ao estudante José Guimarães, morto pelo CCC (Comando de Caça aos Comunistas) em 1968; desceu até a imagem da Nossa Senhora que a TFP [Tradição, Família e Propriedade, grupo de extrema-direita católico e base ideológica para o golpe - Nota GV] preserva na Rua Martim Francisco. Em seguida, na Rua Fortunato, outra homenagem, ao militante da ALN Marco Antonio Braz (…).
Depois de parar na frente de um jornal paulista [Folha de São Paulo - Nota GV], (…), a multidão seguiu e chegou ao prédio do antigo DOPS, hoje Estação Pinacoteca (que abriga o Memorial da Resistência), quase às dezoito horas.
Exposé
On March 26, a group consisting of militants from a variety of social movements and collectively called the Popular Youth Insurrection [pt] held a protest in a number of cities throughout Brazil [pt] against former military officers associated with torture, disappearances and assassinations during Brazil's Military Dictatorship. The goals of the movement is to reveal the addresses of these former officers and soldiers now accused of crimes against humanity and who remain unpunished on account of the Amnesty Law.
Reporter and blogger Rodrigo Vianna accompanied [pt] the protest in São Paulo in front of the company owned by Davi dos Santos Araújo, known as “Captain Lisbon”:
Photo of protest actions in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. Unrestricted use.
Davi, na verdade, nunca foi capitão. Era delegado de polícia, trabalhou no DOI-CODI em São Paulo e é acusado de torturas, assassinatos e abusos sexuais durante a ditadura.
Saturday, April 7 is officially Coroners Day, and the home of coroner and former director of the Coronial Institute, Harry Shibata, in São Paulo's Vila Madalena neighborhood was chosen as the gathering place for a protest attended by nearly 100 people. Blogger and professor Leonardo Sakamoto explains [pt]:
Ele é acusado de ser responsável por falsos atestados de óbito usados para acobertar assassinatos de opositores pela ditadura militar, ignorando marcas deixadas por sessões de tortura e produzindo laudos de acordo com as necessidades dos militares.
Graffiti and protests in front of Shibata's house. Photo by Leonardo Sakamoto. Unrestricted use.
Posters were also put up [pt] throughout the region renouncing the coroner for the atrocities he committed. Members of the Popular Insurrection have been threatened, and a petition has been going around [pt] as a show of solidarity with the movement. Hundreds of people have also posted photos on a number of social networks [pt] with posters and banners in support of the movement.
A video recorded by the alternative newspaper Brasil de Fato:
Concurrently, the blogosphere and Twittersphere saw the 5th collective blogging - #DesarquivandoBR (OpeningTheBrazilianFiles) [pt], with a total of 52 posts by different bloggers. “The main theme [of the blogs] was outrage against the torture, disappearances and impunity,” which lead to the rash of tweets marked with the hashtag #desarquivandoBR (OpeningTheBrazilianFiles) on the evening of March 31 and April 1.
April 25 2012
Accused of Molesting Children, Iranian Diplomat Leaves Brazil
An Iranian diplomat based in the capital of Brazil, Brasilia, was accused of molesting underage girls at a swimming pool on April 14, 2012. The Iranian official was questioned by police following complaints from parents, and was eventually released after invoking diplomatic immunity. While Iran's embassy denied the allegations, and said they were the result of a “cultural misunderstanding”, netizens both from Iran and Brazil didn't take long to react.
According to a video report [pt] on Brazilian TV, witnesses said that the diplomat had been pretending to swim around the pool in a “duck-diving” manner. While underwater he allegedly fondled four girls between the ages of nine and fifteen, police said. Some of the girls began screaming and their parents confronted the man. After being questioned by police, the diplomat left the country.
Screenshot from a Brazilian TV report.
Iranians were astonished to hear the news and criticized the Islamic regime for imposing a strict gender separation in the country, while diplomats of the country enjoy swimming in a mixed swimming pool. They also ridiculed the excuse of “cultural misunderstanding”.
Azarakan writes with irony about “cultural misunderstanidng” and says [fa]:
I think the islamic republic is right about cultural difference because this regime has raped its own people for many years without shame… have you heard that one of the Islamic regime's representatives was caught for his dirty activities? Can the regime escape the pressure of international public opinion this time?
In Brazil reactions came up on Twitter. Magalhães A.S, questioned [pt]:
@tovaga: Justiça e grande justiça, para que servem? É justo que o diplomata iraniano com “imunidade diplomática” abuse de crianças do DF? Só no Irã
"Grandfather says how many times I told you not to swim in this pool, there is a diplomat here". Cartoon by Mana Neyestani in Mardomak (used with permission)
Conservative journalist Reinaldo Azevedo, on his blog, also critized [pt] the allegation of “cultural differences” in the note from the Embassy - wondering how such an incident would be solved in Iran - and added:
É muito atrevimento a embaixada de um país que vive sob uma ditadura religiosa, que trata a divergência na base da bala e do porrete, que discrimina as mulheres, que as condena ainda ao apedrejamento, criticar a imprensa de um país livre.
From Iran, Jomhouriat writes [fa]:
The Brazil scandal displays the fall of the Iranian regime's morality. This disaster is just a window for the world to learn about behaviour of representatives of the regime… in our prisons there are many cases of torture and rape.
April 24 2012
Brazil: Journalist and Blogger Executed in São Luís, Maranhão
[All external links in Portuguese except when otherwise stated]
On Monday night, April 23, 2012, Brazilian journalist and blogger Décio Sá was executed by at least two shots to his head inside a bar in one of the most crowded parts of the city of São Luis, in the northeastern state of Maranhão. Blogger Candido Cunha explains:
Segundo testemunhas, ele estava sentado quando um homem caminhando apontou uma arma e atirou duas vezes contra a cabeça do jornalista, que morreu na hora. Depois, o matador saiu caminhando e fugiu.
Print of Décio's personal blog, with his last post
And adds:
Décio Sá era repórter do jornal O Estado do Maranhão. No seu blog pessoal, colecionava milhares de acessos e algumas polêmicas pelo estilo crítico dos seus textos e dos assuntos que explorava. Ele dedicava o trabalho a cobrir a política do Maranhão e seu blog era o mais acessado no estado.
Sources differ, some say he was shot twice, other that he was shot three times and also up to six shots, four in the head and two in the back.
He was at the Avenida Litorânea (Coastal Highway), one of the most important and crowded arteries in the city of São Luis, which is described by blogger and journalist Rogério Tomaz Jr, on Twitter:
@rogeriotomazjr: Litorânea é um dos principais espaços de lazer de São Luís. (em tese) Há viaturas da polícia circulando o tempo todo! Execução lá é surreal!
The execution itself, in a crowded place, with clear political content, is worrying enough says the police officer Caetano Pacheco. However, online debate also addressed Décio Sá's ties with the Sarney family, which has ruled the state for decades: José Sarney [en], head of the family is currently the president of the Senate, in Brasília, and his daughter, Roseana Sarney [en], is the governor of Maranhão.
Twitter user Arthur Santos from São Luis, recalls:
@arthurxside: nesse ponto é importante lembrar que Décio Sá era profundamente ligado à família Sarney.
Though he believes it is unlikely that the Sarneys would have been connected to Décio Sá's death, he developed an alternative theory and posted it on Twitter.
Décio worked for O Estado newspaper of the Mirante Group - a communication network owned by Sarney family encompassing radio and TV stations affiliated with Globo Network [en]. He blogged on the Blog do Décio and constantly attacked powerful political figures in his state.
Rogério Tomaz Jr adds:
@rogeriotomazjr: Crime organizado do Maranhão, que deve a Sarney sua perpetuação há décadas, faz mais uma vítima. Desta vez, um jornalista.
Historian from Maranhão, Wagner Cabral (@wagner_cabral), says that “violence and murder against rural workers is a commonplace in Maranhão… As is the violation of human rights” and adds:
@wagner_cabral: Agora a violência alcança novo patamar quando blogueiro ligado à oligarquia é assassinado na capital… a sensibilidade da sociedade explode
@wagner_cabral: Now the violence has reached new heights when a blogger linked to the oligarchy is murdered in the capital … the sensitivity of society explodes
Journalist Ricardo Noblat posted on Twitter and on his blog a picture of Decio's body just after the execution, and the same was done by the Mirante group, who posted a picture of his body on its homepage. The initiatives to link or put the picture of the journalist's body on the homepage of a site/blog were heavily criticized on the Internet.
Journalist Rogério Tomaz Jr challenged Noblat to “list ONE convincing argument to justify posting photos of corpses of people executed on his blog” and asked Décio's family to sue him.
According to Noblat's Twitter account, the gun used for the execution was .40 caliber, for the exclusive use of the police.
International NGO Reporters Without Borders, puts Brazil in 99th position in the ranking of press freedom
April 23 2012
Brazil: Passer by Injured and Arrested by Police in Demonstration
Brazilian blogger Conceição Oliveira reproduces [pt] a Facebook note [pt] from Pedro Urizzi (an actor from São Paulo), who denounces that he was injured and arrested by the Military Police when he was passing by a demonstration against corruption on April 21, 2012, on his way for dinner. The detention came after he made a call for caution, when he noticed there were children near an armed policeman.
April 16 2012
Brazil: Homage to the Victims of the Amazon in Washington, D.C.
This post is part of our special coverage Forest Focus: Amazon.
On Monday 9 April, 2012, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff made an official visit to the United States capital Washington, D.C. At approximately 10am local time, around 100 people gathered in front of the Brazilian embassy bearing images and messages in an act of solidarity with the Amazonian casualties.
The activists wanted to draw international attention to the Brazilians who were killed and who are being persecuted for their work to protect the Amazon rainforest, and promise Brazil further criticism [pt]. We invite you to learn a little more about these Brazilians and their causes.
Zé Cláudio, Maria do Espírito Santo and Laísa, “with a bullet in the head”
A Zé Cláudio poster. Photo by Felipe Milanez (used with permission).
The Brazilian journalist Felipe Milanez was in Washington and shared photos of the preparations and the protest itself on his Twitter account (@felipedjeguaka). Milanez has been one of the most active voices in giving visibility to those victims in the Amazon region.
He has often been compared to the conservationist and environmentalist José Cláudio da Silva, who was murdered with his wife, Maria do Espírito Santo, on 24th May 2011 near the city of Nova Ipixuna, Pará. Six months previously Zé Cláudio, as he was known, explained during a presentation on TEDx Amazônia that illegal loggers were causing a threat in the region and that he was living “with a bullet in the head”- he could be murdered at any time.
In November 2011, Milanez and Vice magazine released the documentary Toxic: Amazônia, about both the defence of the rainforest and the abundance of illegal loggers in Nova Ipixuna.
On 9 February, Maria's sister, teacher Laísa Santos Sampaio, was at the United Nations in New York to receive a posthumous tribute to the couple in a ceremony that closed the International Year of Forests. Laísa returned to live in the settlement Praialta Piranheira, in Nova Ipixuna, despite receiving death threats.
Felipe Milanez issued [pt] a petition on 12 February on Twitter demanding the authorities protect Laísa:
Laisa chega hoje a noite em Maraba. E teme ser morta! Abaixo-assinado pela proteção imediata de Laisa Sampaio http://t.co/qAvLBScw
Among the posters displayed in the protest, all produced by the artist César Maxit, was one saying Laísa: “I want to live.”.
"The Amazon and its people want to live". Posters with photos of Maria do Espírito Santo, Zé Cláudio da Silva and Chico Mendes, an environmentalist murdered in Acre in 1988. Photo by Felipe Milanez (used with permission).
Nilcilene de Lima, Dinhana Dink and the threat of gunmen
Nilcilene: I want to live. Photo by Felipe Milanez (used with permission).
Nilcilene Miguel de Lima was also not forgotten. After receiving death threats from land grabbers and illegal loggers since 2009 from the city of Lábrea, Amazonas, she now has protection from the National Public Security Force. In retaliation for her complaints of land invasions and tree thefts, Nilcilene was beaten and her house was burned.
In a Global Voices post from March 2012, the link between deaths and the agrarian economy in the country was discussed.
On 30 March, 27-year-old Dinhana Dink, who worked closely with Nilcilene, was murdered in a village in Nova Califórnia, Rondônia, where her family had recently moved. According to report agency A Pública [pt], Dinhana had informed on gunmen who raided, attacked and killed farmers in the region.She was with one of her three children, six-year-old Tiago, when she was shot in the chest in the early hours of the morning.
Several families who are close to Nilcilene left Lábrea, since the Amazonian town has no policing. It is the illegal loggers and their gunmen who exercise de facto power.
Belo Monte hydroelectric plant and Rio+20
There are also criticisms of the hydroelectric plant in Belo Monte, which is still under construction on the river Xingu, in Pará, which is set to have the 3rd largest capacity in the world. In 2011, indigenous and riverside communities in the region of Volta Grande do Xingu, as well as other cities both in Brazil and the rest of the world, said ‘no' to the plant [pt] because of its social and environmental impact.
"Protest in front of the Brazilian embassy, in Washington: Stop Belo Monte; Enough Violence! " Photo by Felipe Milanez (used with permission).
Recently, on 29 March, construction was halted following the death of a worker. On 4 April, riot control was called to force the workers to continue the construction but some of them resisted, according to the site [pt] Xingu Vivo.
"Rio-20: where human rights become 'green capitalism'?". Photo by Felipe Milanez (used with permission).
There were also questions raised regarding the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, scheduled for this June in Rio de Janeiro.
Maria do Espírito Santo and Zé Cláudio Ribeiro da Silva. Photo by Felipe Milanez (used with permission).
Threats to the Guarani-Kaiowá's land
On 8 April, anthropologist Tonico Benites' report [pt] was shared on Facebook several times. It recounts the harassment he suffered while trying to drive to the village of Irajuí, in the municipality of Paranhos, Mato Grosso do Sul, with his wife and children. Benites tells how the man who stopped him in the road knew that he was investigating the Guarani-Kaiowá and he said:
“Você tem filhos e esposa, né? Gosta dela e de teus filhos? hein?! fala?” Respondi que sim.
Então ele passou [a] me ameaçar: “Você vai perder tudo, ela que você ama e [os] filhos que gosta, vai perder, Vai perder carro. Vai perder dinheiro. Tudo você vai perder. Você quer perder tudo? Você quer perder tudo?”, ele repetiu várias vezes essas pergunta.
Then he started to threaten me. “You'll lose everything, the woman and children you love, you're going to lose them. You'll lose your car. Your money. You'll lose everything. Do you want to lose everything? Do you?” He repeated this question a number of times.
As previously reported on Global Voices, the lands of the Guarani-Kaiowá attract greed from cane sugar and soy farmers. On 18 November, 2011, 42 men entered the Tekoha Guaviry camp in Amambaí, Mato Grosso do Sul, and killed the chief Nísio Gomes, a woman and a child, and kidnapped others.
This post is part of our special coverage Forest Focus: Amazon.
April 12 2012
Spain: Resurrected Christ in Religious Procession Dances to Brazilian Pop Song
During the religious procession marking the end of the Christian Easter week in Alhama de Murcia, Spain, the image of the Resurrected Christ was struck by the Telomania, when the brotherhood carrying the image decided to play and dance to Michel Teló's international hit “Ai Se Eu Te Pego“.
The videos showing the parade appear in different Spanish media outlets and have been uploaded several times on YouTube, making it difficult to confirm the original source of the citizen made video. On La Opinión de Murcia [es]:
Los que pasearon esta Semana Santa por las calles de Alhama de Murcia se llevaron una buena sorpresa al ser testigos de un paso fuera de lo común, y es que el solemne ritmo que suele acompañar a las imágenes protagonistas cambió por uno más fiestero y desenfadado.
Resucitó by Juan Carlos Guijarro Moreno CCBY
The songs played during the procession were the hit Brazilian pop song Ai Se Eu Te Pego (Oh If I Catch You) by Michel Teló and the Waka Waka song by Colombian singer Shakira.
The Brazilian export song has made its way around the world, as previously written about in Global Voices' article Brazil: Cultural Debate as ‘Oh if I Catch You' Song Goes Global and Ideal.es [es] of Granada in Spain, who wrote about the particular Easter Parade had this to add:
‘Ai se eu te pego‘ ataca de nuevo sin contemplaciones. Es la canción del momento y traspasa fronteras como podemos ver en Youtube. Michel Télo ha creado escuela. El caso es que el tema de las Navidades, de la primavera y, posiblemente, del verano se ha colado hasta en la Semana Santa. Es la fuerza de Ai se eu te pego. Hasta en un periodo de retiro, espiritualidad y devoción como éste, Michel Teló se ha abierto un hueco con su ‘Ai se eu te pego‘ y una cofradía de Alhama de Murcia ha decidido modernizarse e ir más allá de las marchas típicas y se ha lanzado a bailar a su Jesús Resucitado al ritmo de los pegadizos sones de la canción del brasileño.
Although the brotherhood also made the image dance to the World Cup song the Waka Waka, made popular by Colombian singer Shakira, it is the video with Michel Teló's song that has become viral.
April 09 2012
Brazil: Contemporary Slavery and Proposals to Fight the Practice
In our first few years at school, we learn that slavery in Brazil was abolished with the signing of the Golden Law by the princess Isabel on 13th May 1888. In theory, it became illegal on that day to exercise ownership over another human being in Brazil: in practice, however, the exploitation of slave labour persists on Brazilian territory, albeit in a new guise.
Slavery in Brazil: from its origins to the present day
The practice of slavery is as old as human civilisation itself. Peoples conquered in battle were generally enslaved by their vanquishers or sold to third parties; on other occasions, people were forced to work to pay off their debts in a regime also known as servitude [pt].
The Slave of Paraty, Anderson - The only live statue of a slave in Brazil. Photo by Mario Crema on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
In the first case, the racial element is combined with force to justify the superiority of the victor as master. In the second, the worker was not the master's property and his freedom, at least in theory, could be re-purchased once the debt to his creditor had been paid off.
Contemporary slavery in Brazil is akin to servitude and is present in both rural and urban areas. In the countryside, procurers hired by ranchers in areas of agricultural expansion recruit workers to clear the jungle and to sow seeds. Among the false promises used to persuade workers are offers of free transport to the ranch, a decent salary, and accommodation and food paid for by the employer. Workers then find themselves in an entirely different situation from that described, as reported on the website of the NGO ‘Repórter Brasil', which describes [pt] how people come to be enslaved in the countryside:
Ao chegarem ao local do trabalho, eles são surpreendidos com situações completamente diferente das prometidas. Para começar, o gato [aliciador] lhes informa que já estão devendo. O adiantamento, o transporte e as despesas com alimentação na viagem já foram anotados no caderno de dívida do trabalhador que ficará de posse do gato. […] despesas com os emporcalhados e improvisados alojamentos e com a precária alimentação serão anotados, tudo a preço muito acima dos praticados no comércio. Se o trabalhador pensar em ir embora, será impedido sob a alegação de que está endividado e de que não poderá sair enquanto não pagar o que deve. Muitas vezes, aqueles que reclamam das condições ou tentam fugir são vítimas de surras.
Upon arriving at the place of work, they are surprised with conditions which are completely different from those promised. To start with, the ‘gato' (as the procurers are known) informs them that they are already in debt. The advance, transport fees and subsistence costs paid during the journey have been noted in the worker's debt book to be held by the procurer. […] expenses for the dirty, impromptu accommodation and the substandard food will also be noted, all at prices much higher than those normally charged. If the worker thinks about leaving, he will be prevented from doing so with the allegation that he is in debt and will not be able to leave until he pays his dues. Often, those who complain about the conditions or attempt to escape are beaten.
The study “Profile of the Principal Actors Involved in Rural Slave Labour in Brazil” [pt], published in 2011 by the Brazilian office of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) shows the seriousness of the current situation in Brazilian rural areas. In the report, the ILO states that from 1995 (the year in which the Brazilian government recognised that slave labour existed on its territory) to 2011, more than 40,000 workers were rescued from slavery.
Policies to tackle contemporary slavery
Although far from an honourable admission, the government's recognition that slavery continues to exist in Brazil has at least allowed the creation of governmental structures to combat the practice, such as the Executive Group for the Repression of Forced Labour (GERTRAF) and the First and Second National Plans for the Eradication of Slave Labour, which aim to prevent slavery as well as financially target those keeping slaves. Incidentally, it was as a result of the murders of three labour auditors on 28th January 2004 in the rural area of Unaí (Minas Gerais) that this date was chosen to commemorate the National Day to Combat Slave Labour.
National Day To Combat Slave Labour, 28th January. Photo: Verena Glass in Brasil Atual (CC BY 3.0)
Among other efforts to fight slave labour is the Proposal for Constitutional Amendment (PEC) 438/2001, which foresees that ranches where slave labour has been used will be expropriated and subject to land reform. The ‘PEC for Slave Labour' was approved by the Brazilian senate in 2001 and forwarded to the House of Representatives, where it faces pressure for change from the “rural bench”.
André Alves Fernandes, a student of Public Administration, says on the blog “Direito em Questão” [”Law in Question”] that expropriation - in combination with other punishments - is the best way of preventing [pt] the exploitation of slave labour:
A expropriação das terras onde ocorre o uso de trabalho escravo é perfeitamente cabível como forma de fazer o agente criminoso pagar pelos danos infligidos aos trabalhadores. […] No caso de crimes contra a liberdade, como é o caso de reduzir alguém à condição análoga à de escravo, a multa deve ser aplicada sem prejuízo das medidas penais cabíveis, em vista do tratamento degradante aos quais os trabalhadores estão submetidos.
Image by Francisco Mendes (@metalogis) on Tumblr, related with denouncements of slave work in Zara (August 2011)
But it is not only in the countryside that people in slave-like conditions can be found. Large cities also provide fertile ground for those seeking to exploit the vulnerability of individuals who have no alternative but to accept jobs which are degrading to human dignity. Amongst these individuals are Brazilians who have migrated from poorer regions or irregular migrants from countries experiencing severe poverty or armed conflict.
In his blog, Washington Araújo recalls the work of the Brazilian anthropologist Gilberto Freyre, “‘The Masters and the Slaves'”, when talking [pt] about the treatment received by some domestic workers:
[…] muitas dessas moças são praticamente forçadas a realizarem trabalhos domésticos, sem qualquer contrapartida financeira, vivendo em celas improvisadas, aqueles cubículos de apartamentos, geralmente conhecidos como “dependência da empregada”. É triste constatar que ainda temos –e muito– a transferência da Casa Grande e Senzala dos campos para os centros urbanos.
The fight against slave labour is being led on various fronts, including the economic and social development of the populations at risk and government monitoring and control. But this alone is not enough: the involvement of the Brazilian population in eradicating this degrading practice from the country is essential. One of the ways to help is to keep up to date, as it is through the indifference of ‘free' men and women that the criminals enslave vulnerable individuals. Keeping up to date also means boycotting companies who use slave labour, and to this end, the Ministery of Work and Employment has made available a list [pt] of employers caught using slaves, who once prosecuted lose their right to loans from public banks and find the commercialisation of their products restricted. Finally, it is important to put pressure on politicians to make the punishments for this offence as exemplary as those which exist for crimes such as drug trafficking and kidnap-murders.
April 07 2012
Brazilian Music Loses Influential Scholar
[All links lead to Portuguese language pages, except when otherwise noted.]
A quietly influential voice in the study of Brazilian popular music fell silent on Wednesday, April 4, when Rio de Janeiro-based researcher Santuza Cambraia Naves died unexpectedly at the age of 59.
Brazilian music is its most well-known cultural export, and in the country, popular music is so much a part of daily life and Brazilian being that people almost take it for granted. As Researcher Leonardo Davino wrote:
Portanto, quem tem a autoridade para criticar canção? De todos e de ninguém, aliada à forte penetração no cotidiano, a (linguagem) canção vive e sofre a mercê do gosto de quem lhe comenta, resenha, critica. E nem podemos dizer que, diferente do que acontece com a literatura, haja uma querela entre crítica acadêmica e crítica de periódicos e blogs. Em canção, há uma ensurdecedora ausência de espírito crítico.
Yet in spite of what Davino describes, in recent decades, the academic study of music in contemporary Brazilian history (Bossa Nova [en], Tropicália [en], and MPB - Brazilian Popular Music [en]) has made important strides.
MPB - Photo by Flickr user minusbaby (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Relevant, indispensable references
In her work, Cambraia was interested telling the interwoven stories of these musical movements. She articulated best what “MPB” meant in an important interview with Historia Agora (History Now), in 2007:
Quando surge o conceito de MPB nos anos 1960, criado pela geração pós-Bossa Nova, ou seja: a geração de Chico, do Edu Lobo, e etc. Que foi uma geração muito politizada, surgida dentro de um contexto nacionalista. Criou-se uma idéia de costurar o Brasil através da música. Todo mundo, nesse período estava pensando no projeto do Brasil. Não foi um nacionalismo xenófobo, é muito sofisticado.
Davino cites Cambraia's book Canção popular no Brasil (Popular song in Brazil) about this period after bossa nova
[…] a canção popular tornou-se um espaço crítico em relação ao seu meio de produção, consumo e circulação. (…) Não se trata de uma crítica que se restringe à participação do intelectual na vida pública, como de fato ocorre, mas também de operar com o pensamento crítico no próprio processo criativo, lidando com procedimentos intertextuais e metalinguísticos.
Cambraia provided “indispensable references” like these, beyond her work on individuals like Caetano Veloso and Noel Rosa, said Scholar Luiz Henrique Garcia on his blog Massa Crítica MPB.
This October 2011 lecture on tropicália is “classic Santuza” - she describes the movement as a reaction against the “mainstream” MPB of the time. She goes on to say how today it is almost impossible to find one “mainstream” popular music to react against.
While Cambraia's initial research was about 20 century Brazilian popular music, she was interested in what was popular in Brazil and the flip-side, Brazil's countercultures. She was at ease commenting on hip-hop, electronic, and other emergent forms of music. Her recent lectures on digital music consumption and the impacts of technological change on music production give an idea of ongoing relevance of her work.
Tributes to Santuza
Santuza Cambraia Naves, 19/05/1952 - 04/04/2012. Photo by Rui Britto (used with permission)
Revista de História paid tribute and explained Cambraia's significance in the post Triste Som do Silêncio (The Sad Sound of Silence):
Em diversas oportunidades a autora destacou a importância do método historiográfico para a etnografia com textos e foi uma das pioneiras na reflexão mais profunda e sistemática sobre a MPB.
Students, colleagues, publishers and cultural institutions paid tribute to her on Facebook and Twitter, including musician and ex-Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil who retweeted the sad news.
Musical group Passarela 10 (@passarela10) wrote “a great loss for those who produce and reflect on music.”
Gilberto Porcidonio (@_puppet) said “Another great professor leaves us: Santuza Cambraia Naves. How sad, how sad…”
Judging by the emotive reactions, her character was just as important as her academic production. Most knew her by her first name. As historian Cecília M. (@senhoritaci) put it “People like Santuza should not be allowed to die.”
Ethnomusicologist and Global Voices contributor Debora Baldelli, who studied with Santuza as an undergrad over a decade ago, described her as a long-time academic mentor who was “very caring and enthusiastic, and giving a lot of space.” Baldelli remembers on her blog:
Santuza tinha um modo muito próprio de dar aulas, um tom de voz muito particular também, uma risada e um sorriso contagiante e, claro, um cigarrinho fumado de um jeito muito Santuza, que entrava ali na aula como parte necessária do cenário. […] Ir para a aula da Santuza era como entrar num atmosfera à parte.
Cambraia's gift of “great intelligence, sensibility and generosity, and (…) contagious joie de vivre.“, as blogger António Cicero described her, will be remembered by many.
April 05 2012
Video: Firefox Flicks Video Contest
The Firefox Flicks worldwide contest will give awards for short films teaching web browser consumers about online issues such as privacy, choice, interoperability and opportunity, and how the non-profit Firefox brand helps people to face these issues. They have a series of inspirational films to set the creative juices flowing.
Mozilla wants the world to know more about what makes Firefox different: that we're a non-profit organization aimed at keeping the power of the Web in people's hands. Our hope is that through high-quality videos, we can help mainstream Internet users know more about the issues that affect their online lives and, more importantly, how Firefox addresses these issues. Winning videos will be used in worldwide marketing campaigns and public service announcements.
Participants will be able to create a short video ad or story (no more than 120 seconds long) that explains why Firefox does what it does in one of four categories: a 30 second spot, an animation, a short made with open technology, and a Public Service Announcement (PSA). A very complete creative brief goes on to explain the types of videos they'd like to receive and what they'll be looking out for to choose the winning videos, and the FAQ answers other pertinent questions. Submissions will be accepted until May 1st.
There will be a grand prize winner in each one of the regions: North America, Latin America, EU and Asia, Australia & New Zealand will receive $10000 USD. There will also be a winner for each of the 4 categories in each region who will receive $5000 USD. The prize money will be given either in video equipment or cash to be used to pay their tuition in their film school or to fund their next film project. All submitted entries to the contest will also receive a Firefox prize pack.
To make it easier for international entries, although films in languages other than English are required to have a complete script or subtitles, Firefox is volunteering to help if participants have trouble translating their film.
Many videos have already been submitted, and you can view and vote on them on the Firefox Flicks site. For example, these entries from India, South Africa, South Korea and Brazil.
Brazil: University Students Make Demands and Question Budget for Aquarium
About 200 students of the Regional University of Cariri [pt], Brazil, protested on Monday, April 2, for state government resources to hire teachers and improve infrastructure. On a video of the demonstration published on Youtube, students question the construction of a 250 million reais aquarium in Fortaleza, state of Ceará: “there is budget for the aquarium, but none for education?”
Brazil: Collective Blogging to Uncover Dictatorship Files
Journalist and blogger Niara de Oliveira compiled [pt] the 52 posts published within the fifth collective blogging “DesarquivandoBR” (”Unarchiving” Brazil), urging the opening of files kept secret from Brazil's military dictatorship (1964 -1985) and the repeal of the Amnesty Law.
April 04 2012
Brazil: Indigenous Rights and the Suspension of the Teles Pires Dam
Brazilian blogger Sonia Martuscelli reproduces [pt] an open letter on the suspension of the license for the construction of the controversial Teles Pires Dam, in an area of the Amazon forest inhabited by the indigenous peoples of Kayabi, Apiaka and Mundukuru ethnicities. The natives require measures to ensure their rights and to be heard on the matter.
March 31 2012
Brazil: “Kilombos”, Stories of Slaves Bridging Three Continents
A few days after the Brazilian government suspended for five months the reinstatement of ownership requested by the Brazilian Navy of the land of the Quilombo Rio dos Macacos in Bahia - one of the oldest communities of slave descendents in Brazil, inhabited by around 75 families [pt] -, on the other side of the Atlantic, in Lisbon, the international conference “The Passage of the Quilombos: from Africa to Brazil and the return to origins” [pt] was held at the beginning of March.
This meeting saw the release of the documentary Kilombos, produced by the Portuguese journalist Paulo Nuno Vicente, and described [pt] by him on the website ‘Buala' as “a rescue film about the Quilombos of Brazil”, which “transports us through the oral history of the African roots of the Quilombo communities, showing the intersection of these roots with contemporary cultural practices”.
O sentido de pertença a uma identidade extravasa a fronteira do medo. Ser quilombola é estar para lá do lugar. Uma imagem perdura para lá do que representa. «Kilombos» é uma tentativa de cartografia antropológica para os antagonismos do Brasil contemporâneo, metonímia oral do globalizante e do ancestral em fluxo.
31.3% of African slaves were transported to Brazil. Photo by Hollywoodsmille78 on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
The documentary, filmed mainly in the Brazilian state of Maranhão, but also in Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau, forms part of a triannual project [pt] promoted by the Portuguese NGO Instituto Marquês Vale de Flor (IMVF), in partnership with local organisations:
A escolha destes três países reside no seu passado histórico comum. Os navios que transportavam a mão-de-obra escrava vinda da costa africana rumo ao Brasil fazia a sua primeira paragem em Cabo-Verde. Esta rota marítima, que ligou os três territórios há mais de quatro séculos, deixou marcas ainda hoje visíveis.
Estes navios não transportavam para o Brasil apenas homens e mulheres africanos, transportavam igualmente tradições, crenças e costumes, ainda hoje respeitados e praticados nos três países.
The choice of these three countries lies in their common historical past. The ships which transported the slave labour force from the African coast to Brazil used to make their first stopover in Cape Verde. This maritime route which linked the three territories more than four centuries ago has left marks which are still visible today.
These ships didn't just transport African men and women to Brazil. They also transported traditions, beliefs and customs, which are still respected and practised in our three countries to this day.
Since Cape Verde was populated by Portuguese settlers in the second half of the 15th century, the islands have served as “a turntable for the slave trade between Africa and America”, says José Semedo, from Praia, in an interview [pt] for the documentary ‘Kilombos'.
“According to data from that time, half of the African slaves who arrived in Maranhão between 1774 and 1799 were taken from Guinea-Bissau”, notes [pt] Eduardo Mello, from the blog Jovens Diplomatas (Young Diplomats), in a text which gives his impressions on the return of the Quilombolas to their origins in Cacheu three centuries later, funded now by the IMVF project.
Quilombo Santa Joana - interview with João Baptista. Image captured from the documentary Kilombos.
“We witness and suffer the black holocaust”, comments [pt] Mello on the celebration at Cacheu, in which a play was staged depicting the trafficking of slaves in the 17th century, protagonised by descendants of African slaves themselves, the members of Quilombo communities in Maranhão - “in the horror of the ships, about to transform America and Brazil, they sang. They wept”:
Perto da sagrada Floresta de Cobiana, uma multidão celebra o reencontro com os retornados, que a cada frase, receita, som ou expressão, redescobrem origens e destinos. Hoje, a cidade está decorada com instrumentos musicais, artesanato, frutas, e histórias em comum. O cuxá, prato maranhense, é idêntico ao “baguitche” guineense – mas a etnia mandinga sempre chamou de cuxá mesmo.
A noite começa a banhar em prata o caudaloso Rio Cacheu. As apresentações das etnias guineenses misturam-se às dos quilombolas brasileiros, à voz de Eneida Marta, e aos discursos. (…)
Os grupos cantam, dançam, sobem em árvores, celebram o estranhamento de parentes separados pelos séculos. A matriz é guineense, mas muito mudou: nosso canto não é da e pra terra, é de procissão; o compasso marcado de cada etnia mestiçou-se, no Brasil, com a percussão de inúmeros outros povos do continente africano, no caldeirão dos entrudos (ou “N’tturudu”, como se diz aqui).
Near the sacred Cobiana Forest, a crowd celebrates being reunited with the returnees, who with each phrase, recipe, sound or expression, rediscover origins and destinations. Today, the city is decorated with musical instruments, handicrafts, fruit, and common stories. The ‘cuxá' dish from Maranhão is identical to the Guinean ‘baguitche' - although the Mandinga tribe have always called it ‘cuxá'.
Nightfall begins to bathe the fast-flowing River Cacheu in silver light. The performances of the Guineans merge with those of the Brazilian Quilombolas, the voice of Eneida Marta, and the speeches. (…)
The groups sing, dance, climb trees, celebrate the strangeness of discovering relatives separated by the centuries. The matrix is Guinean, but a lot has changed: our songs are not for and about the earth, they are processional; the beat kept by each ethnic group has intermixed in Brazil with the percussion of numerous other peoples of the African continent, in the cauldron of the carnival-goers (or “N’tturudu”, as they say here).
“The history of the Quilombos is one of liberty and dignity”
Screenshot of the documentary Kilombos.
As Mello says, “a lot has changed” in the identity of this culture which, in the words [pt] of the producer of ‘Kilombos', “crosses borders and brings continents closer together”. However, and returning to the Quilombo Rio dos Macacos mentioned in the opening paragraph of this article, the current struggle of the Quilombolas has shown that there is also a certain continuity in the violation of the human rights of these communities, such as the right to land.
Alan Tygel, from Vírus Planetário [Planetary Virus], draws a historical parallel, and speaks of “modern practices” [pt] which transport us once again on a journey between times and territories:
O sol já vai se pondo, e os escravos aproveitam o fim de tarde na senzala para descansar da jornada extenuante. O trabalho no engenho de cana é duro. Açoitados, acorrentados, longe da terra natal, separados de suas famílias, os negros ainda assim jogam capoeira e cultuam seus orixás. Nesse mesmo dia, houve duas fugas na fazenda: Zé Preto tentou sair por trás das amendoeiras de baixo. Almeida, o capitão-do-mato, não teve muita dificuldade: o negro não tinha mais forças, fugiu por desespero. As chibatadas que levou ali mesmo, no mato, foram suficientes para encerrar seu sofrimento e levá-lo para a outra vida. Gangá não teve a mesma sorte: foi para o tronco, e deve ficar lá por dias. Para todo mundo saber o que acontece com escravo fujão.
Num lugar não muito distante dali, cerca de 300 anos depois, a situação não mudou muito. Para os moradores do Quilombo Rio dos Macacos, foi como se a escravidão tivesse acabado e depois voltado. Alguns ainda possuem fotos de seus bisavós vestidos com trapos trabalhando na fazenda. Os mais idosos se lembram do jongo, da capoeira e do samba-de-roda na comunidade. Da época em que eram felizes, na sua roça, com seu pescado, sua dança e sua religião. Há cerca de 30 anos, voltaram a ser cativos.
The sun is now setting, and the slaves make the most of the end of the evening to rest from the day's exhaustion in the slave quarters. Work in the cane mill is hard. Whipped, shackled, far from their homeland, separated from their families, the slaves still practise capoeira and worship their gods. On that same day, two people had escaped from the farm: Zé Preto tried to sneak out behind the lower almond grove. Almeida, the person charged with recapturing escapees, did not have much difficulty in apprehending him: the slave was exhausted, he had fled out of desperation. The lashes which he received right there, in the forest, were sufficient to put an end to his suffering and dispatch him to another life. Gangá was not so lucky: he was sent to the trunk, and had to stay there for several days. So that everybody would know what happens to a slave who tries to escape.
In a place not far from there, around 300 years later, the situation is not much changed. For the inhabitants of the Quilombo Rio dos Macacos, it is as if slavery had been abolished only to return once again. Some of them still possess photos of their great-grandparents dressed in rags at work on the farm. The eldest remember the jongo, the capoeira and the Samba de Roda in the community, at a time when they were happy, in their countryside, with their fish, their dancing and their religion. Around 30 years ago, they became captives once again.
A petition [pt] remains in circulation calling for ownership of the Quilombo Rio dos Macacos to remain with the Quilombolas, who have received a guarantee for now that they will not be expelled in the next four months, during which time the Incra [pt] (National Institute for Colonisation and Agrarian Reform) must conclude a Tecnical Report of Identification and Delimitation with the intention of determining for how long the land has been occupied.
March 30 2012
Brazil: Irregularities Denounced in the Council of Representatives of Emigrants
[All links lead to sites in Portuguese unless otherwise stated.]
The Conselho de Representantes de Brasileiros no Exterior (CRBE) [Council of Representatives of Brazilians Abroad] is an organisation whose aim is to monitor Brazilians who live abroad. They aid the formation of the public policies that benefit these people through the improvement of the consular service and of the communication with the societies within these expatriate communities. This organisation, however, has provoked the indignation of those it represents owing to complaints of irregularities in the elections of their representatives.
The bylaws of this council were approved by the Ministry of External Relations (MRE) at the end of October 2010 by the then minister Celso Amorim [en]. The MRE estimated the size of the Brazilian expatriate community to be around 3 million people, but now, because of Brazil's recent economic boost, the figure has been revised to 2.5 million.
Elected representatives of the CRBE (03.12.10). Photo by Liliam Chagas/MRE on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Even if data is still unknown, these communities are significant both when referring to their size and to the value of what is sent to their families in Brazil.
Allegations of Fraud
Signs that something was wrong with the way in which the body was elected were already apparent during the elections in the U.S. in early November 2010 as Rui Martins, journalist and elected member of the CRBE, points out:
[Algumas pessoas] desejosas de votar para um candidato ao CRBE, descobriram com surpresa que alguém já votara por elas, utilizando o número de seu passaporte, CPF [Cadastro de Pessoas Físicas], RG [Registro Geral] e outros tipos de identificação que os emigrantes deixam ao se inscrever numa associação, fazer um requerimento, abrir um crédito ou enviar dinheiro para a família.
The latest complaint was made by Antônio José Cândido, a former illegal immigrant in the U.S. who now lives in Goiás, Brazil. Cândido had witnessed the sale of a pack of approximately 1,500 names, including registration information, left with the company Pão de Queijo Brasileiro, in Marlboro, Massachusetts. Cândido's complaint was published by the blog “Beto Moraes”:
Já não aguentava mais ver tanta coisa errada. Mas como era ilegal nos EUA tinha que me calar. […] Eu me lembro que na ocasião do resultado da eleição alguém comentou sobre uma fraude. Eu sabia que era verdade e fui obrigado a ficar calado.
Luoghi Comuni (Common Places) - Small stories of migration: Gislaine D.M., a Brazilian in Italy. Photo by lettera27 on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
It could have been internet voting that allowed for this problem. The current Brazilian electoral legislation only allows expatriates to vote in the consulates for presidential elections, and to allow them and the members of the CRBE to vote in person in the embassies would not only require changing the current legislation but would also create a greater workload for the unprepared consulates.
But the current electoral format for the CRBE election is facing resistance; one issue is the distribution of directors' vacancies. According to the establishing organisation, the CRBE will be made up of sixteen permanent members, plus their deputies, elected as follows: four for Central and South America; four for North America and the Caribbean; four for Europe; and four for Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Oceania. Thus, for example, a candidate who lives in Syria can be voted for by Brazilians living in Australia, which is completely out of rhythm with the main objective of the CRBE: to identify these communities and formulate policies that meet their needs.
The author of the blog BrasilBest is not very optimistic about the CRBE, and remembers the words of French President Charles de Gaulle in the post title, “Will Brazil one day be a great country?”, establishing a comparison between the works to be completed in preparation for the major sporting events planned in Brazil in 2014 and 2016, saying:
Ao tomar conhecimento dos inúmeros problemas que afetam o recém-criado “Brasileiros no Mundo”, confesso que não fiquei surpreso. Para mim ficou bem claro que a “fórmula brasileira do fracasso” que provavelmente irá destruir o CRBE, é a mesma que já ameaça a realização da Copa 2014 e as Olimpíadas –uma combinação de incompetência, má-fé, corrupção e vaidade.
Luciano Sodré, from A voz do Imigrante, wonders: “At the end of the day, what is the CRBE for?” He points out the media portrayal of “a constant battle between the deputies and the permanent members that is both shameful and futile”, and he adds:
O CRBE até agora, no meu ponto de vista, não mostrou claramente para que veio. Se é para ficar realizando reuniões e um “disse-me-disse”, não era necessário criar o tal conselho, pois há anos acontecem os encontros e discussões sobre o futuro dos brasileiros que moram fora do Brasil. (…) Posso estar enganado, mas minha posição é que o verdadeiro CRBE somos nós e nós é que devemos agir para decidir o nosso futuro.
New elections are planned for a further two-year term in the CRBE for late 2012.
March 28 2012
Brazil: Thoughts on Access to Science on Document Freedom Day
In the Document Freedom Day, March 28, Brazilian blogger and professor Ladislau Dowbor writes [pt] about open access to science, and questions the price of information. He also shares his views on the role of professors in the face of intelectual property, and an article about an online boycott by 8,209 researchers who are seeking to set academic research free.
March 16 2012
Brazil: Demonstration Demands President Veto on Forestry Code
On March 7, Brazilian activists organized an act (#vetadilma) urging President Dilma to veto changes on the new Forestry Code. Biologist Pablo Pessoa published photos and videos of the act, and wrote [pt] about his participation, claiming it was difficult to ensure “preservation or conservation of ecological processes without the recognition by landowners of the importance of these elements”.
March 15 2012
Brazil: Ministry Silences Report on Human Rights in Belo Monte
Brazilian journalist Leonardo Sakamoto comments [pt] on a news [pt] about a report he wrote for the government that denounces human rights abuses [pt] in the region affected by the Belo Monte Dam. The news points that almost one year after the visit, the report hasn't been formally discussed by the Ministry of the Special Secretariat of Human Rights.
March 13 2012
Intercontinental Cry Will Launch Spanish Edition
Ahni announces the upcoming Spanish edition of Intercontinental Cry [es], which will go live on March 31, 2012. “The main objective of IC Espanol is, of course, to provide Spanish readers with the same news that our English readers have come to expect from us; what I consider to be essential news on the global indigenous movement.” Find out about more languages on the IC Translation Project Facebook page.
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