#brazil social inequality

[ranjith11]

The Dark Side of Brazil - The Dark Truth Exposed | geography facts

In this video, we'll be taking a look at the dark side of Brazil. Explore the social inequality issues, environmental challenges, and corruption that persist in this captivating nation. Discover the lesser-known aspects of Brazil and the human rights issues that have recently come to light. By the end of this video, you'll have a better understanding of the hidden side of Brazil and how you can contribute to addressing these issues.

[00baixo]

A black man and his belongings, which include a supermarket car and recycling pages, thrown at the curb of the intersection between Ana Cintra and Roberto Piva streets.

Friday, on the 21st day of April 2023. Tiradentes Day holiday, at Rua Ana Cintra, City of São Paulo, Brazil.

[editoriadors-blog]

Desistir é mais difícil para pessoas pobres e negras ❗

Enfrentamos o dobro do índice de pobreza dos brancos, que são 43,5% da população. também somos os que mais ocupam trabalho informal e com menores salários, segundo dados do estudo Desigualdades Sociais por Cor ou Raça no Brasil, divulgado pelo (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística), em 2022.

Além disso, nos permeiam, a depressão e ansiedade severas.

As opções de desistência são muito mais comuns na classe média, estamos falando de um país em que a maioria gigantesca está na beira da pobreza. Quem entra com algum grau de liberdade são poucos, as pessoas entram sem muita escolha, mudam de caminho mais por circunstâncias da vida do que por vontade ou sonho pessoal", afirma Mário Theodoro, doutor em Ciências Econômicas especializado em mundo do trabalho e emprego.

O entendimento é que, quanto melhor a preparação acadêmica, inclusive para mudar de rumo e arriscar sem tanto medo do que o futuro guarda.

Um exemplo apontado : de acordo com dados do IBGE, 69% dos cargos de gerência são ocupados por pessoas brancas, que costumam indicar pessoas de seu círculo, geralmente também da classe média, aponta o economista.

Doutora em Psicologia Social, Jaqueline Jesus enfatiza que as escolhas de vida importantes pesam mais para há classe negra. "Se eu entendo que tenho muita dificuldade de mobilidade social e poucos recursos, a tendência é tomar decisões que diminuam meu risco", completa.

Para que a população tenha mais poder de escolha, Theodoro e Jesus defendem que a saída deve ser por meio do combate à falta de oportunidades, pobreza e diminuir o trabalho informal, são fundamentais, segundo o economista.

"No Brasil o problema é termos milhares de pessoas para fazer qualquer serviço, por qualquer dinheiro, porque não têm outras opções. Numa sociedade onde você não tem oportunidade, é muito mais difícil desistir em prol de um objetivo de vida", afirma.

Na esfera individual, entre pessoas com poucas opções, Jesus acredita que a saída é sentar e mapear suas possibilidades, buscando "decisões esclarecidas" diante do cenário. Além disso, é importante conhecer muito bem sua comunidade e rede de apoio, aquelas pessoas que podem ajudar a enfrentar as dificuldades. Normalmente são os amigos mais próximos que a ajudaram a atravessar suas dificuldades, ainda que não resolva toda a raiz profunda do problema.

Entender que o meio tem um impacto grande nas decisões individuais, reconhecendo o limite do que é possível decidir, pode ser relevante para recomeçar de maneira protegida e organizada mais para frente, aponta a psicóloga Ivani Oliveira, vice-presidente do Conselho Federal de Psicologia.

Ao falar do assunto, um ensinamento que sempre ecoa nesse mundo: "Não desiste do estudo porque, sem ele, somos obrigados a aceitar o mínimo sempre".

Adaptado por: Daniel Lima, Jorinter - Jornalista.

Fonte: Folha de São Paulo.

[benjaminallhope-fulltimemind]

Now this is action, I'm a little jealous to be honest! Organisation no matter how small is very important to the communist effort and so is gender liberation. I personally commend each and every person who attended as it's a sign of dedication, we can't progress without moving in lockstep. I'm reblogging to give this post more visibility as it deserves it, we must support each other in our endeavours!

Comrades of the Classist Feminist Collective Ana Montenegro participated in the VIII PCB National Political Conference, held last month in Fortaleza. Militants from several states and also comrades of the National Coordination, elected delegates at the state levels were present.

On the occasion, we held a meeting with all the presents that make up the CFCAM, where we exchanged information and reports on the situation of our collective in different regions of the country, and collectively thought about suggestions to be sent to the PCB Central Committee, in order to advance our organization and widening and ensuring the militancy of more and more women in the party and collectives.

The 8th PCB National Political Conference was an important moment in the history of our party and its collectives, contributing to advance important debates and resolutions. Spaces like this, which bring together militants from all over the country, strengthen us and renew our energy to continue firmly in the feminist and anti-capitalist struggles in our venues. We salute the Brazilian Communist Party for the completion of the conference and, especially, comrades from Fortaleza who ensured the excellent structure for carrying out the work of the conference.

Long live the Brazilian Communist Party!

Long live the Classist Feminist Collective Ana Montenegro!

[weirdplutoprince]

What is Brazil like? What are your favorite things about it, least favorite things, and some day to day experiences that people not from there might not know about? Do you have any tidbits of culture you find interesting or are fond of?

Oh that's a big question! First of all it's huge lol. Unsure how accurate this specific map is, but if you google 'Brazil size' you find a dozen of these 'which countries fit in each states of Brazil' maps, so.

This is particularly relevant to everything I answer further ahead, because since it is so big and so culturally complex anything I say is just going to be a tiny speck compared to different regions.

And besides its size, Brazil had a lot going on colonization and immigration wise - meaning you have regions that have very notable communities from certain countries of the world. A famous example is that, if I recall correctly, we have the biggest japanese settlement of sorts outside of Japan. So that's something!

A funny side effect I can think that relates to this is that in historical novelas (live action television series that air daily and are known for melodrama and intensity) there is always a character that can be roughly described as 'The Sexy Irrevent Italian Immigrant' which is funny lol.

As for my favourite things I think the culinary is definetely a big one!!! There are so many dishes and they are so delicious all the time forever.

Brigadeiros are my favourites from all times, they're this candy made of condensed milk and chocolate powder, thats finished off with sprinkles. It's so yummy, you can also make it into cake filling and a million different things.

I also love Acarajé!! I think properly explaining what they're made off is a bit beyond my english vocabulary but just know its a fried dough that has yummy fillings and shrimp.

Otherwise I think I also like how warm and friendly people are. There's also this humour in how things are handled and seem which I think it's nice. Again, this is a perception I get from the region I live in, so I'm not sure. Though this is something people here tend to complain about when they go to other countries, so I guess it is at least some sort of significant cultural difference!

Least favourite things are the ever present fear of impeding violence and the blatant social inequality.

Day to day things hmmm. I have no parameter for how it goes out there, but I've heard enough stories that indicate this might be a thing: showering multiple times a day lol. I'm from a hot place so there is that, but this does seem to be a cultural thing as well. Like, I've heard of landlords from other countries complaining of brazilians that use 'too much hot water' because we shower a lot.

Just caring about cleaness a lot in general. Like, again I'm not sure which of these things are cultural outliners but from what I've heard, even things like. You go out, as soon as you go home you take off the 'going out clothes' and shower. And you avoid sitting on the bed sheets with 'going out clothes' etc.

Another thing is that is is very culturally acceptable to be late! To the point where being on time is at times more awkward. Like, say, if a party is said to start at 7 PM, people generally arrive closer to 8PM. I can remember a few birthdays I'd attended as a child where if you arrived 'on time' you'd basically be the only guest present and there would be this awkward air of 'Why Are You Already Here'.

I've also heard we say things we don't mean more? Like half heartedely making plans to go out with a friend or be there a certain day - but its kinda expected that neither side will follow through unless you constantly check up with each other during the days leading to it. I think this steems from a general need to be pleasant and friendly so people don't want to say they won't go or just outright refuse things without coming up with excuses etc.

And at last for tidbits of culture: CHILDREN BIRTHDAY PARTIES FUCKING RULE!!! HARD!!! Even if you're middle class or such it is not uncommon for parties to have trampolines, magicians, clowns, children entertainers etc. A shit ton of decoration, little gifts for the guests to take home (usually cheap toys or candy), themed birthday invitations, themed parties with decorated pannels, a shit ton of candy etc. There's even this sorta common agreement that even if you're bored because you'll be the only adult there, it is fun to attend children birthday parties because you'll eat like a king.

I think thats it!!! I hope that answers it! Thanks for the question :3

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Scholars in support of the Moraes Brazil decision against X

Here is the link, in Portuguese, here is part of a Claude translation:

We, the undersigned, wish to express our deep concern about the ongoing attacks by Big Tech companies and their allies against Brazil’s digital sovereignty. The Brazilian judiciary’s dispute with Elon Musk is just the latest example of a broader effort to restrict the ability of sovereign nations to define a digital development agenda free from the control of mega-corporations based in the United States. At the end of August, the Brazilian Supreme Federal Court banned the X platform from Brazilian cyberspace for failing to comply with court decisions that required the suspension of accounts that instigated right-wing extremists to participate in riots and occupy the Legislative, Judicial, and Governmental palaces on January 8, 2023. Subsequently, President Lula da Silva made clear the Brazilian government’s intention to seek digital independence: to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign entities for data, AI capabilities, and digital infrastructure, as well as to promote the development of local technological ecosystems. In line with these objectives, the Brazilian state also intends to force Big Tech to pay fair taxes, comply with local laws, and be held accountable for the social externalities of their business models, which often promote violence and inequality. These efforts have been met with attacks from the owner of X and right-wing leaders who complain about democracy and freedom of expression. But precisely because digital space lacks internationally and democratically decided regulatory agreements, large technology companies operate as rulers, deciding what should be moderated and what should be promoted on their platforms. Moreover, the X platform and other companies have begun to organize, along with their allies inside and outside the country, to undermine initiatives aimed at Brazil’s technological autonomy. More than a warning to Brazil, their actions send a worrying message to the world: that democratic countries seeking independence from Big Tech domination risk suffering disruptions to their democracies, with some Big Tech companies supporting far-right movements and parties.

Continue reading.

[dorka]

Most mar a garbage day is megirta (egybol ossze is omlott a site)

Over the weekend, the always-excellent John Burn-Murdoch, over at The Financial Times, posted an alarming bit of demographic analysis that has now gone very viral. It’s from a column Burn-Murdoch wrote titled, “A New Global Gender Divide Is Emerging,” which shows a tremendous political gap forming between young men and women around the world.

Burn-Murdoch followed up the column with a lengthy thread on X hypothesizing as to what may be causing this gap and thousands of other users have offered up their own diagnoses, as well: Smartphones, video games, economic inequality, lack of education, an over-correction post-#MeToo.

Interestingly enough, though, the bulk of Burn-Murdoch’s reporting focuses on South Korea, the US, Germany, the UK, Spain, Poland, China, and Tunisia. Which, aside from China and Tunisia, were all countries I worked in, covering elections and far-right radicalization, in and around the time period those countries’ respective political gender gaps began widening. I’m not saying I have a tremendously in-depth understanding of, say, Polish toxic masculinity, but I did spend several days there following around white nationalist rappers and Catholic fundamentalist football fans. And, in South Korea, I worked on a project about radical feminists and their activism against the country’s equivalent of 4chan, Ilbe Storehouse.

In fact, between 2015-2019, I visited over 20 countries, essentially asking the same question: Where do bad men here hangout online? Which has given me a near-encyclopedic directory in my head, unfortunately, of international 4chan knock-offs. In Spain, it’s a car forum that doxxes rape victims called ForoCoches. In France, it’s a gaming forum that organized rallies for Marine Le Pen called Jeux Video. In Japan, it’s 2channel. In Brazil, it’s Dogolachan. And most, if not all, of these spaces pre-date any sort of modern social movement like #MeToo — or even the invention of the smartphone.

But the mainstream acceptance of the culture from these sites is new. Though I don’t actually think the mystery of “why now?” is that much of a mystery. While working in Europe, I came to understand that these sites and their culture war campaigns like Gamergate were a sort of emerging form of digital hooliganism. Nothing they were doing was new, but their understanding how to network online was novel. And in places like the UK, it actually became more and more common in the late-2010s to see Pepe the Frog cosplayers marching alongside far-right football clubs. In the US, we don’t have the same sports culture, but the end result has been the same. The nerds and the jocks eventually aligned in the streets. The anime nazis were simply early adopters and the tough guys with guns and zip ties just needed time to adapt to new technology. And, unlike the pre-internet age, unmoderated large social platforms give them an infinitely-scalable recruitment radius. They don’t have to hide in backrooms anymore.

Much of the digital playbook fueling this recruitment for our new(ish) international masculinist movement was created by ISIS, the true early adopters for this sort of thing. Though it took about a decade for the West to really embrace it. But nowadays, it is not uncommon to see trad accounts sharing memes about “motherhood,” that are pretty much identical to the Disney Princess photoshops ISIS brides would post on Tumblr to advertise their new life in Syria. And, even more darkly, just this week, a Trump supporter in Pennsylvania beheaded his father and uploaded it to YouTube, in a video where he ranted about the woke left and President Biden. Online extremism is a flat circle.

The biggest similarity, though, is in what I can cultural encoding. For ISIS, this was about constantly labeling everything that threatened their influence as a symptom of the decadent, secular West.

(X.com/jeremykauffman)

Taylor Swift, an extremely affluent blonde, blue-eyed white woman who writes country-inflected pop music and is dating a football player headed for the Super Bowl. She should be a resounding victory for these guys. Doesn’t get more American than that. But due to an actually very funny glitch in how they see the world, she’s actually a huge threat.

Pop culture, according to the right wing, should be frivolous. Because before the internet, it was something sold to girls by corporations run by powerful men. Famous pop stars through the ages, like Frank Sinatra, America’s first Justin Bieber, or The Beatles, the One Direction of their time, would be canonized as Great by Serious Men after history had forgotten they rocketed to success as their generation’s Tumblr Sexymen. But from the 2000s onward, thanks to an increasingly powerful digital public square, young women and people of color were able to have more influence in mainstream culture and also accumulate more financial power from it. And after Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign was able to connect this new form of pop influence to both liberal progressive politics and, also, social media, well, conservatives realized they had to catch up and fast. And the fastest way to do that is to try and smash the whole thing by dismissing it as feminine.

Pop music? It’s for girls. Social media? It’s for girls. Democrats? Girls. Taylor Swift? Girls and also a government psyop. But this line of thinking has no limit. It poisons everything. If Swift manages to make it to the Super Bowl, well, that has to become feminine too. And at a certain point, the whole thing falls apart because, honestly, you just sound like an insane loser.

[probablyasocialecologist]

The families who reside in the settlement are dedicated to combating monoculture and preserving regrown native vegetation. “Monoculture is for profit,” dos Santos says, mentioning Brazil’s large soy crops that are mostly exported to the EU and China to be used as cattle feed. “We diversify our production for self-sustainment and as the basis for family agriculture,” he says. After the MST began gaining land in the mid-1990s, its members immediately began producing food. “Now that we had land, we started planting so we could eat and show society that we weren’t like the land monopoly owners who didn’t use that land for anything,” Suptitz says. Some of the families in the Roseli Nunes settlement came together to found the Alaíde Reis collective and purchase a small delivery truck to transport produce to the cities of Barra do Piraí, Volta Redonda, Resende, and Rio de Janeiro. In her 22-acre lot, Amanda Aparecida Mateus grows bananas, manioc, okra, tangerines, oranges, limes, beans, and coffee beans—a far more diverse and ecologically sound harvest than that of the coffee plantations that used to rule the area. For Mateus, it’s important to emphasize the movement’s efforts to produce organic, pesticide-free food. “We have so many MST settlements that have advanced in their food production development and today focus on the production of healthy food through agro-ecological methodologies,” Mateus says. “But above all, it’s essential to highlight that our food production has the objective of ending hunger in Brazil. The agrarian reform, the democratization of access to land, is a project to combat hunger.” MST activists argue that land monopolies are the root cause of inequality in Brazil and that the resulting hunger crisis is a type of political violence. During the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity rates rose by more than 4% in Brazil, mostly due to poverty, unemployment, and right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro’s mismanagement of the health crisis. In 2022, the movement released a statement reading, in part, “We know that hunger is a project of the current [extreme right] government and one of the most serious effects of political violence in Brazil, where half of the population doesn’t have enough food to supply their homes.” Since the pandemic began, the MST has partnered with other organizations to donate more than 7,000 tons of food to struggling families in Brazil. The MST is also combating slave labor, which a recent investigation found is heavily practiced by local agribusinesses. MST settlements abide by an agrarian reform law, which defines using slave labor as grounds for declaring a piece of land unproductive, allowing the federal government to reappropriate it. In addition to using this legislation to call attention to slavery-like working conditions in land monopolies, the MST grants its members autonomy over their own land and production. By owning the means of production, these rural workers don’t have to depend on exploitative land monopolies for employment. Connecting ethical food production to the eradication of hunger has boosted the movement’s visibility on social media over the past three years. For dos Santos, the movement’s mission has always been bigger than land distribution. “People ask me, ‘But why does the movement care about LGBTQ rights and women’s rights?’” he says. “And I say, ‘It’s always been about more than the land; we are all involved in everything.’”

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Mother Jones:

The world’s 3,000 billionaires should pay a minimum 2 percent tax on their fast-growing wealth to raise about $313 billion a year for the global fight against poverty, inequality, and global heating, ministers from four leading economies have suggested.

In a sign of growing international support for a levy on the super-rich, Brazil, Germany, South Africa, and Spain say a 2 percent tax would reduce inequality and raise much-needed public funds after the economic shocks of the pandemic, the climate crisis and military conflicts in Europe and the Middle East.

They are calling for more countries to join their campaign, saying the annual sum raised would be enough to cover the estimated cost of damage caused by all of last year’s extreme weather events.

“It is time that the international community gets serious about tackling inequality and financing global public goods,” the ministers say in a Guardian comment piece. “One of the key instruments that governments have for promoting more equality is tax policy. Not only does it have the potential to increase the fiscal space governments have to invest in social protection, education, and climate protection. Designed in a progressive way, it also ensures that everyone in society contributes to the common good in line with their ability to pay. A fair share contribution enhances social welfare.”

Brazil chairs the G20 group of leading developed and developing countries and put a billionaire tax on the agenda at a meeting of finance ministers earlier this year.

The French economist Gabriel Zucman is now fleshing out the technical details of a plan that will again be discussed by the G20 in June. France has indicated support for a wealth tax and Brazil has been encouraged that the US, while not backing a global wealth tax, did not oppose it.

Zucman said: “Billionaires have the lowest effective tax rate of any social group. Having people with the highest ability to pay tax paying the least—I don’t think anybody supports that.”

Research from Oxfam published this year found that the boom in asset prices during and after the Covid pandemic meant billionaires were $3.3 trillion—or 34 percent—wealthier at the end of 2023 than they were in 2020. Meanwhile, a study from the World Bank showed that the pandemic had brought poverty reduction to a halt.

The opinion piece, signed by ministers from two of the largest European economies—Germany and Spain—and two of the largest emerging economies—Brazil and South Africa—claims a levy on the super-rich is a necessary third pillar to complement the negotiations on the taxation of the digital economy and the introduction earlier this year of a minimum corporate tax of 15 percent for multinationals.

“The tax could be designed as a minimum levy equivalent to 2 percent of the wealth of the super-rich. It would not apply to billionaires who already contribute a fair share in income taxes. Those, however, who manage to avoid paying income tax would be obliged to contribute more towards the common good,” the ministers say.

“Persisting loopholes in the system imply that high-net-worth individuals can minimize their income taxes. Global billionaires pay only the equivalent of up to 0.5 percent of their wealth in personal income tax. It is crucial to ensure that our tax systems provide certainty, sufficient revenues, and treat all of our citizens fairly.”

[azspot]

It isn’t hard to see why the prospect of liberal socialism would be appealing today. Liberalism remains in or near crisis, and vast numbers express discontent with the neoliberal status quo. At the same time, there are very good reasons to reject revisiting forms of authoritarian ‘real existing socialism’ and communism. Liberal socialism offers the prospect of combining respect for liberal rights, checks and balances on state power, and participatory democracy with socialist concerns for the equal flourishing of all in a sustainable environment, the extension of democratic concerns into the workplace and ‘private government’, and pushing back on plutocratic rule. It also philosophically aligns well with concrete democratic socialist and radical movements appearing in the US, Chile, Brazil and elsewhere that want radical economic change but align with liberal values. Whether liberal socialism can transition from being a theoretical tradition and become a popular political ideology is a hard question. But, in a world defined by growing anger at inequality and plutocracy, liberal socialism is worthy of our loyalty.

The case for liberal socialism in the 21st century

[lais-a-ramos]

i usually don't talk about personal stuff, but, since i'm still waiting for the public university that i get my free therapy from to clarify whether the program continues or not, this is a rare venting post ig...

well, earlier today i attended the funeral of one of my paternal aunts.

she died yesterday, and we got the news late at night.

as it's common for many working class Brazilian families, there are, like, 4 houses in the same terrain that belonged to my late grandpa, so, we all sort of lived together, and it was a huge shock for all of us.

other relatives, who live in the same town as us, also appeared to show support.

i overheard a cousin of mine (who is younger than me and recently lost her own mom to breast cancer, which just shows how strong she is to come back to the place she grew up to support the remaining aunts, one of which is her grandma) saying this aunt died of pulmonary embolism, after she was diagnosed with pneumonia last week.

my dad also said something earlier this week about lung damage, if i remember correctly.

me and my big sis, we suspect that this aunt either got covid or was suffering from the consequences of long covid, since she was looking weaker and more fragile in the past 2,3 years or so.

but, since the health unit she was admitted has a pretty basic infrastructure, as it's common for small towns here, we might never know for sure, bc we don't even know if it occurred to the doctors to get her tested...

i wasn't particularly atached to her, but it's still very painful, bc, with the terrain thing i said above, i still grew up with her and she was a psrt of my childhood...

but, most of all, it's particularly painful bc of the son she left.

he has down syndrome, but, as it's also common for the lives of working class ppl here in Brazil and i assume South America in general, he never had access to the type of multidisciplinary healthcare support that he needed and is a person with high support needs, which means he depended on his mother for almost everything.

in the days she was still at the health unit -- which can't be called a hospital, bc it's this type of unit we call here "unidade de pronto atendimento" and serves to provide medium complexity healthcare -- he frequently asked to my other aunts and relatives when his mom would come back.

he is not completely abandoned, since my other aunts, who helped said aunt to take care of him, are still alive and will take care of him, which is a relief ofc...

but they are also elderly women, and way older than his late mother.

and, most of all, it's been devastating way beyond words to hear the poor guy crying and having panick attacks as these aunts and my other relatives tried explaining to explain to him that his mom won't come back to go to church with him ever...

bc, really, there are no words to describe how terrible it all is...

it's also a pretty average working class Brazilian experience, as you guys can see by the stuff i mentioned above...

and, i don't even know what's the takeaway from this story i'm telling...

i guess it's just to give an insight of what life here in this country can be, you know, besides all the venting and stuff...

(and, YES, i know that other countries on the Global South still got it worse.

in fact, even here in Latin America.

it's just that it's still fucking terrible that we have to endure this type of stuff every day bc of economic inequality and other social issues)

maybe it's just a reminder that life and death are way bigger than all of us idk...

just a reminder of one of those "remember you are mortal" moments that life throws at us sometimes...

yeah, sounds about right.

[droctaviolovecraft]

@dzthenerd490 and everyone who is scared shitless about the election results.

I just have one word about what I think about all the panic over Trump's election victory yesterday: BULLSHIT!

So I wrote this long Twitter text post to teach my dear young gringos who think it's the end of the world and don't know what a "this country is over" really is. I'll use my country as an example. (By the way, thank you United States for having implemented a military dictatorship here)

Brazil's modern political history is complex as hell, full of false promises, and recurring corruption, embodied by its recent presidents. Over the past few decades, corruption scandals have consistently rocked the Brazilian government, leaving its citizens with a profound mistrust in the political system. Yet, Brazil remains resilient, surviving despite the weight of corruption across administrations. SO, our resilience should offer a unique perspective to those who feel that the United States "ended" after Trump’s election, showing how a nation can persist even through systemic issues. It's hard to believe that you survived a civil war, a cold war, two world wars, only to come to this day and be whining.

Lula da Silva (2003-2011)

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, often called "Lula," (also our current president, being a disabled, illiterate, drunk, communist, corrupt, ex-convict and traitor of our nation) one of Brazil’s most iconic political figures. Founder, or one of the founders of the Workers' Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, P.T), Lula captivated the nation with promises of social reform and wealth distribution. Under his leadership, Brazil experienced economic growth, and programs like 'Bolsa Família" aimed to address poverty and inequality. However, the image of Lula as a champion of the poor began to erode as corruption scandals emerged, the most infamous being (literally translated) "Operation Car Wash". This sweeping investigation uncovered massive corruption in Petrobras, the state-run oil company, implicating politicians, CEOs, and bureaucrats. Lula himself was convicted of corruption, condemned by Sérgio Mouro and several other judges, though he maintains his innocence (what a surprise)

Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016)

As Lula’s chosen successor, Dilma Rousseff inherited not only the presidency but also the corruption issues left in the wake of Operation Car Wash. Her tenure was marked by economic decline, with Brazil entering a severe recession. Mismanagement, growing public debt, and increased inflation compounded the country’s woes. Though Rousseff was not directly implicated in Operation Car Wash, her administration’s ties to those who were deepened the mistrust of her government. She was ultimately impeached for manipulating government accounts to cover up budget deficits. Rousseff’s impeachment was a stark reminder that political corruption in Brazil often transcends party lines and policies, becoming ingrained in governance itself.

Michel Temer (2016-2018)

Michel Temer, Rousseff's vice president, stepped into power following her impeachment. Despite his calls for national unity and economic reform, Temer’s administration was quickly embroiled in its own corruption scandal. He was accused of accepting bribes from major business leaders, which led to him becoming the first sitting Brazilian president formally charged with corruption. Temer’s presidency was short but marred by scandal and extremely high public disapproval, reinforcing the perception that corruption was a fundamental part of Brazil’s political machinery. His administration highlighted how quickly Brazilian presidents could go from promising stability to being implicated in scandal.

Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022)

Elected on a platform that promised to root out corruption, Jair Bolsonaro's presidency was marked by populist rhetoric, divisive politics, and his own share of controversies. Bolsonaro campaigned as an anti-establishment figure who would bring transparency to government, which resonated with many Brazilians disillusioned with traditional parties. However, his administration faced numerous accusations of corruption, especially related to government contracts and family members allegedly involved in illegal financial schemes. Bolsonaro’s approach to governance, including his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated political divides, making him one of Brazil’s most polarizing leaders. His administration demonstrated that even those elected to disrupt the status quo could fall into the same cycles of controversy and scandal.

Each of these leaders came to power promising change, yet their administrations left Brazil in a deeper state of political dysfunction. The lesson here for the gringos who feel that the United States “ended” after Trump is that political resilience is possible even under extreme corruption and division. Brazil has weathered decades of compromised leadership but continues to function, with its people adapting to each shift in governance. While many gringos fear that one leader can irreversibly damage their country, Brazil’s example shows that even sustained political corruption, economic crises, and public mistrust have not stopped the nation from moving forward.

While political corruption undermines the progress and hope a government can provide, Brazil’s ability to endure speaks volumes. It’s a testament to the strength of a people who, despite every scandal, press on and push for accountability and change. So the lesson here is, don't let communists come to power, and don't let people with lisp come to power.

Also my honest opinion to this election and the two bums running: I don't support abortion and I'm not anti-immigration, so If I was an american, I would spend the day at home eating and playing something and wouldn't even go out to vote.

[00baixo]

Black man getting haircuts by volunteers of social action of solidarity bath for homeless people and their pets in front of the Municipal Theatre of São Paulo, one of the landmarks of the city for its architectural value and historical importance.

Sunday on the 27th day of August 2023 at Praça Ramos de Azevedo, City of São Paulo, Brazil.

[aflamethatneverdies]

Israel, pound for pound, is the best investment the US has ever made. Israel is the purest expression of Western power, combining militarism, imperialism, settler colonialism, counterinsurgency, occupation, racism, instilling ideological defeat, huge profitable war-making and hi-tech development into a manticore of destruction, death, and mayhem. From Israel’s victory in the 1948-1949 war, US planners saw the country as a regional military power that could contain Arab military and political ambitions. Amidst France’s imperial sunset in the Arab region, the country aligned with Israel – trying to deliver a blow to Nasserist Egypt through the 1956 Tripartite Aggression with Britain and Israel, and armoring Zionism for its successful 1967 war against radical Arab nationalism in the frontline states. Green-lit by the US, the war left the Syrian Ba’athist fusion of Arab nationalism and Marxist-Leninism in shambles and slammed the Nasserist national development project. Israel also became a useful assassin, eliminating Arab radical luminaries from Mehdi Ben Barka to Ghassan Kanafani.  From 1970 onwards, US military aid into Israel turned the country into a unique asset: an offshore arms factory; a regional irritant to Arab peace, stability, and popular regional development; a destructive gyro of world-wide counterinsurgency; a black hole drawing in regional surpluses and devoting them to endless defensive and offensive armament, away from social-popular welfare spending and non-military development. Uniquely, the US allowed Israel to keep the military aid partially within the country, slowly and steadily building up a massive military industrial capacity. Meanwhile, US-based capital inflows accelerated, taking advantage of Israel’s highly educated workforce in the defense sector, resting upon super-exploiting the Palestinian colonial underclass in other sectors. In return, Israel armed reactionary forces world-wide: from Argentina to Brazil to Chile, helping evade Congressional restrictions on arms shipments to the Nicaraguan Contras and advanced armaments to the South African apartheid regime. On a world scale, Israel has protected the political architecture of global capitalism. And its US domestic adjunct, the Anti-Defamation League, presaged wider Zionist capitalist investment in repression by carrying out wide-ranging spying on anti-racist, anti-Zionist, Arab-American and anti-apartheid movements.  Throughout this period, the US-Israeli ‘Special Relationship’ grew ever-more-intimate as relentless imperial proxy warfare and sanctions – from Libya to Lebanon – tarnished developmentalism, degraded republican aspirations, and often evaporated regional Marxism. Class inequalities widened as the Gulf, Egypt, and Lebanon became nodes of regional and global accumulation. The Israeli option for boosting world-wide accumulation through wars on republicanism and revolution served the US ruling class well. The ‘peace process,’ known as Oslo, imposed after the fall of the USSR and the encirclement of Ba’athist Iraq, sought neo-colonial neoliberalism under military occupation in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as part of the post-Soviet attempt to crystallize ‘the end of history’ through neutralizing or evaporating remaining sources of friction or strategic obstacles to the US project.  Incoming Palestinian diaspora capital alongside a corrupt Palestinian Authority (PA) was the US’s junior partner in the state-building agenda. Israeli capital became a seamless transnational component of the US’s globalization project, with large elements in burgeoning hi-tech counterinsurgency. 

[felicitypdf]

if we could get a handle on our social + financial inequality brazil would really be the coolest country in the world…. feeling homesick😐

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Cry of the Excluded celebrates 30 years defending 'the real independence' in Brazil

'All lives matter. But who cares?' is this year's motto

Excluded has much to celebrate. The space for denouncing the country's historic social inequalities brings together dozens of social movements and Catholic groups. To celebrate the anniversary, they are preparing a massive mobilization in various regions of the country on September 7, Brazil’s Independence Day, this year, under the motto “All lives matter. But who cares?”. The organizers presented the details on Tuesday (3).

Valdecir Santos Mendes, president of the Sociotransformation Commission of the National Conference of Bishops of Brazil (CNBB, in Portuguese), highlighted the activity’s permanent and procedural nature, which involves the mobilization of dozens of communities across the country. “The cry is a process and, therefore, it is permanent. It must happen every day at every moment of our lives, and especially where communities are being threatened.”

He talked about his expectations for this year's mobilizations. “May this cry echo from the ground: from the ground of the traditional peoples, the Indigenous peoples, the ground of the outskirts of our cities, from the homeless people, from farmers, family farmers, from traditional fishermen. The cry is a commitment to life,” he said. 

Alessandra Miranda, from the national coordination of the Cry of the Excluded, highlighted the process by which the activity is built, and the diversity of movements and organizations that join in its construction, united to overcome the system of exploitation that plagues society. According to her, this diversity poses challenges but also generates a wealth of good ideas and deep reflections on what to do. 

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