This article “Brasil & CIA” originally appeared in CounterSpy, April – May 1979, pp. 4-23 and has since passed into the public domain. We believe it to be a rare & valuable document of the period, with particular historical relevance today. More information on involvement in the Coup from since-declassified U.S. Government documents can be found at […]
The argument for a moderating power “above political disputes” that could step in in the name of the people to enact regime change began during imperial times and is still used as a justification for returning power to the royal family today. During the 1940s, this so-called “moderating role” was passed on to the Brasilian […]
The depiction of Operation Lava Jato as an apolitical moral crusade, a new essentialist myth and a natural phase in the country’s development, is a divisive one in Brazil but nevertheless a narrative that Anglo media commentators have been almost unanimous in echoing. It is however becoming an increasingly difficult position to defend. The assertion that […]
As thousands of foreign media personnel parachute into Rio de Janeiro in the lead up to the upcoming Olympics, be prepared for an onslaught of what Pierre Bourdieu referred to as mind stopping cliches about Brasil and Rio de Janeiro. In many ways we can treat this as round two of the foreign media frenzy […]
Brasil will not end, of course, but Lula’s style of reform will. And this will happen in a way that we don’t yet comprehend. – Sérgio Baierle Sérgio Baierle, 61, was a legendary activist during the heady days of the Olivio Dutra PT mayoral administration in Porto Alegre during the 1990s, when it became one of […]
“Brazil: Social Change from Import-Substitution to Neoliberalism and the ‘Events of June’” By Alfredo Saad Filho originally published at nuvole.it Introduction [1] Large demonstrations erupted unexpectedly in Brazil in June 2013. The wave of protests lasted until mid-July, and it involved well over one million people in several hundred cities. At an immediate level, the […]
“Só uma crise, real ou percebida, produz uma mudança real.” – Milton Friedman. (Originalmente publicado em Inglês 22/6/15) O ano de 2015 está sendo terrível para o Brasil: uma conjuntura econômica mundial desfavorável, uma série de políticas equivocadas do início do primeiro mandato de Dilma Rousseff, e os escândalos que se seguiram à eleição de […]
“Entertainment has superseded the provision of information; human interest has supplanted the public interest; measured judgement has succumbed to sensationalism.” Bob Franklin (Newszak and News Media, 1997) Midweek 6pm, central São Paulo: workers are drifting into the local boteco for a cold beer or pinga, perhaps killing time to avoid rush hour before their long […]
In 2001 when Brazilian democracy proved strong enough to bring ex-metalworker and union head Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the Presidency the country became an international sensation receiving compliments from some of the most important leaders around the world as well as the United Nations. Equally important the economy was stable and grew at an average […]
In the new Brazilian movie, “Que Horas ela Volta?” Regina Casé plays a North-Eastern kitchen maid for a rich woman in São Paulo. The narrative is based on the tension created when her employer discovers that her maid’s daughter has been accepted to a prestigious public university. Although neither Casé nor her daughter are black […]