Writer, geographer and former development professional who has lived in Brazil for 26 years. Former directorate member of the Fórum Nacional de Reforma Urbana (National Urban Reform Forum). Has lived in São Luis, Recife, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Author of “Os Megaeventos Esportivos na Cidade do Rio de Janeiro e o Direito á Cidade” (CEPR: Porto Alegre. 2016). Editor of "Voices of the Brazilian Left" (Sumare: São Paulo. 2018). Editor of "Year of Lead: Washington, Wall Street and the New Imperialism in Brazil" ((Sumare: São Paulo. 2019) Irregular correspondent for the Chicago radio show This is Hell.
Lula has been exonerated from all Lava Jato charges, but the investigation into the US role in the greatest travesty of justice in Brazilian history continues. By Brian Mier This week Brazil’s Superior Justice Court ordered the Justice Ministry to grant former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his defense team access to previously […]
During a guest appearance on Brasil 247’s Globalistas, a web TV program which I co-host with Nathalia Urban, former Brazilian Foreign Affairs Chancellor Celso Amorim spoke about Brazil’s role in Minustah, the multilateral UN occupation of Haiti which began in 2004. With the goal of contributing to the debate of the current political conjuncture in […]
With a career that spanned nearly 70 years and 34 albums, Brazil’s beloved singer and activist passed away peacefully at the age of 91 by Brian Mier In 1953, a young woman appeared at an amateur singing competition in the auditorium of a Rio de Janeiro radio show. Her borrowed clothes, too big for her, […]
The candidates have not been officially declared for this year’s Brazilian presidential elections but we all know who they are, and they can be divided into two categories… By Brian Mier I moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1991 during the inflation crisis when Fernando Collor was president. There was plenty of poverty in my […]
In heated Twitter exchange, millionaire Fox News commentator Glenn Greenwald insinuates that a labor union representing petroleum platform workers who made an average of US$350/month in 2020 is “privileged”. By Brian Mier It all started on the Flow podcast. Sitting with his husband Glenn, David Miranda, one of 10 members of Brazilian congress from PSOL […]
In the macho, back-country world of Sertanejo music, Mendonça demanded respect for women by Brian Mier On Friday, November 5, news broke that a small plane had crashed in Caratinga, Minas Gerais, but that all of the passengers, including popular singer/songwriter Marília Mendonça, were OK. There was a collective sign of relief – Mendonça, 26, […]
Leuvis Manuel Olivero was a US citizen, dad, and author critical of the Bolsonaro administration. Why was he murdered? by Brian Mier In 2011, Leuvis Manuel Olivero, a Dominican immigrant to the US who had a degree in International Studies from Trinity College in Connecticut, took a trip to Rio de Janeiro. In his own […]
A coalition of 6 urban social movements demands the resignation of Paulo Guedes who was recently exposed in the Pandora Papers as profiting personally from his policy of devaluing the Brazilian Real. On Monday, October 4, I arrived at the Belém metro stop in São Paulo and met members of one of hundreds of community […]
New film generates controversy by suggesting it’s time to take a deeper look into the September 6th, 2018 stabbing incident of Jair Bolsonaro. by Brian Mier A new documentary by Joaquim de Carvalho about the 2018 Presidential campaign stabbing incident involving Jair Bolsonaro has led to a possible congressional investigation and attacks against the journalist […]
The Supreme Court is still operating as usual. The “coup” was getting everyone to think one was about to happen. By Brian Mier On the afternoon of September 6th I headed to Guarulhos airport to catch a flight to Brasilia, where I would cover the planned Independence Day protest, announced by President Bolsonaro and his […]