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.
On October 10, non-elected Brazilian president and former military dictatorship official Michel Temer held a $30,000, publicly funded banquet for his allies in the lower house. The event commemorated the launching of a constitutional amendment called PEC 241- referred to as the “End of the World Amendment” by its critics- an enforced Austerity plan which […]
Video: Artist demonstrators adapted Orff’s Carmina Burana to the slogan “Temer Out” at their occupation of the Ministry of Culture building in Rio de Janeiro. Michel Temer has been acting President of Brasil for two months, despite the election fraud conviction which bans him from running for public office for 8 years. Swept to power by a […]
On Friday, June 10th, hundreds of thousands of Brazilians came to the streets in dozens of cities in 17 states across the country to protest the Soft Coup against democratically elected president Dilma Rousseff. In São Paulo, where an estimated 100,000 gathered on the coldest day of the year chanting “Fora Temer” (Out Temer) the […]
As the Economist and the Washington Post cheer-lead for a PMDB takeover of the Brazilian government, it is worth looking at how PMDB mayor Eduardo Paes managed World Cup and Olympic preparation in Rio de Janeiro. PMDB, the direct descendent of the military dictatorship era MDB party, is the largest political party in Brazil. A […]
During 2012-2013 Brian Mier conducted a study of changes in Rio de Janeiro’s municipal laws related to the World Cup and Olympics. The study was commissioned by the Ford Foundation and overseen by land-rights lawyer Cristiano Muller and the Brazilian NGO Centro para Direitos Economicas e Sociais (CDES). Entitled, Os Megaeventos esportivos na cidade do […]
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 […]
Exclusive Brasil Wire video on the Student Protests. TV Folha’s video which was pulled from air. In Brazil’s richest state, Governor orders military police to attack teenagers for protesting school closures. I am in São Paulo’s booming Pinheiros district, watching police cars circle around Fernão Dias Paes school. A group of nervous looking teenagers sit […]
On May 25 leaders of the Koch brothers-associated organization Movimento Brasil Livre met with Senator Alvaro Dias from the PSDB party to talk about their goal of impeaching president Dilma Rouseff. Some found it ironic that a group that calls itself “the Free Brasil Movement” met with a former military dictatorship official to talk about plans […]
On June 6, the São Paulo Mayor’s Office announced that it hired a group of homeless people for one year to conduct qualitative research on homeless issues and policies. This is just one example of a series of innovations from the first Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) mayoral administration there in over a decade. As the […]