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DEMOCRACY ELECTION 2018 LAVA JATO LAWFARE UNITED STATES

US Congress members demand answers on DOJ/Lava Jato partnership

In letter signed by 13 members of Congress, US Attorney General is asked to “describe the full extent of DOJ’s engagement with Judge Sergio Moro”. by Brian Mier On Tuesday, August 20,  13 members of US Congress delivered a letter to Attorney General William Barr demanding answers on possible illegal collusion and ethics violations made […]

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AMAZON ENVIRONMENT SÃO PAULO SCIENCE

The day the sky went out

On Monday afternoon a giant smoke cloud emanating from burning rainforest over 1000 kilometers away engulfed São Paulo in darkness.  By Brian Mier On Monday, August 19th, I left my home on the North Side of São Paulo at 2 PM and headed towards the Tieté bus station, the brutalist structure erected by Paulo Maluf […]

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AUTHORITARIANISM DEMOCRACY ELECTION 2018 FASCISM LAVA JATO LAWFARE

Lula’s political imprisonment reaches 500 days

Everyone who cared about Democracy who was paying attention to what was happening in Brazil knew, from day one, that Lula’s arrest was a sham result of a biased political witch hunt led by right wing extremists in order to remove him from the presidential race. The Intercept revelations now prove, unequivocally, that they were […]

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EDUCATION SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Anti-austerity protests: Students and Unions paralyze 200 cities

3rd “Education Tsunami” shut down schools and traffic in the downtown areas of cities in all 26 Brazilian states, but was whitewashed in the international media. Brazilian students and union members blocked major thoroughfares in over 200 cities on August 13th to protest the Bolsonaro government’s austerity cuts to the public education system. The protests […]

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DEMOCRACY FOREIGN POLICY LAWFARE POLITICS

Dilma: Argentina election, “light at end of tunnel”

On Twitter, Dilma Rousseff, the former Brazilian President who was deposed in the 2016 Coup, called the electoral victory of the Alberto Fernández/Christina Kirchner ticket in the Argentinian presidential primaries a “light at the end of the tunnel” for Latin America. Dilma: Argentina election, “light at end of tunnel” “Alberto Fernández/Cristina Kirchner’s victory in the […]

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LAVA JATO LAWFARE

Judge authorizes Lula’s transfer to São Paulo

Defense team continues to fight for reversal of all charges due to lack of evidence and illegal collusion between judge Sérgio Moro and the Lava Jato prosecution team. by Brian Mier On Wednesday Morning, August 7th, Judge Carolina Lebbos, from the 12ª Federal District Court in Curitiba, authorized former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s […]

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64-85 DICTATORSHIP AUTHORITARIANISM FASCISM MUSIC

Caetano Veloso: rise of far right is a neurosis

When you acheive human rights you should never let them be taken back from you in any way under any pretext,” said the 76 year old musician, “this has been happening around the World and it is happening in Brazil. It’s a neurosis.” During an interview on the Brazilian TV talk show Lady Night on […]

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AUTHORITARIANISM DATA ENVIRONMENT

82% of Brasilians reject Bolsonaro’s Amazon mining plan

Recent poll shows Bolsonaro government’s popularity continues to slide as scandals and unpopular policy measures damage credibility São Paulo – According to a recent poll conducted by Atlas Politico most Brazilians strongly disapprove key policy decisions of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro such as his plan to authorize gold mining in national parks and Indigenous reservations […]

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AUTHORITARIANISM DEMOCRACY LAVA JATO LAWFARE VIDEO

Killer Clowns: Bolsonaro accuses Greenwald of felony – can’t explain why

Right wing extremist President Jair Bolsonaro accused Glenn Greenwald of committing a felony but, in a scene captured on the Government’s TV Brasil, his Press Secretary, General Otávio Rego Barros, fails to explain what the crime committed was and, instead, tries to stare down the journalist who asks about it. By Brian Mier In a […]

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MEDIA POLITICS SOCIAL MEDIA

Independent media and the war of narratives

Brian Mier’s speech at the 2019 Left Forum in Brooklyn, NY. I would like to start by talking about how Brazilian alternative media works to build a space of counter-hegemony to the mainstream media oligarchies like Globo, which is extremely powerful. TV Globo was started by the United States during the US-backed military dictatorship [1964-1985]. […]