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DEMOCRACY ECONOMY FOREIGN POLICY LAWFARE PETROBRAS RESOURCES UNITED STATES

Leaks: The United States and Brasil’s Oil

In mid-2013, just before large street demonstrations rattled São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian cities, news broke of Edward Snowden’s leak of secret internal documents from the NSA, GCHQ and allied FVEY surveillance services. Early observers in Brazil paid particular attention to a map which measured the intensity of surveillance in the ‘Boundless Informant‘ programme. On this map, […]

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DEMOCRACY EDITORIAL OPINION POLITICS SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

The Silent Left

Back in October 2014,  a thirty-something, upper-middle class couple carry a large red flag towards a demonstration a few kilometres away, having walked the length of São Paulo’s leafy Rua Oscar Freire – an affluent area lined with boutiques & international chains. By the time the pair reach main artery Avenida Reboucas they are visibly shaken from what […]

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DEMOCRACY OPINION POLITICS

Anti-government protests fizzle: Could this be the end of a cycle?

During a year in which the Brazilian Military Police claimed that the São Paulo gay parade somehow shrunk from its regular crowd of 2.5 million people to 20,000 with no discernible difference in size  it’s hard to treat crowd estimates seriously, especially coming from traditional anti-PT media oligarchies who own Veja Magazine, O Globo and […]

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DEMOCRACY FOREIGN POLICY HISTORY LAVA JATO LAWFARE PATREON ONLY POLITICS UNITED STATES

Mani Pulite: Italy’s “Lava-Jato”

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DEMOCRACY INTERNATIONAL MEDIA LAWFARE MEDIA OPINION POLITICS UNDERSTANDING BRASIL

The Problem With Veja…

A toxic rag with an agenda that goes far beyond journalism. – Jon Lee Anderson, veteran reporter at the New Yorker. Last week football legend turned senator Romário Faria made a special announcement to his 2 million Facebook followers. “On Thursday I found out from a Veja magazine story that I have millions of Reais in […]

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AGÊNCIA PÚBLICA DEMOCRACY FOREIGN POLICY LAWFARE LONGFORM PETROBRAS POLITICS UNITED STATES

The Right’s New Clothes

A network of Conservative Think-tanks & Foundations from the United States, such as Koch, Cato & Templeton, are financing young Latin Americans to fight Left Governments and defend old positions with a new language. “The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior […]

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DEMOCRACY ECONOMY EDITORIAL INTERNATIONAL MEDIA LAVA JATO LAWFARE MEDIA PETROBRAS POLITICS UNDERSTANDING BRASIL

Brasil’s Shock Doctrine

“Only a crisis, real or perceived, produces real change.” – Milton Friedman. Brasil is having a horrible 2015; a far less favourable global economic situation, a number of policy misjudgements made early in President Rousseff’s first mandate and rolling scandals that have followed 2014’s election have resulted in flurry of headlines both at home and abroad decrying “Brasil in Crisis” or “On […]

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AUTHORITARIANISM DEMOCRACY POLITICS SOCIAL MOVEMENTS UNDERSTANDING BRASIL

MST: “There won’t be a Coup without resistance.”

The Brazilian organized or “popular” left is made up of labour unions, poor people’s social  movements, women’s and Afro-Brasilian movements, religious base organizations and the political parties that they feel best represent them within the confines of a capitalist system. As the corrupt Brazilian media and the conservative  middle class, unhappy with last years election results […]

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DEMOCRACY POLITICS

Bigger Than Ever? Not So Fast

Sunday, April 12, was supposed to be bigger than ever before. The same groups that organized Brazil’s March 15 demonstrations against Dilma Rousseff’s government via social media had planned a new wave of protests across Brazil. Today they are undoubtedly privately disappointed. The early crowd estimates indicate a drop of at least 50% in every […]

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DEMOCRACY OPINION POLITICS UNDERSTANDING BRASIL

Brasil’s Prescribed Revolt: A story of two protests in São Paulo

Brasil’s right-wing march under a banner of anti-corruption but the protests of the past weekend illustrated what is actually a fresh manifestation of Brasil’s ongoing class conflict, with an undercurrent of racial tension and a dash of anti-communist hysteria. The Petrobras scandal is a primary concern of many Brazilians today, across the political spectrum, but nebulous […]