“No room for feelings” say Wall Street insiders as they back another Neofascist to deliver Neoliberalism, at the point of a gun, in the most resource-rich nation on earth. New York Times, July 1993. In an article called “Conversations/Jair Bolsonaro; A Soldier Turned Politician Wants To Give Brazil Back to Army Rule“, Journalist James Brooke […]
Brasil’s Education crisis is not a crisis, it is a project. – Darcy Ribeiro. Across the political spectrum Brazilians will tell you that the principal problem in the country is education, yet who profits most from programmed, weaponised ignorance? Research, science, technology, culture, and education are not ideologies, but approaches and attitudes toward them in […]
By Louis Smith and Brasil Wire editors When Mauricio Macri won the Argentinian general election in 2015 international markets and investors cheered. Rating agency Moodys immediately raised Argentina’s outlook from “stable” to “positive”, JP Morgan lauded the win, dropping risk to 2011 levels. The Financial Times published an article with the typical headline Investors cheer electoral […]
The CUT has always been on the streets. We fought against the dictatorship, against the famine and are fighting against the Coup, which the media erroneously calls an impeachment. – Vagner Freitas By Tatiana Melim August 28, 1983. Military dictatorship in Brazil. The nation was embroiled in an economic and political crisis. Inflation hit 150% […]
In late 2013 the formation of a new Brazilian Political Party was announced, called literally Partido Novo (New Party). Initially and opportunistically presented as if emerging from the protests that had swept Brasil that June, its libertarian, minimal state messaging was in stark contrast to the demands of those on the streets. These youngsters were depicted as […]
Update March 2022: With Lula’s freedom to run for president, the “LulaMeter” is back. By Louis Smith “A metalworker with a Socialist background had to become President of Brasil to make Capitalism work. If you look at Brasil’s banks, they have never made as much money as under my government” Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, […]
In 2008, US Department of Justice officials falsely prosecuted US Senator Ted Stevens for receiving illegal reforms on a vacation property. Could this have been the blueprint for Lula’s arrest? by Brian Mier It is no secret that American corporations have immensely benefited from Operation Car Wash, the international corruption investigation that was initiated in partnership […]
Brazilians do not scare easily, but a media narrative saying so paves the way for northern acceptance of a return to fascism. by Brian Mier In the seminal book, Manufacturing Consent, Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman depict the commercial media as “powerful ideological institutions that carry out a system-supportive propaganda function, by reliance on market […]
Unions claim partial victory as top PSDB insider and Shell executive resign from Petrobras leadership by Brian Mier On May 30th, as a trucker’s strike that paralyzed the country for 9 days began to wind down, Brazilian petroleum workers initiated a 3 day, nationwide “warning strike.” Their demands were: 1) the immediate firing of Royal […]
The increases in gasoline, cooking gas and diesel prices can not be treated merely as a tax issue. They are the result of a management problem in Petrobras, which has been operating exclusively to serve market demands. In October 2016, under endorsement from the Temer government, company president Pedro Parente adopted an international pricing policy […]