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DEMOCRACY ECONOMY SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

The Failed Experiment Of European Austerity Comes To Brazil

Brazil has been submitted to the arbitrary rhetoric that imposes austerity as the only way to revive the economy. In order to improve public accounts and restore the competitiveness of the economy by reducing wages and public spending, austerity is based on controversial and even fallacious arguments. The aim to redraw the state’s role to […]

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DEMOCRACY ECONOMY EDUCATION LAWFARE OPINION SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

PEC 55/241: The End of the World Amendment

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 […]

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ECONOMY INTERVIEW POLITICS UNDERSTANDING BRASIL

Sérgio Baierle: Crisis Capitalism & Brasil’s Economic Realities

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 […]

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DEMOCRACY ECONOMY EDITORIAL MEDIA OPINION Português UNDERSTANDING BRASIL

A Doutrina do Choque no Brasil

“Só uma crise, real ou percebida, produz uma mudança real.” – Milton Friedman. (Originalmente publicado em Inglês 22/6/15) O ano de 2015 está sendo terrível para o Brasil: uma conjuntura econômica mundial desfavorável, uma série de políticas equivocadas do início do primeiro mandato de Dilma Rousseff, e os escândalos que se seguiram à eleição de […]

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ECONOMY HISTORY TECHNOLOGY

The 1980s Trade War between Brasil… and Apple.

The first Macintosh clone was an unauthorized copy produced by a Brazilian company in 1986. The fallout from that effort nearly helped start a trade war… By Adam Rosen. Original version at Cult of Mac. The first Macintosh clone in the world was not one of the Apple sanctioned systems released in 1995, such as those from companies […]

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ACADEMIC ECONOMY OPINION POLITICS UNDERSTANDING BRASIL

A Temperamental Consensus

In 2001 when Brazilian democracy proved strong enough to bring ex-metalworker and union head Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the Presidency the country became an international sensation receiving compliments from some of the most important leaders around the world as well as the United Nations. Equally important the economy was stable and grew at an average […]

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DEMOCRACY ECONOMY Le Monde Diplomatique Brasil OPINION POLITICS

Time For Change To Leave The Crisis Behind

The latest article in our collaboration with Le Monde Diplomatique Brasil. There are hundreds of thousands of people like us in Brasil who are worried about the evolution of the economy and politics and are profoundly disappointed with the performance of the government, the PT and the left in general. The neoliberal adjustments are deepening, mowing down jobs, weakening […]

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ECONOMY HOUSING POLITICS SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Against Austerity: World Habitat Day

We are not against Dilma, but we are against this methodology she is using to throw her government into the service of savage capitalism. – Luis Gonzaga “Gegê” da Silva.  Yesterday, on October 5, five of the largest Brazilian urban social movements worked together to simultaneously close off major roads during rush hour and occupy government […]

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DEMOCRACY ECONOMY POLITICS SÃO PAULO SOCIAL MOVEMENTS UNDERSTANDING BRASIL VIDEO

Report: National day of Democracy / Anti-Austerity Demonstration

Não vai ter golpe! (You won’t have a Coup!). Brasil’s ‘Silent Left’ did indeed show themselves, across 25 cities. Did the international media show them showing themselves? For the most part, no. U.S. & U.K. newspapers, which have received criticism for their coverage of political demonstrations across Latin America, were conspicuous by their absence. Going against narrative […]

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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, […]