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DEMOCRACY INTERNATIONAL MEDIA LAVA JATO LAWFARE MEDIA OPINION UNITED STATES

The Mechanism: Character Assassination, Election Propaganda & Entertainment

Netflix series, the Mechanism, premiered on Friday, March 23. The new feature by Narcos and Elite Squad director José Padilha was immediately received with criticism for, in the guise of being “based on a true story”, slandering ex-presidents Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, during an election year in which Lula is the […]

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AUTHORITARIANISM DEMOCRACY FASCISM OPINION

We are all under threat, Marielle’s death must unify the left

By Pablo Villaça. Text translated with omission of author. From today – and until the situation changes in the country – I will cease my criticisms of our left comrades, no matter how different we may be. I am PSOL, I am PT, I am PCdoB, I am PSTU, I am PCB, I am PCO; I […]

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BLOG LAVA JATO OPINION PETROBRAS

Lava Jato gifts $3 Billion to US Investors

On January 3rd the mixed ownership, Brazilian Petroleum company Petrobras, announced a the largest settlement by a foreign company ever made with North American shareholders, who claim to have lost money because of corruption inside the company. The amount that will be handed over to the American minority shareholders is larger than Petrobras’ 2017 profits, and […]

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BLOG FOREIGN POLICY MEDIA OPINION RACIAL EQUALITY UNITED STATES

The Inglorious Fall of William Waack

In 2006, Globo TV’s senior news editor Ali Kamel wrote a book called “We are not racists“, in which he argued that, despite all the statistics that prove otherwise, there is no structural racism in Brazil. The book was widely criticised, as detailed in this paper by Daniele de Oliveira of UFBA. Kamel later sued […]

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DEMOCRACY LAWFARE OPINION POLITICS

Why is Michel Temer Still President? A Brazilian Perspective

By Amauri Gonzo. It is always hard to explain Brazilian politics to foreigners. There is a lot of history and many characters and there are 25 political parties represented in Congress alone. It is even harder to explain how illegitimate president Michel Temer, with an approval rating that fluctuates between 2 and 7% and with […]

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DEMOCRACY OPINION POLITICS SOCIAL INCLUSION SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Diretas Já: Brasil’s political rupture and the left’s opportunity

Alfredo Saad-Filho 23 May 2017. Originally published at OpenDemocracy. “Out with Temer – direct elections now!”. Amid meltdown in Brazil, the left calls for democracy, while the right must find ways to deny the people a voice. The Brazilian Workers’ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores, PT) won the country’s presidential elections four times in a row; first with […]

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DEMOCRACY EDITORIAL FOREIGN POLICY INTERNATIONAL MEDIA LAVA JATO LAWFARE MEDIA NGOS OPINION UNITED STATES

The Coup, one year on & how Anglo media failed Brasil

At this time of crisis in the media industry, it is with regret that an article like this even needs to be published, but analysis of the failure of Anglo media on Brazil, the world’s 5th most populous country, from 2012-2016 is important not only for the historical record, but for other countries facing similar internal […]

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OPINION POLITICS SOCIAL INCLUSION UNDERSTANDING BRASIL

5 Brazilian Public Policy Innovations The North Could Learn From

By Brian Mier. During my 22 years in Brazil I’ve gotten used to gringos moving down here who, before taking the time to understand how things work, begin immediately bad mouthing the entire country based on local observations about the neighborhood or city they live in, which is usually somewhere in Rio de Janeiro’s South […]

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DEMOCRACY LAVA JATO LAWFARE MEDIA OPINION

Beauty and the Beast

Since the emergence of what would come to be called “Lava Jato” in 2009, every honest political commentator has been clear: the operation was designed to reach ex-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. All other targets were secondary, the implosion of Rousseff’s government, 12 million people without jobs, and an accumulated loss of almost 8% […]

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BLOG ELECTION 2018 OPINION SÃO PAULO

We have to talk about João Doria

He’s a political insider who pretends to be an outsider. He is a businessman prone to hysterical twitter meltdowns, who has fired staff live on Facebook, legally harasses his critics and, by carrying a change of clothes wherever he goes to guarantee that he is never photographed with a smudge, seems more concerned with his […]