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OPINION

A Grand National Agreement 2.0?

To prevent Lula’s inevitable-looking return to the presidency, the idea to take not him, but his opponent out of the race, may now be the contingency plan of Brazils oligarchy: “Bolsonaro’s barring, at this moment, is the best move that elites, liberals and the third way can think of”, argues Historian and political analyst Fernando […]

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AGRARIAN REFORM DEMOCRACY EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT LAND REFORM SOCIAL NETWORKS

A Space for Rebels: MST’s Florestan Fernandes School

A look into the Landless Rural Workers Movement’s autonomous,  international political formation school. By Maria Gorete Sousa* ENFF (Escola Nacional Florestan Fernandes/Florestan Fernandes School), was born out of a decision made by the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (Movimento de Trabalhadores Sem Terra/MST) to create a political education system for activists from the cities and the […]

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ARMED FORCES COUNCIL OF THE AMERICAS DEMOCRACY ELECTION 2018 ELECTION 2022 FASCISM

Bradesco Bank CEO Praises Military And Dismisses Coup Threat

Bradesco Bank, and its Bolsonaro-supporting CEO, face backlash over his video praising the military on the eve of a coup-threatened election. It is the latest signal that international capital will back Bolsonaro and the military-political project he fronts, as it did in 2018. Last year an economist from Santander provoked anger when, in an internal […]

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ARMED FORCES DEMOCRACY ELECTION 2022 FOREIGN POLICY SOVEREIGNTY UNITED STATES

Biden Recruits Bolsonaro To Save Summit Of The Americas

Biden’s one-on-one meeting with Brazil’s beleaguered far-right president Bolsonaro is now the awkward centrepiece of a collapsing Summit of the Americas in Los Angeles. Little more than a month after United States’ Government sources leaked details of CIA warnings to Bolsonaro and the Military dominated government he fronts about the sanctity of October’s election, US […]

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AGRARIAN REFORM CULTURE ELECTION 2022 MUSIC OPINION

Sertanejo Universitário: A Product From The Dark Side Of Agribusiness

Since the mid 2000s, Sertanejo Universitário (College Country), has come to be dominant in Brazilian popular music, as the industry shifted focus away from other established traditional and contemporary genres. This has had not just a cultural, but a political and environmental impact, argues geographer Tiago Cardoso. Recently Sertanejo singer Gusttavo Lima became the centre […]

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ELECTION 2022

Lula Hits 53% In Polls, On Course For Presidency

With four months until Brazil’s 2022 presidential election, the latest study by Marcos Coimbra of Vox Populi, taking the average of major election polls, shows Lula on 53% of valid votes and on course to take the presidency in first round. Another election poll aggregator by Estadão newspaper similarly showed Lula on 52%, 19 points ahead […]

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ARMED FORCES AUTHORITARIANISM ELECTION 2022 FASCISM

Fearing Violence, International Bodies “Already Monitoring” Brazil Election

“October may be too late”, international monitors told. UOL report that “International bodies will not wait until October to monitor Brazil’s electoral process, considered by foreign observers to be one of the most tense in decades in the country”. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, OAS (Organisation of American States) and the regional office of […]

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ELECTION 2022

The Bolsonaro Campaign’s New Weapon: Ciro

Estadão newspaper reports that Bolsonaro’s campaign has decided to use PDT candidate Ciro Gomes’ relentless attacks on former president Lula as a means to prevent his victory in October’s presidential election. Members of President Jair Bolsonaro’s election campaign team “want to increase the visibility of Ciro Gomes’ (PDT) criticism of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva […]

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64-85 DICTATORSHIP ARMED FORCES AUTHORITARIANISM ELECTION 2022 FASCISM IMPERIALISM UNITED STATES

Brazilian Journalist Urges Biden: “Don’t Support Bolsonaro Coup Attempt”

As the first meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro is announced, Journalist Jamil Chade urges Biden to sieze a “historic opportunity to support democracy”, and not follow in the footsteps of predecessor Lyndon Johnson. In a letter to Joe Biden, Brazilian journalist Jamil Chade warned the president of the “historic […]

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IMPERIALISM INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOVEREIGNTY UNITED STATES

New Reuters Leak: Lula Sent Emissary To Meet US Officials In Washington

In the latest instalment of an effort to manage the optics of Brazil-US relations ahead of the October election, an apparent new leak, again from unnamed sources, and again to Reuters news agency, reveals an unannounced meeting between a close Lula confidant and the Biden administration in Washington DC. There is nothing especially unusual about […]