Categories
DEMOCRACY SOCIAL INCLUSION SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Brasilia 24/5: A View from the Ground

by Brian Mier. On the night of May 23, I joined a group of activists from the Central de Movimentos Populares (CMP) social movement for the 16 hour bus ride from São Paulo to Brasilia. The trip was coordinated as a bus caravan and as we stopped for dinner along the way it became apparent […]

Categories
DEMOCRACY FOREIGN POLICY LAWFARE SOCIAL INCLUSION SOCIAL MOVEMENTS UNDERSTANDING BRASIL UNITED STATES

The General Strike and the Survival of the Latin American Left: An Interview with Luiz Gonzaga Gegê da Silva

Luiz Gonzaga Gegê da Silva is a historic figure on the Brazilian left. A member of the MR-8 resistance movement during the military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985, he spent time behind bars as a political prisoner and later became a founding member of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers’ Party, PT), running for national party […]

Categories
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 […]

Categories
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 […]

Categories
DEMOCRACY LAVA JATO LAWFARE

“A Judge should not have a Party” – Philosopher Djamila Ribeiro confronts Sergio Moro at debate in London

Philosopher Djamila Ribeiro questioned Judge Sergio Moro about his position at the head of Operation Lava-Jato. The Prosecuting Judge participated yesterday (13/5) in a debate at the London School of Economics, with the presence of former Attorney General José Eduardo Cardozo. Cardozo said Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment was a coup based on accusations and was received with […]

Categories
AUTHORITARIANISM DEMOCRACY LAVA JATO LAWFARE MEDIA

Dilma: Globo incites arrest and imprisonment without due process

13 MAY 2017. The journalistic war promoted against me and president Lula is proof that the rise of authoritarianism has radically contaminated public opinion makers, such as Merval Pereira, who suggested I should be arrested today on Globo TV. Globo’s coverage, defending the arrest without due process of its political adversaries, strives to substitute the judiciary […]

Categories
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% […]

Categories
DEMOCRACY LAWFARE MEDIA

“Brasil has Five or Six Fox News Channels”

On April 28, 2017, hundreds of cities and towns across Brasil ground to a halt, as the Western Hemisphere’s largest General Strike of the 21st Century paralyzed their transport grids. In São Paulo, the economic heart of the country, 10  train and subway lines were paralyzed and all city bus lines stopped running. Airports were temporarily […]

Categories
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 […]

Categories
DEMOCRACY SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

General Strike 28/4: Brazilians Fight For Their Future

Video by Freelance Journalist Michael Fox. April 28 2017: as a massive general strike against illegitimate President Michel Temer’s Neoliberal reforms rock Brasil, the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere, São Paulo, grinds to a halt. CUT Trade Union Confederation estimated 35 million across Brazil participated in the General Strike, making it the biggest in […]