By Mauricio Savarese. Original article published here. I stopped writing about Brazilian politics for two months because of two different reasons. The first was the excess of work, which is likely to become a permanent feature of mine. The second was the complete unpredictability of how much the political and economic crisis could be aggravated. After […]
“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 […]
Since “legality”, in Brasil, does not come necessarily from “peoples will” (but from some peculiar interpretation of legal acts) our democracy is almost becoming some type of “judicial dictatorship”. In Latin America the laws were almost entirely formed without the “people”. There is a well-known representation gap in all Latin countries. For centuries, the legislative […]
Exclusive Brasil Wire video on the Student Protests. TV Folha’s video which was pulled from air. In Brazil’s richest state, Governor orders military police to attack teenagers for protesting school closures. I am in São Paulo’s booming Pinheiros district, watching police cars circle around Fernão Dias Paes school. A group of nervous looking teenagers sit […]
The vast beach at Regencia was virtually abandoned. Instead of the usual tourists to one of the most important nature reserves along the Espirito Santo coast, a few desperate and sad groups were working the sand. One was a flock of vultures, which was attacking the fish carcasses that were constantly washing ashore. Another was […]
On May 25 leaders of the Koch brothers-associated organization Movimento Brasil Livre met with Senator Alvaro Dias from the PSDB party to talk about their goal of impeaching president Dilma Rouseff. Some found it ironic that a group that calls itself “the Free Brasil Movement” met with a former military dictatorship official to talk about plans […]
“Entertainment has superseded the provision of information; human interest has supplanted the public interest; measured judgement has succumbed to sensationalism.” Bob Franklin (Newszak and News Media, 1997) Midweek 6pm, central São Paulo: workers are drifting into the local boteco for a cold beer or pinga, perhaps killing time to avoid rush hour before their long […]
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 […]
On June 6, the São Paulo Mayor’s Office announced that it hired a group of homeless people for one year to conduct qualitative research on homeless issues and policies. This is just one example of a series of innovations from the first Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) mayoral administration there in over a decade. As the […]
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 […]