Brazil’s political climate is as polarised and fractious as ever, and it’s getting nastier. While some desperately attempt to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, a minority of right-wing protesters are openly asking for a military intervention. This comes a year after a major report on the use of torture under the military regime that ran Brazil from 1964-1985. With those memories still so fresh, another […]
“The country is changing, right?” says the mother of a wealthy São Paulo family, when she learns that her maid’s daughter wants to become an architect and is applying for college. She sounds surprised and slightly resentful. It’s a fleeting piece of dialogue which can go unnoticed but it emphasises the movie’s unmasking of upper […]
Narcos is not a documentary and purely as televisual entertainment it is difficult to dislike. It is directed by the talented Brazilian José Padilha (Bus 174, Tropa de Elite) and also featuring fellow countryman, Tropa de Elite’s lead Wagner Moura (Elysium, Praia do Futuro), who shines as Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Narcos is a stylish, visually & […]
This time last year, in an article entitled “Bom Senso F.C. & a battle for the soul of Brazilian football”, published on Brasil Wire, I wrote about the potential for a breakaway of Brasil’s major clubs from the Jurassic power structure that controls Brazilian football, headed by national and state federations. In 1992, England’s largest […]
Brasil’s streets have been filled with protests in the last few weeks, evoking similar events taking place earlier in the year. Most of the demonstrators are supporters of the defeated presidential candidate Aécio Neves who have collectively paraded across several parts of the country chanting for the removal of Dilma Rousseff, the sitting president who […]
Chances are you have passed by one of Eduardo Kobra’s street art murals. His kaleidoscope style images have transformed city walls and sidewalks across the globe into colourful sights that pay homage to some of the world’s most influential figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Dalai Lama. But, in his native city of São […]
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 […]
SESC Pompeia is a cultural centre in the east zone of São Paulo, designed by the architect Lina Bo Bardi, and opened in 1982. The site is one of the world’s great democratic spaces in a city often lacking in them. The level of thoughtfulness and sense of place is on par with great buildings like […]
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, […]
Back in October 2014, a thirty-something, upper-middle class couple carry a large red flag towards a demonstration a few kilometres away, having walked the length of São Paulo’s leafy Rua Oscar Freire – an affluent area lined with boutiques & international chains. By the time the pair reach main artery Avenida Reboucas they are visibly shaken from what […]