DECEMBER 2003 CONTENTS:
Brazil Looking for a Few Good Yankees
Santa Catarina, a small and little known state in Southern Brazil,
is already a popular vacation destination for Brazilians and Argentines
for its state parks and beaches. Now, Catarinenses are trying to
get a slice of the American tourism pie and have turned to California
State University in Hayward for help.
by Kim Huggett
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Coming to Brazil? How's Your Portuguese?
Learning Portuguese will not only give you an entry to Brazilian
culture but to many others, whether Indian in the Amazon,
African in Bahia or German in the south. Concentrate on Brazilian
Portuguese. If you have any grammars from Portugal throw them
away. If you talk like a Portuguese, Brazilians will laugh at you.
by John Fitzpatrick
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The US Discovers Brazil (Ever so Slowly)
Up until now, the study of Spanish speaking Central and South
America has greatly outpaced consideration of Portuguese-
speaking Brazil in American campuses. Brazil remained a
stereotyped enigma being defined by Carmen Miranda and Pelé.
But gradually a more meaningful image of the country is emerging.
by Phillip Wagner
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 A Home Away from Brazil's Streets
At Nova Vida, in Southern Brazil, some of the kids come from broken
homes or abusive parents; others learned violent behavior while
living on the streets. Almost all are chemically dependent on drugs
ranging from tobacco to paint thinner, which is often inhaled by
street children to lessen hunger pains. All are in search of a new life.
by Jamie Braun
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In Lula's Brazil, Worst Comes to Worst
A Brazilian report on human rights shows that the Lula
administration, despite its promises to the contrary, has kept
the same old policies towards the disadvantaged. Brazil continues
to follow orders from the International Monetary Fund and
to favor speculative capital over productive investment.
by Tatiana Merlino
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Brazil: A Friar Marked to Be Killed
Human rights prize winner, Henry des Roziers, a lawyer and
Dominican Brother working in the state of Pará, Brazil, is
on the hit list of politicians and larger land owners of that
region. He has made lots of enemies by defending union
activists and denouncing slave labor in the south of Pará.
by Tatiana Merlino
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Gabriel Grossi: Brazilian Harmonica Wunderkind
Brazilian Gabriel Grossi's debut disc offers a mixture of the classic
and the avant-garde laced with jazzy improvisations and
demonstrating a high level of virtuosity and versatility. Grossi offers
a bit of the old, a lot of the new, tossed together with a dash of
the unexpected. It's an auspicious debut and then some.
by Daniella Thompson
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Brazil: The Whitening of an Old Czar
Former Minister Delfim Netto is a fast shooter and never sleeps on the
job—thus his longevity. When spending is necessary, he spends. When
favors need to be returned, he is right there to see that they are returned.
His reactions to accusations about his own financial and statistical
swindles during the military dictatorship were typical and expected.
by Alberto Dines
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 Brazilian Loggers Want Greenpeace Out
Greenpeace has compiled evidence of the prevalence of illegal logging,
rampant corruption and bribery, as well as a slavery system that
has been operating for years in the northeastern Brazilian state
of Pará. Despite all this evidence, however, workers in that region
joined in protests against the environmental organization.
by Jennifer Beyer
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The Enlightened Punks of Brazil
Apart from a shared contempt for Brazil's neo-Pentecostal churches,
Brazilian punks are united in another way: anarchy. The most recent
generation of obscurely dubbed Brazilian revolucionários
are in attendance. The Environmental Revolutionary Movement from
São Paulo, for example, is against contact lenses.
by Tom Phillips
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Woe Are the American Haters in Brazil
Overall, the general response to the arrest of Saddam has been
muted in Brazil. The "gringo go home"-types had the satisfaction
of complaining about the "humiliation" poor Saddam suffered.
Since the disheveled Saddam looks like the beggars littering
downtown São Paulo, they probably felt an empathy with him.
by John Fitzpatrick
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Brazil: Ten Years of Viva Rio
Viva Rio was the first of many anti-violence NGOs founded in
response to the Candelária church and the Vigário Geral slum
massacres in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Its mandate: to motivate
individuals, businesses, associations, and government officials
to construct a more just and democratic society.
by Sam Logan
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The Prettiest Christmas Tree Brazil Ever Saw
Why not have our own Christmas tree that year? Nonsense, I
said. None of us had money to buy even one Christmas tree
ball, much less the tree itself. I reminded her of how elaborate
the Church Christmas tree was. "It's all right," she said. "We
can have different ornaments." "Yeah?" And Joana laughed.
by Eva P. Bueno
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Brazil Boy Rises and Shines
Eliezer begins most days before sunrise, sometimes catching the
bus for downtown before 6 a.m. When he gets off the bus downtown,
his attitude changes. He is no longer a little boy—he is a confident
young man, tracing his daily route, working the streets like a pro. Each
shoeshine costs about 30 cents and he does five to 10 shines a day.
by Jamie Braun
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Brazil: The River Is His Life
Osmar is a fisherman by necessity and by choice. He watched
his grandfather make a living as a fisherman and became his
own father's crew when he was younger. His rough, dark hands
have been molded to catch and slice fish. He knows no other way
to live. Without the river or fish, Osmar would have no life.
by Nila Do
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 When Europe Discovered the Sounds of Brazil
The Romeu Silva band's success in Europe led to further international
tours. In 1932, Romeu Silva left for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles
with the Brazilian Olympic Band. In 1935 he returned to Brazil,
bringing along several American band members, including Booker Pitman
and the crooner Louis Cole.
by Daniella Thompson
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Ah, to Marry in Brazil!
Brazilians love a party. Along with the traditional wedding cake,
several hundreds of bon-bons are available for consumption.
The bride's maids are called madrinhas and the groomsmen,
padrinhos, and their responsibility is financial as well as
spiritual. They usually help pay for the party.
by Monica Trentini
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Brazil Gives the IMF Its Roadmap
The Brazilian government sent the IMF its Letter of Intent, which
describes the policies that the Lula administration intends to implement
in the context of its request for financial support from the IMF. Brazil
admits that there is still much to be done to improve the life of the
poorest Brazilians and vows to keep cooperating with the Fund.
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IMF Rewards Brazil's Good Behavior
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a
15-month extension, and US$ 6.6 billion increase of Brazil's
stand-by credit. The Brazilian government has indicated
that it has no intention to make further withdrawals due to the
country's improvement in the balance of payments.
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In Brazil, Music Runs Through the Veins
Sounds of Brazil is special for showing street musicians. After all,
the movie presents what Brazilian popular music is really like,
instead of promoting "popular" singers who are no longer "popular"
in the prices of their concerts and CDs. Mika Kaurismäki's work has
intentionally few talks so that the audience listens and dances to it.
by Carolina Berard
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Brazil: Cheap and Worthless Labor
Brazilians need jobs—good jobs which will boost the economy
and bring much-needed growth, not unproductive so-called jobs
like parking cars outside restaurants or hawking CDs in the street.
These unskilled workers add a huge burden to what is known as
the Brazil cost, which has to be paid by the productive sector.
by John Fitzpatrick
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Brazil Falls for Canadian Charm
What are Rio's culture vultures getting out of Denys Arcand's
The Barbarian Invasions? Within an arm's length, some
firsthand views on the current Northern national paradise,
Canada. By making a hit of Arcand's film, Brazilians are not
oblivious to the fact that their minds may be made up by others.
by Norman Madarasz
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Brazil: A Town Off-Limits to Gays
It's the law in Bocaiúva do Sul, state of Paraná: gays cannot live
there. The city's mayor has just signed a decree banning
homosexuals from ever living in the town. Brazilian gay activists
are outraged and the city's prosecutor has already announced
that his office is weighing legal action against the mayor.
by Ernest Barteldes
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Brazil: How Favelas Went Chic
More than a century after Rio's first favela came into being in
1897, the very meaning of the word is changing. Across the
world the term 'favela' is cropping up in unexpected places; a
tropical prefix used to spice up western places and products.
Favela has become an international cultural phenomenon.
by Tom Phillips
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The Brazilian Dream: To Live in a Fortress
Communities like Alphaville in the outskirts of São Paulo, Brazil,
are a sad reflection on the kind of society we now live in. Crime
is making São Paulo a city of fear. People are staying at home
more often and, when they do go out, choose shopping centers
rather than risking going to a particular restaurant or cinema.
by John Fitzpatrick
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And Now, This Message from Brazil: "Tourists, Go Home"
Brazilians are perfectly OK with the fact that we haven't tourists.
Like the Aussies, we want to be forgotten. We are a continent
wishing to be an island. We want our beaches and jungles for us,
not for backpackers believing that Amazônia is theirs and certainly
not for two-week tourists who don't want to learn the language.
by Miguel P. Brossolette Branco
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Brazil's Lula Admits: He Might Run Again
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva rebutted criticism that
he and his Workers' Party changed after he took office. He made
a comparison with his own life, saying that he changed after
his marriage. And added: "When I go to bed at night, I sleep
peacefully knowing that I am doing what has to be done for Brazil."
by Gabriela Guerreiro
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War Drums in Mato Grosso, Brazil
Conflict in the land of the Xavante people in Mato Grosso is
imminent. More than 400 Indians are camped out on the road
that leads up to their land, but armed invaders are keeping
them at a distance. With only a bridge separating the two sides,
ranchers have hired gunmen who have infiltrated the area.
by Cimi
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Long Live the Captain -
In Portuguese
I liked him very much and I feel bad for what I felt right there:
he was my idol, my warrior, my myth although he wasn't more
than a contumacious loser. Hadn't the romantic captain understood
the new times? And these times weren't they interested in
knowing about him? Hi world was already agonizing.
by Emanuel Medeiros Vieira
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