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SEPTEMBER  2003 CONTENTS:
 

Indians Under the Gun in Brazil
Potiguara Indian leaders went to Brasília after being threatened and attacked by the owners of a refinery whose land they have occupied. The Indians say that they own that territory. According to Caboquinho, the leader of the Potiguara people, the situation is very tense and the Indians fear for their lives.
by Cimi

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Brazil: It's the Economy, Mr. Lula
Lula's popularity is eroding in Brazil, but for all the bad press, the majority of Brazilians still consider Lula a better leader than his predecessor. When asked to compare Lula and Cardoso, 55 percent say the new president comes ahead. Only 15 percent consider this government worse than that of Cardoso.
by Elma-Lia Nascimento

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No Use to Complain, Brazil. Retaliate!
The only way for Brazil to reduce the barriers imposed on our export products resides in our power to retaliate and harm the economy of rich nations. But because we cannot do this, all we do is to keep on protesting at the WTO, pretending to believe in the good future intentions of our interlocutors.
by Carlos Chagas

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Fernando Inácio Henrique Lula da Silva of Brazil
Overseas, President Lula says everything we would love him to say. He criticizes the rich and rebels against the customs barriers imposed on our exports. Back home he surrenders to the most humiliating demands from the international financial system. When he grants wage raises, the raises are ridiculous.
by Carlos Chagas

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Brazil: The Fine Art of Embezzling
The present Brazilian legislation is an invitation to crimes against the country's Social Security Institute. Social Security Minister, Ricardo Berzoini has instructed his legal team to present proposals to Congress in order to close loopholes that nowadays ensure impunity to embezzlers.
by Émerson Luiz

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Brazil: Zero Hunger Is Dead, Long Live Zero Hunger
A revamped and unified social assistance program to be soon launched in Brazil intends to reach in a first stage 4 million of the poorest families in the country. Lula believes that such an integration of agencies will be revolutionary cutting much of the red tape involved and saving lots of money.
by Elma-Lia Nascimento

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When I Hug My Shadow (In Portuguese)
I grew old. Alone I learned about the ravages brought up by the years and I didn't complain. It was death that I was expecting to come duel with me, the chess board always ready, as in the Bergman's movie. The hair has rarefied and the guns expelled the teeth as they were intruders in the smile's harmony.
by Whisner Fraga

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Brazil and Cuba: Hugs, Deals and Tears
Brazilian President Lula's assertion that he would not interfere in Cuba's internal affairs has infuriated relatives and friends of Cuban dissidents. Most of the Brazilian press seems convinced, however, that at closed doors the theme of human rights will eventually be discussed between Lula and Castro.
by Émerson Luiz

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Brazil: Yes to GM Soy. No Joy.
Brazil's Vice-President signed a temporary decree authorizing Brazilian farmers to plant genetically modified soybeans. He could barely hide his discomfort though on having to decide on an issue that has split the Lula administration. At the end, environmentalists were deeply disappointed.
by Gabriela Guerreiro

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Brazil's Lula: It's Our Fault
Brazilian President Lula told an audience of big investors in the US that his government believes in fiscal austerity and warned that those who bet against Brazil will end up losers. Brazil's problems are not the fault of the US or anybody else, he said. Lula also promised that Brazil will grow once again and soon.
by Émerson Luiz

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Brazil: 20% Jobless in São Paulo
Almost 2 million people or 20 percent of the economically active population are without a job in the São Paulo metropolitan area, Brazil's most dynamic economic center. Nationwide, the unemployment rate was 13 percent in August, practically stable in relation to July, when the rate was 12.8 percent.
by Elisângela Cordeiro

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Brazil's Lula in Cuba: End of Paredón
Brazilian President Lula and Cuban Fidel Castro have much to talk about and they will have plenty of time to do just that. Although not mentioned in public, the question of the death penalty will be dealt with in depth. The Cuban and their leaders have great expectations regarding the visit.
by Vannildo Mendes

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Brazil's Space Race on Throttle Up
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva announced that despite the destruction of Brazil's satellite launcher, his government remained committed to developing its own launch system. The Science and Technology Minister vowed that a new prototype of the vehicle would be ready for launch by 2006.
by Frank Dirceu Braun

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Open Letter to Brazil's Lula on Cuba
Mr. Lula, your long friendship with President Castro is well known. However, no democrat would understand if these affinities were to take precedence over respect for human rights. We urge you to intercede on behalf of the 30 detained journalists in Cuba and to meet with the opposition and human rights activists.
by Robert Ménard

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When Brazilian Jazz Came to the US
Little did jazz guitarist Charlie Byrd and his friend saxophonist Stan Getz know that their 1962 album called Jazz Samba would create a bossa nova craze throughout the United States, a phenomenon that would generate many other historical albums and influence musicians and fans all over the world.
by Ernest Barteldes

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Brazil Cuts Budget to the Bone
The Brazilian Ministry of Planning has just revised its estimates for GDP growth for this year downward from 2.25 percent to 0.98 percent. As a result it also announced a budget cut of US$ 106 million that will affect several ministries and even priority government programs like land reform.
by AB

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Brazil Pushes for Planetary Zero Hunger
According to Brazil's Minister of Food Security and Hunger Alleviation, some countries are unable to eliminate hunger because of the "perverse" domestic distribution of income and food. In his view, the first step to assure the end of hunger all over the world is to adopt a program of food security.
by AB

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Brazil's Fat Lady Can't Sing: Intermission Feature
As a young and musically inclined adolescent of Brazilian descent, growing up in the sixties in New York was tough. I can recall straining to hear the names of any remotely sounding Brazilian artists or musicians in the cast lists of the many operatic works that were performed by the Met in its radio heyday.
by Joe Lopes

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Brazil: Full Text of Lula's UN Speech
The United Nations was conceived to do more than simply clear away the rubble of conflicts it was unable to prevent. Our central task is to preserve people from the scourge of war. Let us not place greater trust on military might than on the institutions we created with the light of Reason and the vision of History.
by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

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Brazil: Time for Lula to Stop Moaning
Instead of constantly sniping at the US, Brazilian President Lula should adopt a more positive approach and offer constructive help and agree to send Brazilian troops to Iraq. Lula will stop off in Cuba where he and Fidel Castro, will be able to have a good moan about "gringo" imperialism and aggression while puffing cigars.
by John Fitzpatrick

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Brazil's Lula Lambasts US
President Bush is expected to call at the UN for international assistance in Iraq in the form of more boots on the ground. According to Brazilian Foreign Minister, Celso Amorim, Brazil will refuse to send in troops. "Our position," he said, "is that the Iraqi people need to have their independence returned first."
by AB

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Brazil Confounds the Rich
From now on, the US and other big players of the international trade game will have to negotiate with the poorer nations, according to Brazil's Planning Minister, Guido Mantega. He is talking about the G-22, a group of developing countries led by Brazil, which include other powerhouses like India and China.
by AB

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Japanese Brazilian, Stay Off Japan!
A Japanese Brazilian living in Japan must have a strong heart, and stomach, and a strong sense of oneself, in order not to get lost and crazy in the sea of Japanese coldness and rejection. When the Japanese cannot avoid seeing that these Brazilian Japanese do have a culture, their reaction is disgust.
by Eva Paulino Bueno

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Brazil Can't Make Its Mind on Transgenics
Marina Silva, Brazilian Minister of Environment is calling for a definitive ruling on transgenetic crops. The minister says that her position is one of caution since Brazil is a member of the Biodiversity Convention and the Brazilian Congress is examining ratification of the Cartagena agreement.
by AB

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Brazil: Bahia Mafia Rules
For most Brazilians, Bahia is not "the land of happiness," but the domain of a veteran politician called Antônio Carlos Magalhães, who has dominated the state for almost half a century. The Magalhães influence is overwhelming, and there is a virtual personality cult around ACM and his son, Luiz Eduardo, who died in 1998.
by John Fitzpatrick

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Brazil's Lula: At the UN, decrying US and EU's hypocrisy
In his 15-minute address to the UN General Assembly, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will speak about the role of the United Nations in resolving international disputes and conflicts. He will also emphasize the need for the richer nations to assist poorer countries in their fight against hunger.
by Germano Neves

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Brazil's Lula: No More Mr. Humble Guy!
"We no longer accept participation in international politics as if we were the wretches of Latin America, a no-account Third World country, a worthless country that has homeless children, a minor country where people only know how to play soccer and dance samba. Brazil has much more than that."
by AB

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Brazil's Torture Centers for Kids
The always alleged lack of funds is not the cause of the breakdown at São Paulo's State Foundation for the Well-being of Minors. The State of São Paulo destines a million dollars to FEBEM. Poorer Brazilian states, like Pará and Roraima, already have developed models that result in low rates of recidivism.
by Suzana Lakatos

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Brazil: When El Dorado Was Here
The food arrived on the steamships from Europe and North America. Trade between Manaus and the rest of Brazil was not much. Who wanted anything from Rio when you could get it from Paris? And as Manaus had hopes of becoming the next capital of Brazil, it should have the best of everything.
by Rita Shannon Koeser

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Brazil Cracks Down on Biopirates
Brazil is a favorite target of biopirates and wild animal traffickers for the simple reason that it has the world's greatest variety. Material taken from plants and animals, many of them native only to Brazil, is used in foreign laboratories for studies that can lead to patents for medicines and genetic discoveries.
by AB

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Brazil: Trying to Save the Forests
The conservation and recuperation of the remnants of araucária forests in the South of Brazil is a long-standing demand of environmentalists defending the Atlantic Rain Forest. The new campaign occurs when lumber and landowning interests are working to prevent the adoption of measures to protect the forests.
by AB

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Brazil in Cancún and the Free Trade Farce
The creation of the G21 group led by Brazil in Cancún was intended to break a stalemate that confirmed what has been suspected for some time. Free-trade has one primary direction: North to South. As with its other international commitments, the US had no intention on settling for anything less than the status quo.
by Norman Madarasz

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Lula: Brazil Is No Minor Player
The Brazilian President said that, in calling for a more balanced global system of trade at the WTO meeting, Brazil was not asking for privileged treatment, but simply for a chance to compete. Lula expressed the hope that the G-21 group of Third World Countries led by Brazil will soon grow to 30 or more.
by AB

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Brazil Plays Hardball and Splits the World in Cancun
Brazil is not happy with the lack of results at the Cancun talks. The country, however, celebrated the creation of the G-21 because, according to the Lula administration, the group represents half the world's population and almost half its agricultural production. That is true because of the presence of India and China.
by AB

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Brazilian Press: Bring Back the Journalists!
The media, taken as industry or institution, finds itself paralyzed. Its reactions are counterproductive or, at best, conventional and remedial. This 'journalism-without-journalists' concept (hiding behind the waves of lay-offs) is as preposterous as the neglect practiced by every large publisher in the last 10 years regarding their own human resources.
by Alberto Dines

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In Brazil Nepotism Never Dies
There are an estimated 20,000 "positions of trust" in the Lula administration and according to press reports the greedy PT has grabbed about 80 percent of them. This wasn't supposed to happen since socialists give the impression of being decent, honest, and against vested interests and corruption.
by John Fitzpatrick

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Brazilians on the Streets Against the U.S.
Brazilians by the thousands will be hitting the street this weekend in demonstrations throughout Brazil against the FTAA, the World Trade Organization and the United States. The protests, according to their organizers, are in favor of national sovereignty, development, jobs, income distribution and social inclusion.
by AB

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The Art of the Deal in Brazil
A common faux pas that a North American might make when dealing with a Brazilian would be to wave away the initial relationship-establishing process as a time waster. That is because, for the most part, we North Americans, with our traditionally Calvinistic values, come from a low context culture.
by Loretta Murphy

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Newark Celebrates Brazil
This past weekend was Newark's turn to celebrate Brazil's Independence Day. The Newark celebration though smaller in publicity and stars than the one a week before in New York, was grander and livelier. The public could be close to the stages and very little security was necessary, for the crowd partied hard but in a mostly orderly manner.
by Ernest Barteldes

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Improta Pushing Brazilian Jazz's Envelope
Gabriel Improta's music may owe something to Baden Powell's world, but he sets his own indisputably virtuosic guidelines. His music is full of revolving colors, emotional curves, and surprises. Improta's easygoing approach, however, conceals his enormous command of the contemporary classical medium.
by Bruce Gilman

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Brazil: Zero Hunger Ahead of Schedule
Brazil announced that is Zero Hunger program to end hunger in the poorest areas of Brazil is going better than anticipated. Close to one million families in the Northeast and the state of Minas Gerais are already receiving its monthly grant of 50 reais to buy food. Next area to be benefited: the Amazon.
by AB

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Brazil's Lula to Bush: Stop Subsidies
Brazilians want a greater access to world markets in order to compete on an equal footing with the rich countries in agrobusiness. Farmers and ranchers in the US and the EU receive generous subsidies for what they produce. Brazil's message is: "if agriculture isn't negotiated, nothing will be."
by AB

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Brazil to U.S.: "Take Your Hands Off Me"
Brazil still needs land reform and has too many people who are unemployed. During this Independence Day Brazilians have taken to the streets by the thousands to protest against social exclusion and the Free Trade Area of the Americas accord. "Brazil Is Ours," has been the cry of these protesters.
by AB

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Brazil's Fat Lady Can't Sing - Act Three
With his endless fascination for popular and folk forms, and his incorporation of modern and neoclassical elements into his entire musical framework, Heitor Villa-Lobos appeared to possess the finest qualities of emperor Dom Pedro, Carlos Gomes, and Arturo Toscanini, all rolled into one indomitable and charismatic entity.
by Joe Lopes

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New and Improved Voice of Brazil
After seven decades on the air, the official radio program Voice of Brazil has just undergone its first radical transformation, with changes to its editorial content. According to its producers, the Voice is leaving the office and hitting the street, with reports based on the needs of listeners.
by AB

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Brazil: Meals for 30 Cents at Coca-Cola Restaurant
Coca-Cola has joined Zero Hunger offering subsidized meals to the Brazilian poor for as little as 1 real (33 cents). The food will be prepared by the same company that cooks for Coke's workers. Coca-Cola is already serving rice, beans, meat, and salad to as many as 300 people a day in Porto Alegre, state of Rio Grande do Sul.
by AB

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Brazil: Lula Takes Zero Hunger to UN
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will once again call for a world campaign against hunger. The idea was originally mentioned at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and repeated at the G-8 meeting in Evian. The President wants to get all developed nations behind his proposal now.
by AB

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FTAA: Brazil Toughens Up Against U.S.
On September 7th, Brazil's Independence Day, marches will take place throughout the country with the theme "Take your hands of our land". On September 16th, a coalition of hundreds of social movements will turn in a petition signed by millions of Brazilians demanding an official plebiscite on the FTAA.
by Sejup

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Dissecting Brazil's Zero Hunger
In Brazil, a country of abundance, the existence of mass hunger is a fact to which few of Brazil's urban middle classes have assented. Brazil is the fourth largest food exporter in the world. Yet as Minister of Food Safety, José Graziano da Silva states "Nearly a third of the Brazilian population is in a situation of food insecurity."
by Norman Madarasz

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Brazil: Revving Up the Propaganda Machine
A government sponsored public relations campaign for the Lula administration is scheduled for September as the government attempts to transpose some of Lula's personal appeal to itself. Millions of taxpayers' money will be spent to bolster the Workers' Party image with next year's municipal elections in view.
by Richard Hayes

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Brazilian Day in New York Goes "Global"
Brazilian Day in New York was a huge event this year, with a much larger press presence than in other years. Globo International has taken over the artistic direction of the event, transforming it into a marketing scheme. Local restaurants set shop on the sidewalks, offering rather overpriced dishes and appetizers.
by Ernest Barteldes

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Brazil = Recession + Depression
At the moment, Brazil is not a happy country. People are depressed. Those with jobs are worried about losing them and the unemployed are desperate for work. This goes for all sectors and all classes. Shops, restaurants, bars and car dealers are among those reporting lower sales.
by John Fitzpatrick

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