31/08/2017
2. POLITICS AND HISTORY
If I ask you, what is the first word that comes to your mind when I tell you « Brazil » ?
Most of the people would answer that Brazil is Rio de Janeiro and the Christ Redeemer, amazing beaches, cachaça, samba, soccer and the carnaval. But what most people don’t pay attention to is what is really happening in Brazil.
You have to know that, aside of the wonderful places and culture of joy that is Brazil, the country has another half. And this half is tainted black.
This half, is the political system of the country.
We, as Europeans, don’t know what corruption means.
Okay, let’s me rephrase. We don’t LIVE the corruption.
Brazilian politics function on one pillar since the creation of the country ; money.
In Brazil, if you want something it's easy: if you have the money, you own the entire country.
You don’t need to have studied political sciences/law/social sciences to run for presidency, you could be totally incult about international relations but still access the seat.
To give you the best exemple ; recently, the ex-president Lula has been condamned to 9 years of prison because of corruption. He was found guilty by the lower court of accepting R$3.7 million in bribes ($1.2 million US) in the form of improvements to his beachfront house from construction company Grupo OAS, which in turn received lucrative contracts from the state-owned oil company Petrobras....And he ran the country for 8 years.
The first woman president was Dilma Roussef but has been impeached one year ago...For what reason you're asking me? Oh...Not much. She just hid the importance of the public debt...
Since then, it is Michel Temer (her VP) that is ruling the country. And… How can I tell you…His gouvernement is only composed of old white and rich men. What an improvement, right? Oh! And of course, he is also tainted by some corruption affairs...What are we going to learn in a few years scares me already...
His politics is more or less a right-wing one. For the moment he’s starting a huge military operation in the Rio favelas against drugs.
What you have to also know about the inner functionment of the country is that the governement doesn’t invest in the basics : education, healthcare, administration, infrastructure and renovation, a good internet and phone cover, international exchanges, tourism...To be totally honest, I am still figuring out in what the governement actually invest.
To give you an idea of how complicated the system is for the people : when you want to travel internationally and ask for a visa, you cannot do it in your hometown, you have to go get it either in Sao Paulo, Brasilia or Rio de Janeiro.
Yes, to travel, you have to travel first.
The logic ? None.
But this is not everything…This is not only the government that is corrupted…A part of the police is too. Especially in the Rio’s favelas…Covering the crime in exchange of money.
I think I am not inventing anything by saying that corruption is nearly a cultural aspect of the country. This is usual. In every areas.
Besides the corruption aspect of the country, Brazil is, unfortunately, reached by a racism and sexism a lot.
(I’ll talk more about the condition of women later in another point but, as I told you before, the current governement is only composed of men…)
About the racism, it is a really complicated aspect to tackle and I don’t feel competent to talk about it in details. But, what I can already say from my observations and the conversations I had with locals, is that being black and having afro hair is sometimes considered as dirty. That’s why, when you watch the Brazilian tv, you only see white people (or slightly brown), with straighten hair, trying to look like some fake Europeans…This is a very diffrent kind of racism that the one we have in Europe, that’s more « simple », if I may say. Here, it is a question of backlashing its entire culture implicitly and being fine with it…
So, you’re gonna ask me ; but Jade, why the people don’t do something about the status quo ?? What about a revolution ??
I wondered the same during a long time here without finding an answer. But if you look at the history of Brazil, you can easily understand why.
Brazil has been colonized and exploited by the Portuguese during 315 years. But that didn’t end because of a strong revolution such as the 1789’s revolt against monarchy in France. No.
That was the Portuguese king at the time that decided to proclaim independance.
Yes...The colonisator proclaimed himself the independance of the country he was owning.
That is the roots of the Brazilian behaviour consisting in letting the government ruling.
But please don’t get me wrong !!!! I am not saying that every single Brazilian doesn’t want to make a revolution and improve its country. It’s just that the Brazilian culture about revolutions and fighting for rights isn’t as much pronounced as the European one, due to history…
Anyway, this is slowly changing.
In 2013 happened big manifestations in the city of Vitoria. More than 33.000 people were out on the biggest bridge of the city (Terceira Ponte) to protest. This was huge.
I also believe that the new generation is ready to make a change. When I saw the people from AIESEC working to create a better future, it conforted me in the idea that things are improving. The projects developped in the favelas to help the children are amazing and the educators do an marvellous work when trying to teach the kids about respect, non-violence, and how to live with the others. Those organisations are the only real empowerment for those kids and I am happy to have been part of this wonderful project. These kids will grow and have the task to reshape Brazil…Their education is in the hands of those social projects, otherwise, they would have nothing and would BE nothing. So...There's a will to change, growing up from the very ground of the country...
SOON :
3. LOCAL LIFE
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4. LIVING CONDITIONS
5. DESIGUAL E FAVELAS
[pic: Vitoria's protests, by Andrew Brister, all rights reserved]
