RebKell's Junkie Boards

[Howee]

So I got my first detailed account of the outlook for the new Brazilian administration on the horizon (PBS tonight). What say the Common Folk/expats/etc. on the hopes 'n fears for the future?

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Oregon: Go Ducks!
"Inévitablement, les canards voleront"

[sambista]

heh-heh. don't abuse my name!

i’ve been going to brasil since 1990, and i understand NOTHING about the political landscape there. i’ve seen, heard and read things, but i’m convinced only that i may never understand what has happened, what will happen, and certainly not why.

i love brasil to death. i love rio in particular to death, which is very different in many ways from the rest of brasil. and maybe it’s because i love it so, as my sole paradise on earth, that i have extremely harsh criticism of it.

i’ve told my brasilian friends that just because they avoid reading or watching the news on tv doesn’t mean nothing has happened. i’ve told them i don’t understand how they can live in a city (rio) where crime is so rampant and random, where it doesn’t matter where or who you are. that i don’t understand how casually nearly everyone can relate some firsthand brush with death. ("oh, yeah. i was on a bus one day, and some gunmen came on and started shooting. we tried to hide low under the seats. my friend got hit in the leg. oh, well. i love rio. i’ll NEVER leave.") i’ve noticed how annoyed my brasilian friends become when i want to discuss the state of affairs. i’ve told them that their national bird should be the ostrich.

i know older brasilians, the ones who lived through the military dictatorship, who voted for bolsonaro and wanted him to win. even as they revere the people, many artists, who were exiled in europe during that time, the killings and repression don’t seem to faze them in retrospect. one woman told me, "the only people who were in danger were the communists." i know younger brasilians who voted for bolsonaro and wanted him to win. as an outsider, what i saw were people who were tired of bad times, wanted change and as much as conceded that they weren’t capable of disciplining or governing themselves, that they needed an authoritarian figure to control their lives for them. crime is so bad that they don’t care what the police and military do, or whom they kill, so long as the bad times go away.

even before bolsonaro, in "democracy," political assassinations occurred and wanton killings of both criminals and innocent bystanders in the favelas continued.

there’s no question that brasil’s politicians and captains of commerce have plundered the country. the money up for grabs during the world cup and olympics, and before that, was just too tempting. honestly, i think it would’ve been nearly impossible to find one truly honest candidate to run for president. i know there are other aspects to this whole story, but i can’t believe that bolsonaro was the least bad choice.

i don’t know what’ll happen. i’m afraid my paradise will never be the same, and brasilians will continue to delude themselves. those who can afford to will leave; emigration to portugal has increased to the point that the consulate in são paulo began turning away applicants.

bolsonaro appears 10 times worse than trump. he has said things, dissing women and minorities, that trump wouldn’t dare think of saying. just this morning, i read a story that’s a sign of things to come:
Brazil's Bolsonaro targets minorities on 1st day in office.
The new president issued an order that removes the rights of the LGBT community and indigenous residents from consideration by the new human rights ministry.

economically, it’ll be interesting to see what happens, though i don’t hold out much hope for the people who are the most needy. say what you will about the leftists lula and dilma, but they lifted 30 million brasilians out of poverty (and now many have sunk back). with trump being trump, china is poised to step in as brasil’s primary economic partner - not that it has far to go, considering its aggressive "aquisition" of resources in africa and south america.

but i fear for the people. at the same time, they got exactly what they asked for. just as we did.

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no justice, no peace.

[Howee]

Thank you for that articulate explanation. Being out of touch, I didn't even know you'd left there (how long have you been back?)

It all strikes me as so very sad. Even sadder than what we know here--to me, at least, as I still have HIGH hope that we'll get on track again.

_________________
Oregon: Go Ducks!
"Inévitablement, les canards voleront"

[sambista]

you're right - it's so very sad. i could've stayed in brasil for the rest of my life. such a beautiful place, where nature embraces you from all sides - sea, mountains, rainforest. and brasilians are so warm and friendly and sociable. such a paradise that you could almost - almost - forgive them their blindnesses.

i can't live in the usa anymore. and we are blind, too. in part, i think, because so few americans have ventured outside this country except to vacation at a hilton or marriott in another country. what's the number - still fewer than half of americans have a passport? that's sad. we've allowed ourselves to be hoodwinked, allowed corporations to rip us off because we just don't know any better. we're spoiled, we're still trying to keep up with the joneses, and we tolerate paying way too much for everything. if more people knew how much more they could have, how much farther their money would go in other places, and realize that all this accumulation of . . . things . . . is so unimportant, they would join the growing number of expats or more forcefully demand change here.

thank goodness for millennials, who are fearless about traveling the world. they may suffer from not having the safety nets of stability that we had (social security, pensions, etc.), but their eyes will be more open to options and possibilities, and they won't just settle for whatever countries they happened to start their lives in.

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no justice, no peace.