Brazil is shutting down all the University Sociology and Philosophy departments. Please consider signing this petition of protest and concern.
►https://sites.google.com/g.harvard.edu/brazil-solidarity
#Brésil #Bolsonaro #SHS #université #savoirs #connaissance #sociologie #philosophie #it_has_begun #répression #censure #sciences_humaines_et_sociales
Open Letter from U.S. and Global Sociologists in Support of Brazilian Sociology Departments
On April 25th, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, along with his Minister of Education, Abraham Weintraub, declared the government’s intent to “decentralize investments in philosophy and sociology” within public universities, and to shift financial support to “areas that give immediate returns to taxpayers, such as veterinary science, engineering, and medicine.”
As professors, lecturers, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and other scholars in sociology and related disciplines at colleges and universities in the United States and worldwide, we write to declare our unwavering support for continued funding for sociology programs at Brazilian universities. We oppose President Bolsonaro’s attempt to disinvest in sociology, or any other program in the humanities or social sciences.
As historical and contemporary sociologists, we understand that the decades-long marketization of higher education has convinced many politicians - in Brazil, in the United States, and globally - that a university education is valuable only insofar as it is immediately profitable. We reject this premise.
The purpose of higher education is not to produce “immediate returns” on investments. The purpose of higher education must always be to produce an educated, enriched society that benefits from the collective endeavor to create human knowledge. Higher education is a purpose in and of itself.
An education in the full range of the arts and sciences is the cornerstone of a liberal arts education. This is as true in Brazil as it is in the United States as it is in any country in the world.
Brazilian sociology departments produce socially engaged and critical thinkers, both in Brazil and worldwide. Brazilian sociologists contribute to the global production of sociological knowledge. They are our colleagues within the discipline and within our shared departments and institutions. When sociologists from abroad conduct research or other academic work in Brazil, we are welcomed by Brazilian sociologists and by their departments. Many of our own students receive world-class training in sociology at Brazilian universities.
President Bolsonaro’s intent to defund sociology programs is an affront to the discipline, to the academy, and, most broadly, to the human pursuit of knowledge. This proposal is ill-conceived, and violates principles of academic freedom that ought to be integral to systems of higher education in Brazil, in the United States, and across the globe. We urge the Brazilian government to reconsider its proposition.
Brazilian Government To Defund Philosophy in Public Universities
Jair M. Bolsonaro, the current president of Brazil, has announced on Twitter his plans to stop government funding of philosophy and sociology in the nation’s public universities.
A rough translation is: “The Minister of Education, Abraham Weintraub, is studying how to decentralize investment in philosophy and sociology at universities. Students who have already enrolled will not be affected. The objective is to focus on areas that generate immediate return to the taxpayer, such as: veterinary, engineering, and medicine.”
By way of explanation, he added:
Again, roughly translated, this says: “The role of the Government is to respect the taxpayer’s money, teaching young people to read, write, and learn job skills that generates income for the person and well-being for the family, which improves the society around them.”
Those with more knowledge of the situation are encouraged to share what they know in the comments here, or by email to dailynouseditor@gmail.com.
▻http://dailynous.com/2019/04/26/brazilian-government-defund-philosophy-public-universities
Le post de Rodrigo (reçu par email de @isskein):
Some friends have written to ask about the Brazilian government’s announcement of an attack on the humanities (▻http://tiny.cc/d10t5y) –– and, very kindly, how/whether that affected me personally. As I thought other people might be interested, here’s a couple of things.
Secondary things first: the decision, whatever it is, does not affect me directly, as PUC-Rio is thankfully under the jurisdiction of a rather more stable authority, the Vatican. (Well, the Jesuits, technically –– and let me tell you, one really comes to appreciate the charms of actual warrior priests when faced with the Holy Crusade LARPers we currently have in power.) Indirectly, however, this decision, whatever it is, can have effects across the board.
“Whatever it is” is the main thing at this point. There is no decision as such yet, and the announcement is quite vague, possibly because, not having much of a clue how the state machine works, they still don’t know how to implement it. “Decentralising funds” doesn’t really mean anything, and public universities have autonomy to employ their resources, so “defunding the humanities” is not something Brasília can decide like that. What this can mean in the long run, however, is two things. One is something that has already been happening for a while and was already expected to get worse: a substantial cut in research funding across the board, but especially for the humanities. This does have an impact on non-public universities as well, or at least the few like PUC that do research, since the vast majority of research in Brazil is publicly funded, particularly in the humanities. The other thing, which was also expected to some extent, is that the new chancellors the government will pick for federal universities will be politically and ideologically aligned with it, and will implement this policy.
It is worth pointing out that, because of the notoriously perverse way HE recruitment works in Brazil, the humanities tend to be the courses of choice for the students who went to the worst schools (read poor, black, brown, indigenous), as they’re easier to get into. So defunding the humanities is indirectly also a policy of restricting access to HE, reverting the positive trend of expansion established in the last two decades. With the economic crisis, of course, that reversal had already begun.
Now, as for the context. This government’s ideological core is not just anti-intellectual, but made up of wannabe alt-right ideologues, conspiracy nuts and a bunch of ressentis who managed to square their belief in free competition with their utter failure in life by constructing the fantasy of a communist-globalist plot against the(ir) world. Less charmingly, they are historical revisionists (regarding the dictatorship, the Nazis, slavery...) and climate denialists. It is therefore in their interest to eliminate anything that refers to a reality other than the one they have fabricated or deals with the development of critical tools for analysing evidence. This extends to the war they are already waging against the state departments that deal with the census, statistics and applied research. The more they can make the world inaccessible by either fact or interpretation, the freer they are from the resistance imposed by reality –– including from the very possibility of statistically assessing the impact that their actions will have.
Why now, though? Bolsonaro is too divisive and politically inept, his programme potentially too harmful, to build a stable majority. It’s still unclear whether he can deliver a pension reform, which is essential to ensure the continuing support of big capital, and his popularity rates have taken a considerable fall since January, especially among the poor. (See: ▻https://tinyurl.com/yyl2kff7). He knows, on the other hand, that his greatest asset is a very engaged core base of true believers. US friends will be familiar with this behaviour from Trump: whenever the boat rocks, he will throw his base a bait, and this is mostly what this announcement is.
Unlike Trump, Bolsonaro doesn’t even have economic recovery going for him, so if things remain as they are, we should expect him to become more divisive, and his support to become more unstable (in every sense). But there’s another political rationale to this attack specifically. As more poor people were making it into university, especially in the humanities, the left was also losing most of its direct presence in the peripheries and favelas. This means that this layer of the university-educated poor, who have increasingly taken on a protagonist role, have become central to any future left strategy in the country. This was the background from which hailed Marielle Franco, an object of especially vicious hate for Bolsonarismo, and in relation to whose death they still have serious questions to answer (▻https://tinyurl.com/y3btg54d).
If you’re worried and you’d like to help, stay tuned to this story, stay in touch with colleagues in Brazil or in your countries/institutions who are doing stuff on Brazil, keep an eye on the news and be ready to call out reporting in your countries that normalises the absurdity of so much that’s going on. It might be a tad premature right now, but motions from union branch and professional association motions might be in a good order at some point; every little bit helps. It is likely that there’ll be opportunities in the future for putting pressure on foreign governments to get them to put pressure on Brazil to curb the worst impulses of this government. Several measures announced in these early months were retracted once there was some pushback, so that does not seem a far-fetched possibility. In the meantime, you might consider circulating this manifesto by 600 scientists from all over the world demanding that the EU hold Brazilian trade to minimal indigenous rights and environmental standards: ▻https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6438/341.1. This is the kind of thing we’ll probably be seeing more of in the near future.
MEC bloqueia 30% do orçamento de três universidades federais; outras unidades também são atingidas
Mãos de tesoura Entidades que monitoram o investimento no ensino superior detectaram novo bloqueio de verbas de instituições federais no fim de abril, após Abraham Weintraub assumir o Ministério da Educação. Cerca de R$ 230 milhões foram contingenciados.
Mãos de tesoura 2 Várias unidades do país sofreram com o congelamento de valores previstos no orçamento de investimentos e outras despesas correntes, mas o volume da tesourada em três universidades chamou a atenção: a Federal da Bahia, a de Brasília e a Federal Fluminense.
Mãos de tesoura 3 De acordo com números preliminares, o valor bloqueado nas três entidades corresponde a mais da metade do contingenciamento imposto a todas as universidades. Procurado, o MEC informou que UFBA, UnB e UFF tiveram 30% das dotações orçamentárias bloqueadas.
Mãos de tesoura 4 Em nota, a pasta disse que “estuda os bloqueios de forma que nenhum programa seja prejudicado e que os recursos sejam utilizados da forma mais eficaz. O Programa de Assistência Estudantil não sofreu impacto em seu orçamento.”
Verão passado Em 2018, a UFF foi palco de um rumoroso “ato contra o fascismo”, na reta final da eleição presidencial. Já a UnB foi palco recentemente de debates com Fernando Haddad (PT) e Guilherme Boulos (PSOL).
British Philosophical Association Defends Philosophy in Brazil
The Executive Committee of the British Philosophical Association (BPA) has issued a statement responding to Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, who last week proposed that federal funding for the study and teaching of philosophy and sociology be ended.
The statement reads:
The British Philosophical Association is highly alarmed by President Bolsonaro’s plans to remove funding from Philosophy and Sociology in Brazilian Universities. Such a move is not in Brazil’s interests – having well-funded, vibrant, internationally-connected philosophy and sociology departments is crucial to healthy universities and, by extension, to healthy societies. Philosophers, alongside colleagues in the humanities, arts and social sciences, have a crucial role in helping us to understand, question, invent and reinvent the communities, towns, cities, societies and economies in which we exist. They help us understand what is valuable and why. They help us understand the results and implications of the fruits of science and technology.The proposal to defund philosophy departments in Brazil is bad for philosophy as a worldwide discipline; philosophy directly benefits from the diversity of experiences of the people that contribute to it. Brazil has been home to generations of distinguished philosophy scholars: Paulo Freire, Oswaldo Chateaubriand, Newton da Costa, Walter Carnielli, Itala D’ottaviano, Vladimir Safatle, Ana Paula Cavalcanti Simioni to name but a few. Brazil’s philosophy departments attract visiting philosophers from all over the world to study alongside leading figures. Brazil’s universities have produced philosophers who have gone on to work at leading universities around the world; for example, Roberto Mangabeira Unger is Professor at Harvard Law School, and two of the three Editors-in-Chief of Synthese, one of the world’s top ranking philosophy journals, are Brazilian and trained at the University of Sao Paulo – Catarina Dutilh Novaes and Otavio Bueno.
This move strikes a blow against academic freedom and freedom more broadly; while President Bolsonaro’s statements have been framed as an attempt to channel investment towards programmes of study which might provide shorter-term benefits to Brazil’s economy, the BPA note that authoritarian governments often attempt to silence philosophers and sociologists as a move to make it more difficult for people to express views critical of those in power. The British Philosophical Association calls on leaders around the world to urge President Bolsonaro to reconsider this move.
▻http://dailynous.com/2019/05/01/british-philosophical-association-defends-philosophy-brazil
on me signale l’existence du RED Réseau Européen pour la Démocratie au Brésil (RED.Br) très actif sur facebook
<iframe src='https://seenthis.net/▻https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpermalink.php%3Fstory_fbid%" width="500" height="433" style="border:none ;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowTransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe>
Au Brésil, le ministre qui veut réduire les sciences humaines. Abraham Weintraub a décidé de réduire les budgets alloués aux universités de sociologie et philosophie et a affirmé vouloir faire de même avec toutes les universités fédérales.
▻https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2019/05/03/au-bresil-le-ministre-qui-veut-reduire-les-sciences-humaines_5457823_3210.ht
La direction du président Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) a bloqué les dernières heures de bourses d’études et de doctorat offertes par Capes (Coordination pour l’amélioration du personnel de l’enseignement supérieur).
Selon les informations communiquées par les coordonnateurs de programme, les fonds inutilisés temporairement auraient été retirés du système d’agence de développement rattaché au ministère de l’Éducation.
Les bourses ont été accordées à des étudiants ayant déjà défendu leur travail récemment et seraient destinées à des étudiants approuvés dans le cadre de processus de sélection terminés ou en cours.
La coupure a pris les universités par surprise a touché non seulement les domaines de l’homme, mais la direction du ministre Abraham Weintraub a déclaré que ce n’était pas la priorité des investissements publics, mais également de la science.
À l’Institute of Biosciences of USP, 38 bourses d’études ont été coupées - 17 masters, 19 doctorats et deux postdoctoraux.
voir plus :
▻https://www.tudosobreposgraduacao.com/post/gest%C3%A3o-bolsonaro-faz-corte-generalizado-em-bolsas-de-pes
The Ghost of Brazil’s Military Dictatorship
▻https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/brazil/2019-01-01/ghosts-brazils-military-dictatorship
▻https://files.foreignaffairs.com/styles/large-crop-landscape/s3/images/articles/2018/12/30/rtx6kb2i.jpg?itok=C0VSe4Wy
Brutal military dictatorships governed many Latin American countries during the 1970s and 1980s. But most of those countries—including Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay—established truth commissions in the aftermath of the #repression. Such reconciliation processes allowed successor governments to prosecute at least some human rights abusers, as well as to forge a national narrative that could begin to set the period’s #demons to rest.
The Brazilian government took a different path. It waited until 2012 to establish its commission, never charged anyone with a #crime in connection with the dictatorship, and did not seriously encourage a national dialogue about the country’s authoritarian past. Rather than develop a politics of memory, as other Latin American countries have done, Brazil has chosen to pursue a politics of forgetting. This response may help explain how an apologist for #torture and dictatorship was able to rise to power in Brazil in 2018.
#Travail_de_mémoire #Brésil #dictature #Bolsonaro #Amérique_latine
Brazil new President will open Amazon indigenous reserves to mining and farming
Indigenous People Bolsonaro has vowed that no more indigenous reserves will be demarcated and existing reserves will be opened up to mining, raising the alarm among indigenous leaders. “We are in a state of alert,” said Beto Marubo, an indigenous leader from the Javari Valley reserve.
Dinamam Tuxá, the executive coordinator of the Indigenous People of Brazil Liaison, said indigenous people did not want mining and farming on their reserves, which are some of the best protected areas in the Amazon. “He does not respect the indigenous peoples’ traditions” he said.
The Amazon and the environment Bolsonaro campaigned on a pledge to combine Brazil’s environment ministry with the agriculture ministry – under control of allies from the agribusiness lobby. He has attacked environmental agencies for running a “fines industry” and argued for simplifying environmental licences for development projects. His chief of staff, Onyx Lorenzoni, and other allies have challenged global warming science.
“He intends that Amazon stays Brazilian and the source of our progress and our riches,” said Ribeiro Souto in an interview. Ferreira has also said Bolsonaro wants to restart discussions over controversial hydroelectric dams in the Amazon, which were stalled over environmental concerns.
Bolsonaro’s announcement last week that he would no longer seek to withdraw Brazil from the Paris climate agreement has done little to assuage environmentalists’ fears.
▻http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2018/10/brazil-new-president-will-open-amazon.html
#réserves #Amazonie #Brésil #extractivisme #mines #agriculture #forêt #déforestation (probablement pour amener ENFIN la #modernité et le #progrès, n’est-ce pas ?) #aires_protégées #peuples_autochtones #barrages_hydroélectriques
Un leader paysan assassiné dans l’Amazonie brésilienne
Le leader paysan, #Aluisio_Samper, dit #Alenquer, a été assassiné jeudi après-midi 11 octobre 2018 chez lui, à #Castelo_de_Sonhos, une ville située le long de la route BR-163 qui relie le nord de l’État de #Mato_Grosso, la principale région productrice de #soja du Brésil, aux deux fleuves Tapajós et Amazone.
Il défendait des paysans qui s’accrochaient à des lopins de terre qu’ils cultivaient pour survivre, alors que le gouvernement les avaient inclues dans un projet de #réforme_agraire et allait les attribuer à des associations de gros producteurs.
As Brazil’s Far Right Leader Threatens the Amazon, One Tribe Pushes Back
“Where there is indigenous land,” newly elected President Jair Bolsonaro has said, “there is wealth underneath it.”
The Times traveled hundreds of miles into the Brazilian Amazon, staying with a tribe in the #Munduruku Indigenous Territory as it struggled with the shrinking rain forest.
The miners had to go.
Their bulldozers, dredges and high-pressure hoses tore into miles of land along the river, polluting the water, poisoning the fish and threatening the way life had been lived in this stretch of the Amazon for thousands of years.
So one morning in March, leaders of the Munduruku tribe readied their bows and arrows, stashed a bit of food into plastic bags and crammed inside four boats to drive the miners away.
“It has been decided,” said Maria Leusa Kabá, one of the women in the tribe who helped lead the revolt.
▻https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/10/world/americas/brazil-indigenous-mining-bolsonaro.html
Indigenous People, the First Victims of Brazil’s New Far-Right Government
“We have already been decimated and subjected, and we have been victims of the integrationist policy of governments and the national state,” said indigenous leaders, as they rejected the new Brazilian government’s proposals and measures focusing on indigenous peoples.
In an open letter to President Jair Bolsonaro, leaders of the Aruak, Baniwa and Apurinã peoples, who live in the watersheds of the Negro and Purus rivers in Brazil’s northwestern Amazon jungle region, protested against the decree that now puts indigenous lands under the Ministry of Agriculture, which manages interests that run counter to those of native peoples.
Indigenous people are likely to present the strongest resistance to the offensive of Brazil’s new far-right government, which took office on Jan. 1 and whose first measures roll back progress made over the past three decades in favor of the 305 indigenous peoples registered in this country.
Native peoples are protected by article 231 of the Brazilian constitution, in force since 1988, which guarantees them “original rights over the lands they traditionally occupy,” in addition to recognising their “social organisation, customs, languages, beliefs and traditions.”
To this are added international regulations ratified by the country, such as Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the International Labor Organisation, which defends indigenous rights, such as the right to prior, free and informed consultation in relation to mining or other projects that affect their communities.
It was indigenous people who mounted the stiffest resistance to the construction of hydroelectric dams on large rivers in the Amazon rainforest, especially Belo Monte, built on the Xingu River between 2011 and 2016 and whose turbines are expected to be completed this year.
Transferring the responsibility of identifying and demarcating indigenous reservations from the National Indigenous Foundation (Funai) to the Ministry of Agriculture will hinder the demarcation of new areas and endanger existing ones.
There will be a review of the demarcations of Indigenous Lands carried out over the past 10 years, announced Luiz Nabhan García, the ministry’s new secretary of land affairs, who is now responsible for the issue.
García is the leader of the Democratic Ruralist Union, a collective of landowners, especially cattle ranchers, involved in frequent and violent conflicts over land.
Bolsonaro himself has already announced the intention to review Raposa Serra do Sol, an Indigenous Land legalised in 2005, amid legal battles brought to an end by a 2009 Supreme Court ruling, which recognised the validity of the demarcation.
This indigenous territory covers 17,474 square kilometers and is home to some 20,000 members of five different native groups in the northern state of Roraima, on the border with Guyana and Venezuela.
In Brazil there are currently 486 Indigenous Lands whose demarcation process is complete, and 235 awaiting demarcation, including 118 in the identification phase, 43 already identified and 74 “declared”.
“The political leaders talk, but revising the Indigenous Lands would require a constitutional amendment or proof that there has been fraud or wrongdoing in the identification and demarcation process, which is not apparently frequent,” said Adriana Ramos, director of the Socio-environmental Institute, a highly respected non-governmental organisation involved in indigenous and environmental issues.
“The first decisions taken by the government have already brought setbacks, with the weakening of the indigenous affairs office and its responsibilities. The Ministry of Health also announced changes in the policy toward the indigenous population, without presenting proposals, threatening to worsen an already bad situation,” she told IPS from Brasilia.
“The process of land demarcation, which was already very slow in previous governments, is going to be even slower now,” and the worst thing is that the declarations against rights “operate as a trigger for violations that aggravate conflicts, generating insecurity among indigenous peoples,” warned Ramos.
In the first few days of the new year, and of the Bolsonaro administration, loggers already invaded the Indigenous Land of the Arara people, near Belo Monte, posing a risk of armed clashes, she said.
The indigenous Guaraní people, the second largest indigenous group in the country, after the Tikuna, who live in the north, are the most vulnerable to the situation, especially their communities in the central-eastern state of Mato Grosso do Sul.
They are fighting for the demarcation of several lands and the expansion of too-small areas that are already demarcated, and dozens of their leaders have been murdered in that struggle, while they endure increasingly precarious living conditions that threaten their very survival.
“The grave situation is getting worse under the new government. They are strangling us by dividing Funai and handing the demarcation process to the Ministry of Agriculture, led by ruralists – the number one enemies of indigenous people,” said Inaye Gomes Lopes, a young indigenous teacher who lives in the village of Ñanderu Marangatu in Mato Grosso do Sul, near the Paraguayan border.
Funai has kept its welfare and rights defence functions but is now subordinate to the new Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights, led by Damares Alves, a controversial lawyer and evangelical pastor.
“We only have eight Indigenous Lands demarcated in the state and one was annulled (in December). What we have is due to the many people who have died, whose murderers have never been put in prison,” said Lopes, who teaches at a school that pays tribute in indigenous language to Marçal de Souza, a Guarani leader murdered in 1982.
“We look for ways to resist and we look for ‘supporters’, at an international level as well. I’m worried, I don’t sleep at night,” she told IPS in a dialogue from her village, referring to the new government, whose expressions regarding indigenous people she called “an injustice to us.”
Bolsonaro advocates “integration” of indigenous people, referring to assimilation into the mainstream “white” society – an outdated idea of the white elites.
He complained that indigenous people continue to live “like in zoos,” occupying “15 percent of the national territory,” when, according to his data, they number less than a million people in a country of 209 million inhabitants.
“It’s not us who have a large part of Brazil’s territory, but the big landowners, the ruralists, agribusiness and others who own more than 60 percent of the national territory,” countered the public letter from the the Aruak, Baniwa and Apurinã peoples.
Actually, Indigenous Lands make up 13 percent of Brazilian territory, and 90 percent are located in the Amazon rainforest, the signatories of the open letter said.
“We are not manipulated by NGOs,” they replied to another accusation which they said arose from the president’s “prejudices.”
A worry shared by some military leaders, like the minister of the Institutional Security Cabinet, retired General Augusto Heleno Pereira, is that the inhabitants of Indigenous Lands under the influence of NGOs will declare the independence of their territories, to separate from Brazil.
They are mainly worried about border areas and, especially, those occupied by people living on both sides of the border, such as the Yanomami, who live in Brazil and Venezuela.
But in Ramos’ view, it is not the members of the military forming part of the Bolsonaro government, like the generals occupying five ministries, the vice presidency, and other important posts, who pose the greatest threat to indigenous rights.
Many military officers have indigenous people among their troops and recognise that they share in the task of defending the borders, she argued.
It is the ruralists, who want to get their hands on indigenous lands, and the leaders of evangelical churches, with their aggressive preaching, who represent the most violent threats, she said.
The new government spells trouble for other sectors as well, such as the quilombolas (Afro-descendant communities), landless rural workers and NGOs.
Bolsonaro announced that his administration would not give “a centimeter of land” to either indigenous communities or quilombolas, and said it would those who invade estates or other properties as “terrorists.”
And the government has threatened to “supervise and monitor” NGOs. But “the laws are clear about their rights to organise,” as well as about the autonomy of those who do not receive financial support from the state, Ramos said.
▻http://www.ipsnews.net/2019/01/indigenous-people-first-victims-brazils-new-far-right-government
Bolsonaro’s victory and the debacle of Brazil’s Workers Party - World Socialist Web Site
▻https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/10/31/pers-o31.html
Bolsonaro’s victory and the debacle of Brazil’s Workers Party
31 October 2018
The election last Sunday of Jair Bolsonaro, the fascistic and buffoonish former army captain and seven-term federal legislator from Rio de Janeiro, poses a serious threat to the working class in Brazil and throughout Latin America.
Having won 55 percent of the vote—compared to 44 percent for his opponent, Workers Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores–PT) candidate Fernando Haddad—Bolsonaro has already begun to assemble what will unquestionably be the most right-wing Brazilian government since the end of the two-decade-long military dictatorship that came to power in a US-backed coup in 1964.
Brazilian government opens investigation into Valve, Steam, and developers behind Bolsomito 2k18
▻https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-10-11-brazilian-government-opens-investigation-into-valve-steam-
Game features character based on Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro punching minorities with the aim of purging “the evils of communism”
Brazil announces end to Amazon mega-dam building policy
▻https://news.mongabay.com/2018/01/brazil-announces-end-to-amazon-mega-dam-building-policy
In a surprise move, the Brazilian government has announced that the era of building big hydroelectric dams in the Amazon basin, long criticized by environmentalists and indigenous groups, is ending. “We are not prejudiced against big [hydroelectric] projects, but we have to respect the views of society, which views them with restrictions,” Paulo Pedrosa, the Executive Secretary of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, told O Globo newspaper.
According to Pedrosa, Brazil has the potential to generate an additional 50 gigawatts of energy by 2050 through the building of new dams but, of this total, only 23 percent would not affect in some way indigenous land, quilombolas (communities set up by runaway slaves) and federally protected areas. The government, he says, doesn’t have the stomach to take on the battles.
#Brésil #grand_barrage #résistance #activisme #peuples_autochtones
Brazil backtracks on plan to open up Amazon forest to mining | Environment | The Guardian
▻https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/26/brazil-backtracks-on-plan-to-open-up-amazon-forest-to-mining
Amazon conservation groups have hailed a victory as the Brazilian government announced a U-turn on plans to open up swaths of the the world’s biggest forest to mining corporations.
President Michel Temer had sparked outrage in August when he announced a decree to abolish the Renca reserve, an area of 17,800 square miles – roughly the size of Switzerland – that is an important carbon sink and home to some of the world’s richest biodiversity.
But he has now been forced into a humiliating reversal after his move to carve up the area was blocked by a judge, condemned in the country’s congress as the “biggest attack on the Amazon in 50 years” and opposed by environmental campaigners, climate activists, the Catholic church and anthropologists.
#et_toc #Brésil #Amazonie #déforestation #extraction_minière
Record Numbers Of Venezuelans Seek Asylum In The U.S. Amid Political Chaos
Some 8,300 Venezuelans applied for U.S. asylum in the first three months of 2017, which, as the Associated Press points out, puts the country on track to nearly double its record 18,155 requests last year. Around one in every five U.S. applicants this fiscal year is Venezuelan, making Venezuela America’s leading source of asylum claimants for the first time, surpassing countries like China and Mexico.
▻http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/political-chaos-sends-record-number-of-venezuelans-fleeing-to-us_us_
#asile #migrations #réfugiés #réfugiés_vénézuéliens #USA #Etats-Unis #Venezuela
Venezuelan asylum seekers in Mexico surge as crisis deepens
During just the first six months of this year, 1,420 Venezuelans have sought asylum in Mexico, a nearly four-fold jump compared to the 361 total Venezuelan asylum applicants for all of 2016.
▻https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-venezuela-migration-idUSKBN1AL0QC
America Latina: dichiarazione regionale sulla situazione della popolazione migrante venezuelana
In America Latina, il flusso migratorio di persone di nazionalità venezuelana si è diretto finora principalmente verso Colombia, Ecuador, Perù, Cile, Argentina, Messico, Repubblica Dominicana e Costa Rica.
How Latin America Is Responding to Venezuelan Refugees
Following Latin American traditions of solidarity, Peru and Brazil have taken in many Venezuelans fleeing their country. Yet government responses have critical gaps, which could leave many more unprotected if Venezuela’s crisis escalates, say three regional experts.
▻https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/community/2017/11/28/how-latin-america-is-responding-to-venezuelan-refugees
Porous Colombia’s Futile Deportations of Venezuelans
With crisis-stricken Venezuela spilling refugees into Colombia and Brazil, politically expedient deportations make the situation worse. Aid groups are calling for international help.
Brazil declares emergency over Venezuelan migrant influx
The UN says it has seen an increase in the number of Venezuelans leaving their country over the past two weeks to escape the severe economic crisis.
▻https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/03/brazil-declares-emergency-venezuelan-migrant-influx-180301130154099.html
Guidance Note on the Outflow of Venezuelans
The crisis next door. Mass exodus of desperate Venezuelans is overwhelming neighboring countries
Thousands of Venezuelans are pouring out of their crippled nation in one of the biggest migration crises in Latin American history, causing growing alarm in the region and prompting neighboring countries to rush thousands of soldiers to the border.
https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/world/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2018/03/venzuelaexodus009.jpg&w=640#.jpg 
https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/world/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2018/03/venzuelaexodus018.jpg&w=1484#.jpg 
https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/world/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2018/03/2300VENEZUELAMIGRANTS.jpg&w=1484#.jpg
Colombie : violence et afflux de réfugiés vénézuéliens préoccupent l’UE
La Colombie est confrontée à deux « situations humanitaires », en raison de l’afflux de réfugiés fuyant « la crise au Venezuela » et d’"un nouveau cycle de violence" de divers groupes armés, a dénoncé le commissaire européen Christos Stylianides.
▻https://www.courrierinternational.com/depeche/colombie-violence-et-afflux-de-refugies-venezueliens-preoccup
#Colombie
As Colombia tightens its border, more Venezuelan migrants brave clandestine routes
Stricter entry regulations have decreased official crossings by 30 percent, but the real number entering is now harder to gauge
▻https://www.irinnews.org/feature/2018/03/13/colombia-tightens-its-border-more-venezuelan-migrants-brave-clandestine-ro
#fermeture_des_frontières
Half a million and counting: Venezuelan exodus puts new strains on Colombian border town
The sun is burning at the Colombian border town of Cúcuta. Red Cross workers attend to people with dehydration and fatigue as hundreds of Venezuelans line up to have their passports stamped, covering their heads with clothing and cardboard to fashion what shade they can.
▻https://www.irinnews.org/feature/2018/03/07/half-million-and-counting-venezuelan-exodus-puts-new-strains-colombian-bor
Venezuelans flee to Colombia to escape economic meltdown
The Simon Bolivar bridge has become symbolic of the mass exodus of migrants from Venezuela. The crossing is also just one piece in the complex puzzle facing Colombia, as it struggles to absorb the increasing number of migrants prompted by its neighbour’s economic and social meltdown.
Up to 45,000 migrants cross on foot from Venezuela to Cúcuta every day. The Colombian city has become the last hope for many fleeing Venezuela’s crumbling economy. Already four million people, out of a population of 30 million, have fled Venezuela due to chronic shortages of food and medicine.
▻http://www.euronews.com/2018/03/26/colombia-s-venezuelan-migrant-influx
Venezolanos en Colombia: una situación que se sale de las manos
La crisis venezolana se transformó en un éxodo masivo sin precedentes, con un impacto hemisférico que apenas comienza. Brasil y Colombia, donde recae el mayor impacto, afrontan un año electoral en medio de la polarización política, que distrae la necesidad de enfrentarla con una visión conjunta, estratégica e integral.
via @stesummi
Desespero venezolano llega a la frontera de Colombia con Ecuador
Miles de venezolanos permanecen en el puente de Rumichaca en una situación de inhumanidad que debería avergonzar a los dos países. Ricardo Angoso estuvo allí
▻https://www.las2orillas.co/caos-tragedia-y-exodo-en-la-frontera-con-ecuador
#Equateur
Hungry, sick and increasingly desperate, thousands of Venezuelans are pouring into Colombia
For evidence that the Venezuelan migrant crisis is overwhelming this Colombian border city, look no further than its largest hospital.
The emergency room designed to serve 75 patients is likely to be crammed with 125 or more. Typically, two-thirds are impoverished Venezuelans with broken bones, infections, trauma injuries — and no insurance and little cash.
“I’m here for medicine I take every three months or I die,” said Cesar Andrade, a 51-year-old retired army sergeant from Caracas. He had come to Cucuta’s Erasmo Meoz University Hospital for anti-malaria medication he can’t get in Venezuela. “I’m starting a new life in Colombia. The crisis back home has forced me to do it.”
The huge increase in Venezuelan migrants fleeing their country’s economic crisis, failing healthcare system and repressive government is affecting the Cucuta metropolitan area more than any other in Colombia. It’s where 80% of all exiting Venezuelans headed for Colombia enter as foreigners.
Despite turning away Venezuelans with cancer or chronic diseases, the hospital treated 1,200 migrant emergency patients last month, up from the handful of patients, mostly traffic collision victims, in March 2015, before the Venezuelan exodus started gathering steam.
The hospital’s red ink is rising along with its caseload. The facility has run up debts of $5 million over the last three years to accommodate Venezuelans because the Colombian government is unable to reimburse it, said Juan Agustin Ramirez, director of the 500-bed hospital.
“The government has ordered us to attend to Venezuelan patients but is not giving us the resources to pay for them,” Ramirez said. “The truth is, we feel abandoned. The moment could arrive when we will collapse.”
An average of 35,000 people cross the Simon Bolivar International Bridge linking the two countries every day. About half return to the Venezuelan side after making purchases, conducting business or visiting family. But the rest stay in Cucuta at least temporarily or move on to the Colombian interior or other countries.
For many Venezuelans, the first stop after crossing is the Divine Providence Cafeteria, an open-air soup kitchen a stone’s throw from the bridge. A Roman Catholic priest, Father Leonardo Mendoza, and volunteer staff serve some 1,500 meals daily. But it’s not enough.
One recent day, lines stretched halfway around the block with Venezuelans, desperation and hunger etched on their faces. But some didn’t have the tickets that were handed out earlier in the day and were turned away.
“Children come up to me and say, ’Father, I’m hungry.’ It’s heartbreaking. It’s the children’s testimony that inspires the charitable actions of all of us here,” Mendoza said.
The precise number of Venezuelan migrants who are staying in Colombia is difficult to calculate because of the porousness of the 1,400-mile border, which has seven formal crossings. But estimates range as high as 800,000 arrivals over the last two years. At least 500,000 have gone on to the U.S., Spain, Brazil and other Latin American countries, officials here say.
“Every day 40 buses each filled with 40 or more Venezuelans leave Cucuta, cross Colombia and go directly to Ecuador,” said Huber Plaza, a local delegate of the National Disasters Risk Management Agency. “They stay there or go on to Chile, Argentina or Peru, which seems to be the preferred destination these days.”
Many arrive broke, hungry and in need of immediate medical attention. Over the last two years, North Santander province, where Cucuta is located, has vaccinated 58,000 Venezuelans for measles, diphtheria and other infectious diseases because only half of the arriving children have had the shots, said Nohora Barreto, a nurse with the provincial health department.
On the day Andrade, the retired army sergeant, sought treatment, gurneys left little space in the crowded ward and hospital corridors, creating an obstacle course for nurses and doctors who shouted orders, handed out forms and began examinations.
Andrade and many other patients stood amid the gurneys because all the chairs and beds were taken. Nearby, a pregnant woman in the early stages of labor groaned as she walked haltingly among the urgent care patients, supported by a male companion.
Dionisio Sanchez, a 20-year-old Venezuelan laborer, sat on a gurney awaiting treatment for a severe cut he suffered on his hand at a Cucuta construction site. Amid the bustle, shouting and medical staff squeezing by, he stared ahead quietly, holding his hand wrapped in gauze and resigned to a long wait.
“I’m lucky this didn’t happen to me back home,” Sanchez said. “Everyone is suffering a lot there. I didn’t want to leave, but hunger and other circumstances forced me to make the decision.”
Signs of stress caused by the flood of migrants are abundant elsewhere in this city of 650,000. Schools are overcrowded, charitable organizations running kitchens and shelters are overwhelmed and police who chase vagrants and illegal street vendors from public spaces are outmanned.
“We’ll clear 30 people from the park, but as soon as we leave, 60 more come to replace them,” said a helmeted policeman on night patrol with four comrades at downtown’s Santander Plaza. He expressed sympathy for the migrants and shook his head as he described the multitudes of homeless, saying it was impossible to control the tide.
Sitting on a park bench nearby was Jesus Mora, a 21-year-old mechanic who arrived from Venezuela in March. He avoids sleeping in the park, he said, and looks for an alleyway or “someplace in the shadows where police won’t bother me.”
“As long as they don’t think I’m selling drugs, I’m OK,” Mora said. “Tonight, I’m here to wait for a truck that brings around free food at this hour.” Mora said he is hoping to get a work permit. Meanwhile, he is hustling as best he can, recycling bottles, plastic and cardboard he scavenges on the street and in trash cans.
Metropolitan Cucuta’s school system is bursting at the seams with migrant kids, who are given six-month renewable passes to attend school. Eduardo Berbesi, principal of the 1,400-student Frontera Educational Institute, a public K-12 school in Villa de Rosario that’s located a short distance from the Simon Bolivar International Bridge, says he has funds to give lunches to only 60% of his students. He blames the government for not coming through with money to finance the school’s 40% growth in enrollment since the crisis began in 2015.
“The government tells us to receive the Venezuelan students but gives us nothing to pay for them,” Berbesi said.
Having to refuse lunches to hungry students bothers him. “And it’s me the kids and their parents blame, not the state.”
#CucutaOn a recent afternoon, every street corner in Cucuta seemed occupied with vendors selling bananas, candy, coffee, even rolls of aluminum foil.
“If I sell 40 little cups of coffee, I earn enough to buy a kilo of rice and a little meat,” said Jesus Torres, 35, a Venezuelan who arrived last month. He was toting a shoulder bag of thermoses he had filled with coffee that morning to sell in plastic cups. “The situation is complicated here but still better than in Venezuela.”
That evening, Leonardo Albornoz, 33, begged for coins at downtown stoplight as his wife and three children, ages 6 months to 8 years, looked on. He said he had been out of work in his native Merida for months but decided to leave for Colombia in April because his kids “were going to sleep hungry every night.”
When the light turned red, Albornoz approached cars and buses stopped at the intersection to offer lollipops in exchange for handouts. About half of the drivers responded with a smile and some change. Several bus passengers passed him coins through open windows.
From the sidewalk, his 8-year-old son, Kleiver, watched despondently. It was 9:30 pm — he had school the next morning and should have been sleeping, but Albornoz and his wife said they had no one to watch him or their other kids at the abandoned building where they were staying.
“My story is a sad one like many others, but the drop that made my glass overflow was when the [Venezuelan] government confiscated my little plot of land where we could grow things,” Albornoz said.
The increase in informal Venezuelan workers has pushed Cucuta’s unemployment rate to 16% compared with the 9% rate nationwide, Mayor Cesar Rojas said in an interview at City Hall. Although Colombians generally have welcomed their neighbors, he said, signs of resentment among jobless local residents is growing.
“The national government isn’t sending us the resources to settle the debts, and now we have this economic crisis,” Rojas said. “With the situation in Venezuela worsening, the exodus can only increase.”
The Colombian government admits it has been caught off guard by the dimensions — and costs — of the Venezuelan exodus, one of the largest of its kind in recent history, said Felipe Muñoz, who was named Venezuelan border manager by President Juan Manuel Santos in February.
“This is a critical, complex and massive problem,” Muñoz said. “No country could have been prepared to receive the volume of migrants that we are receiving. In Latin America, it’s unheard of. We’re dealing with 10 times more people than those who left the Middle East for Europe last year.”
In agreement is Jozef Merkx, Colombia representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which is taking an active role in helping Colombia deal with the influx. Central America saw large migrant flows in the 1980s, but they were caused by armed conflicts, he said.
“Venezuelans are leaving for different reasons, and the mixed nature of the displaced crisis is what makes it a unique exodus,” Merkx said during an interview in his Bogota office.
Muñoz said Colombia feels a special obligation to help Venezuelans in need. In past decades, when the neighboring country’s oil-fueled economy needed more manpower than the local population could provide, hundreds of thousands of Colombians flooded in to work. Now the tables are turned.
Colombia’s president has appealed to the international community for help. The U.S. government recently stepped up: The State Department announced Tuesday it was contributing $18.5 million “to support displaced Venezuelans in Colombia who have fled the crisis in their country.”
Manuel Antolinez, director of the International Committee of the Red Cross’ 240-bed shelter for Venezuelans near the border in Villa de Rosario, said he expects the crisis to get worse before easing.
“Our reading is that after the May 20 presidential election in Venezuela and the probable victory of President [Nicolas] Maduro, there will be increased dissatisfaction with the regime and more oppression against the opposition,” he said. “Living conditions will worsen.”
Whatever its duration, the crisis is leading Ramirez, director of the Erasmo Meoz University Hospital, to stretch out payments to his suppliers from an average of 30 days to 90 days after billing. He hopes the government will come through with financial aid.
“The collapse will happen when we can’t pay our employees,” he said. He fears that could happen soon.
▻http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-venezuela-colombia-20180513-story.html
The Venezuelan Refugee Crisis : The View from Brazil
Shadowing the Maduro regime’s widely condemned May 20 presidential election, Venezuela’s man-made humanitarian crisis continues to metastasize, forcing hundreds of thousands of families to flee to neighboring countries. While Colombia is bearing the brunt of the mass exodus of Venezuelans, Brazil is also facing an unprecedented influx. More than 40,000 refugees, including indigenous peoples, have crossed the border into Brazil since early 2017. The majority of these refugees have crossed into and remain in Roraima, Brazil’s poorest and most isolated state. While the Brazilian government is doing what it can to address the influx of refugees and mitigate the humanitarian risks for both the Venezuelans and local residents, much more needs to be done.
As part of its continuing focus on the Venezuelan crisis, CSIS sent two researchers on a week-long visit to Brasilia and Roraima in early May. The team met with Brazilian federal government officials, international organizations, and civil society, in addition to assessing the situation on-the-ground at the Venezuela-Brazil border. ▻https://www.csis.org/analysis/venezuelan-refugee-crisis-view-brazil
#Boa_Vista #camps_de_réfugiés
Le Brésil mobilise son #armée à la frontière du Venezuela
Le président brésilien Michel Temer a ordonné mardi soir par décret l’utilisation des forces armées pour « garantir la sécurité » dans l’Etat septentrional de Roraima, à la frontière avec le Venezuela.
Depuis des mois, des milliers de réfugiés ont afflué dans cet Etat. « Je décrète l’envoi des forces armées pour garantir la loi et l’ordre dans l’Etat de Roraima du 29 août au 12 septembre », a annoncé le chef de l’Etat.
Le but de la mesure est de « garantir la sécurité des citoyens mais aussi des immigrants vénézuéliens qui fuient leur pays ».
Afflux trop important
Plusieurs dizaines de milliers d’entre eux fuyant les troubles économiques et politiques de leur pays ont afflué ces dernières années dans l’Etat de Roraima, où les services sociaux sont submergés.
Michel Temer a ajouté que la situation était « tragique ». Et le président brésilien de blâmer son homologue vénézuélien Nicolas Maduro : « La situation au Venezuela n’est plus un problème politique interne. C’est une menace pour l’harmonie de tout le continent », a déclaré le chef d’Etat dans un discours télévisé.
▻https://www.rts.ch/info/monde/9806458-le-bresil-mobilise-son-armee-a-la-frontiere-du-venezuela.html
Je vais continuer cette compilation ici :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/719239
The Exiles. A Trip to the Border Highlights Venezuela’s Devastating Humanitarian Crisis
Never have I seen this more clearly than when I witnessed first-hand Venezuelans fleeing the devastating human rights, humanitarian, political, and economic crisis their government has created.
Last July, I stood on the Simon Bolivar bridge that connects Cúcuta in Colombia with Táchira state in Venezuela and watched hundreds of people walk by in both directions all day long, under the blazing sun. A suitcase or two, the clothes on their back — other than that, many of those pouring over the border had nothing but memories of a life left behind.
▻https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/interactive/2018/11/14/exiles-trip-border-highlights-venezuelas-devastating
Crises Colliding: The Mass Influx of Venezuelans into the Dangerous Fragility of Post-Peace Agreement Colombia
Living under the government of President Nicolás Maduro, Venezuelans face political repression, extreme shortages of food and medicine, lack of social services, and economic collapse. Three million of them – or about 10 percent of the population – have fled the country.[1] The vast majority have sought refuge in the Americas, where host states are struggling with the unprecedented influx.
Various actors have sought to respond to this rapidly emerging crisis. The UN set up the Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela, introducing a new model for agency coordination across the region. This Regional Platform, co-led by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), has established a network of subsidiary National Platforms in the major host countries to coordinate the response on the ground. At the regional level, the Organization of American States (OAS) established a Working Group to Address the Regional Crisis of Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees. Latin American states have come together through the Quito Process – a series of diplomatic meetings designed to help coordinate the response of countries in the region to the crisis. Donors, including the United States, have provided bilateral assistance.
Brazil slashes environment budget by 43%
▻https://news.mongabay.com/2017/04/brazil-slashes-environment-budget-by-43
Last week the Brazilian government reduced the budget for the Ministry of the Environment by 43 percent. The ministry now has a budget of 446 million Brazilian reals ($141 million).
The federal science budget has also been cut by 44 percent, making it the lowest budget in at least 12 years, Nature reported.
Scientists and environmental groups fear that these budget cuts could hinder efforts to stem deforestation, which has been on the rise in the country.
Alfredo Sirkis, the executive secretary of the Brazilian Forum on Climate Change, told Observatório do Clima that the cut was “very serious” and will “profoundly [impact] deforestation — and, consequently, Brazil’s climate targets.”
Brazil accounts for nearly two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest, the world’s largest tropical forest. After several years of decline, deforestation — driven by beef, soy and timber industries — appears to be increasing again. Between August 2015 and July 2016, for example, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased by 29 percent over the previous year, making it the highest deforestation level recorded in the region since 2008. Forest area about 135 times the size of Manhattan was cut down in just one year.
#Brésil #recherche #environnement #déforestation #forêt #Amazonie
New Norwegian Study Accuses Monsanto Of Falsely Claiming GMOs Are Safe | Collective-Evolution
▻http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/04/09/new-norwegian-study-accuses-monsanto-of-falsely-claiming-gmos-
The Norwegian government, via The Norwegian Biotechnology Advisory Board (NBAB), is one such group. Commissioned by the Norwegian Environment Agency late last year to develop a guidance document in line with the Norwegian Gene Technology Act, their aim was to assess the sustainability of genetically modified (GM) herbicide-tolerant (HT) plants.
The report examines a dossier that was submitted to the Brazilian government by Monsanto, and it outlined how the research was flawed and lacking a tremendous amount of data. The study also pointed out a myriad of other concerns with regards to GMO Intacta Roundup Ready 2 Pro soybeans, finally concluding that the science behind the cultivation of this crop is simply inadequate. The report highlights a range of methodological weaknesses as well as the problem of incomplete information, research, and science on Genetically Modified Crops. This is something various other countries and scientists around the world have already suggested before.
Des réfugiés syriens au Brésil?
Folha de S.Paulo - Internacional - En - World - Brazilian Government Wants to Take Up to 20,000 Syrian Refugees Per Year - 11/05/2016
▻http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/internacional/en/world/2016/05/1770079-brazilian-government-wants-to-take-up-to-20000-syrian-ref
The Brazilian government is negotiating providing refuge to Syrians living in camps in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan with the European Union and other international organizations.
According to the justice minister, Eugênio Aragão, while numbers have yet to be discussed, “it would be possible for Brazil to take up to 100,000 Syrians, in groups of 20,000 per year.”
While Brazil rejects Israeli envoy, it inaugurates Palestinian embassy - Israel News - Jerusalem Post
►http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/While-Brazil-rejects-Israeli-envoy-it-inaugurates-Palestinian-embassy-443960
Voilà, c’est facile à comprendre : les Israéliens sont super jaloux, c’est tout.
▻http://www.jpost.com/HttpHandlers/ShowImage.ashx?ID=329120
RIO DE JANEIRO — A new building housing the first Palestinian Authority embassy in the Western Hemisphere was inaugurated in Brasilia.
The PA’s envoy to Brazil, Ibrahim Alzeben, led Wednesday’s event, which was attended by leftwing Brazilian government officials, representatives of Arab countries and members of the local Arab community.
Brazil delays approval of Israeli ambassador
▻https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/americas/22933-brazil-delays-approval-of-israeli-ambassador#st_refDomain=t.co&st_refQuery=/V637UBgLQM
Israel’s foreign ministry has revealed that the Brazilian government is delaying its approval of the new Israeli ambassador, who is the former head of the Israeli settlement council, Dani Dayan, Arab48.com reported on Friday.
According to the Israeli Channel 2 TV, a senior Israeli official called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intervene to end this crisis. He described Brazil’s act as a “rude and ugly boycott.”
Netanyahu, who also holds the foreign minister brief, appointed Dayan to the post. Brazil has not yet confirmed if it does not want to approve him. Media reports suggest that the foreign ministry is still hopeful about having his appointment confirmed.
Brazil to auction Amazon fracking licences - The Ecologist
▻http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/2985696/brazil_to_auction_amazon_fracking_licences.html
The Brazilian government is to put 266 fracking blocks across 16 states up for auction tomorrow, 7th October.
The areas chosen encompass Brazil’s main groundwater aquifers, areas of high agricultural productivity, Amazon rainforest, and important conservation areas such as Abrolhos, Bahia, a marine nursery for humpback whales.
Companies from 17 countries - including BP, ExxonMobil, Shell, Rosneft, Petrobras, Statoil, Premier Oil, GDF Suez, Total, Anadarko, 37 in all - are registered to bid.
Some of these blocks even reach into indigenous territories within the states of Acre and Amazonas, at the Valley of Juruá, Serra do Divisor and Acre’s Javari Valley in the extreme west of Brazil.
#Brésil #amazonie #peuples_autochtones #fracturation_hydraulique #hydrocarbures
Brésil:des militants israéliens ont demandé le rejet de l’ambassadeur à Brasilia | i24news - 21 Septembre 2015
▻http://www.i24news.tv/fr/actu/israel/diplomatie-defense/86511-150921-bresil-des-militants-israeliens-ont-demande-le-rejet-de-l-ambas
Un groupe de militants de gauche, dont trois anciens ambassadeurs israéliens, ont demandé au gouvernement brésilien de ne pas approuver la nomination de Dani Dayan au poste d’ambassadeur au Brésil, rapporte lundi le site israélien Haaretz.
La demande a semble-t-il été entendue puisque samedi, la présidente brésilienne Dilma Rousseff s’opposait publiquement à la nomination au poste d’ambassadeur d’Israël dans son pays de Dayan qui a présidé de 2007 à 2013 le Conseil de Yesha, une organisation liée au Conseil des implantations en Cisjordanie.
Lors d’une réunion il y a deux semaines avec les ambassadeurs du Brésil en Israël et dans l’Autorité palestinienne, les militants ont affirmé qu’accepter la nomination de Dayan reviendrait à légitimer « l’entreprise de colonisation ».
Cette campagne est menée par des membres du comité diplomatique du Forum des ONG pour la paix, une organisation qui coordonne les activités entre les ONG israéliennes et palestiniennes qui soutiennent une solution à deux Etats, présidé par Mossi Raz, ancien député du Meretz (gauche).
Les trois diplomates qui ont fait campagne contre Dayan (l’ex-directeur général du ministrère des Affaires étrangères Alon Liel, l’ancien ambassadeur en Afrique du Sud Ilan Baruch, et l’ancien ambassadeur en France Eli Bar-Navi) ont rencontré les ambassadeurs du Brésil peu après l’approbation par le Cabinet israélien de la nomination de Dayan.
Ya’alon Asks Brazil Defense Minister to Accept Dani Dayan as Israel’s Ambassador
Israeli defense minister calls Brazilian counterpart following information that Brazil’s president intends to reject appointment; Israeli source: Brasilia said appointment process should continue.
Barak Ravid Sep 24
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.677218
Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, in a phone conversation with his Brazilian counterpart on Monday night, formally requested Brasilia’s approval of former Yesha Council of Settlements head Dani Dayan as Israel’s ambassador to Brazil.
Ya’alon called Jaques Wagner after Israel’s Foreign Ministry learned that Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff intended to reject the appointment, based on Brazil’s opposition to construction in West Bank settlements.
“Dani Dayan, a worthy person respected by all political elements in Israel, is the personal choice of the prime minister, reflecting the importance he attributes to a country such as Brazil,” Ya’alon told Wagner, according to a senior Israeli official who was speaking on condition of anonymity. The message from Wagner was that Dayan’s appointment process should continue, the official said.
The phone call was coordinated with Israel’s Foreign Ministry, as part of the attempt to win Brasilia’s approval of Dayan’s appointment. The Foreign Ministry had spoken with aides of President Reuven Rivlin about the possibility of a conversation with his Brazilian counterpart, but in light of the outcome of the Ya’alon-Wagner phone call it was decided that this would not be necessary.
Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, opposition leader and Zionist Union chairman Isaac Herzog and Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid all spoke with Brazil’s ambassador to Israel, expressing their support for Dayan’s appointment. Their move came in the wake of report in Haaretz on Sunday, according to which former Israeli ambassadors had appealed directly to the Brazilian government, requesting that it not approve Dayan’s appointment since he has served as the head of the Yesha Council and opposes a two-state solution. They claimed that by approving the appointment, Brazil would legitimize the violation of international law.
Lapid wrote on his Twitter account that he doesn’t agree with Dayan’s political positions but thinks he will be an excellent ambassador. Lapid wrote that he told the Brazilian ambassador it was unacceptable for Israeli citizens living abroad to try to influence decisions by an elected government in Israel.
Edelstein instructed his political adviser Oded Ben-Hur to contact the Brazilian ambassador as well. Ben-Hur stressed that Dayan’s appointment is “well-considered, and that foolish yet serious attempts of former Israeli diplomats to foil the appointment should be rejected.” Edelstein commented that as a resident of a West Bank settlement he could recall an occasion on which he was ostracized by senior Brazilian officials, and this should also apply to Dayan.
Le Brésil refuse de commenter les rumeurs de malaise avec Israël
24 septembre 2015 |Agence France-Presse |
▻http://www.ledevoir.com/international/actualites-internationales/450859/malaise-entre-le-bresil-et-israel
Rio de Janeiro — Les autorités brésiliennes se refusaient mercredi à commenter les rumeurs de malaise avec Israël, après la décision de l’État hébreu de nommer comme prochain ambassadeur à Brasília Danny Dayan, un ancien dirigeant des colons juifs de Cisjordanie. Le quotidien israélien Yediot Aharonot a affirmé il y a quelques jours que la présidente Dilma Rousseff avait envoyé une lettre au gouvernement israélien en le menaçant d’opposer son veto à la désignation de M. Dayan. Le gouvernement de Benjamin Nétanyahou a annoncé publiquement début septembre qu’il avait l’intention de nommer cet entrepreneur d’origine argentine, qui vit dans une colonie en Cisjordanie, et qui a dirigé le Conseil de Yesha, principale organisation de colons dans les territoires palestiniens occupés. Plus de 35 mouvements sociaux et politiques brésiliens — comme le mouvement des paysans sans terre (MST), le Comité de Palestine démocratique ou le parti d’extrême gauche PSOL — ont envoyé fin août à Mme Rousseff une pétition contre la nomination de M. Dayan. Le Brésil a reconnu l’État palestinien en 2010.
Brazil Enlists #Drones to Help Eradicate Slave Labor
The Brazilian government will start deploying a small army of drones as part of its latest effort to eradicate human trafficking in remote parts of the country.
▻https://news.vice.com/article/brazil-enlists-drones-to-help-eradicate-slave-labor
#esclavage #traite #trafic_d'êtres_humains #Brésil
comment faudrait-il appeler ces drones ?
#drones_humanitaires
cc @fil
WikiLeaks - Bugging Brazil
▻https://wikileaks.org/nsa-brazil
WikiLeaks publishes today, 4 July at 08:00 BRT, a top secret US National Security Agency target list of 29 key Brazilian government phone numbers that were selected for intensive interception. The publication proves that not only President Dilma Rousseff was targeted but also her assistant, her secretary, her chief of staff, her Palace office and even the phone in her Presidential jet. The US targetted not only those closest to the President, but waged an economic espionage campaign against Brazil, spying on those responsible for managing Brazil’s economy, including the head of its Central Bank. The US also extensively targetted Brazil’s diplomacy, targetting the phones of its Foreign Minister and its ambassadors to Germany, France, the EU, the US and Geneva as well as its military chiefs.
The economic targets within Brazil’s government include its key Finance Ministers and even the Governor of the Brazilian Central Bank. Cabinet Minister Nelson Henrique Barbosa Filho, who served as Executive Secretary at Brazil’s Ministry of Finance from 2011 to 2013 and who is now Minister of Planning, Budget and Management is on the target list, as is Antonio Palocci, Minister of Finance under former President Lula and now Dilma’s Chief of Staff.
The revelation of US economic espionage against Brazil follows WikiLeaks publications earlier this week revealing US economic espionage against France, Germany and the EU.
The cell phone of Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, former Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2015 and current Brazilian Ambassador to the US, appointed by President Rousseff, was targetted, as was the phone for Army General Jose Elito Carvalho Siqueira, who is the Director of the Institutional Security Cabinet, an executive cabinet office responsible for the direct and immediate assistance to the President on matters of national security and defence policy.
Even on her official travels, President Rousseff is not safe from interception as the target list includes the Inmarsat satellite phone service for the President’s jet.
WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Julian Assange said: “Our publication today shows the US has a long way to go to prove its dragnet surveillance on ’friendly’ governments is over. The US has not just being targetting President Rouseff but the key figures she talks to every day. Even if US assurances of ceasing its targetting of President Rousseff could be trusted, which they cannot, it is fanciful to imagine that President Rousseff can run Brazil by talking to herself all day. If President Rousseff wants to see more US investment in Brazil on the back of her recent trip as she claims, how can she assure Brazilian companies that their US counterparts will not have an advantage provided by this surveillance, until she can really guarantee the spying has stopped – not just on her, but on all Brazilian issues.”
The Munduruku Indians: Weaving Resistance (2014)
▻http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/eng-trailer-the-munduruku-indians-weaving-resistance
The Brazilian government is planning to build a vast number of big dams on the rivers around the Amazon Rainforest, destroying biodiversity and disrupting the way of life of thousands of...
Amazon deforestation jumps 29% | Environment | theguardian.com
▻http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/sep/11/amazon-deforestation-jumps
The destruction of the world’s largest rainforest accelerated last year with a 29% spike in deforestation, according to final figures released by the Brazilian government on Wednesday that confirmed a reversal in gains seen since 2009.
Amazonian dams: #EDF and GDF Suez are “studying” indigenous lands with the support of the army
▻http://multinationales.org/Amazonian-dams-EDF-and-GDF-Suez
After Belo Monte, the Tapajós river, one of the Amazon’s main tributaries, and its basin are the latest target for builders of #Large_Dams. The Brazilian government would like to build at least four new dams in this pristine area, of unique #biodiversity. It has enlisted help from a group of companies, including French companies EDF and GDF Suez, to carry out #environmental_impact studies. These companies have been granted the support of the army, to help them sniff out any rebellion from the (...)
/ #Energy, #Brazil, EDF, #GDF-Suez, Large Dams, #State_as_shareholder, biodiversity, #local_communities, #social_impact, environmental impact, #energy, workers’ (...)
#workers'_protest
“►http://lab.org.uk/public-consultation-more-of-a-pr-exercise”
“►http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/12/amazon-villagers-incensed-over-energy-plans-20131223103351496119.html”
“►http://www.grupodeestudostapajos.com.br”
“►http://youtu.be/9liW4bQP03w
Adidas to stop selling Brazil World Cup T-shirts that ’encourage sexual tourism’ | World news | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/26/adidas-stop-selling-offensive-world-cup-t-shirts-brazil
Adidas agreed on Tuesday to stop selling two raunchy T-shirts in the run-up to the World Cup after the Brazilian government complained that they associated the country with sexual tourism.
What constitutes a convert?
Brazil mystery: Case of the missing Mormons (913,045 of them, to be exact) | Following Faith | The Salt Lake Tribune
►http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/blogsfaithblog/54497395-180/church-census-reported-lds.html.csp
The Brazilian government believes there are far fewer Mormons in the country than the LDS Church does.
The 2010 Brazilian census found that 225,695 people identified as Latter-day Saints whereas the LDS Church reported 1,138,740 members in Brazil in 2010.
For more detail on how LDS missionaries have inflated conversion stats, see this video by Brigham Young U. Prof. Ted Lyon, “Tough Lessons from Mormon Missionary work in Latin America”: ►http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzCcCacfnfU
Brazil suspends Chevron’s drilling activities - Americas - Al Jazeera English
►http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2011/11/201111240404468280.html
The Brazilian government has suspended Chevron’s drilling rights in the country until it clarifies the causes of an offshore oil spill, those responsible for the disaster are identified and safety conditions are restored in the area.
