Brazil Watch Thread

[erowind]

This year so far the government has been following the steps of the latino-american socialist wet dream:

I am open to debate on those policies and how they affect the average Brazilian.

Import taxes like that only make sense if national industry is built up first. Forcing autarky without establishing the proper groundwork for an independent economy is stupid. In any case non-industrial purchases really have no reason to be taxed excessively no matter what because if national industry was productive enough its prices would be lower than foreign prices anyways.

Foreign investment income should be taxed more than domestic investment income to encourage domestic investment. That said, this policy is only good if enforced. Moreover anyone who isn't financially independent shouldn't have to pay any taxes in my opinion. I firmly believe that only corporations, the financially independent (rich) and people who own more than a single home should have to pay any taxes at all.

Banning telegram is useless censorship 100%.

It doesn't surprise me that this government isn't enforcing any protections against deforestation but the last one didn't either. An actual socialist country would be enforcing these protections so I don't see how it's a knock against socialism that the amazon is being deforested. It more just shows that the Brazilian political system doesn't work more than anything. I don't think it's an accident that Cuba is the most sustainably developed country on Earth.

Also the Worker's Party and current Government coalition in Brazil isn't a socialist coalition. It's a social democratic coalition (nomatter the name) and it should come at no suprise that social democracy isn't working in a middle income country with a corrupt political system and highly developed market economy. Social democracy doesn't actually change the economic system or impeded capitalist markets. It is those very capitalist markets that are profiting from the destruction of the Amazon among other things in Brazil.

[caltrek]

This year so far the government has been following the steps of the latino-american socialist wet dream:

I am open to debate on those policies and how they affect the average Brazilian.

...

It doesn't surprise me that this government isn't enforcing any protections against deforestation but the last one didn't either. An actual socialist country would be enforcing these protections so I don't see how it's a knock against socialism that the amazon is being deforested. It more just shows that the Brazilian political system doesn't work more than anything. I don't think it's an accident that Cuba is the most sustainably developed country on Earth.

....
Social democracy doesn't actually change the economic system or impeded capitalist markets. It is those very capitalist markets that are profiting from the destruction of the Amazon among other things in Brazil.

How do the both of you square your conclusions with this report (see below) via Phys.org?

Indigenous Youths Use Tech as 'Weapon' to Protect Amazon
by Laura Bonilla
May 5, 2023

Extract:

(Phys.org) Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who took office in January, has vowed to make protecting the Amazon a priority. Last week, the veteran leftist created Brazil's first protected Indigenous reservations in five years.

His predecessor, far-right ex-army captain Jair Bolsonaro, made good on his vow not to allow "one more centimeter" of reservation land during his presidency.

Under Bolsonaro (2019-2022), average annual deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon surged by more than 75 percent from the previous decade.
"A lot has changed" under the new administration, (indigenous activist) Txai (Surui) said. "But we know we still have a long road ahead."
…
The biggest obstacle is Brazil's current Congress, which is "very conservative, even more than during the (Bolsonaro) administration," she said.

Read more here: https://phys.org/news/2023-05-indigeno ... zon.html

[caltrek]

Bolsonaro Allegedly Falsified His Vaccination Status to Enter the U.S.
by Isabela Dias
May 3, 2023

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) Shortly after narrowly losing his reelection bid in the Brazilian elections last October, former President Jair Bolsonaro relocated to Florida. He spent months living a retiree’s American Dream—and avoiding a raft of criminal inquiries—before returning home in March. Now, Brazil’s federal police are looking into whether Bolsonaro, his family members, and close aides falsified their Covid-19 vaccination status in order to enter the United States.

On Wednesday, the police conducted a search at Bolsonaro’s address in the capital and seized his cell phone as part of a probe into an alleged “criminal association” to introduce false information into the Ministry of Health’s Covid-19 data system. The officers also carried out the arrests of several of the former president’s associates, including security guards and an aide-de-camp. The alterations, which were made between November 2021 and December 2022 and later deleted from the database, would have allowed the beneficiaries of the changed vaccine certificates, including Bolsonaro and his 12-year-old daughter, to circumvent US public health rules requiring foreigners to be vaccinated. Bolsonaro traveled to the United States on his second to last day as president, but because he wasn’t on official state business, he would not have qualified for exemptions granted to diplomatic and government officials. The former president was aware of the fraudulent scheme, according to the police.

The operation is part of a broader probe into pro-Bolsonaro groups spreading election disinformation and organizing anti-democratic acts. The investigation has been authorized by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and dubbed Venire, a reference to a Latin maxim that “no one may set himself in contradiction to his own previous conduct.”

A longtime vaccine skeptic, Bolsonaro oversaw Brazil’s catastrophic handling of the pandemic, spreading misinformation, dismissing protective measures, and delaying the purchase of vaccines. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, he denied any wrongdoing. “I was never asked for a vaccination card [to enter the United States],” he said. “There is no fraud on my part. I didn’t take the vaccine, period.” Bolsonaro’s wife, Michelle, tweeted that only she had been vaccinated in their household.

Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... r-the-us/

[caltrek]

Brazilian Court Hits Bolsonaro With 8-Year Political Ban Over Election Lies
by Brett Wilkins
June 30, 2023

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) Brazil's highest election authority on Friday barred Jair Bolsonaro from running for any public office for the next eight years over the disgraced former far-right president's abuse of power related to baseless claims of electoral fraud—the first of 16 election-related charges he faces.

Five members of the seven-judge Superior Electoral Court (TSE) found that Bolsonaro violated election law last July when he summoned more than 100 international diplomats for a nationally televised 50-minute presentation in the Palacio da Alvarada—the executive residence—during which he disparaged the judiciary and claimed the country's electronic voting system was vulnerable to hacking.

This, despite there never having been any evidence of fraud during the system's three-decade history.

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/bols ... d8-years

[caltrek]

Brazil’s Supreme Court Looms Over Indigenous Land Rights
by Lyric Aquino
July 10, 2023

Introduction:

(Mother Jones) At the end of May, Brazilian lawmakers approved legislation that would invalidate Indigenous land claims and open protected Indigenous lands to mining, road-building, agriculture, and other extractive industries.

The legislation was overwhelmingly endorsed in the nation’s conservative-dominated lower house and has now progressed to the Senate for approval.
But the bill is moving slowly. That’s because a central piece of the legislation is already being examined in Brazil’s Supreme Court. The legal thesis under examination, marco temporal, has been moving through the courts since 2007 and, depending on the court’s interpretation, could determine the future of Indigenous land in the Brazilian Amazon that has yet to be recognized by the Brazilian government. The ruling would also have major impacts on the constitutionality of the legislation.

Read more of the Mother Jones article here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... temporal/

The Thesis of the “Marco Temporal” (Temporal Milestone) vs. the Theory of “Indigenato”
by Dailor Sartori Junior and Carolina A. Vestena

(Verfassungsblog) The most relevant legal controversy in the current procedure concerns the interpretation of the so-called thesis of the “marco temporal”. The thesis gave the framework for the ruling of the Raposa Serra do Sol case in 2009 and authorises the demarcation of land by indigenous groups only if the group claims that it already possessed the land at the time of the promulgation of the Brazilian Federal Constitution (5 October 1988). In case they had already been expelled, the group must prove that an application for reoccupation of the land was pending at that same date. Such a burden of proof is, however, practically impossible to substantiate. Until 1988, indigenous people were under the guardianship of FUNAI and not even entitled to access the judiciary by means of their own representation. Moreover, the guarantee of the fundamental right of protection of indigenous lands has been turned against indigenous groups and used to justify the very violation of this right. Brazilian legal experts evaluate the current interpretation of Article 231 of the Constitution as a tool to hinder or postpone demarcation processes.

This thesis also opposes the “theory of indigenato” (teoria do indigenato), a legal construct from the colonial period, which is recognised in the Brazilian legal order to protect indigenous rights. According to this thesis, the right of indigenous peoples over their lands consists of a “primary right” (direito originário) and therefore precedes any form of ownership since it is a right considered ancestral and prior to the very formation of the Brazilian State. Thus, the State does not create indigenous lands, but merely declares their existence. The demarcation act, consequently, nullifies any public or private claims for property titles on these territories.

Read more here: https://verfassungsblog.de/indigenous- ... temporal/

[caltrek]

Brazil: Supreme Court Elects New Chief Justice
by André Richter
August 12, 2023

Entire article:

(Eurasia Review) Luis Roberto Barroso has been elected as the chief justice of the Brazilian Supreme Court on Wednesday, August 9. He is scheduled to formally assume office on September 28.

This election was symbolically conducted by the plenary of the court. Currently serving as the vice chief justice, Luis Roberto Barroso is positioned to assume the role of the court’s head, following the established succession order.

Upon assuming office, Barroso will take the reins from Justice Rosa Weber. As she approaches the compulsory retirement age of 75 in September, her departure sets the stage for the elevation of Edson Fachin as the next vice chief justice.

Rosa Weber’s forthcoming departure will grant President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva the opportunity to nominate his second appointee to the court during his third term. Justice Cristiano Zanin was his first nominee in this regard.

Read more here: https://www.eurasiareview.com/12082023 ... -jusice/

[caltrek]

Brazil Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Indigenous Land Rights in Historic Win
Tom Phillips
September 21, 2023

Introduction:

(The Guardian) Brazil’s supreme court has blocked efforts to dramatically strip back Indigenous land rights in what activists called a historic victory for the South American country’s original inhabitants.

Nine of the court’s 11 members voted against what rights groups had dubbed the “time limit trick” – an agribusiness-backed attempt to prevent Indigenous communities claiming land they did not physically occupy in 1988.

There were emotional scenes outside the supreme court’s headquarters in Brasília on Thursday, after a majority was formed to support a ruling in favour of Indigenous rights. Some activists wept with joy; others danced.

“Long live Indigenous resistance,” tweeted Eloy Terena, an Indigenous lawyer who is a senior official at Brazil’s recently created minister for Indigenous peoples.

Similar scenes played out across the Amazon region, which is home to about half of Brazil’s 1.7 million Indigenous citizens.

Read more here: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023 ... hts-win

[weatheriscool]

Mixed-race people become Brazil's biggest population group

Mixed-race Brazilians are now the largest population group in the South American country, the latest census has revealed, as the number of people identifying as African-descended in Brazil continues to grow.

New data from the 2022 census released on Friday shows that 92.1 million Brazilians identify as mixed-race, equivalent to 45.3% of the population. This is up from 43.1% in 2010, when the last census was carried out.

The proportion of self-declared white Brazilians has fallen from 47.7% to 43.5%, or 88.2 million, while those labelling themselves as Black jumped to 10.2% of the population (20.6 million), from 7.6% 12 years earlier.

The 2010 census had already confirmed that Brazil was no longer a majority-white country, but this is the first time since records began that mixed-race Brazilians – a broad grouping that includes descendants of Indigenous Brazilians as well as of Africans – outnumber the white population in official data. ...............(more)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/ ... tion-group

[caltrek]

Bolsonaro’s Shadow Looms Over a Revamp of the Brazilian Right
January 8, 2024

Introduction:

(Buenos Aires Times) The fiery Brazilian right-wing movement ignited by Jair Bolsonaro’s 2018 ascent to the presidency is seeking a rebrand.

A year after Bolsonaro’s supporters stormed the capital in a bid to overturn his election defeat, members of his inner circle are trying to chart a more moderate path toward municipal contests in October, as they attempt to broaden their appeal ahead of a 2026 presidential race in which their standard-bearer can’t take part.

“The right has to be more centre-right,” Flavio Bolsonaro, the former president’s eldest son and a senator from Rio de Janeiro, said in a recent interview.

The fledgling strategy is still light on detail, and it is unclear if Bolsonaro himself is on board. Although the country’s electoral court in June barred him from seeking office for eight years, the rabble-rousing former Army captain who brushed off calls to moderate throughout his Presidency remains the Brazilian right’s de facto leader.

But that key figures close to him are considering a pivot is evidence of the murky future facing a movement that not long ago was in the vanguard of a global lurch rightward, and that even after Bolsonaro’s election loss seemed poised to dominate Brazilian politics.

Read more here: https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/latin- ... ght.phtml

[caltrek]

Cerrado Deforestation Called a 'Stain' on Lula's Environmental Record
by Olivia Rosane
January 15, 2024

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) Deforestation in Brazil's vital Cerrado region jumped by 43% in 2023 compared to 2022, the highest level since deforestation measurements began in 2019.

The news, released by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research this month, came as deforestation in the more widely known Amazon rainforest fell by nearly 50% in 2023. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has promised to end deforestation by 2030, but environmental campaigners say agriculture in the Cerrado could undermine that goal.

"Lula's sacrifice of the Cerrado to beef and soy production is a major stain on his environmental credentials, and needs to be reversed and rectified urgently," Mighty Earth senior director Alex Wijeratna told the Financial Times. "The Cerrado savanna is being massively overlooked in Brazil and by the global community."

(See linked article for Twitter feed)

Brazil's Cerrado is the most biodiverse grassland ecosystem in the world, hosting 5% of all plant and animal species, according to WWF. The roughly 200 mammal species who live there include giant ant eaters and armadillos. It is also home to 860 species of birds 1,200 species of fish, and 90 million species of insect. Almost half of its more than 11,000 species of plant only grow there and are important to the survival and culture of local communities.

Beyond providing biodiversity, the savanna is important for Brazil's water system. It provides the spring for six of the country's 12 most important hydrological regions. Globally, it, like the Amazon, is an important carbon sink. It is home to shorter trees with vast underground root systems that may keep as many as 118 tons of carbon per acre out of the atmosphere.

Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/cerr ... a-brazil