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Thursday, May 14, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
“The Oil Is Ours” – But Its Secrets Are the NSA’s
Reported U.S. spying on Brazil’s Petrobras oil firm revived the controversy over opening up the company, a symbol of Brazilian sovereignty since the 1950s, to foreign investment.
Africa in Debt to Brazil: Forgiveness Isn’t Always Free
The Brazilian government projects the cancellation of nearly 900 million dollars in debt owed by a dozen African countries as a gesture of solidarity. But others simply see an aim to expand the economic and political influence of South America’s powerhouse.New Brazilian Law Guarantees Protocol for Rape Victims
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff signed a law guaranteeing treatment - including emergency contraception - for rape victims in public hospitals, in spite of strong opposition from religious conservatives who believe it will lead to the decriminalisation of abortion.
Pope Francis: Revolution or Changing to Stay the Same?
“The rivalry between our countries is over: if the pope is Argentine then God is Brazilian,” Francis joked when journalists asked him why he was so beloved in this country, where millions came out to see him, despite the historic football rivalry between South America’s two giants.
Pope Opens Unprecedented Dialogue with Afro-Brazilian Religions
At odds since colonial times, Catholicism and Afro-Brazilian religions have embarked on a process of mutual acceptance. Pope Francis added words and gestures to this reconciliation of two groups that share a common interest: confronting the growth of evangelical and neo-Pentecostal churches.
Economics and Population Policies Go Hand In Hand in Latin America
Nearly 20 years after the landmark U.N. conference on population and development, the countries of Latin America have an opportunity to make headway with a new agenda on these issues, thanks to the favourable economic context that has made it possible to reduce social inequalities.
Brazil Wide Open to Cyber Invasion
Brazil, reportedly one of the main targets of U.S. signals spying, is attempting to untangle a web of hi-tech espionage with low-tech equipment reminiscent of a novel by British author John le Carré.
Brazil’s “Other” Protesters
The young people who have been protesting in Brazil over the last few weeks, who say they are apolitical and who have organised over the social networking sites, were not entirely pleased with Thursday’s demonstrations by the country’s trade unions and social and popular movements.
Brazilian Political Reform Falls Into Own Party Trap
In response to the mass street protests in Brazil, President Dilma Rousseff proposed a raft of reforms of the political system which appear to be bogged down by red tape and interminable party negotiations - precisely the kind of thing the demonstrators are complaining about.
Needed in Brazil: Integrated Urban Transport System
Bus lanes, cycle paths and pedestrian walkways are viable solutions to the transport collapse in Brazil's big cities. But economic interests, red tape and the lack of strategies for an integrated system are delaying a process that the protests raging across the country for the last few weeks have made an urgent issue.
Brazil’s Left Is Eager to Lead the “Swarm”
The street marches in Brazil, initially non-party-political, have begun to take on the hues of leftwing political and social groupings, which are now trying to set the course of the movement that emerged from online social networks.
Faster Development Needed to Sustain Decade of Gains in Brazil
After 10 years of social and economic gains thanks to successful employment and public investment policies and anti-poverty programmes, Brazil is facing the challenge of broadening and accelerating a model of development that includes, for instance, the young people protesting on the country’s streets.
Cancelling Fare Hike Fails to Quell Brazil Protests
Children of a generation that fought for basic rights like having enough to eat, learning to read and being treated in safer hospitals, the over 300,000 students protesting on the streets of Brazil want more from a democratic and economic system that no longer represents them and is beginning to show its limitations.
Straightening Out Accounts on Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
The bold strategy implemented by the Brazilian government has achieved an 84 percent reduction in deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in the last eight years. But when the natural resources and pesticides used in agricultural production are taken into account, the environmental progress made is not so impressive.
‘Happy Prostitutes’ AIDS Campaign Sparks Debate
Happiness, the subject of endless philosophical discussions, has now become the focus of controversy in an HIV/AIDS prevention campaign aimed at prostitutes in Brazil. The campaign chief has been booted out and a further question has been raised: What are the limits of popular participation in the definition of public policies?
Q&A “What Matters Isn’t Bergoglio and His Past, but Francis and His Future”
Brazilian theologian Leonardo Boff, a leading exponent of liberation theology, the progressive current in the Latin American Catholic Church, does not believe reports that depict the new Pope Francis as collaborating with Argentina’s 1976-1983 dictatorship.
From Brazil’s Family Farm to the School Lunchroom Table
Separating Maria Gomes Morais’ farm and a school in Rio de Janeiro are fields, hills and dirt roads that are impassable when it rains. But a school meal programme has forged a path linking the fresh produce harvested by small farmers like her with the need to provide nourishment to 45 million schoolchildren around Brazil.
Fighting Sex Trafficking in Brazil – in Fiction and Reality
The story generally begins in Brazil’s hinterland, with a pretty, young woman from a disadvantaged background and with little formal education, who is drawn in by false promises and ends up in a sex trade network that stretches overseas.
Controversy Erupts Over “Corporate Carnival”
A transnational pesticides manufacturer is sponsoring the Vila Isabel samba school, which won the main contest in Rio de Janeiro's carnival this year, raising questions about financing mechanisms for "the greatest show on earth", as carnival is described in Brazil.
Q&A: “Only the Pope’s Name Will Change”
The only difference the resignation of Benedict XVI as head of the Catholic Church will make in Brazil will be the name changes needed on posters advertising his coming to this city in July for World Youth Day, jokes Frei Betto.
Murder of Landless Workers’ Leader Recalls Brazil’s Dictatorship
The execution-style killing of a leader of the Landless Workers' Movement in a sugarcane plantation in the southeastern Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, where bodies of opponents of the dictatorship were incinerated in the 1970s, recalls one of the most tragic chapters in this country's history.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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