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Wednesday, August 19, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
BRAZIL: Belo Monte Dam Will Change Way of Life on Xingu River
At dawn, the "captain" fired on the village leader and the shooting began. "The forest trembled," says one survivor: the local indigenous people fled, leaving their dead behind. Only one young girl remained. But she sank her teeth into the chest of one of the assailants with such force that they slit her throat to pull her off him.BRAZIL: Thirst for Energy Drives Construction of More Dams in Amazon
Electricity consumption in Brazil will rise by 5.9 percent a year until 2019, and hydroelectric plants will continue to be the main source of power because they generate it at a lower cost, the government announced.BRAZIL: Bridge to Drive Urban Growth in Heart of Amazon
The 74 pillars that will hold up the bridge over the Negro river to join this major city in Brazil's Amazon jungle to nearby urban districts have mostly been laid, without environmental protests or major debates on the impact of a fast-growing metropolitan area in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.Brazil Exports Technology While Farmers at Home Do Without
Brazil has become an agricultural power in recent decades as a result of know-how that is now an important export item and part of its international cooperation programme. But the technology developed does not reach the vast majority of farmers within the country itself.
Volcanic Ash Clouds May Drive Changes in Air Traffic
Iceland's volcanoes contributed to conditions that may have hastened the French Revolution, and could now speed changes in air transport, which not only is vulnerable to natural disasters but is suffering from heavy congestion of its routes in Europe.IBSA – Closer Social Connections, Not Just Gov’t Ties
The IBSA Fund, which finances anti-poverty projects in the most vulnerable countries, is an example of the spirit in which India, Brazil and South Africa wish to build their partnership, their leaders say.BRAZIL-CHINA: An Asymmetric Trading Partnership
"Brazil must increase the added value of its sales" to balance its trade with China, said Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the only note of criticism in his references to the partnership between the two countries after they signed a Joint Action Plan.
DEVELOPMENT: Mega-Inequality in Urban Mega-Regions
Basic services that are collapsing or non-existent, overcrowding, pollution: these are big-city problems that are compounded in developing countries by poverty and inequality.CLIMATE CHANGE-BRAZIL: The Threat Posed by Livestock
The livestock industry has less economic clout than the oil industry, but ranchers say it has better arguments to defend itself from accusations regarding its share of responsibility for global warming.BRAZIL: Ambitious Development Plan to Cut Inequality
Brazil will be "radically less unequal" and less vulnerable to shocks from the outside when it celebrates 200 years of independence from Portugal, if the Strategic Affairs Secretariat's (SAE) plans for the next 12 years are put into practice, according to a high-ranking official.
LATIN AMERICA-US: Clinton Attempts Damage Control
The dialogue of the deaf on Iran's nuclear programme that took place in the capital of Brazil highlights the hurdles faced by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in her attempt at forging warmer ties during her tour of six Latin American countries.
RIGHTS: Women More Educated, Not More Equal
When it comes to female education rates, progress has been made around the world, and in many countries girls and young women have outnumbered and outperformed boys and men at all levels of schooling for decades. Nevertheless, these advances have yet to translate into greater equity in employment, politics and social relations.
HEALTH-BRAZIL: When the City Makes You Sick
Limiting your cholesterol through diet may not be enough to maintain cardiovascular health in polluted cities like São Paulo in Brazil: the particulates suspended in the air alter the molecular composition of LDL, popularly known as "bad cholesterol," making it even more dangerous.TRADE-BRAZIL: Commodities Rule in Exports to China
China took over from the United States as Brazil's top market in 2009, indicating a qualitative change for exports from the South American giant, which is increasingly dependent on sales of commodities and food.
BRAZIL: Carnival, a Complex Annual Revolution for Women, Gays
Fátima Oliveira, one of Brazil's few black women doctors, always goes to "the best carnival," in Sabará, a city of 130,000 people in the state of Minas Gerais, where "men dress up as women" at a celebration that is "very informal, very local, with few tourists."
When the City Makes You Sick
A scientific study in Brazil shows that breathing urban air filled with particulates sharply increases the risk of cardiovascular disease.WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Reconciling Social and Environmental Needs
One of the greatest challenges facing the world today is to attend to the urgent social needs of the planet’s population, and particularly the one billion people living "on the brink of survival", while dealing with the equally urgent demands of the environment.
WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: “Machista” but Valued by Feminists Nonetheless
The World Social Forum (WSF) "changed our lives," although it continues to be "machista," with men significantly outnumbering women in its organisation and almost all discussion panels, commented Nalu Farias, coordinator in Brazil of the World March of Women.
WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Another Kind of Economics Is Possible
Democratising economics as well as politics is essential for ending irrationality and discrimination as part of the struggle for social and environmental justice, said participants at one of the panels of the seminar assessing the World Social Forum's (WSF) first 10 years.
WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Crisis Could Usher In Another World
In the societies of the future, young people may not start to work until the age of 25, there will be lifelong education for everyone, with university graduation as the starting point rather than the end goal, while working hours could be reduced to 12 hours a week for all.WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Talk vs Action – the Tug-of-War Continues
A call issued by social movements to evolve towards a more active role in generating concrete action marked the opening session of a seminar assessing the 10 years of the World Social Forum (WSF) Monday in this southern Brazilian city, the birthplace of the annual global civil society gathering.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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