Mario Osava

Social Responsibility a Sure Bet for Business

"There is no contradiction between social responsibility and profitability," Oded Grajew, a leader of the Brazilian business world in favor of sustainable development, tells Tierramérica

HUMAN RIGHTS: Brazilians Clamour for Tougher Crackdown on Juvenile Offenders

By Mario Osava

Lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 18 to 16, stiffening penalties for juvenile offenders and reducing legal benefits for prisoners are proposals that have been gaining support in Brazil over the past week, after the brutal dragging death of a six-year-old boy shocked the country.

BRAZIL-BOLIVIA: Morales Breaches Lula/Petrobras Fortress

By Mario Osava

Flaunting protocol in his determination to improve the price of the natural gas that his country exports to Brazil, Bolivian President Evo Morales achieved his goal. He persevered, extending his state visit to Brazil until Thursday, and as an extra bonus obtained assistance for development projects as well.

BRAZIL: Paramilitary Militias Fuel the Violence

By Mario Osava

The shooting deaths of nine people Sunday, including a member of the military police, illustrated a change in Rio de Janeiro's chronic violent crime, with the expansion of paramilitary militias that fight the drug gangs for control of the favelas.

POLITICS-BRAZIL: Lula, Placing His Pieces

By Mario Osava

The complexity of juggling the interests of the 11 parties in Brazil's governing coalition has led President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to delay announcing appointments of the ministers who will serve in his second term until the end of the month.

BRAZIL: Biodiversity Goes to Market

By Mario Osava

Biodiversity, like the proverbial prophet, is not without honour save in its own country: it tends to be valued more highly abroad than at home. Brazil is now trying to become an exception to the rule by commercialising its native species on a large scale.

BRAZIL: Clean Water – Hold the Salt

By Mario Osava

Thousands of people in Brazil's semi-arid Northeast are slaking their thirst thanks to a technology that is little used in Latin America: the reverse-osmosis membrane, which desalinises and purifies water. A filter designed by Brazilian experts should be ready in two years.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Dying, or More Alive than Ever?

By Mario Osava

There are plenty of prophets of doom foretelling the death, or at least a deep crisis, of the World Social Forum (WSF), based on reports about organisational problems and a great fall in numbers at the 7th WSF, held in Nairobi in January.

Clean Water – Hold the Salt – in Brazil's Northeast

By Mario Osava and - -

Brazil is using semi-permeable membranes to eliminate toxins from water in the impoverished northeast region. Promoters hope the technology will be ready for local manufacturing within a few years.

ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Growth Plan Holds No Surprises, No Advances

By Mario Osava

The Brazilian government's new "growth acceleration programme" contains no major novelties, to the relief of environmentalists. The projects causing most concern were already proposed years ago and have been the object of criticism ever since.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Pulling Together for a New Brazil

By Mario Osava

A different approach to politics, with mechanisms for society to define the kind of country it wants to build through the exercise of direct democracy, is the common purpose driving the social movements participating in the "Mutirao for a New Brazil."

ECONOMY: Bolivia’s Entry Adds to Pressure on Mercosur

By Mario Osava

The economic inequalities undermining unity among the countries of Mercosur will become more urgent with the likely acceptance of Bolivia as a full member at the bloc's summit being held Thursday and Friday in this Brazilian city.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Still a Stranger to the Public Eye

By Mario Osava

Defending human rights, democracy and diversity are its strongest point, but its "main defect" is lack of public visibility. That is how most participants viewed last year's World Social Forum (WSF), held in Caracas and Bamako, according to a survey.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Still a Stranger to the Public Eye

By Mario Osava

Defending human rights, democracy and diversity are its strongest point, but its "main defect" is lack of public visibility. That is how most participants viewed last year's World Social Forum (WSF), held in Caracas and Bamako, according to a survey.

BRAZIL: Cell Phones – Democratising Communications

By Mario Osava

Rapid expansion in the poorer sectors of society, especially among the large number of informal workers, has taken the number of mobile phones in Brazil to over 100 million, equivalent to more than 53 percent of the population.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Brazil to Join Digital TV World

By Mario Osava

In a country as addicted to television as Brazil, disputes over digital TV, which is being installed this year, are naturally acerbic. The business is worth an estimated 50 billion dollars, and could bring profound social and cultural changes.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Brazil to Join Digital TV World

By Mario Osava

In a country as addicted to television as Brazil, disputes over digital TV, which is being installed this year, are naturally acerbic. The business is worth an estimated 50 billion dollars, and could bring profound social and cultural changes.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Growth and Redistribution, Lula’s Big Tasks

By Mario Osava

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva began his second term in office on Monday, postponing the final answer as to whether he will successfully live up to the challenge of going down in history not merely as the former steelworker who won the presidency in 2002 and was reelected in October by a wide margin.