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Saturday, September 19, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
POPULATION: Brazil’s Shrinking Middle Class
With the expansion of industrialisation in Brazil in the 20th century came an accompanying growth of the middle class in this South American giant. But in 1981 that trend began to reverse, in response to prolonged economic stagnation and frequent periods of recession over the last two decades.ENVIRONMENT-SOUTH AMERICA: Amazonia Is Ours, Say Eight Countries
The sovereignty of the Amazon Basin countries over the natural resources of the region was roundly defended at a meeting of foreign ministers of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation (ACTO) member countries, in the northern Brazilian city of Manaus./ARTS WEEKLY/FILM-BRAZIL: Life of German Communist Jew Set to Become a Sensation
'Olga', based on the life of a German Jew who was the bodyguard and lover of Brazilian Communist leader Luiz Carlos Prestes, looks set to become this year's movie sensation in Brazil.BRAZIL: Black Market Cigarettes Account for 30 Percent of the Total
More than 360 brands of cigarettes are available on the illegal market in Brazil, six times the number of legally sold brands, complains the company Souza Cruz, British American Tobacco's subsidiary in Brazil.BRAZIL: A Businessman Against Free Trade
Many of those who participate in the World Social Forum, who tend to be leftist activists, would be surprised to learn that the man who first conceived of the annual global gatherings is a member of the Brazilian business community.ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: New Evidence in Favour of Biodiesel
The results of a trial in which two cars drove 100,000 kms on a fuel containing 30 percent biodiesel have provided the latest arguments in favour of the alternative fuel in Brazil.BRAZIL: Culture Ministry Proposal Aimed at Bringing Cinema to All
The Brazilian government is drafting a bill aimed at strengthening the national audiovisual industry and bringing movies to the 90 percent of the population that now lives in areas that have no cinemas.RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Beating Deaths Push Plight of Homeless into Spotlight
The beating deaths of six street dwellers in the past five days in Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city, in attacks in which nine others were seriously injured have sparked a national outcry and highlighted the plight of the homeless.ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: Sidelined by the Economy
Brazil's Environment Ministry has well-designed policies and projects and is headed by a highly respected environmentalist, but it frequently clashes with other ministries when its requirements run up against economic policies and interests, environmentalists complain.BRAZIL: Civil Disarmament Campaign Could Be Wildly Successful
Brazil's national civil disarmament campaign will triple or quadruple the government's goal of collecting and destroying 80,000 firearms in civilian hands this year.ENVIRONMENT-BRAZIL: A Plan to Privatise the Amazon?
The debate has taken some unusual twists. There were rumours in the news media of a bill for ''privatising'' the Brazilian Amazon, when the intention was just the opposite: to halt the illegal appropriation of public lands by private parties, a phenomenon that accelerates deforestation.RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Fighting Slave Labour in Charcoal Industry
"It was terrible to see 30-year-old men crying like little boys," said Carmen Bascarán, trying to portray the sense of terror in which a group of charcoal workers in northern Brazil were living before they were taken in by her human rights organisation three months ago.
A Plan to Privatize the Amazon?
The Brazilian government is considering giving private parties the right to limited forestry exploitation in the Amazon. The parliamentary debate on the issue promises to be a hot one. It is not a matter of privatization, but rather one of ''consolidating national sovereignty'' over the Brazilian Amazon, the Environment Ministry's head of forests and biodiversity told Tierramérica.SOUTH AMERICA: Cross-Border Bridges in Amazon – Double-Edged Swords
A bridge inaugurated Wednesday in southwestern Amazonia on the border between Bolivia and Brazil will have a limited environmental and economic impact. But that is not true in the case of another to be built not far away on the border between Brazil and Peru.COMMUNICATION-BRAZIL: The Voices of the Homeless
"Boca de rua" is a unique newspaper, written and sold by the homeless in this city in southern Brazil, bringing together the exceptional stories of people who seek to rejoin society and reclaim their rights in adverse conditions.TRADE: Brazil Deals Another Blow to Farm Subsidies
The Brazilian government and farmers celebrated a third triumph so far this year against the farm subsidies shelled out by the industrialised North after the World Trade Organisation (WTO) handed down an interim ruling Wednesday that found that the European Union (EU) is illegally dumping millions of tons of subsidised sugar on the world market.BRAZIL: Pele Loses – on the Big Screen
It is impossible for a football fan not to be impressed by "Pelé eterno" (Eternal Pelé), a documentary showing more than 300 goals, surprise moves and triumph after triumph -û as well as a few misses - by the best Brazilian player of all time.EDUCATION: Making Another World Possible
The World Education Forum (WEF), which ended Saturday in this southern Brazilian city, put into practice one of the guidelines included in its final document: giving young people a greater role in the production of knowledge.RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Caught in the Crossfire
It was incredible that she was not injured and no one was killed. Gloria Ramírez had just left her office and got into her car, accompanied by two bodyguards, when the shooting started. Miraculously, only one of her bodyguards was wounded, in the hand, despite the countless number of rounds fired.LATIN AMERICA: Bricks and Cement Can Be Friendlier to the Environment
A type of Brazilian cement made using the waste from steel mills has an environmental impact that is 77 percent less than that of four other conventional types of cement used in this South American country.RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: The Painful Path From Schoolteacher to Activist
Twenty-seven years separate the start of Estela de Carlotto's teaching career and the second stage of her life, in which she became an activist with Argentina's ''grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo'' who have spent years searching for their missing grandchildren.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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