Brazilian society has started to engage in debate. The discussion of the bill is informally open to the public on a web-based text annotation website. There is also the Brazilian Forum for the Right of Access to Public Information, and the Information is Your Right! campaign, whose aim is to spread the right of access to public information and mobilize people and organizations to lobby legislators to approve the bill. This campaign has invited the population to write to members of parliament suggesting ways to improve the bill. There are still some issues that must be addressed to bring the law fully into line with international standards, according to Article 19.

The blogosphere has joined forces. Pedro Valente [pt] translates into Portuguese the eight Open Government Data Principles, a set of fundamental principles for open government data by the US Open Government Working Group, and believes that, in Brazil, these principles should be enforced:

Toda entidade pública que gera dados de interesse público deveria liberá-los seguindo os princípios acima. Simples assim. Não importa de onde elas são.

And people have started to hack their way towards enforcing long awaited transparency: a collaborative task force has been created to develop small applications based on open technologies, government information and public data. The first Transparência [Transparency] Hackday, “two days for hacking into Brazilian politics”, was launched in São Paulo at the beginning of October, and the last camp took place this week, on December 1st  and 2nd, in the capital Brasília [pt]. Organized by journalists Daniela Silva and Pedro Markun [both pt], the event has free entry and is an opportunity for software developers, journalists and researchers to gather together to find ways to “scrape” data from official websites and create applications that bring transparency and participation to the political processes. From the first meeting, a small but important victory may be celebrated [pt]:

Na trilha de discussões do Transparência HackDay, o Grupo de Apoio Técnico à Inovação da Secretaria de Gestão Pública do Estado de São Paulo apresentou o projeto Governo Aberto, um portal de acesso a algumas bases de dados públicos do governo do estado, que serão disponibilizadas em formatos abertos e processáveis por máquina. O objetivo é permitir que a sociedade use essas bases em mashups, criando novas formas de participação política na web.

Por conta de uma demanda apresentada pelos participantes do evento, o Gati agora está abrindo as regras de acesso ao site Governo Aberto para serem discutidas na rede. Além delas, também a minuta de um decreto (que deverá assinado pelo governador José Serra, legitimando e dando mais sustentabilidade à iniciativa) foi colocada em discussão.

Essa é uma chance muito importante de influenciarmos a maneira que o governo de São Paulo vai passar a liberar suas informações na rede – num projeto que é pioneiro e que tem potencial para ser referência para outros governos no Brasil.

Transparency HackDay in São Paulo, photo by Alexandre Fugita used under a Creative Commons license.

The fight has just started, after years of advocacy work by the civil society and pro-freedom of expression, and free access to public information, organizations, among which is the national chapter of Transparency International, Transparencia Brasil [pt]. The director of the organization Claudio Weber Abrama [pt] argues that despite the great importance of monitoring the government, the proceedings at the National Congress will not be an easy task, due to the  interests of various politicians to suppress information. He reports on a recent public hearing:

Ninguém se opôs à necessidade da regulamentação.

Isso não significa que não haja oposição. A questão é que, num assunto como esse, ninguém que se oponha vem a público para exprimir a opinião. Pegaria muito mal.

Conforme este que escreve frisou, a oposição à regulamentação será significativa no plenário das duas Casas do Congresso, e incidirá sobre a sua abrangência.

Explico: o projeto abrange os três poderes e as três esferas.

Os parlamentares provavelmente não se oporão a regulamentar o acesso a informação na esfera federal. Raciocinarão que o governo, o Jucidiário e o legislativo federais já estão bem lançados no sentido de abrir informações que detêm e que, de toda maneira, o problema não é com eles, deputados e senadores.

A coisa muda de figura quando se trata das esferas estadual e municipal.

Os últimos interessados em abrir informações sobre o gerenciamento do poder público nos estados e municípios são os deputados e senadores. Os interesses políticos de todos eles estão nos estados e nos municípios. Não é descabido imaginar que a grande maioria tem interesse em esconder informações em suas bases eleitorais, e não abri-las.

Essa é a principal pedra no caminho da tramitação desse projeto.

"Information is a right of yours. You need to know". Information is Your Right! campaign logo.

The Right to Information is more than just an administrative governance reform. It is a fundamental human right. There is no democracy without a  right to information – not just freedom of information, but the right to it. It is paramount that “Brazilian citizens are convinced that they have the right to information and officials are convinced that they have the obligation [to provide it]”, as noted by Maria Marvan during the Public Debate on the Proposed Law last April.

For more detail on the South American context, also check: The Right to Information in Latin America: A Comparative Legal Survey, by UNESCO.

LuluzinhaCamp badge: "'Luluzinhas' for the end of violence against women".

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women was yesterday. Following a series of special posts on Global Voices Online to raise awareness and voices around the cause, we'll see in this post some Brazilian bloggers' opinions about women's rights.

Renowned Brazilian blogger Lúcia Freitas [pt] gives her contribution by posting a call for bloggers to support a campaign [pt] against violence in the LuluzinhaCamp [pt], a collective of women bloggers inspired on the Little Lulu comics:

Chamada geral! Entre 25 de novembro e 10 de dezembro estamos convocando para a luta pelo fim da violência contra as mulheres. Vamos fazer posts, twittar, fotografar e lembrar que mulheres são seres humanos e merecem respeito – aliás, todo mundo merece…

"Lulus against violence". Photo by Gabi Butcher©, used under a Creative Commons license

Srta. Bia [pt] hears the call and adds her voice to the LuluzinhaCamp campaign, saying [pt]:

No Brasil uma mulher é agredida a cada 15 segundos. Na maioria das vezes o agressor é o parceiro, um familiar ou uma pessoa próxima. Desde pequenas, meninas sofrem com violência e discriminação. Organizações em defesa dos direitos da mulher lutam para eliminar as brechas e anacronismos nas leis, porém as mudanças precisam reverberar na sociedade, na maneira como a mulher é vista.

She carries on:

É por liberdade que as Irmãs Mirabal lutaram, é por liberdade que lutamos a cada dia. Liberdade de ser a mulher que eu quiser, a mulher politizada ou não, a mulher que tem filhos ou não, a mulher que faz um aborto ou não, a mulher depilada ou não, a mulher que faz sexo com quem quiser ou não, mas acima de tudo a mulher que deve ser respeitada e que de maneira alguma pode sofrer nenhum tipo de violência, seja ela física ou psicológica, apenas por ser mulher. Nada justifica a violência contra ninguém.

"Do your bit". Photo by Gabi Butcher©, used under a Creative Commons license

The violence against woman debate is a hot topic in Brazil. Just recently, a series of events involving a student from Bandeirantes University in the state of São Paulo triggered many blog posts on the society's prejudice against the feminine body. On the occasion, tourism student Geisy Arruda wore a short pink dress to go to a regular classroom. Her story, however, touches on more than a 20-year-old woman’s choice at clothing: she ended up catching the attention of many students, who considered the dress offensive. Hundreds of them started ridiculing and cursing the girl, as well as threatening to assault her that day.

Geisy Arruda was eventually expelled from the University under the argument that her “provocative” behaviour was not compatible with the school's rules, but after the international mass media found the case profitable and Geisy became a celebrity on TV and on the Internet, the university admitted her back as student. So far, the heckling students have not been punished. Denise Arcoverde in Síndrome de Estocolmo [Stockholm Syndrome, pt] mentioned the case in her blog. In one particular occasion, she wrote [pt]:

Nesse outro vídeo, a imagem da moça saindo escoltada pela polícia.  Fiquei tão passada com a história que me deu uma taquicardia, de raiva. Eu já vi muito machismo, muita cretinice, mas nada com essa violência. Foi um estupro emocional, que não deve ficar por isso mesmo.

Como discutimos no Twitter, a faculdade paulista UNIBAN não é culpada pela atitude canalha dos estudantes, mas é responsável por não ter controlado a situação e ainda deixar a menina ser humilhada ao sair, escoltada pela polícia. Se fosse minha filha, processaria e exigiria milhões de indenização por danos morais.

"Those who are free fear not being ridiculous". Photo by Gabi Butcher©, used under a Creative Commons license

The Corpos em Revolta blog [Bodies in Revolt, pt] depicts the different types of violence suffered by women and asks the readers to take part in this struggle:

Acreditando que a idéia de feminilidade e o ideal de beleza são conceitos socialmente construídos e ferramentas de controle, o Coletivo Antissexista Corpos em Revolta mostra seu repúdio, nesse dia Internacional da Eliminação da Violência Contra a Mulher, a todas as formas de misoginia, machismo, sexismo, homofobia, e racismo, que vitimizam e inferiorizam as mulheres.

And they add information about a demonstration scheduled to take place on November 29 to celebrate their struggle:

Não acreditamos em padrões de feminilidade nem aceitamos padrões estéticos! Somos a favor da diversidade de corpos e de personalidades, da subversão dos valores sexistas que controlam nossas relações! Propomos uma sociedade onde não haja distinções de gênero, cor, etnia, sexualidade ou qualquer outra forma de inequidade sustentada pela sociedade de mercado!

Para marcar essa data, o Corpos em Revolta fará um ato simbólico no Parque Redenção no domingo, dia 29 de novembro, às 15 horas. Traga sua revolta e participe!

Finally, we read the following message [pt] on the Instituto Humanitas Unisinos blog:

Mulheres vem sofrendo a violência dos homens presentes em suas vidas (companheiros, pais, irmãos, filhos) há alguns séculos, e cotidianamente, muitas vezes em silêncio e culpadas por acontecer, ou muitas vezes sem saber reconhecer como uma violência e especialmente contra elas, por serem mulheres. Só recentemente e nos últimos anos, a agressividade social e individual contra nós está sendo nomeada e combatida, com o avanço dos movimentos sociais, feministas e de mulheres, muita coisa avançou no sentido de reconhecer como uma forma específica de privação dos direitos ao exercício da cidadania.

Photo Foto por Gabi Butcher©, at Luluzinha Camp, used under a Creative Commons license

The photos that illustrate this piece are from a LuluzinhaCamp meeting in São Paulo on November 22. See the full gallery of positive thinking portraits taken by Gabi Butcher, from DiaPositivo Fotografia [pt] blog. And happy 2010!

This past week at the Brazilian Digital Culture Forum [pt] I had a chance to meet up with Diego Casaes, a dedicated Global Voices author and translator from Salvador, Brazil. Much of Diego's writing on Global Voices has spread awareness about legislative threats to online freedom in Brazil, such as the infamous “Azeredo Bill“. He has also profiled cyber-activists like João Carlos Caribé and Daniel Pádua (who just lost his life to cancer) and their attempts to protect the individual freedoms and social bonds enabled by the Internet.

Diego will soon be headed to Copenhagen to report on the United Nations Climate Change Conference from December 7 - 18. He was invited to cover the conference as a winner of the Think About It blogging competition, where you can read all of his posts related to climate change in Brazil.

Transcript:

I'm Diego Casaes. I'm from Brazil. I live in Salvador in the northeastern part of Brazil. I am the coordinator of the Portuguese translation team and a voluntary author for Global Voices Online.

David Sasaki: And how did you get started in Global Voices Online?

Diego Casaes: I got started when I met Paula Goes (Global Voices author and Portuguese translator) on Twitter. She invited me to write. It was about the flooding in Brazil. And it was in May, 2009, this year. So it has been seven months.

DS: What are some of the other topics that you write about on Global Voices?

DC: I mostly write about freedom of speech and cyberactivism. A couple of times it was about the environment. Mostly about cyberactivism.

DS: How do you see the Brazilian blogosphere as different from other blogospheres around the world?

DC: Well, maybe because we are very passionate when we discuss things so bloggers take this passion from daily life to their blogs. So they are very optimistic and discuss really loudly with each other. They scream on Twitter. In many blogs you can see many comments … like flaming comments. People with passion. Actually, it's interesting to see how the Brazilian blogosphere is quite different from others.

DS: And why do you think that is? You think it's just … cultural?

DC: Maybe. Because I was talking to a friend from Kazakhstan and he says that the blogosphere in Kazakhstan is not very active. They have lots of blog posts, but not lots of comments. In Brazil it is very different. We see lots of comments in the blog posts. People really discuss things.

DS: So what are some of the things that Brazilian bloggers are discussing these days?

DC: These days, especially in 2009, they are very addicted to discussing about cyber-activism. Because we have lots of bills that want to take away our freedom on the internet. So, in this event where we are here now, lots of blogs from cyber-activism and freedom of speech are discussing all of this.

DS: What do you write about on your personal blogs?

DC: Well, some of my points of view on many subjects of communication, freedom of speech. But I also have a blog about Japanese culture because I listen to Japanese music and I watch many Japanese animations. So I mostly write about that. It's nice actually because nobody thinks you would write about that. I'm not very Japanese. I don't look Japanese, but I just love it.

DS: You're going to Copenhagen, right? For a conference on climate change. How did that all come about?

DC: Well, actually I got a message from my Global Voices reader profile asking me to go to Copenhagen to participate in the Think About It competition, a European blogging competition. I went to Copenhagen in September and we were at the launch event where we learned about what we were going to blog about on climate change. Now, last week, we got the news - me and two other guys - that we were selected to represent the European Journalism Centre in the COP15. From 92 bloggers only three of us.

DS: Solana Larsen from Global Voices asks, “What are you going to do in Copenhagen with your blogging award?”

DC: Well, I hope to bring bloggers' and journalists' views on the COP15. And maybe meet some world leaders and try to ask them if they really want to see the planet die. And try to bring citizen media into the discussion because there are plenty of journalists who are going to COP15 but I think this is the only actual event where many bloggers are going to a big even like this. So, it's quite different. And I hope to do a good job reporting on climate change.

DS: Sylwia Presley asks, “How has working for Global Voices changed your life?”

DC: Since I am Brazilian, I am very passionate about many things and I think that Global Voices is part of us because we learn from it and we bring some of these themes that we're discussing on Global Voices to our daily life and discuss them with friends.

Sometimes I bring topics like wars in distances places like Africa
or people dying of hunger in Kazakhstan. I think Global Voices made me more aware that we are in a world and that there are other people in this life; not only our close friends.

DS: This question comes from Ethan: “Where can I learn more about Technobrega music?”

DC: I saw his question on Twitter and I was quite scared because I don't listen to technobrega. But I did some research and there is this website called bregapop.com and they gather many style of brega music including technobrega and it is interesting because in the bands' profiles they had the Orkut profile telephone numbers. So if you want to contact them you can just go to this community and find many artists from Belém do Pará, which is the place where the technobrega emerged from.

They also embedded many YouTube videos of technobrega in this community so it's quite fun actually. It is interesting how they use citizen media and other web 2.0 resources on this website.

DS: What would you like to see for the future of Global Voices in the next five years?

DC: For the future of Global Voices I think we are going to create much more content on the Lingua sites and I think that we'll establish a very well-known community. We'll get famous I think. Many more people will want to contribute to Global Voices. At this event where we are right now, many people came to me asking, “how can we contribute to Global Voices?” So I think that the community will grow.

Daniel Pádua was a well-known digital activist in Brazil. Photo brought by Cátia Kitahara in Wordpress-BR.

Brazil lost today one of its pioneers digital activists. Daniel Pádua [pt] (also known as @dpadua on Twitter) had been recently diagnosed with cancer and lost the battle this morning, in Brasília. Always present in open source software and free culture events in Brazil, he was a strong reference for many bloggers in posts about ciberactivism and freedom of speech on the Internet.

On the Wordpress-Br blog, Cátia Kitahara wrote [pt]:

Hoje perdemos um amigo queridíssimo, aqui da comunidade, o Daniel Pádua. Sentiremos muito sua falta, não só pelo grande talento e inteligência que ele possuia, mas principalmente pelo seu caráter. Queremos manifestar nosso carinho para sua família e amigos.

As the news spreads all over the web, Twitter users who known his work and commitment are honoring him and saying a last goodbye:

This is Global Voices tribute to Daniel Pádua. Rest in peace.

According to the filmmakers, the experiment showed that the metal detector doors are in fact activated by the banks' security guards. In other words, the security method currently employed by banks is based on their personnel's pre-judgment, often plagued with preconceptions, stereotypes and discrimination against certain types of people. On their blog, Circo Voador [Flying Circus, pt] invites readers to join forces, sending their own videos of as many different banks as possible. They explain the experiment:

Na primeira cena aparecem várias pessoas ao redor da bolsa. Todas elas fizeram o teste com a mesma bolsa, algumas foram barradas outras não. Em nenhum momento alguém alterou o conteúdo dos pertences na bolsa. A escolha da imagem do MC Shackal não se deveu ao fato dele ser negro e sim, por termos nos utilizado de câmeras escondidas e o momento em que o registramos, não sofreu interferências externas, como carros ou pessoas paradas na frente da câmera.

Many people reacted on the Circo Voador blog's comment box. Some of the readers shared similar experiences, such as Dona Biologia [pt], a teacher:

Coloquei chaves, celular, bolsinha de moedas no local indicado e a porta apitava e travava. Por fim, o rapaz chamou um pseudo gerente que atravessou a porta e, dentro do caixa eletrônico da agência, me fez abrir a bolsa de provas e quando não viu nada que justificasse, teve a audácia de dizer que fora a minha bolsinha de lápis. Me arrependo até hoje de não ter processado o banco pelo constrangimento.

Christiano J. Jabur [pt], who was once barred at a metal detector door in São Paulo because of a digital camera, claims that discrimination against people in the same revolving doors happens in banks regardless of the colour of the skin:

Tive que colocá-la numa caixinha para conseguir entrar no banco. Mas uma senhora de idade, também branca, que tentou entrar na agência da Nossa Caixa, na mesma cidade, foi barrada e não conseguiu entrar de jeito nenhum, mesmo chamando a polícia. O gerente do banco ininuou que ela poderia ser criminosa, pois existem muitas pessoas hoje, acima dos 50 e 60 anos de idade, cometendo crimes (o que não deixa de ser verdade). Não vou dizer que não exista preconceito contra negros e pardos nos bancos, por parte de vigilantes e atendentes. Mas dizer que são só os negros que são barrados nas portas giratórias é uma bela de uma mentira.

On the other hand, a security guard called Leandro [pt] explains in the same comment box how the system works, and criticizes the way the video has been interpreted by some:

Sou Vigilante (segurança), e posso afirmar, este sistema é falho, mas este vídeo esta sendo usado para sujar a imagem de profissionais que estão apenas cumprindo ordens… os ‘controles’ podem sim travar e destravar as portas giratórias, mas isso não é valido para todas as agencias, são sistemas diferenciados pra cada agencia ou cada porta giratória… e não temos controle sobre o “Nível de travamento“ de cada porta (isso é de responsabilidade do gerente), que costuma variar de 4 a 7 níveis, por isso vc pode entrar em uma agencia e ficar travado e em outra passar sem problema algum…
Sei que intenção de vc's não é esta, li o que estão propondo e apoio totalmente, mas não esta sendo divulgado desta forma, outros sites e meios de comunicação estão colocando informações “picadas”, pela metade… eu mesmo recebi um Email como Titulo: “Vigilantes racistas?”

The video has gone viral on the blogosphere too. Rafael Cesar [pt] says that whether the doors shut on white or black people is besides the point:

A questão é que sabemos que aquele detector de metais é muito mais uma desculpa para os seguranças fazerem o controle da forma como julgam apropriada do que qualquer outra coisa. O que trava, mesmo, é aquele controlezinho que eles carregam. Comigo é rotineiro, sem qualquer exagero, passar por aquela porra sem metal nenhum na mochila (já deixei até estojo naquela caixinha ao lado por causa de lapiseira) e me travarem. Ou seja: o que volta e meia detectam em mim é um meliante em potencial, porque por várias vezes não havia qualquer metal a ser detectado. Se eu não tinha metal, por que ‘a porta’ travou? E, se eu tenho metal, por que logo em seguida ‘a porta’ destrava?E nessa de o crivo da segurança passar pelos olhos dos seguranças, é claro que o indivíduo negro leva a pior. Assim como leva a pior com a polícia, com emprego etc.

Helio Ventura [pt] takes the opportunity to republish a text written in March 2007 asking if revolving doors detected metal or melanin after a black customer was killed inside the bank in Rio de Janeiro:

Rio de Janeiro, sexta-feira, 22 de dezembro de 2006, 13 horas e 20 minutos. O micro-empresário negro Jonas Eduardo Santos de Souza, 34 anos, estava na fila da agência do banco Itaú da Av. Rio Branco, da qual era cliente há 10 anos, para operações de rotina. Mas ele foi vítima do racismo que persiste em existir em nosso país, apesar de muitas vozes da elite e da intelectualidade negarem. Ele foi morto com um tiro no peito por Natalício de Souza Marins, 29 anos, vigilante da agência.
Ao tentar entrar na agência bancária, Jonas foi parado pela conhecida e constrangedora porta giratória. Ele foi abordado por Natalício e obrigado a pôr na bandeja todos os objetos que possuía. Como a porta continuava travando, Jonas foi obrigado a tirar inclusive o cinto. O gerente foi acionado por Natalício, e só autorizou o acesso do jovem micro-empresário à agência após exigir que Jonas provasse ser cliente da agência, mostrando um cartão do banco. Após o constrangimento, já dentro da agência, Jonas e Natalício continuaram a discutir, até que o vigilante, demonstrando total despreparo para o exercício da função, sacou seu revólver e matou Jonas, que não teve chance de defesa. […]
Assim como também poderíamos estar do outro lado, o de Natalício, também negro, um pai de família que teve suprimidas as oportunidades de acessar uma profissão que pudesse dar melhores condições à sua filha de 5 anos, que se viu obrigado a pleitear apenas funções que exigem menor qualificação, como a de vigilante. Ele também foi atingido pelo racismo estrutural que assola este país. Isso em nada muda o fato dele ter agido equivocadamente: é um homicida e deve receber as sanções legalmente previstas. E ser também negro não atenua o crime. Mas nos faz perguntar: que sistema é este que coloca dois semelhantes em lados opostos, fazendo com que um tire a vida do outro? Até quando fatos como este acontecerão? Percebemos o quão perverso é este “racismo à brasileira”, uma política de extermínio silenciosa, disfarçada de risco social e fatalidade.

Andréia Freitas [pt], who once managed to get undisturbed inside a bank with a kitchen knife she had bought earlier on in the day, says that the sad conclusion is that people only see each others' surfaces:

Por que será que cresceram os assaltos a banco realizados por homens de terno e gravata? Por que será que hoje existe o roubo de carros em estacionamentos e os assaltantes chegam no local pra assaltar de carro importado? Golpes de estelionatários em hotéis de luxo, em lojas de grife, em restaurantes cinco estrelas…

A resposta é óbvia: O mundo é movido por “aparências”! Sim… se você é considerada uma pessoa “bem apessoada” a vida fica mais fácil pra você em todos os aspectos. Agora… se você não está tão “bem vestido”, ou seu cabelo “acordou” num dia ruim, ou seu sapato tá meio surrado, pode apostar que a vida não será bolinho pra você.

O ser humano vê as aparências! Se as portas dos bancos fossem realmente controladas por uma máquina, por um dispositivo eletrônico de segurança, os dois caras do vídeo do YouTube tinham sido barrados! E nada mais justo do que barrar OS DOIS, que portavam objetos de metal.

An online petiton [pt] launched with the experiment demanding that Brazilian banks stop using revolving doors and invest in x-ray systems or safety equipment that shows customers' real belongings has been signed by over 2,000 people so far. Over all, the plea is that everyone is treated with respect by the banks.

João Carlos Caribé, popularly known just by his last name, is a born activist [pt]. In his own words: “Activism is part of my DNA—I'm an incurable idealist. The deeper we dig, the more we learn and the angrier we become; sometimes ignorance is bliss.”

Caribé, with the colors of the national flag in the background. The logo represents the Mega Não movement, and was designed by Mario Amaya.

Caribé dreamed of being a superhero and protecting the weak and oppressed since he was a boy, and this childhood ideal has matured over time. He has found various outlets for it, whether in the fight for freedom of speech on the internet, through voluntary teaching, or in his relentless criticism of social media; he says it is impossible to stay still when there are so many distractions. And he is irreverent, as we can see from his Twitter profile:

Procura no Google! Eu falo palavrão, sacanagem e xingo politicos, siga por conta e risco.

Who is Caribé?

My inner scientist leads me to deconstruct established social, economic and cultural frameworks and simulate their obsolescence in order to answer the question “what comes next?” Right now I work in advertising, but in the past I've been a DJ and worked in engineering, systems analysis and O&M. I've always enjoyed a challenge. I'm an incurable idealist!

How long have you been blogging, and how many blogs do you take part in?

Despite working with the internet since 1996, I only created a blog at the end of 2002. It was called Ex-Gordo [pt]. In 2005 I started my personal blog, Entropia! [pt]. By the beginning of 2006, I had created the group blog Propaganda & Marketing [pt] and at the end of the same year I created another group blog when I first heard about the Digital AI5 and the Azeredo Bill; the blog was called Xô Censura [pt]. We might consider this blog the beginning of my involvement with Brazilian cyberactivism. In 2007 I created the group blog Perspectiva [pt], which is a network for providing and publicizing projects to create opportunities for children and teenagers, and soon after that, in 2008, I created the Blog Cidadão [pt] and the Ciberactivism Network [pt] on Ning. At the beginning of 2009 I was invited by Sérgio Amadeu (who also supports the Mega Não campaign) to be part of the group blog Trezentos (300) [pt], after which I created Mega Não [pt], which aims at being a meta-manifesto, and has far exceeded my expectations.

Between 1996 and 2002 I was involved with other internet projects. In 1996 I started a personal website where I published many posts about management and technology. In the following year I started Flash Brasil [pt], a community that worked with Macromedia Flash. Unawares, I was creating a business model that would lead us to become one of the top 5 resellers of the product, capturing the attention of the Macromedia Marketing vice-president, who began citing Flash Brasil as a successful case study. This got me an invitation to give a speech to an audience of over one hundred network leaders from all over the world in NYC in 2001. Apart from that, 2001 was a kind of baptism of fire, because towards the end of the year internet usage expanded and seriously affected my business. Nevertheless, Flash Brasil still gets a considerable number of visits, with more than 500,000 hits per month.

How did you become a cyberactivist? And what form does this take? (question by Conceição Oliveira on Twitter)

It was more of a natural evolution than a complete transformation. Activism is in my DNA. I'm an incurable idealist. The deeper we dig, the more we learn and the angrier we become; sometimes ignorance is bliss. I felt that I was really making a difference when I devoted myself to volunteering. Currently I don't have enough time to carry on volunteering, but I miss it, since it’s so rewarding; it’s great therapy, and a foil for depression.

In 2006 I heard of the Digital AI5 through Omar Kaminski —a Brazilian lawyer renowned for matters relating to new technology and the law—in the cyberculture community in Orkut. The bill was proceeding through the Senate and was going to be voted in on November 8th, 2006. I jumped in and we did what we called a protest-o-matic, which was a kind of form that anyone could fill in to send a message to all the senators. More than 3000 emails were sent in less than 24 hours, the bill was not passed and the senators decided to hand it over to other committees.

Since then, I literally taught myself about politics, and through studying I started to recognize clear political strategies. I now saw a world that I had never come into contact with before, one that I could never even have imagined. In the process, I met other cyberactivists and I noticed that the internet is a world of new horizons, where I could live out all those fantastic theories like collective intelligence, crowdsourcing, the cluetrain manifesto, and many others.

I have almost never participated in activism outside the world wide web. I believe that cyberactivism— what many critics call “armchair activism”—is much more powerful, rapid and efficient. It just needs to be consolidated with face-to-face activism so that the “analog critics” are able to understand it. Besides a spot of anarchist activism in my college days, the only public demonstrations I have taken part in were the Mega Não in Rio de Janeiro and (via Skype) in Rio Grande do Sul.

Caribé gives a speech about the Mega Não and censorship on the internet during a public demonstration in Rio de Janeiro. Henrique Antoun is on his left. On his right are Federal Deputy Jorge Bittar and Deputy Alessandro Molon.

Please talk about the Mega Não. How did the idea behind the movement come about?

The Mega Não symbol by Mario Amaya.

Mega Não was a case in which I targeted the rabbit, but ended up hitting the elephant. Digital AI5 was being processed rapidly and gaining momentum within the Chamber of Deputies. We felt the urge to do something broader, something ‘mega', and I came up with the idea of creating the Mega Não. The initial proposal was to create a sequence of online and offline events that would direct people and audience to the Mega Não movement. I discussed the idea with Daniel Pádua, who contributed lots of interesting ideas, and it really took off. Nevertheless, it took a great deal of dedication to bring the project to fruition. After we came up with the idea of the public demonstration in São Paulo, I decided we would make this our grand finale. Time was not on our side, so the blog was made in a hurry and isn’t as we originally envisaged it. Throughout this process, we were greatly helped by Antonio Arles and Myris Silva.

The name “Mega Não” was perfect, and rapidly became synonymous with cyberactivism against the Digital AI5. The idea of transforming it into a meta-manifesto was crucial for making it a source of information about activism. It was made in a hurry by those involved, but it turned out to be rather good. It spread rapidly via social media, and the blog now receives a decent number of visits, and it is cited on other blogs.

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Developed by several Brazilian activists alongside João Carlos Caribé, the movement has already reached the ears of the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), with a blog post on the Brazilian President Lula's recent statement about the Azeredo Bill and its impact on Brazilian politics.

You’re heavily involved in Brazilian cyberactivism. What motivates you to fight for freedom on the internet? (Question by Antonio Arles on Twitter)

"Caribbean Pirate". Photo by @_thebest_

One reason is my incurable idealism. I suppose the other is my passion for this cause. I was born and raised under the aegis of censorship, but nowadays we have a bit more freedom. The internet allows the voice of the ordinary citizen to be heard. Anyone can produce anything on the Internet, because it has put an end to the economy of scarcity, it has democratized knowledge, it allows people to relate to one another through ideology or other affinities, and it gets rid of the middleman.

As it says in the Free Culture Manifesto, the internet is a window of opportunity for society to bring about a great revolution at all levels. We are paving the way for “social capitalism”, a system based on both wealth and sharing, and that scares the establishment.

There is a covert war against this social movement, provoked by the big oligopolies, corrupt and repressive governments, banks, cultural industries, deceptive mainstream media, and others who are interested in keeping the status quo. My struggle, my passionate motivation is to maintain the benefits that the internet has already provided, and to extend them.

What do you think of the Brazilian blogosphere?

Caribé's Twitter bio: "Just google me! I swear, use dirty words and curse politicians. Follow me at your own risk."

“Brazilian blogosphere” is a complex term. For most of the media outlets and publicity agencies, the national blogosphere boils down to a dozen well-visited blogs. For me, it is a complex network of prosumers and their views, and a very diverse one at that.

In our cyberactivism against the Digital AI5 we had a hard time trying to find out what motivated other bloggers to join the cause. We believed that few of them would stick with it. One of our ideas was a collective blogging exercise, with many participants blogging on the same subject, and I was surprised to see that it had resulted in more than 180 blog posts on wildly differing types of blog. Even the most narcissistic bloggers have stuck with the cause. That actually changed my way of seeing blogs, and I became more respectful and understanding towards the reasons that people blog, even the “cry-baby” types.

What changes can really be brought about by promoting cyberactivism?

Lots of changes are already taking place; many are openly obvious, while others are more subtle. For instance, we could mention the increasing politicization of web-savvy people, as I remarked in this blog post [pt] in Trezentos:

[..] Estamos pensando e agindo coletivamente, estamos nos “alfabetizando politicamente”, estamos reconhecendo nossos direitos, aprendendo a valorizar o próximo e, estamos aprendendo, como diz Dalai Lama que: uma enorme jornada começa com um pequeno passo. Podemos não perceber isto agora, mas nunca mais seremos os mesmos, estamos reconstruindo a história da democracia no Brasil, somos os agentes de mudança, dificilmente seremos enganados novamente, somos os revolucionários digitais, estamos fazendo a revolução mediada por computador, a revolução da era da participação […]

In addition to this “political literacy”, we can see real change. Our cyberactivism against the Digital AI5 convinced thousands of skeptics that the Azeredo Bill was a wolf in sheep's clothing and would not solve the cybercrimes issue, but would turn the internet into an inhospitable environment. Barely a single Brazilian media outlet covered the demonstrations against the Digital AI5, which is clear proof that the facts are being manipulated. They cover cybercrime stories almost every day, in addition to their soap operas, while contain propaganda in favor of the Digital AI5.

Even without mainstream media coverage, we reached around 15 million Brazilians and hundreds of thousands of foreigners. With our cyberactivism we provided a platform for politicians who were sympathetic to the cause to defend our interests in Parliament. Our online petition [pt] with more than 150,000 signatures has become a symbol of cyberactivism against the Digital AI5. I believe that our movement accelerated the adoption of social media by our politicians, and we are now seeing a version of the “Emperor's New Clothes” in our Senate. The ignorance of parliamentarians towards the internet and its usage makes them look ridiculous, stark naked in front of connected society.

I’d say that we did more than simply change the content of the bill and its course through the committees. We helped to expose the “nudity” of Parliament. This will eventually help us get rid of political dinosaurs, to be replaced by far more audacious and committed politicians who are committed to society and a better future for our nation. The political dinosaurs have already realized their weaknesses, and that’s why they are insisting on mild censorship for the 2010 elections. But they won’t succeed. The window of opportunity is already open, and it’s can’t be slammed shut once again.

How do you picture the Brazilian internet in 10 years?

João Carlos Caribé at the Campus Party 2008 in São Paulo. Photo by Alexandre Fugita.

This is a good exercise for the imagination. It’s impossible to predict only one scenario, though; we need several. I'll stick to two: one in which freedom of speech prevails, and the other in which vigilantism takes root.

In general terms, I believe that in 10 years we won't have the same internet as we do today. There will be free access to the world wide web through any technological device, and interconnected networks will increase the density and scope of the internet. We will live inside it. Our cars, refrigerators, cookers, toilets, shoes, lamps, electronic devices; everything will be connected. We will carry data in our bodies that will be available to any surface provided with a virtual interface. A chopping board, for instance, will be able to be used as a computer, as will our car windshields.

As everything will be integrated, we’ll know what type of maintenance our cars need before a problem occurs, or be able to check the refrigerator from anywhere we are to see whether there’s enough cheese and wine to invite our friends to dinner. If there’s not enough food, the refrigerator computer will make a list and send it to the supermarket with the best value. We will only need to authorize the purchase.

Secure open source mechanisms will ensure that these transactions between devices and humans will be safe and inviolable. Those who have bet on the semantic web, the “uniqueness” of the internet, will be disappointed. The semantic web, where scripts would connect and produce content from existing content that has proved too mechanized, will exist, but it won't exclude other creative processes. Creativity and the importance of the human touch on the internet will continue. People will still want to talk to each other—remember the old Cluetrain Manifesto.

If vigilantism prevails, however, it will be on the peripheries of the internet. And since the internet is so wide-reaching, this censorship will be recognized as harmful and will be destroyed with the help of those who instigate the backlash. There will be a harmless struggle between connected society and vigilantism, and the former is bound to come out on top. I think it unlikely that vigilantism will prevail; in countries where people are not reacting to the censorship of the Internet they will eventually react even more explosively. Total control of the internet is impossible in China; the rest of the world will be no different.

In this way, connected society will exercise greater discernment when electing its representatives, dismantle the frameworks that benefit from censorship, and wake up from this nightmare, in which companies, coup-mongering media outlets, corrupt politicians and others who backed this status quo tried to keep society alienated and under their control. The establishment will gradually be superseded by a utopia, and we will have succeeded in creating a better world.

What would you say to convince someone who does not believe in the “power” of blogging?

I think it’s more appropriate to talk about the power of a connected society. Some people still believe that computers are alienating, that they affect people's relationships and “damage little children”. People are free to believe anything they want. Many believe in the “good intentions” of the Digital AI5, in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and in neoliberalism. To deal with those beliefs means not only showing that there are other options, but also picking apart the arguments of the person you want to convince. The more conservative the person is, the harder this will be.

For instance, Senator Eduardo Azeredo still says that the criticism of the Digital AI5 is foolish, and the result of misinterpretation. He even seems to believe in a vertical intelligence system, and it’s obvious that he doesn’t have a clue about collective intelligence, or other distributed or horizontal intellectual systems. How would I go about convincing someone like this of the power of connected society? Actually, I think that we’ve already convinced him, but he hasn’t realized it yet, and maybe he never will. Maybe the 2010 elections will change his mind?

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As an influential figure in Brazilian cyberactivism, Caribé is an inspiration for many new bloggers in Brazil. Many bills, laws and judicial decisions that try to censor the internet are proliferating in this country, and people like him are more than welcome. They are necessary to defend the spirit of democracy on the internet as a basic right, not a fallacy sponsored by controversial politicians and deceptive media outlets.

Among the many reports about “what-I-was-doing-when-the-lights-went-off” conspiracy theories reign: from one blog to another, the blame for the power cut that left up to a fifth of the population without power shifts from President Lula to Dilma Rousseff, his candidate in the next presidential elections, and from UFO to hackers.

From Sonic Downloads

Authorities have blamed a severe storm for bringing down a power line, cutting two other lines and ultimately shutting the dam, causing a domino effect that rippled across the country. Arauto do Futuro [pt] contests the official explanation based on reports by the National Institute for Space Research [pt] stating that there was a minimal risk that lightening would have hit any facility. He implies that economical interests might have turned Itaipu off:

Não seriam estes ‘apagões‘ a desculpa perfeita para acelerar a construção de PCHs ou as transposições de rios no Brasil? Contribuindo para o ‘programa de aceleração’ da destruição da natureza e da beleza cênica em diversos locais que ainda restam preservados nesse país?

Coincidence or not, Dilma Rousseff, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2010 elections said in an interview a few weeks ago that there was no risks of blackout again in Brazil, referring mainly to the 1999 Southern Brazilian blackout. For Francisco Schieber [pt], the government served up lame excuses:

Apagão é rotina no Brasil. Uma média de um a cada seis anos, desde 1985. Bom, qual a diferença deste pros demais? Comecemos falando que este se deu no governo de um presidente que afirmou categoricamente que em seu governo jamais aconteceria algo de ruim (e até de bom, se olharmos com um pouco mais de cuidado suas declarações) que aconteceu no governo anterior. “Pois nunca antes na história destepaiz” aconteceu um apagão com proporções tão convincentes. Não restaram dúvidas: tivemos mais de três horas para concluirmos que realmente foi um apagão (ou blecaute, se preferirem). “Nunca antes na história destepaiz” um apagão foi tão mal justificado. E por que foi tão mal justificado? “Porque nunca entes na história destepaiz” o governo ficou tão desarmado com o que aconteceu, ou seja, nem eles sabem.

On the other hand Eduardo Guimarães [pt] suspects political forces and sabotage. He wonders whether it is possible that some sectors of the media knew the outage was going to happen, as most media outlets seem to have been prepared for the coverage:

Fiquei impressionado com a eficiência da imprensa. Às três da manhã, quando a energia elétrica retornou, havia montes de matérias nos portais de internet sobre um “apagão” que se abateu sobre vários Estados do Sul e do Sudeste no fim da noite de ontem. E os jornais todos saem hoje com matérias amplas sobre o assunto.

Detalhe: a falta de luz começou depois das 22 horas, muito próximo do fechamento das edições do principais jornais do país, que mostraram-se incrivelmente mobilizados para coberturas tão emergenciais. Pareceu até haver um esquema de “cobertura” muito bem montado.

O termo “apagão”, que foi o que vi no G1 e no UOL, deverá ser generalizado e explorado à farta pela mídia. Ela tentará vincular um episódio isolado e desencadeado por causa desconhecida ao racionamento de energia que ocorreu no fim do governo Fernando Henrique Cardoso devido a falta de investimentos em geração de energia naquela época.

A exploração de um episódio isolado, porém, terá vida curta… Mas será que terá mesmo? E se o episódio não for isolado e outros apagões misteriosos voltarem a ocorrer?

São Paulo, twitpic by @douglasmiguel

Some people believe the power cut was caused by extraterrestrial visitors, as every UFO community knows, when an Unidentified Flying Object is near a grid it causes interference due to the UFO's electromagnetic effect. Mario Barros [pt] publishes a picture and this account of a reader who claims to have seen a flying saucer in São Paulo skies on the night of the power cut:

Por alguns segundos, enquanto ainda estava perto, pude ver claramente que se tratava de um objeto escuro, negro, de forma retangular, com 4 luzes brancas de brilho constante em cada ponta e 2 luzes vermelhas que piscavam de maneira diferente uma da outra na parte de baixo. Tentei filmar o objeto com o celular, mas não consegui captar nada. Não faço idéia de que altura estava, mas estava bastante baixo. Não havia som algum e me pareceu ser menor e mais rápido que um avião comercial. A medida que foi se afastando não consegui mais ver a parte sólida e escura do objeto, somente suas luzes vermelhas que piscavam e as brancas estáticas. O objeto surgiu a leste dirigia-se rumo a oeste e o observei até que ele desapareceu no horizonte. Tudo isso durou cerca de 1 minuto e meio.

For some the power outage was the work of hackers. Coincidentally, a few days before the outage, a report by CBS news magazine 60 Minutes blames hackers for targeting control systems causing the electrical blackouts impacting millions of people in Brazil in 2005 and 2007, when Brazil suffered electricity shortages and rationing. This fueled new claims that hackers were behind this cut. Could that be possible? A 23 year old hacker, Maycon Maia Vitali [pt] believes it is feasible. He has showed in his blog the security flaws of the website of one of the government agencies responsible for managing energy:

Ou seja, além de ter encontrado uma falha de SQL Injection, já descobri de cara que o sistema funciona rodando um banco de dados IBM Informix. A partir deste passo ficaria extremamente fácil para qualquer pessoa com conhecimento intermediário de SQL Injection invadir o Operador Nacional do Sistema Elétrico.

É interessante ressaltar que não tenho qualquer ligação com o ocorrido no dia 11 de novembro de 2009, e que irei parar a divulgação neste ponto para não comprometer mais ainda o funcionamento do sistema (odeio escuro). Não estou afirmando que o ocorrido foi causado por um ataque hacker, porém se tivesse sido, é importante deixar bem visível que o mesmo aconteceria sem qualquer dificuldade.

Espero que este post abra os olhos do governo, para que não possamos sofrer danos maiores em situações mais críticas.

São Paulo, twitpic by @douglasmiguel

Of course, a power outage of this dimension has fueled the Brazilian sense of humour too. Fabiano fayerwayer has collected the many jokes that did the rounds on Twitter, which kept many people entertained and informed during the blackout as a “great informal coverage of what is happening in many different parts of the country”:

Os engraçadinhos de plantão voaram em cima, e as piadinhas sobre Itaipu não param de aparecer. Tanto que resolvemos fazer uma pausa na nossa programação para trazer para vocês os 5 melhores tweets do apagão até agora! Confiram:

1. Alguem brincou lá em Itaipu e disse: “o último que sair apaga a luz”. O estagiário acreditou…
2. Estão dizendo que o Google comprouItaipu. Agora energia elétrica, só com convite…
3. Apagão: Muito mais econômico que horário de verão!
4. A Madona nem liga pro apagão! Elá tá com Jesus Luz!
5. Segundo meus cálculos, as maternidades vão estar lotadas em Agosto de 2010!!

Blackout t-shirts in two versions: "Blackout! I was there/Blackout! I Twittered!" From Objetos de Desejo blog.

Barechestedness and public drinking are not things you'll see at the friendly in Doha this weekend (Photo by Charles Fred).

The game has drummed up a great deal of excitement and apprehension here, as residents wonder how conservative Qatar will handle the inevitable influx of rowdy football fans this weekend.

On the forum Qatar Living, family man HDY solicits advice on whether to buy tickets to the match:

Do you think that such matches are suitable for families? Shall I expect harassments? Overall, it is a matter of culture, and I hope that I will not regret this experience.

Secret1 tried to reassure him, but caused a stir with his comments:

I really think theres no problem here for families…. Its Qatar man not Europe…. Even though its gonna b a lot of Brits, here theyll have to behave….

Though the exact number of people flying in for the match is unknown, the England Supporters Club reported that 10,000 tickets were sold to British football fans within 48 hours of the box office opening.

Khalifa International Stadium, the main venue for the Doha 2006 Asian Games and where Saturday's match will be held, holds 50,000 people.

Qatar Visitor comments:

Qatar, though far more liberal and tolerant that neighbouring Saudi, practises the strictest form of Islam, Wahabbism. Many women still cover their faces from public view with black veils or masks, while Muslims who get drunk can be lashed and deported. Meanwhile, “bad smelling” and “badly dressed” Asian labourers are barred from places where they could spoil the view of families relaxing on the weekend. England football fans, on the other hand, are famous in Qatar for their drinking and fighting.

The match, added QV, will be a test for Qatar, which is bidding for the World Cup in 2022.

The Qatari police have little patience for yobbish behaviour in this well ordered country. But Qatar will also have a lot riding on this match. The country also has its eyes on a future world cup, and there is little doubt that relevant bodies will have their eyes on Qatar when it holds this friendly. How it handles belligerent fans could well have an effect on its success at holding larger sporting events in the future.

Some residents drew on past experiences to reassure others that the football match will be a family-friendly event.

On Qatar Living, commenter Muhammadshaikh said:

I have seen many Football matches in Qatar. I am 99.99% sure that there will be no problem. I have gone with my friends and my own kids. For me Qatar is among the few safest place on earth with/without family…Here there are more moral, social, ethical, and cultural values then anywhere in the world.

Indeed, such values are why British football fans should take care not to offend, warns one organization.

The Footballer Supporters' Federation said:

The consequences of falling foul of the authorities in Qatar can be pretty drastic.

It added that public drunkenness, going bare-chested, rude gestures and overt PDAs could also lead to court
in the Gulf state.

In a separate thread on Qatar Living, forum members debated the best way to handle any potential bad behavior.

ES said:

It's going to be really interesting to see how the hooligan brits are going to be dealt with. As has been said, treat them too harshly and bye bye world cup, or else treat them with kid gloves and piss off the entire muslim community. Watch this space.

Jervis was more optimistic after being impressed by Qatar's hands-off approach to the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF).

The DTFF surprised me. I expected a lot more censors. If they could relax the rules for the Film Festival, surely they would be more considerate towards a sport that the locals enjoy and follow. Given that they are bidding for the 2022, this would be a prelude. The press relase may be just a show to deter things getting out of hand.

idealman summed it up:

Undoubtedly most of the England fans coming over will respect Qatars laws, if they dont, then they will obviously pay the price. Thankfully most of todays England supporters are undoubtedly the best fans in the world, and not one country has a larger away following. But there are still some young muppets about that dont know respect. lets hope these plastic hard boys stay at home. I have no time for pissed up wannabes who can only fight in packs and terrorise the innocent. it will also be nice to watch the lads put a few past Brazil.

On another note, many Qatar bloggers expressed disappointment that English footballer David Beckham won't be playing in Saturday's match as his American Major League Soccer team Los Angeles Galaxy progresses to the MLS Western Conference final on Friday.

On Twitter, v3nomous, who flew to Doha for the match, said:

Damn.. Beckham is not playing this Saturday.. :( bummer..

IvanGiesbrecht was more concerned about Mrs. Beckham:

What about Posh? Any chance she'll still be able to make it?

And Sybil at Sybil & Kristi's Qatari Adventures said:

Not to worry, I plan on it being a lot of fun, nonetheless. It will be my first big league soccer game to attend and his absence will not deter me.

Photo by Macnolete and used under a Creative Commons license.

Although the influence of climate change on desertification has not been fully understood yet, according to GreenFacts, it is known that higher temperatures resulting from increased carbon dioxide levels can have a negative impact through increased loss of water from soil and reduced rainfall in drylands. At the same time desertification contributes to climate change by releasing to the atmosphere carbon stored in dryland vegetation and soils.

Desertification is taking its toll worldwide. At this moment it’s destroying harvests, driving up the price of remaining food, and in some areas, animals are dying. People are also being driven away from their homes, as blogger Miguel Angel Alvarado from El Salvador explains about the president’s home needing to be moved because of desertification [es]:

El traslado de casa presidencial, del Barrio san Jacinto al local en donde estaba el Ministerio de Relaciones exteriores, según informes extrajudiciales, obedece a la prevención del ejecutivo ante un posible hundimiento del suelo generado por cárcavas en este sector.

The most affected continent is Africa, and this can be seen especially in Kenya, where one of the most susceptible sectors to the effects of desertification and drought are young girls. When the water storage tanks have been used up at Dago Dala Hera orphanage in western Kenya, volunteer mothers and children have to draw unclean water from a nearby river for cooking and drinking. “Going to the river alone late in the evening is making girls more vulnerable to men who can sexually abuse them,” said Edwin Odoyo, whose mother Pamela founded the orphanage.

Even though desertification has its greatest impact in Africa, Latin America’s environmental conditions are also undergoing significant transformations, as discussed recently in the Ninth session of the Conference to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Italian expert Massimo Candelori, representative of the Convention to Combat Desertification, said in an interview with Tierramerica that the situation in Latin America is worrisome considering that there is not enough information about desertification’s scope in the region. “We have no current data. One of the goals discussed during the ninth session was to get indicators that allow us to better understand the situation….the last data we have is from ten years ago” said Candelori.

In Latin American countries where farming and cattle are one of the main sectors of the economy, desertification can be a silent, but dreadful predator. At least 25 percent of the regional territory is already degraded and the population is increasingly becoming concerned about this, as it is reflected in various blogs.

Eco Briefings [pt], a Brazilian blog, points out that Brazilians in the Northeastern region are witnessing an alarming expansion of desertification[pt]:

Mais um alerta está ligado. Temos pouco tempo para corrigir as coisas. (…)

No Brasil a desertificação tem avançado na caatinga, e zonas do polígono da seca no Nordeste e Norte de Minas Gerais, e também em Estados que antes não tinham áreas secas ou desertificadas como o Rio Grande do Sul. O Rio Amazonas viveu já uma grande seca a pouco tempo, grande com mortandade de peixes.

Argentina has several areas affected as well. In the region of Valles Aridos, in the Northeast, where the main economic activity is sheep raising, it is stipulated that during the last 100 years at least 180 thousand people had to emigrate [es] (.pdf format). Southern Argentina has not escaped desertification either. Blogger Ailen Romero, comments on the blog Geoperspectivas [es] that in the Patagonia region, the government actions to combat desertification are not enough:

En la Patagonia, la amplitud del problema es de tal magnitud que ha comenzado a adquirir estado público. Pocos ignoran el tema, pero pocos tienen la posibilidad de actuar de alguna forma o con el conocimiento para hacerlo. El problema de la desertificación en el caso de la Patagonia supera a los planes que se han elaborado para combatirlo. Es por eso que no deben ahorrarse esfuerzos, ni limitar la imaginación de soluciones alternativas.”Si la geografía es la manifestación de la sociedad en el espacio físico, un espacio físico deteriorado refleja una sociedad deteriorada” afirman del Valle y Coronato(investigadores del Centro Nacional Patagónico)

In Chile, where 62% of the national territory is already affected by desertification [es], blogger Alfredo Erlwein expressed concern on the blog El Ciudadano [es] (The Citizen) on how little knowledge citizens have about desertification.

Efectivamente la desertificación es el problema ambiental más grave de Chile y muy poco conocido. Existen grandes zonas, como en la costa de la octava región, donde la erosión severa supera el 50% de la superficie: esto es que literalmente más de la mitad de los suelos se ha perdido por completo. En esas zonas se encuentran cárcavas de más de 50 metros de profundidad. Una tasa normal de formación de suelo puede ser de 0.2 cm por año, lo que evidencia la gravedad del asunto.

According to Italian expert Candelori, using soil in the carbon market will help fighting desertification; this can be decided during the Copenhagen conference. The countdown to Copenhagen has begun and the world awaits it.

The moment the helicopter exploded. Photo by Taiane Oliveira On Twitpic.

The Censurado [pt] blog criticizes the governors' attitude toward this crisis, after hearing news suggesting that the police didn't know anything about the invasion:

Vocês viram as cenas na televisão este fim de semana? Helicóptero caindo, policial morrendo queimado, inocente metralhado nas ruas e traficante invadindo a favela do outro em plena luz do dia, uma verdadeira cena de filme de guerra. Dizem no Rio que até o serviço secreto israelense sabia que um morro atacaria o outro, mas mesmo assim o governador Sérgio Cabral diz que a policia carioca não sabia de nada? Acho que ele anda passando muito tempo com o Lula. Só isso explica essa ‘ignorância' sobre o tema.

Blogger Ana Maria [pt] points out that shooting a helicopter down is not an easy task highlighting that this might be just the beginning. She says [pt]:

Mas os senhores do tráfico, donos dos morros cariocas possuem não apenas as armas capazes disso, possuem indivíduos capazes de manuseá-las e causar um desastre como o do sábado.
Isso vai ficar marcado para sempre na memória da PM e do cidadão de bem, morador do estado do Rio de Janeiro.
Se eles podem fazer isso com um helicóptero da polícia tripulado por homens treinados, que dão a vida pela segurança pública, o que podem fazer com o cidadão comum?
Não vou “tapar o sol com peneira”.
As coisas podem piorar.

Dwellers' accounts of the drug war

A woman carrying a child walks unconcerned past police officers patrolling Morro dos Macacos.

The citizen media project Viva Favela [pt] gives some dwellers' eyewitness accounts of this conflict. Their citizen journalists – all of whom live at the frontier of the cross fire – have gathered comments from residents of the slums and photos of the day on which the drug war began in Rio de Janeiro.

The first person heard by Viva Favela was Hugo Mattos, who lives on the street that gives access to the slum in which all the events took place (Morro dos Macacos). He said that the dealers used high-caliber weapons and added that there is a kind of collective fear that if the police retake territory occupied by the traffickers, there will be a violent reaction from the faction that controls Morro dos Macacos:

O tiroteio começou por volta das duas da manhã e só terminou às oito horas, quando a policia chegou. Muita gente teve que dormir fora de casa nesse dia.

As pessoas dizem que ninguém deve sair de casa depois das 10 horas, porque algo pode acontecer.

According to Viva Favela, information like this comes all the time from the neighborhood dwellers, unable to react. On the evening of Tuesday October 20th, residents of Morro São João took to the streets afraid of a possible retaliation invasion, a fear which was classified as unfounded by the General-Chief of the police corporation, Colonel Mário Sérgio Duarte. Nevertheless, fear had already struck the population. Another resident of Morro dos Macacos, Karen Carolina Nascimento says that the shooting between dealers and the police has actually been happening for two months. She fears a new conflict:

Já era praticamente uma rotina, mas no último sábado foi diferente. O confronto aconteceu por causa de uma tentativa de invasão e não foi a primeira vez que os traficantes do Morro São João tentam. O comentário que se escuta no morro é que a facção rival deu uma ordem para tomar o Morro dos Macacos até dezembro e que esses bandidos tiveram ajuda de policiais para tentar invadir.

O policiamento não está reforçado e os moradores estão muito apreensivos com medo de uma outra invasão. Eu trabalho no pé do Morro São João e vou para a minha casa andando. Ontem só havia um único carro com dois policiais dentro parado em uma esquina. Em cima do morro não existe policiamento nenhum. Uma vez ou outra um carro blindado sobe e faz uma ronda. Estamos com muito medo porque com certeza a facção rival vai tentar tomar novamente.

Viva Favela [pt] also offers the opinion of Wagner da Silva de Barros, a 29-year-old resident of Vila Pinheiro from Complexo da Maré, saying that the repercussions of the conflict in Morro dos Macacos have only reached this far because of the downed helicopter and adds that this war will spread to many other communities:

A queda do helicóptero e a morte dos três policiais chocou parte da população, mas na Maré, durante cinco meses, nós vivemos um confronto entre facções que matou muita gente, inclusive moradores que nada tinham a ver com o tráfico, e não teve nem metade da divulgação que esse tiroteio dos Macacos está tendo.

Esses tiroteios reforçam de que na favela só existe bandido e violência, mas o que muitas pessoas ignoram é que trabalhadores morrem durante os conflitos e são logo identificados como traficantes pela polícia.

According to Viva Favela [pt] , in the case of Morro dos Macacos, three innocent shot down young men were included on the list of deceased bandits. The secretary of Security José Mariano Beltrame stepped back and apologized to the families of Marcelo Costa Gomes, 26, Leonardo Fernandes Paulino, 27, and Francisco Haílton Vieira Silva, 24. The men were going back home from a party at the time of the invasion. A fourth man, waiter Francisco Alaílton Vieira da Silva, 22, was saved by residents but is now hospitalized in intensive care. His girlfriend is 3-months pregnant.

Walter Mesquista from Viva Favela also provides photos of the conflict taken by the photographer Guillermo Planel during the day to which people are referring as “Drugs War”.

There are around 6,000 homicides a year in the whole state of Rio, which has a population of 14 million. A police ‘pacification’ operation with permanent patrols has been underway for a year in five slums. With their increased presence in the slums, the police force gangs to fight over other areas.

Viva Favela is a citizen media project that works with special bloggers and photographers who live in the shantytowns of Rio de Janeiro. The project is under the guidance of Content Editor Rodrigo Nogueira. You may find more information on their official Twitter account [pt] and in their Orkut community [pt].

In a previous post we announced the UN Citizen Ambassador contest where video bloggers had to record what they would say to World Leaders if they had the chance, to effectively win the opportunity to speak directly with Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon at the UN Day on October 23rd. The winners were chosen and notified through YouTube as well, and here is the video announcement by the United Nations Channel:

Emily Troutman from the USA, who we recently wrote about in relation to her Congo Matters video, was one of the winners. In her UN video response, she spoke about how World Leaders should remember that they are responsible for more than 6 billion of other human beings, one person at a time:

Jeremy Walker of Canada was another winner, who asked the UN to prove that it still can help solve worldwide problems, to return hope to those who still want to believe that there can be change:

Breno Coelho from Brazil uploaded a video answering what is needed to be done to make this world a better and safer place, where it is answered by many different people, all offering their solutions: more love, less greed, less hate:

Maricarmen Ortega of Mexico also included the voices of many in her video, this time in several different languages:

Kirsty Matthews of Canada had a short message, straight to the point: what is needed is equality, sustainability and justice for all:

United Nations TV uploaded a video showing the 5 Citizen Embassadors in NYC at the UN Day:

Congratulations to all!

Do all pregnant women deserve equal human rights, or do pregnant women in prison forfeit those rights?

There are a few questions that come to mind regarding a pregnant woman's right to live and to raise her child when she has been convicted for some sort of crime:

• What is it like for them to be pregnant and have their child behind bars?
• Should they be a priority when there are other women outside of correctional facilities without medical assistance?
• Should maternity overrule any other legal conditions to ensure a pregnant woman's human rights?

USA: women in labor no longer to be shackled.

Could you imagine a woman giving childbirth with her hands in handcuffs and her feet shackled to the bedposts? Malika Saada Saar, founder and executive director of the Rebecca Project for Human Rights, tells us about this practice which still happens in the United States of America, where pregnant women serving time have been routinely shackled during labor and childbirth as a common practice in some correctional facilities, even though it is dangerous for the health of both mother and child. Following is a video interview included in the same article written for RH Reality Check, an online community on sexual and reproductive health and rights which does information and analysis for reproductive health:

What happens to an inmate's baby after childbirth?

Different countries have different regulations regarding children in prisons. For example, in Argentina, according to Ajintem, an information portal for migration information, a law was passed last year specifying that pregnant women, women with children younger than 5 and those with handicapped children would benefit from spending their prison term at home under house arrest. This law would benefit not only the mother, who in prison wouldn't receive suitable health care during her pregnancy, but also the child, who would either be raised in an unsafe environment deprived of freedom with deficient health controls and food, or be raised away from the mother, causing another series of problems. However, the message is for magistrates to follow the spirit of the law and grant this permission to those women not involved in violent crimes, to ensure that the rest of the civilian population doesn't see pregnancy as a get out of jail free card.

In the Canary Islands, according to the Prisiones y Penas blog, which writes about the issues surrounding jails and prisons, women are allowed to keep their children of up to 3 years of age with them in their cells, but in the company of other inmates, which isn't the best environment. Thus, pregnant women or women with children under 3 are told upon entry to the prison that it isn't good for the child to grow up behind bars, and options are given for them to send the child off to family members. This is also the case in Peru and Russia. In the US, there are only two correctional facilities which allow for this, in New York and in Nebraska, as told by renowned photographer Jane Evelyn Atwood in her 3 part photo documentary for Amnesty International, called Too Much Time, where she visited dozens of prisons all over the world to record and document the lives of inmates.

Why does the US correctional system not generally allow women with babies to keep them? Atwood explains that due to the hostage situation, it is not allowed. In the Prison Photography Blog they address this claim:

Children are excluded from all but a couple of US prisons. The security threat is cited as the reason: a child inside a prison is a constant vulnerable life and constant hostage target. The claim seems a little bogus when penal systems of other countries are brought into consideration.

The Atwood documentary in the Amnesty International site features both a section on the process of giving birth in shackless as told in Vanessa's Baby and another on prison systems and motherhood, with fotographs of the women while the photographer reads an essay on her experiences visiting the prisons and taking the pictures.

Pregnancy as a bargaining tool?

Why are rights for pregnant women in prison so controversial? In Russia Today, a Russian broadcasting channel, the subject is mentioned when discussing children born and raised in the Russian correctional system:

Skeptics think some mothers deliberately get pregnant simply to ease life in prison. Hospital leave, then lots of scheduled time with your child – it is all better than sitting in a stone cell, they claim.

And there are women for whom it seems that pregnancy is the only way to escape a sentence, as was the case back in June, when a British woman incarcerated and sentenced to death in Laos due to drug smuggling got pregnant in prison and escaped being executed, since the Laos government would not execute a pregnant woman. The claims made according to the Daily Express, a British newspaper, are that she got artificially inseminated “to secure a more lenient term”.

In their words: Women tell of their children and prison life

Geraldin Rodríguez, an Argentinean spending time in an Ecuadorian jail due to drug trafficking tells Marcos Brugiati, a writer who contributes with the art related online publication Plastica-Argentina, the story about acting and performing in jail, getting pregnant in prison and having her child. She was allowed to keep her baby with her, but decided that the child needed to grow up free:

“Decidí que salga para vivir, tenía miedo que sufra de grande los traumas que hoy tengo. Se lo llevó al año mi hermano quien se hice cargo con su esposa”.

Juvinete is in a Spanish prison, and was pregnant when she was incarcerated for drug trafficking. She tells her story to regional Spanish newspaper NorteCastilla. Three years after giving birth to her baby in prison, her child had to leave her side, and was sent to a foster family. Juvinete sees her daughter every 15 days and every two months she gets a 2 week leave to spend time with her. However, things don't seem to be looking up: there is a chance Juvinete will be deported to her natal Brazil, and she fears for the consequences this change would have on her child. She does have advice for any woman who decide to get pregnant while in jail:

-Intento convencerlas para que no se queden en estado dentro porque ver a un niño privado de libertad es muy duro, es irresponsable. Ellos no tienen que pagar nuestros errores.

In Woman and Prison, a website dedicated to visibilizing women's experiences in the correctional system, inmate Kebby Warner speaks of her own pregnancy while doing time in a US prison, and how she was treated during her pregnancy, labor and afterwards, when her child was taken away from her. Here is an excerpt where she writes about the birthing process:

During the labor, no one is allowed in the delivery room. My family didn't even know I was in labor or had her until after I left the hospital. During the three days some of the guards stayed in the room, but most of the time, when the nurses asked them to sit outside the door, they complied. I have heard horror stories of women being chained to the delivery bed. I am so grateful as to have not experienced this. Most of the nurses treated me as a human instead of a prisoner.

You can read more testimonies about growing up with a parent in prison and the different effects incarcerating women may have on their children in Women and Prison.

So what do you think? With pregnant women around the world not receiving health care of any sort, should additional efforts be made to benefit women who are in prison? Is there a difference between mothers serving terms in correctional facilities and those outside? Should they be treated differently?

Image used to illustrate post is “17 de noviembre” by daquella manera.

These examples are fortifying themselves through city- and state-level meetings with civil society organisations and academics in preparation for Brazil’s first National Conference of Communication in December. Entitled ‘Communications: a Means for Building Rights and Citizenship in the Digital Era’, it signals a very first step in democratising Brazil’s communications system.

But in spite of alternative sectors showing democratic trends, Brazilian media are famously epitomised by high concentration within the hands of under ten families. Unsurprisingly, then, the players in the fight for media democratisation have numerous proposals, including strengthening Brazil’s public service broadcasting, fine-tuning the elusive regulatory framework, expanding former Minister of Culture Gilberto Gil’s programme of digital inclusion and investing more in alternative and community sectors.

The blogosphere remains divided into which proposal is the most important. Several feminist blogs, for instance, remind us that regulation, monitoring and reviewing the press law are all fundamental. These may also fall under the umbrella of social control, which, for blogger Alessandra Terribili,

É garantir que eles não podem dizer o que querem, reforçar esteriótipos, legitimar preconceitos, seduzir pelo consumo, informar pela metade, esconder uma parte… não podem fazer isso impunemente.

But for cyber-activist site Trezentos [pt], digital inclusion remains paramount. Their proposals go beyond expanding broadband and connectivity infrastructure across Brazil to also stressing the digital rights of citizens:

“Todos os brasileiros têm o direito ao acesso à Internet sem distinção de renda, classe, credo, raça, cor, opção sexual, sem discriminação física ou cultural […] Todo cidadão tem direito de acessar informações públicas em sites da Internet sem discriminação de sistema operacional, navegador ou plataforma computacional utilizada. Toda pessoa tem o direito a escrever em blogs e participar de redes sociais com seu nome, com codinome ou anonimamente.”

How far these proposals will come into effect, given 2010’s presidential election, is debatable. Further, communication is not widely recognised a human right, and alternative vehicles are seldom collectively mobilised. Brazil’s gradual digital inclusion of 34% of the country having Internet access, with only 5% benefiting from broadband, also stands in stark contrast to the 98% of the population watching television. However counter-hegemonic the fight to democratise communication is, it is ultimately overshadowed by the monopolistic mainstream.

Whilst the conference may see more public involvement in policy-making and a more joint, active role played by alternative media players and civil society actors, both Brazilian media and democracy are fragile and ongoing. But it is of the essence that they strengthen together: for blogger Pablo Pedroso [pt]

“Parte do esforço para a profunda transformação socioeconômica do Brasil, passa pela democratização dos meios de comunicação.”

Therefore, the Conference is just the first step in the long ‘ant-work' Brazil faces in its democratic development. We will simply have to wait and see how much converging technologies result in converging interests.

On the other hand, there are arguments against the event being hosted in Rio, side by side with the very old discussion about whether sport events are good or not for society. Many bloggers have pointed out Brazilian social problems, such as violence, social inequality and corruption, as obstacles to the success of the games. Regardless of the dimension of the task, the Brazilian reaction is very peculiar, always with a wry touch of humor.

See, it hasn't even started yet and I got three golds in triple assault. Frank/Published with permission

The Pombo sem Asa [pt] blog shows this particular atmosphere, making a list of some cartoons vividly depicting how Brazilians reacted to the victory:

A poeira da festa carioca em Copenhague ainda nem tinha baixado quando a internet foi invadida: aros olímpicos em forma de algemas, Cristo Redentor de mãos ao alto, Mussum tripudiando em cima de Obama, na esteira da vitória do Rio, que vai sediar os Jogos de 2016, euforia e ironia crescem na mesma velocidade.

Na maioria dos casos, as piadas usam do bom humor para criticar as mazelas sociais da capital carioca. Mas sobrou espaço também para tirar onda com o maior rival da campanha, a Chicago de Barack Obama.

Na hora de escolher o mascote para os Jogos de 2016, a criatividade atirou para todos os lados. Blanka, personagem brasileiro do jogo Street Fighter, virou figurinha fácil na internet acompanhando o logo da candidatura. Mas o humor ácido também apareceu: uma sorridente bala de revólver com os dizeres “perdida por você” logo apareceu como candidata a mascote.

Captured from blog Pombo sem Asa

On the top, the stray bullet cartoon with the phrase "missing you". On the left hand side, the late and beloved Brazilian comedian Mussum mocks Obama's slogan, and on the right hand side the International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge with the same phrase "Yes, we créu!" that has been doing the rounds on the Internet and has even gained an entry on Wikipedia. Below, the character Blanka also as as mascot. Captured from blog Pombo sem Asa

Art by @eviljovemnerd

Check the meaning of “Yes We Créu” in a previous Global Voices post.

Despite being worried about all of that, Josselene Marques [pt] hopes that the country and the city manage to organize a great games in 2016 and that Rio overcomes most of its problem in the forthcoming years.

Particularmente, vejo como principais pontos positivos, desta conquista, a geração de novos postos de trabalho, melhorias na parte urbana da Cidade Maravilhosa, aumento do interesse pelo esporte e mais investimentos na segurança. Será muito bom também para os nossos países-irmãos, pois a atenção do mundo estará voltada para a América do Sul.

No entanto, surge uma preocupação: grande parte dos meus compatriotas, indubitavelmente, se distrairá com o megaevento. Sem querer estereotipar e já estereotipando, o brasileiro se envolve de maneira apaixonada em tudo quanto faz. Uma vez entretidos, por todo esse período, muitos se esquecerão de refletir, questionar e continuar reivindicando melhores condições de vida. Cientes disto, precisamos ficar atentos a fim de evitarmos que o emprego de recursos financeiros em setores essenciais seja relegado em virtude das reformas que deverão ser feitas na cidade.
Pergunto: como estará o nosso país daqui a sete anos? Infelizmente, não posso responder a esta indagação. Espero e desejo que esteja bem melhor que hoje. (…)
Uma coisa é certa: no que depender dos brasileiros, atletas, oficiais, jornalistas e espectadores serão recebidos de braços abertos não só pelo nosso povo hospitaleiro, mas também pelo próprio Cristo.
Sejam todos bem-vindos ao Brasil!

Lessons from Rio 2007

To curb corruption and public administration mismanagement in the run up to Rio 2016, sectors from the government and civil society have already created online forums for the population to follow closely the public spending on the games. Among them, there is the Twitter account @FiscalizaRJ2016 (Rio de Janeiro 2016 Supervision, in English), which has been updating about the games project. There is also the website Transparência Olímpica [pt] (Olympic Transparency, in English) created by the Olympic Committee in charge of organizing the 2016 Olympics.

Nevertheless, the main worries making some specialists pay double the attention to the way that Rio 2016 is going to be organized are the memories of the Pan-American Games which took place in Rio in 2007. To begin with, the initial budget for Rio 2007 of almost R$ 600 million (approximately $ 350 million) ended up as bill of R$ 4 billion (approximately $ 2.4 billion) in the pockets of taxpayers. José Roberto Paraíso [pt] explains to Hugo, a reader of his blog, that despite the risks of mismanagement, the Games is worthwhile and that the problem is not the sporting event itself, but the way that the government and citizens behave:

O número representa, mais ou menos, 800 % a mais do previsto. Quer dizer, houve um erro muito grosseiro no calculo, o que deixa – e com muita razão – brasileiros, como o Hugo, desconfiados, desanimados e indignados.

Desconfiados por achar que os bilhões a mais não foram para a realização do evento e sim para o bolso de alguns ratos. Desanimado ao imaginar que a roubalheira pode acontecer em dose pior nas Olimpíadas de 2016. E indignados por não ver ninguém atrás das grades.

Como se pode ver, meu caro Hugo, o Pan 2007 não é exemplo para ser seguido nas Olimpíadas no que diz respeito a transparência, e no gasto, do dinheiro público.

Agora, o superfaturamento do Pan, contudo, não pode ser motivo para ser contra as Olimpíadas. Se a ganância de alguns não atrapalhar, a competição pode trazer muitos benefícios para o país, como empregos, turistas e respeito internacional.

Os brasileiros, portanto, devem ser contra a corrupção. Cobrar punição dos ladrões do colarinho branco e, em 2010, não eleger os sugadores do dinheiro público.

Benhur-Rava [pt] agrees with this point of view, adding that the best way to avoid corruption is applying precaution and supervision:

Por isso a lembrança da precaução, já que estarão em jogo – juro que não é ironia – quantias consideráveis de recursos públicos e a incerteza sobre a sua correta aplicação pelos órgãos públicos. Corre-se o risco da malversação e desvio se não houver controles rígidos para evitar o desperdício, a fraude e a corrupção. Invariavelmente, o valor orçado de obras e compras termina custando o dobro ou o triplo. Quem conhece a Administração Pública sabe que isso não é fato isolado; é triste regra que afronta os princípios constitucionais da legalidade, da moralidade, da publicidade, da impessoalidade e da eficiência.

Uma força-tarefa com Ministério Público, Tribunais de Contas e Poder Legislativo pode detectar eventuais problemas, acompanhando e controlando investimentos e gastos. Precaução e fiscalização. O antes e o depois. Sete anos é tempo razoável para antecipar e precaver problemas. A lição de gastos superfaturados no Pan 2007 e o planejamento da Copa das Confederações, em 2013 e a Copa da Fifa, em 2014, ajudarão.
Agradece o esporte, fortalece-se a cidadania.

The other worry it is about the destiny of the sporting facilities that, to start with, the public should have free access to, once the games have finished. The Pediatrist Daniel Becker, in an interview to Terra Magazine [pt], explained this. He said that most of the facilities built and refurbished for the Pan 2007 have been sold to the private sectors or shut. One of the arenas was acquired by HSBC bank and turned out to be now a stage for concerts and the Maria Lenke Aquatic Park, where the  swimming, diving and other competitions took place during the Games in 2007, has been shut down. For him, the Olympic Games hosted in Barcelona in 1992 should be an example followed by Rio 2016.

As the History teacher Guilherme Scalzilli concludes on his blog, exaggerated patriotism on one side and political pessimism on the other are not the best ways to behave before the Brazilian Olympic reality:

Os debates sobre a escolha do Rio de Janeiro para sediar as Olimpíadas de 2016 começaram empobrecidos por radicalismos apaixonados. Entre a cegueira patriótica e o rancor político-partidário, há pouco espaço ao meio-termo responsável.
Podemos dividir as objeções equivocadas em três enunciados simplificadores, que assumem formatos variáveis segundo as circunstâncias, inclusive nas discussões sobre a próxima Copa do Mundo: a) os brasileiros são indignos do privilégio; b) o país não está preparado para tanto; c) possuímos outras prioridades ou urgências. […]

O terceiro preceito utiliza retórica bem-intencionada, mas ignora os ganhos potenciais para a saúde, a educação e a cidadania proporcionados pelo esporte. Mesmo que discutamos investimento público (o privado virá apenas por causa dos Jogos), como distinguir os gastos obrigatórios dos supérfluos? Alguém pode propor a suspensão dos campeonatos de futebol para bancar a alfabetização, ou que hospitais sejam construídos com as fortunas “torradas” em exposições e festivais de cinema, teatro e dança.(…)

Acima de tudo, evitemos os perigos da condescendência. Para empreendimento dessa importância é fundamental promover um amplo choque de civilidade, a começar pelo cidadão comum. Por exemplo, os imbecis que vaiaram Lula na abertura do Pan-americano (e depois cinicamente comemoraram sua vitória olímpica) retornarão às arquibancadas. E os motoristas cariocas precisam entender que europeus acreditam em faixas de pedestres. Porém, enquanto os governantes se contentarem com favelas muradas, ônibus disfarçados de “metrô de superfície”, lagoas e praias infectas e banditismo policial, o padrão de qualidade continuará baseado no improviso, no paliativo, na malandragem “ishpérrta”.