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Featured stories about Brazil

Brazil: ‘Hands That Cure, Words That Heal'

Brazil Approves Racial Quotas in Higher Education

The Supreme Court of Brazil has unanimously approved the adoption of racial quota policies in higher education institutions across the country. The approval of the policy brings up again the controversial debate on racial discrimination and racial inequality in the country.

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Brazil: Homage to the Victims of the Amazon in Washington, D.C.

President Dilma Rousseff's official visit to Washington, D.C. attracted around 100 people to the Brazilian embassy in an act of solidarity with the Amazonian victims. Learn a little more about the Brazilians who were killed and are being persecuted for protecting the rainforest.

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Brazil: Human Rights Violation in Several Prisons 11 April 2012
Brazil: Contemporary Slavery and Proposals to Fight the Practice 9 April 2012
Brazil: “Kilombos”, Stories of Slaves Bridging Three Continents 31 March 2012
Brazil: Can the Agrarian Economy Develop Without Rural Bloodshed? 7 March 2012
Global Voices Podcast: Remembering Our School Days 1 March 2012

Latest stories about Brazil

21 May 2012

Brazil: Famous Singer Pays Homage to her Iconic Mother

Written by Yohana de Andrade · Translated by Yohana de Andrade · Arts & Culture, Music

The singer Maria Rita toured Brazil with a series of free concerts in homage to her late mother Elis Regina, one of the most iconic performers of Brazilian music. The subject became a worldwide trending topic on Twitter, as fans of both singers flooded social media with their impressions of the shows.

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10 May 2012

Bolivia: Development at What Cost? New Conflict Over TIPNIS Road

Written by Pablo Andres Rivero · Development, Environment

A proposed road project in Bolivia that plans to cross right through the middle of the Indigenous Territory and National Park Isiboro Sécure (TIPNIS for its initials in Spanish) is once again generating conflict. Indigenous organisations insist on their right to be consulted about policies concerning their territories.

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7 May 2012

Brazil: Blog Countersues Newspaper Over Web Domain

Written by Raphael Tsavkko Garcia · Translated by Sara Moreira · Freedom of Speech, Law

Another chapter in the legal dispute between the Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo and the satirical blog Falha of São Paulo is being written. However, this time, Falha is the one who decided to file a lawsuit against the newspaper.

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26 April 2012

Brazil: Activists Protest in Memory of Military Dictatorship

Written by Raphael Tsavkko Garcia · Translated by Melissa Mann · Governance, History

A number of cities throughout Brazil held both real and virtual events to remember Brazil's Military Dictatorship (1964-1985). Activists held protests to push for punishing the Dictatorship's criminals and to fully open the still classified files.

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25 April 2012

Accused of Molesting Children, Iranian Diplomat Leaves Brazil

Written by Fred Petrossian · Governance, Youth

An Iranian diplomat based in the capital of Brazil, Brasilia, was accused of molesting underage girls at a swimming pool on April 14, 2012. While Iran's embassy denied the allegations, and said they were the result of a "cultural misunderstanding", netizens both from Iran and Brazil didn't take long to react.

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24 April 2012

Brazil: Journalist and Blogger Executed in São Luís, Maranhão

Written by Raphael Tsavkko Garcia · Breaking News, Freedom of Speech

On the night of April 23, Brazilian journalist and blogger Décio Sá was shot dead in a bar in the most crowded avenue of the city of São Luis, in the northeastern state of Maranhão. He had ties with political figures of Maranhão and his blog was the most accessed in the state.

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18 April 2012

Brazil: Aquarium Project Sparks Transparency Debate

Written by Débora Medeiros · Translated by João Miguel D. de A. Lima · Ideas, Development

In Fortaleza, the fifth largest city in Brazil, the recent start of construction on an aquarium has prompted discussions over public resources, state government priorities and the city's future, as well as some creative forms of protest.

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12 April 2012

Spain: Christ Dances to Brazilian Pop Hit in Religious Procession

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · Arts & Culture, Film

During the religious procession marking the end of the Christian Easter week in Alhama de Murcia, Spain, the image of the Resurrected Christ was struck by the Telomania, when the brotherhood carrying the image decided to play and dance to Michel Teló's international hit "Ai Se Eu Te Pego".

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7 April 2012

Brazilian Music Loses Influential Scholar, Santuza Cambraia Naves

Written by Janet Gunter · Arts & Culture, Music

In a country where popular music is so much a part of daily life and of being Brazilian, the study of contemporary musical movements has gained important ground over recent decades. One of the silently influential and productive figures in this area, Santuza Cambraia Naves, died unexpectedly this week at age 59. Friends, colleagues and students remembered the researcher and beloved professor.

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5 April 2012

Video: Firefox Flicks Video Contest

Written by Juliana Rincón Parra · Ideas, Arts & Culture

The Firefox Flicks worldwide contest will give awards for short films teaching web browser consumers about online issues such as privacy, choice, interoperability and opportunity, and how the non-profit Firefox brand helps people to face these issues.

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Updates about Brazil

21 May 2012

Portuguese

Brazilian blogger Francielle Costa reviews [pt] Achados e Perdidos (Lost and Found), a comic book in which each chapter counts on an original soundtrack produced especially for the story. The project was crowdfunded. Chapter 1, and its soundtrack, is available here [pt].

• Luis Henrique

14 May 2012

Portuguese

A Laje newspaper features complaints and stories of “street dwellers demanding respect” in the city of Curitiba, Brazil. Produced by the National Movement of Street Dwellers (MNPR) in partnership with students of the group Communication and Education for People at the Federal University of Paraná, the newspaper intends to reach readers also on the blogosphere [pt] and on Facebook [pt].

• João Miguel D. de A. Lima

11 May 2012

Portuguese

“Ocupação Eliana Silva” [pt], a camping site of around 300 families in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, which had been occupied mostly by homeless workers [pt] on April 21, in protest against lack of housing conditions, was sieged by the military police today, May 11. Journalist Adriano Ventura (@adrianoventura) is tweeting photos that illustrate the tension between the population and the police.

• Sara Moreira

4 May 2012

Portuguese

Global Voices in Portuguese launched today, May 4, a blogging carnival [pt] about the new Forestry Code, recently approved by the Brazilian Senate. While some claim that agribusiness is hindered by the existing Code and Brazil is missing out on opportunities for economic development, environmental activists demand for a “zero deforestation” bill.

• Sara Moreira

23 April 2012

Portuguese

Brazilian blogger Conceição Oliveira reproduces [pt] a Facebook note [pt] from Pedro Urizzi (an actor from São Paulo), who denounces that he was injured and arrested by the Military Police when he was passing by a demonstration against corruption on April 21, 2012, on his way for dinner. The detention came after he made a call for caution, when he noticed there were children near an armed policeman.

• Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

5 April 2012

Portuguese

About 200 students of the Regional University of Cariri [pt], Brazil, protested on Monday, April 2, for state government resources to hire teachers and improve infrastructure. On a video of the demonstration published on Youtube, students question the construction of a 250 million reais aquarium in Fortaleza, state of Ceará: “there is budget for the aquarium, but none for education?”

• João Miguel D. de A. Lima

Portuguese

Journalist and blogger Niara de Oliveira compiled [pt] the 52 posts published within the fifth collective blogging “DesarquivandoBR” (”Unarchiving” Brazil), urging the opening of files kept secret from Brazil's military dictatorship (1964 -1985) and the repeal of the Amnesty Law.

• Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

4 April 2012

Portuguese

Brazilian blogger Sonia Martuscelli reproduces [pt] an open letter on the suspension of the license for the construction of the controversial Teles Pires Dam, in an area of the Amazon forest inhabited by the indigenous peoples of Kayabi, Apiaka and Mundukuru ethnicities. The natives require measures to ensure their rights and to be heard on the matter.

• Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

28 March 2012

Portuguese

In the Document Freedom Day, March 28, Brazilian blogger and professor Ladislau Dowbor writes [pt] about open access to science, and questions the price of information. He also shares his views on the role of professors in the face of intelectual property, and an article about an online boycott by 8,209 researchers who are seeking to set academic research free.

• Sara Moreira

19 March 2012

Portuguese

Brazilian blogger and Amnesty International fellow Carlos Alberto Ungarzo argues [pt] about the need to take the case of the violent eviction of Pinheirinho, which took place on January 22 in the state of São Paulo, to the International Criminal Court.

• Raphael Tsavkko Garcia