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Quotas in Brazilian Universities: The Online Debate

Jose Murilo · 20:01 · Americas

This post is also available in Portuguese.

quotas There is an important public conversation going on in Brazil. Affirmative action quota policies are being implemented in some Brazilian universities*. The debate will heat up in the coming weeks as Congress considers a new law (law project nº 3627/2004) that would establish a system of reserving places for public school students — particularly blacks and indigenous people. The new law will establish and regulate affirmative action as an official government policy.

Had this situation happened a decade ago, the debate would be restricted to the universities and to congress. We would have had to count on the good will of mainstream media to give the issue the deserved visibility. Today, with the help of online forums, group lists, and mainly blogs, the debate has greater participation and media democracy is growing broader and deeper. The open network of interested people takes charge of expanding the reach of the quotas debate, generating new and diverse players, manifesting new and effective policy and adding perspectives that would not have been on the radar before.

The proposal sent to congress by the government requires the federal universities and technical schools to reserve 50% of the places for students who attended high schools in the public system. From this percentage, afro-descendants and indigenous people will have its places reserved in proportion to the respective population rates from the last census (1991) in each state.

The Brazilian online community has been debating the issue for some time, and the arguments present details and nuances that go beyond simplistic, polarized positions. At this moment, the new law under consideration in congress, primarily regarding the public school students in general, has introduced an augmented focus on social quotas over racial ones. What could be seen as simple percentages in the text of a law turns out to be a more nuanced change of the public policy. And this tests the capacity of the open network in keeping the interested players updated and ready to participate.

Here are samples of Brazilian voices debating quotas on the web:

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Helping Russian Orphans

Veronica Khokhlova · 13:26 · Eastern & Central Europe

On March 19, a group of wonderful, kind people from Moscow took presents acquired on donations from ordinary Muscovites to an orphanage in Ivanovo, home to 122 children (o to 4 years old), most of whom have various disabilities.

The effort - one of the many - was coordinated online by LJ user murashki; LJ users onepamop and drugoi were taking pictures.

onepamop wrote this at the end of his photo entry (RUS):

[…] The orphanage, of course, doesn't make you feel like you're on holiday, but this one leaves you with a feeling that resembles certainty. Everything around us was so solid, trustworthy. The rooms were clean, the children were asleep in clean beds, they had enough toys, and in short, their everyday lives were more or less stable. As for the rest of it, it's clear right away that the children are loved and taken care of here. You know, I'd establish an award specifically for people like the chief doctor in Ivanovo. A homeland service award. And I wouldn't spare precious stones and gold for it. So that everyone saw and bowed down to this person. But - such people refuse to wear medals…

And this is how drugoi concluded his photo post (RUS):

Thanks a lot to all who helped collect stuff for the Orphanage, thanks to murashki (on the photo, with children) for organizing the campaign and our trip there. Be assured - the children there are growing up in the atmosphere of love, compassion and warmth.

***

LJ user murashki has recently posted some really inspiring and informative recommendations (RUS, illustrated) to those who would like to help Russian orphans but aren't sure how:

how to help orphanages…..???????
it's no different from doing other things…
you have to “switch on your brains”…….
and be self-reliant

those who want to help but think that their participation with 100 rubles [$3.6] will be very insignificant are deeply mistaken

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Nepal Revolution: Showdown

Paramendra · 11:32 · South Asia

Over a million people have come out into the streets today, over 15 have been killed, hundreds upon hundreds have been injured, many seriously, by the police, thousands have been arrested, and the king is still nowhere close to seeing the light. He still refuses to see that a constituent assembly can be the only meeting point between him and the seven party alliance.

Democracy For Nepal has long called to sidestep the king and go straight for an interim constitution and a revolutionary parliament.

The one person team of Mero Sansar has some great on ground coverage, but it is in Nepali. But it also has video clips, and photos. This blog might be the one place online with a ton of video clips from the streets although recently Nepal has hit the world headlines, and all major global names in news have been covering Nepal rather extensively.

United We Blog has some of the best reporting. The founder of the blog, Dinesh Wagle, is to arrive in New York City later today. He has been on a month long tour arranged by the US State Department.

Samudaya is more than a website, it is also a network of young activists, several of them in Nepal. One example: Non aligned youth/students express solidarity to freedom. The site also has a great collection of photos from the revolution.