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!

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.

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.

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].

The Brazilian bloggers from Esse Tal de Meio Ambiente [pt], Minas Ambiente [pt] e Coisas de Sampa [pt], for instance, have created a standard post for those who have no time to create their own posts for the Blog Action Day but still want to reach their readers with a relevant message. They have also launched the campaign “A day without a plastic bag”:

Você imagina o que acontece com as sacolas plásticas que pegamos nos supermercados para acondicionar nossas compras, quando as jogamos no lixo?

Algumas vão direto para aterros sanitários, onde levam mais de 300 anos para decompor. Outras, jogadas nas ruas, entopem bueiros e provocam enchentes nas áreas urbanas. Outra parte, ainda, é ingerida por milhares de espécies animais – em terra ou no mar – provocando-lhes asfixia e morte. As estimativas são de que, todos os anos, a ingestão de plásticos causa a morte de cerca de um milhão de aves marinhas, cem mil mamíferos e inumeráveis peixes.

Dia 15 de Outubro é o Blog Action Day, dia em que blogueiros de todo o mundo se juntam para mobilizar a sociedade em prol de uma causa. [..] nessa data um desafio é proposto: um dia sem sacola plástica. E aí? Vai ficar aí parado? Junte-se a nós. Mobilize. Faça parte desta ação.

Fire in the Amazon Forest. Photo by Flickr user leoffreitas.

Blogger Aninha from O Divã de Einstein [pt] has based her post for Blog Action Day (#BAD09) on the B F Skinner book “What is Wrong with Daily Life in the Western World?”, depicting many cases in which people don't react to the climate change discussions because they don't feel like it, and won't necessarily experience the impact of global warming today.

She adds:

A solução está muito mais nas mãos dos que têm poder para mudar as regras do reforçamento do que na “vontade”, “consciência” ou “informação” dos indivíduos em particular, porque a situação requer uma mudança drástica e rápida dos comportamentos de muitas pessoas – ou melhor de TODAS as pessoas – ao mesmo tempo. Não temos tempo para esperar que o ambiente remodele os comportamentos, porque quando estiver quente pra dedéu, e todo mundo começar a se preocupar em fazer coisas que não aumentem ainda mais a temperatura, a coisa não terá mais como ser revertida. E é por isso que é tão importante pressionar os caras que têm o poder de mudar o ambiente imediato das pessoas: sobretaxando o uso de combustíveis fósseis, fazendo leis que diminuam a emissão de poluentes que aumentam o efeito estufa, investindo em produção de combustíveis alternativos e na mudança da matriz energética, educando a população para a diminuição do consumo, etc e talz.

É por isso que eu digo: Obama!! Já ganhou o Nobel, agora se mexe, meu filho!!!

On the other hand, the bloggers from Homens Modernos [pt] emphasize that although most of the responsibility for the environment rests with the governments, ordinary citizen can make a difference too:

Não preciso nem dizer que mudança climática não é somente uma lenda urbana mas sim uma realidade em progresso que pode (ou não) vir a ter consequências desastrosas pra nós se ficarmos sentados de braços e pernas cruzados sem nada fazer pra reverter ou amenizar o quadro. Sim, claro que uma fatia grande deste fazer cabe aos governos do mundo, mas isso não quer dizer que não possamos dar uma bela “contribuída” nessa. E nem que esta contribuição não vá fazer lá muita diferença, porque vai. Afinal as escolhas que a gente faz todo dia tem peso e com certeza vão refletir no futuro do planeta, para o bem ou para o mal do próprio. Portanto, pondere as suas and take the green way as much as you can.

Tower of Belem in Portugal surrounded by garbage. Photo by Flickr user starrynight1.

Journalist and blogger Wander Veroni from Café com Notícias [pt] brings the role of journalism about climate change to the discussion. He says that nowadays weather forecasts and related news get much more attention than before:

Até bem pouco tempo, a previsão do tempo era tratada como uma editoria “menor” em boa parte dos noticiários. Coisa de menos de cinco anos atrás. Era muito comum apenas se noticiar a previsão do tempo do dia - ou no máximo do dia seguinte. Se acontecesse algo de mais importante no montante de notícias do dia, a previsão do tempo era a primeira a cair e não entrava no ar.

Hoje, vemos uma situação completamente diferente. Muitos veículos mantêm jornalistas apenas para cobrir fatos relativos ao tempo e temperatura no pais e no mundo. Além de render pauta constantemente, a editoria ouve especialistas e traduz termos técnicos importantes para que o público entenda o porque dos fenômenos meteorológicos interferirem no seu dia-dia.

Blogger Daiane Santana from Vivo Verde [pt] has made a selection of the 15 blog posts related to climate changes that had been discussed in her blog. She is among the most popular Brazilian environmental bloggers. As she says:

Hoje é um dia bem especial para a blogosfera e principalmente para nós, blogueiros ambientais, que tratam dos assuntos voltados ao meio ambiente com o coração aberto para nossos leitores.

Daiane has also blogged for the group blog Nerds Somos Nozes [pt], in which she brought up the issue of toxic waste and its impact on society. She pointed out the way every citizen can contribute towards fighting it:

Quando  empresas de telefonia promovem campanhas de devolução/coleta de baterias , não pense você que  com esta ação a empresa está gerando apenas lucro para ela, lembre-se que o seu ato de depositar aquela bateria inutilizada e até a carcaça de seu celular que “você considerou” como lixo, poderá ter um destino qualificado e deixará de ser um fator de perigo para você e sua família.

From Portugal, blogger Marta from the Mil Visões blog [pt] listed some tips that the average citizen can follow for an environmentally friendly lifestyle,  saying:

Apontada como uma das grandes causas para as alterações climáticas, as emissões de gases poluentes para a atmosfera têm deixado os “Deuses loucos”! E a nós também. É por isso urgente todos intervirmos para que os nossos filhos, netos, bisnetos e por aí fora, possam usufruir de um planeta mais limpo e seguro.
Se já se pode considerar lugar comum dizer-se que já se faz isto ou aquilo para combater estes fenómenos, muitos há que ainda acham que reciclar um pacote de leite não irá fazer a menor diferença. Mas faz, e muito! É a tal história do “grão a grão enche a galinha o papo”.

Finally, Elisio Leonardo from Informática Moçambique [pt], published his post to the Blog Action Day too. He says:

É momento de pensarmos no futuro e mudarmos o nosso modo de vida, para fazer-mos da terra um lugar melhor. Michael Jackson disse isso no seu “Heal the World”,  e é exactamente o que o Blog Action Day está a tentar mostrar.

Many other bloggers from all over the world have been contributing to the Blog Action Day. You can track the updates through this link.

This is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. The aim of this global demonstration is to raise awareness and encourage a global conversation on important subjects that face the world.

In their official blog, Robin Beck announced the topic of the Blog Action Day 2009:

I am so happy to announce the topic for Blog Action Day 2009: climate change.

Thousands of people voted and together we’re going to bring new breadth to the global climate change conversation just as our leaders prepare to meet in Copenhagen this December in an effort to agree on lasting solutions to this crisis.

Blog Action Day was founded by Collis & Cyan Ta'eed in 2007 with the support of their team at Envato. On that first occasion, founders encouraged more than 20.000 bloggers to devote a day to blogging about environmental issues. The next year, in 2008, they highlighted poverty issues with bloggers sharing their personal perspectives and ideas for solutions.

This year, climate change is the subject, which is a great opportunity to build on all the discussions and online campaigns that are being organized in advance of the COP15 United Nations meeting in Denmark in December 2009.

Anyone can participate in Blog Action Day on October 15, be it on blogs, online journals or online magazines. There are no limits to how many posts one can write nor to the content of it, as long as climate change is the subject. Among the supporters of Blog Action Day are organizations such as Oxfam, Avaaz, TckTckTck, Greenpeace and Amnesty International.

As an official blog partner, Global Voices will support Blog Action Day by encouraging bloggers around the world to register their support online and join in. On October 15 and beyond, Global Voices bloggers look forward to linking to and translating what bloggers around the world are saying about climate change and the environment where they live.

This re-fuelled the always heated and controversial debate on racism in Brazil (follow this link for a previous Global Voices post on this subject) and inspired many blog posts, most of them repudiating the upper class' thought that racism does not exist in Brazil and that social class issues are the real reasons for cases like Januário's.

On September 11 students and employees of the University of São Paulo, where Januário Alves de Santana works, gathered together to discuss how racism is still present in daily life. The round table “Racism, Violence and Globalization” declared: “Carrefour attacks a Brazilian black man: that's the year of France in Brazil”. The Pão e Rosas blog brings us [pt] photos of the event and comments:

Todas as falas enfatizaram que o caso não é isolado, mas expressa sim como o racismo ainda é uma marca profunda da sociedade em que vivemos. Nós do Pão e Rosas nos colocamos de pé, ao lado de Januário e todos os negros e negras que sofrem com o racismo e a violência policial. Do mesmo modo, nos colocamos ao lado dos moradores das favelas que têm se manifestado contra a repressão da polícia , como em Heliópolis na semana passada. A realidade impõe que nos levantemos!

Alex Castro, from the Liberal, Libertário e Libertino blog [liberal, libertarian and libertine, pt], addresses the racism issue very meticulously and points out an alarming fact of Brazil's racial historicity by saying that the problem is actually that society lacks racial conflict:

No Brasil, nunca houve leis racistas proibindo negros de ingressarem em restaurantes, hotéis, tribunais porque a própria estrutura socioeconômica perversa já era garantia mais do que suficiente de que negros somente entrariam nesses ambientes pra varrer o chão e servir café. O Brasil é tão arraigadamente racista que nunca nem precisou de leis racistas para manter seus negros em posição totalmente inferiorizada.

His blog post was also featured on Rachel Glickhouse's Adventures of a Gringa blog and a few readers responded to his thoughts. For instance, Roger Penguino commented [pt]:

Para aqueles que sempre pensaram que no Brasil não ocorre problemas raciais, aqui encontra-se um ponto de partida para nova reflexão sobre a realidade. Sempre ouvi de amigos Americanos que no Brasil “everyone just gets along” e sempre foi difícil explicar a complexa e sistemática institucionalização do racismo brasileiro. Muitos ao olharam para população brasileira dizem ver uma mistura racial maior que de outros grandes países, mas claro que deixam de perceber os milhares que lutam contra si mesmos porque nesta mistura aprenderam a odiar sua própria condição.

In June this year, Lucrécia Paco, one of the greatest Mozambican actresses who was acting in a play staged in São Paulo, suffered from racism when she accidentally bumped into a white woman in the queue of a money exchange agency in a shopping mall. Leonardo Sakamoto from Blog do Sakamoto [Sakamoto's blog, pt] and the Viomundo blog [pt] republished and commented on the piece of news originally made public by Época Magazine [pt].

On that occasion, the woman pointed Lucrécia out as a potential mugger and screamed out loud asking for the immigration police. Lucrécia reacted shouting back to her that there were many Brazilians going to live in Mozambique, but rather than being mistreated they were being received with open arms. The journalist Eliane Brum, who interviewed Lucrécia Paco, reported:

Lucrécia não consegue esquecer. “Não pude dormir à noite, fiquei muito mal”, diz. “Comecei a ficar paranoica, a ver sinais de discriminação no restaurante, em todo o lugar que ia. E eu não quero isso pra mim.” Em seus 39 anos de vida dura, num país que foi colônia portuguesa até 1975 e, depois, devastado por 20 anos de guerra civil, Lucrécia nunca tinha passado por nada assim. “Eu nunca fui discriminada dessa maneira”, diz. “Dá uma dor na gente. ”

Glória Cabo, a reader from Blog do Sakamoto commented on the interview. She added her own family testimony on why Brazilians cultivate racism:

No Brasil não só é difícil ser negro, como também: nordestino, pobre, tatuado, gay, punk, feio. Nem as loiras escapam… Mas, de onde vem esse preconceito? E como acabar com ele? A origem do problema, no meu ponto de vista está nas nossas próprias origens. Somos descendentes de europeus preconceituosos, retrógrados e antiquados. Eu como filha de europeus, convivi com racismo explicito de meus pais, com comentários absurdos de que meu pai não queria ter um “negrinho” o chamando de avô. Eu mesma, confesso, que já tive pensamentos racistas. Mas, com a maturidade, analisei meus preconceitos e descobri que não eram meus, e sim uma herança pobre e sem sentido herdada de pais preconceituosos. Buscar a origem do racismo, analisar que diferenças são normais e necessárias, isso faria toda a diferença.

Pedro Turambar from the blog O Crepúsculo [pt] cites another case he witnessed while shopping at Carrefour and that he considers racism. The shop assistant of the retail store asked a black woman to confirm she was the holder of the credit card she was using to pay for her shopping. Pedro suggested that the assistant only asked for confirmation because of the amount of goods the woman was buying. The black woman was actually a housekeeper and her employer, an old white lady who was away from the queue at that moment, came towards the assistant shouting “This is prejudice! This is racial discrimination”. He says:

O trabalho dela é perguntar e pedir a identidade. […]. DESDE QUE ELA FAÇA ISSO COM TODO MUNDO. Mas tanto você quanto eu, sabe que isso não acontece e não foi por isso que a moça pediu para a empregada provar que era titular do cartão

And added:

Eu iria pagar a conta com o cartão de crédito do meu irmão e tinha certeza que o caixa não iria me perguntar se eu era o titular do cartão. Dito e feito. Paguei com um cartão de uma conta da qual não sou titular, mas como sou branco, gordinho, fofinho bonitinho, jamais pensariam que eu roubei o cartão para comprar meia dúzia de produtos de limpeza.

O melhor foi o medo que eu coloquei no caixa que me atendeu. Ele ironicamente e sarcasticamente comentava o fato, e quando o cara do casal de trás disse brincando “Eu não to pagando com meu cartão não em! e se você falar que não é meu eu subo aqui em cima e fico louco”, o caixa morreu de rir. Até que eu disse que o cartão que eu acabara de pagar não era meu. Disse isso rindo também, por isso ele achou que era brincadeira, até que eu fechei a cara e repeti “O cartão não é meu. Mesmo. Eu não me chamo Daniel.” Ele olhou para mim e viu que eu falava sério. Engoliu o riso e claramente ficou com medo. Eu apenas disse “A mulher tá certa. Certíssima em dizer que foi preconceito, porque foi.”, me despedi do casal – que olhava para mim com uma cara de júbilo – peguei as compras e fui embora.

Finally, a comment on the Alex Castro blog post is worth noting. The reader Te clearly says:

É mesmo, no Brasil faz falta uma Rosa Parks. […]

The video campaign Where do you keep your racism? features many true testimonials of racism in Brazil. It was produced as a public campaign against racism by Diálogos contra o Racismo (pela igualdade racial) [Dialogues against Racism (for racial equality)], a group of more than 40 civil society organizations dedicated to eradicating poverty and inequality and to stimulating debates in schools, neighborhoods, workplaces, clubs, households about racial relations, and how to change them.

Picture by Juarez Silva Jr.

Rachel Glickhouse, from Adventures of a Gringa, describes the course of events of August 7th in detail, as told by Januário. She blogs in English:

Standing outside of the car, he noticed more suspicious men approaching him. Then one–who was actually a security guard–approached him and took out a gun. He attacked Januário without identifying himself, and Januário didn't know if it was a mugger or a cop. While they struggled, passersby called for help, and Januário thought he was saved. Several security guards from Carrefour approached, and he explained that it was a misunderstanding–he was not in fact trying to steal the motorcycle nearby. The security guards grabbed him and took him inside to a small room to “work out” what had happened. “So,” they said, “you stole an EcoSport and were trying to take a motorcycle, too?”

The five security guards then proceeded to beat Januário senseless, in what the original report called “a torture session,” hitting, punching, headbutting, and pistol-whipping him, knocking out his teeth and leaving him bleeding heavily. Januário says he tried to explain that the car was his, and that his baby daughter was inside while his family was shopping. His attackers ignored him. “Shut up, n*****. If you don't shut up, I'll break every bone in your body,” one of them yelled. They laughed when he insisted it was his car. The beating lasted around twenty minutes, before the police arrived.

And she adds that “the torture wasn't over yet”, even after the arrival of the police:

One of the military policemen, by the name of Pina, didn't buy Januário's “story.” “You look like you've been in jail a couple of times. Come on, fess up, it's ok,” the police officer said. Another police officer didn't believe he was a security guard, and started quizzing him about security rules. Finally, the police went to Januário's car and confirmed it did in fact belong to him and his wife. His family was there, shocked to see him bleeding with cracked teeth, and his daughter was still asleep in the car.

The police left without offering to send an ambulance or helping him. Taken to hospital by his family, Januário was treated for shock and lacerations. He has since lost 8 kilos, has been suffering from insomnia and has not been able to return to work. Last Thursday, he underwent an operation to correct a bone fracture in his skull. The family has logged a complaint with the local police, but according to the police version, his beating was a result of “a disturbance” and “a fight between a few shoppers”. Carrefour has issued a statement expressing its regret at the misunderstanding and saying it will cooperate with the investigations [pt].

Meanwhile, Januário plans to take both the retail chain and the State of São Paulo to court, and to sell the car, which he is still paying off in R$789 [approximately $419] instalments, spread over a set of 72 instalments.

The case has had repercussions all over the country, with most people sympathizing with Januário, but this is not the first time that something like this has happened. As the Censurado [Censored, pt] blog points out [pt], many other acts of prejudice against black people have been committed by the security personnel of this same retail chain. The blogger ironically asks the readers:

Queria um conselho dos meus leitores. Se um dia eu precisar comprar, sei lá, um shampoo no Carrefour, devo levar um amigo branco junto comigo?

Maria Frô [pt] replicates the original news story by AfroPress [pt], adding a different headline that paraphrases the Brazilian bestseller “Não Somos Racistas” [We Are Not Racists] by journalist Ali Kamel. The title of her blog post is:

É, segundo Kamel, não somos racistas. Só quase assassinos.

The Pão e Rosas [pt] blog vehemently repudiated the case. It follows the same line of argument, disputing the myth that cultural melting pot Brazil is a harmonious racial democracy:

Enquanto os discursos de intelectuais, políticos burgueses e dos meios de comunicação afirmam veemente “Não somos racistas”, vem à tona um caso escandaloso de como o racismo se reproduz nas formas mais violentas e repugnantes. Todo a falácia da democracia racial cai por terra frente a casos como este – e poderíamos listar tantos outros que ganharam repercussão e depois foram esquecidos, na maioria das vezes marcados pela impunidade.

Juarez Silva Jr., from Blog do Juarez [pt], wonders if it is indeed true that discrimination against black people in Brazil is a social, not racial, problem:

quando o negro sai do seu “esteriótipo e ‘lugar’ social ” ele “paga o preço”, afinal se ele não tivesse um carro bacana, talvez nada disso tivesse acontecido não é mesmo ???? , cansado de ter problemas por sua situação social não condizer com o “esperado” pela sociedade, a vítima já pensa em vender o “carro problemático” […]
Deus me livre de por as rodas do meu vistoso Adventure no estacionamento dessa rede…, BOICOTE JÁ.

"Racist Carrefour", a demonstration against racism on car windows in Carrefour's car park. Photo by @berlitz on Twitpic

On the Geledés Instituto da Mulher Negra [Geledés Black Woman Institute, pt] website, many people lamented this news and voiced their indignation in the comment box. For instance, Ayraon says:

Só no Brasil se acha que o racismo é velado. Velado nada! Só não vê quem não quer, ou seja, o povo brasileiro iludido por uma visão deturpada de si mesmo. “Somos mestiços!” diz um, “Não existe preto ou branco” diz outro na hora que esse preto inexistente diz sofrer racismo. Lá fora, quem conhece o Brasil, não consegue entender como esse país pode, por tanto tempo, esconder seu racismo doente. Aqui dentro, vivemos na insanidade coletiva: brancos acham que racismo não existe, que tá na cabeça dos pretos (que, segundo alguns pretos e brancos, não existem), negros dizem que o racismo brasileiro é “velado”; e muitos aceitam essa situação (alguns até dizendo nunca terem sofrido racismo, mesmo sendo alvo dele todo o dia). A história do bahiano me deixa triste , por que ela v ai se repetir, e se repetir, e se repetir sem que façamos nada. Ou iremos fazer algo?

To answer the blogger's question, the protests have begun. There was a demonstration on August 22nd, and according to Geledés a bigger protest against the retail chain will take place on September 5th.

Race is a very complex issue for countries that once were colonies of developed states and overshadowed by slavery; a lot of prejudice remains in modern society. Brazil is marked by the violent slavery of black Africans, which lasted for over 300 years and was, to a certain degree, the linchpin of the economic framework during the colonial era. Racism has always been linked to social relations in this country. Black people here today have inherited this social stigma and suffer from racism in many aspects of their daily life. But this is all food for thought, and material for another post.

We can hear the security chief saying that “if you demonstrate inside the Senate, you come here [to this room]. It is the price for protesting”. The students also claimed that they were threatened with dismissal from their jobs and nearly had their documents seized too. Many Senators sympathized with the cause - as well as Member of Parliament Janete Capiberibe who insisted on remaining alongside the demonstrators - and convinced the security that they should be released.

André Dutra [pt], one of the demonstrators arrested, contextualizes the situation. He blogs:

Dentro do Senado, iniciamos nossa manifestação pacífica e logo fomos atacados pela truculenta segurança do Senado. Leões de chácara, resquício da ditadura, protegidos de Sarney. Foram em cima de nossos cartazes, torceram nossos pulsos, deram golpes sutis, acertaram mulheres, inclusive. Rasgaram tudo, mas não tiveram coragem de rasgar minha Constituição. Guardarei esse exemplar para sempre, memória de que ainda há um mínimo de respeito em meu país.

The case has been quite popular on the Brazilian blogosphere and amongst Twitter users as the mobilization against José Sarney grows every month. It has attracted the attention of celebrity bloggers such as Marcelo TAS [pt], a popular name on the Brazilian blogosphere and host of CQC, a humorous journalism TV show (acronym for “No Matter the Cost” in Portuguese). He expresses [pt] his feelings about this case:

Afinal existe ou não liberdade de expressão no país? […] Este blog apóia a liberdade de expressão e acredita que essa gentalha só aprende na base da pressão. Fora Sarney, reforma política já e vamos preparar os corações e mentes para varrer esses vermes nas Eleições 2010!

A "Get Out, Sarney" banner shows the protest schedule throughout Brazil. Source: Marcelo Tas' blog

Luciana Capiberibe's Blog [pt] publishes a post about the way in which local media treated the issue. According to A Gazeta, a newspaper from Amapá, the Senate Police is supposedly investigating the participation of MP Janete Capiberibe in the organization of the protest, accusing the MP of paying R$ 40 (about US$ 21) to the students, so that they could take part in the demonstration. The blogger publishes photos of the paper's headlines and adds a caption:

Jornal A Gazeta, ligado a Sarney no Amapá, faz acusações infundadas

Francis Pessoa commented on Luciana Capiberibe's blog post above, adding [pt]:

[…] Interessante como a “IMPRENSA” amapaense funciona. Algum tempo atrás, uns que nesse jornal está, faziam parte do outro jornaléco diário. Hoje eles estão do outro lado e dizem que este (jornaléco) é o melhor, o mais importante, o mais lido periódico do Amapá. Mentem. O jornaléco é doado para reciclagem na lixeira pública.
Torço para que cada brasileiro tenha em casa um computador e INTERNET. Quando esse dia chegar, muito desses jornalécos pilantras irão sair de circulação e o cidadão terá acesso (democreticamente)as informações verdadeiras. E vocês, pilantras da “IMPRENSA” não terão mais vez…
[…]
Só faltava essa!!! Dirigentes do jornaléco, vocês pensam que somos idiótas? Estamos acompanhando tudo pela INTERNET, SITE’s, BLOG’s, TWITTER e por jornalista sérios de Belém do Pará, Brasília, São Paulo e outros. Mas o fim de vocês está próximo, não perdem por esperar…

Peaceful demonstrations for justice and freedom of speech and against corruption in the government are considered crimes in contemporary Brazil. Tsavkko - The Angry Brazilian [pt] cites many related cases all over the country, adding:

O que se vê é um processo - aparentemente irreversível - de criminalização e perseguição aos Movimentos Sociais, além de uma truculência absurda contra as liberdades do povo, contra o direito de protestar, reclamar e se manifestar. Abusos são constamentente cometidos pelas “forças de segurança”, provadas ou estatais, e nada nunca é feito.

A ditadura acabou quando mesmo?

André Dutra holding a "Get out, Sarney!" flyer.

Despite the fact that the 2010 presidential race is already warming up on the Brazilian Internet, as future candidates start to blog and twitter to promote themselves online, the government has just taken the first step in becoming digital. On 31 June the Ministry of Culture and the National Network of Education and Research officially launched the Forum for Brazilian Digital Culture. The project consists of a social network that aims to encourage Brazilian netizens to collaborate in creating a new mode of addressing public policies.

Brazil's Digital Culture Forum banner

This initiative has gone down well with Bloggers and twitter users who think that the government has finally made an effort to reach out to people and include them in public policies through the Internet, a direct and bureaucracy free communication tool for contacting citizens. The network was initially limited to only 300 people, but after its launch, it has been opened to anyone interested in #culturadigitalbr, as it has been referred to on Twitter.

Lady Bug Brasil [pt] was invited to the launch of the event. She commented on her blog [pt]:

Em tempos de luta, censura e políticas públicas que precisam de retoques, é um alívio saber que há esperança e iniciativas democráticas que abrem espaço para as muitas vozes que habitam a rede.

Gilberto Jr from the startupi blog was also invited to the launch. He blogged in English:

The simple fact that the federal government initiated this project is highly commendable. It opens discussion within communities, using the web as a base to stimulate discussion and create a kind of digital democracy (not just in the world of computing, but in Brazil in general).

The project features some other social network characteristics such as a Facebook-like wall-to-wall comment system and the chance to aggregate online discussions taking place on forums or Orkut. Everyday, new users join the network and many discussion topics have been created. Another interesting point to the launch was that many bloggers were invited to the press conference alongside the mainstream media.

Bloggers at the Q&A session with the Minister of Culture Juca Ferreira. Photo by Flickr user Andre Deak

Filipe Saraiva from the Liberdade na Fronteira blog [Freedom at the Frontier, pt] gives his thoughts on this case. He praises the government saying [pt]:

Penso ser uma iniciativa bastante louvável por parte do governo. Em tempos de repressão ao compartilhamento na rede, vistos nos recentes casos do julgamento do The Pirate Bay ou no Projeto de Lei Azeredo, fomentar um espaço de discussão pública sobre um tema ainda bastante controverso mostra disposição e abertura para novas práticas e idéias que surgem no ciberespaço.

Twitter user @raquelcamargo highlights a possible problem on the Forum, tweeting [pt]:

As discussões no Fórum da Cultura Digital acabam rápido, sempre com poucas mensagens.

CulturaDigitalBr has five main subjects up for discussion at the moment. They want to build guidelines for the access, production, promotion, preservation and free circulation of culture on any of these themes and topics are divided as follows [pt]:

1. Memória Digital (acervo, história e futuro);

2. Economia da Cultura Digital (compartilhamento, interesse público e mercado);

3. Infra-estrutura para a Cultura Digital (infovia, acesso e inclusão);

4. Arte Digital (linguagem, democratização e remix);

5. Comunicação Digital (língua, mídia e convergência).

They also highlight the following, on the same page [pt]:

Caso você queira discutir um tema que não caiba em nenhuma dessas áreas, crie seu grupo, convide quem mais possa se interessar por ele e toque a conversa. Este é um espaço radicalmente aberto às suas idéias e opiniões. Dependendo da dimensão que ela tomar, o coletivo pode decidir por transformá-la em eixo oficial do Fórum. Questões relevantes como o acesso ao conhecimento científico, a educação e a diversidade são transversais e, sem dúvida, são objeto desta conversa.

The tweeter responsible for the Ministry of Culture's twitter account is shot live-tweeting the event. Photo by Flickr user André Deak

Bloggers think that this initiative is very positive and that step by step the Brazilian government is changing its conception of how the Internet and its users might contribute to the way public policies are made currently. As a matter of fact, it seems that not only Brazil but many other countries are also embracing social media as a tool for keeping in touch with their citizens.

Photo by marcbraz on Flickr

Worldwide waste management is a difficult task for many countries, regardless of whether they are developed or developing nations. In Brazil, only about 10% of cities have a proper strategy to deal with recyclable waste, according to André Trigueiro, a journalist, professor and commentator on CBN Radio Network.

In recent weeks, the National Policy on Solid Residuals proposed in the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies has sparked discussion amongst Brazilian bloggers solely because of an amendment to its 33rd article, dealing with the regulation of reverse logistics (take-back) and mandatory recycling of special waste, no longer considering electronic equipment as such. Many people think this is due to certain pressure from recycling industries, given the high cost of dealing with electronic waste.

Reacting to the adaptation of the bill, the Coletivo Lixo Eletrônico (Electronic Waste Group) created the Electronic Waste Manifesto [pt] to share some insights about what the inclusion of electronic waste in this national policy to control solid residuals would mean for the Brazilian population and its current lifestyle. Here’s an extract from the Manifesto:

No Brasil, temos uma oportunidade hoje que está sendo desperdiçada. Tramita na Câmara dos Deputados o Projeto de Lei da Política Nacional dos Resíduos Sólidos (PL 203/91). É imperativo que a Política Nacional de Resíduos Sólidos contemple os equipamentos eletro-eletrônicos e que estes sejam enquadrados como produtos especiais de logística reversa e reciclagem obrigatória. Os eletro-eletrônicos estarão cada vez mais presentes na nossa vida, trazendo benefícios na mesma velocidade em que produzem mais lixo com o qual ainda não lidamos corretamente. Regulamentar sua destinação é condição urgente e necessária para que possamos continuar a nos beneficiar dos avanços da tecnologia de maneira sustentável, sem pagar um alto preço ambiental e à saúde de nossa população.

The full text of the translated Manifesto can be found on my personal blog.

During an interview [pt] on the Primeira Mão blog (First Handed), Felipe Andueza, from the Electronic Waste blog, one of those responsible for the Manifesto, when asked how Brazil deals with electronic waste, replies:

Na esfera federal, há somente a Lei de Crimes Ambientais, que institui a responsabilidade até a deposição adequada de todos os produtos potencialmente contaminantes por seus fabricantes e algumas Resoluções CONAMA sobre pilhas e baterias. […] Boa parte deve parar no lixo doméstico, principalmente o que não pode ser doado, reaproveitado e etc. Estima-se que mais ou menos 1% do lixo eletrônico produzido no Brasil seja reciclado, somente.

As sustainability demands recycling grows faster, the amendments to the bill take Brazil in a direction that is incompatible with the country’s population and economic growth. It is also important to note that, for many people, reverse logistics of electronics would be an interesting way of supporting digital inclusion projects by taking advantage of electronics that are still in good condition.

To seek support for this manifesto, an online petition has been created and it is slowly gaining support through the Brazilian Internet. It is necessary to spread the word more quickly, as the law may be passed with the environmentally unfriendly amendment, but the mainstream media has not picked up the issue so far.

Photo by Flickr user Galeria de Milton Jung CBNSP

In a comment on the Electronic Waste Manifesto blog, Walfrido Assunção remembers a time when, similarly, tires were left behind in the natural environment, such as in rivers, without proper attention from environmentalists and the population; bringing [pt] an interesting point to the comment box, he says:

[…] Quem de nós não tem no porão, na garagem ou numa prateleira qualquer um televisor ou computador obsoleto “esquecido”? Quem de nós não tem um (ou vários) telefone celular obsoleto em uma gaveta qualquer? Esses eletro-eletrônicos hoje que são “parte da paisagem ou da decoração”, no futuro não muito distante se tornarão também num preocupante passivo.

Karine Estevam also reflects [pt] on the Manifesto's blog post, arguing that:

Achei maravilhosa esta iniciativa de fazer o Manifesto, afinal precisamos participar incisivamente do processo de formação das Politas Publicas Ambientais.
O lixo é uma questão muito seria e extramamente relevante, principalmente este tipo de lixo já que não se tem ideia do período de decomposição e por isso deve-se buscar alternativas para o seu descarte.
Vou assinar com todo prazer!

Celedo gave his thoughts on the subject with a strong point of view, highlightng [pt]:

O mundo está uma verdadeira imundície!
O lixo diário e por vezes lixo por segundo (nova medida de lixo/tempo) é produzido pelo consumismo exacerbado da humanidade… espero que não sejamos omissos neste caso de importância mundial!

In conclusion, thinking of means of managing the residuals of the electronics industry is part of proposing and creating a sustainable lifestyle and system of recycling for electronic goods. Both cyberactivism and online participation raise awareness of the public's needs that are currently being undermined in the industry's economic interests.

Petrobras - one of the biggest oil companies in the planet.

Brazil's giant, semi-public oil company Petrobras, which faces likely investigation under many accusations by the Brazilian Congress through a Parliamentary Inquiry Commission (CPI), has just entered the blogosphere, causing mixed reactions from bloggers, government and mass media.

According to the company itself, Petrobras Fatos e Dados blog [Petrobras Facts and Data, pt] aims to provide up to date information about the company and its attitude towards CPI activities. In its first week [pt], the blog highlighted the Internet repercussions and mass media's position against this initiative, stating:

Nosso blog completa uma semana, com 145 mil visitas, 31 posts e 1.700 comentários, e já conseguimos um espaço considerável de repercussão. Acreditamos nas mídias sociais como um importante canal de conversação direta entre a Petrobras e a sociedade. Infelizmente, continuamos a ver na imprensa comentários equivocados que desconhecem a própria lógica das mídias sociais.

In addition to the first blog posts about the company's activities, on June 4th Petrobras also released a set of questions posed by journalists from two major Brazilian newspapers and the corresponding answers. This caused a great commotion among newspapers and journalists that in turn repudiated the blog, arguing it was a threat to press confidentiality.

Some bloggers think establishing a direct communication channel between Petrobras and society is actually a good thing. Reading information given by the company itself makes it possible for people to check whether newspaper headlines about the same subject using the same raw material as that released by Petrobras are correct or not.

Carlos Castilho presents his thoughts about this Petrobras initiative on the Observatório de Imprensa blog (Press Observatory), suggesting [pt]:

A Petrobras resolveu fazer aquilo que nos Estados Unidos já é uma rotina, até mesmo por parte de órgãos do governo federal. A empresa ingressou na blogosfera ao montar um blog no qual publica a íntegra de seus comunicados e entrevistas fornecidos à imprensa. […] A irritação dos jornais vem do fato de que o blog da Petrobras permite uma comparação entre o que a empresa forneceu aos jornalistas e o que foi publicado. Com isto é possível identificar erros de contexto, omissões e equívocos de transcrição.

On the other hand, newspapers have criticized the Petrobras blog stating its position is illegal, unethical and aggressive. One of the newspapers, O Globo, published an editorial [pt] on June 8th, after Petrobras' decision to publish media inquires, claiming that questions sent to the company are the property of newspapers and their employees and that Petrobras was wounding the Brazilian Constitution.

Blogger, professor and lawyer Tulio Viana [pt] clarifies readers' doubts about whether copyright of questions is plausible or not with regard to the constitution. Analyzing Brazilian copyright law, he explains [pt]:

De onde O Globo teria então tirado a tese jurídica de que perguntas jornalísticas são propriedade de quem as faz? Será que é pura e simples desinformação do jornal ou mais uma daquelas mentiras que se pretendem tornar-se verdade ao serem repetidas centenas de vezes? Para que não reste dúvida quanto o absurdo da tese, vamos ao art.8º da mesma lei: III – os formulários em branco para serem preenchidos por qualquer tipo de informação, científica ou não, e suas instruções [não são passíveis de Direitos Autorais] ; Incrível a cara-de-pau do jornal de publicar uma informação completamente falsa em seu editorial, inventando sem o menor pudor um novo inciso para o art.7º da Lei de Direitos Autorais e revogando o art.8º, III, da mesma lei.

Petrobras blog is hosted on a Wordpress.com site.

Transparency being the aim of journalism itself, bloggers have also praised the Petrobras initiative while highlighting a point made by the press in which it expressed concern that the oil company's attitude would weaken its relationship with newspapers and their readers. Liberal Libertário Libertino blog (Liberal, Libertarian, Libertine) summarizes the facts. In its point of view [pt]:

A Petrobras não tem nada que confiar na imprensa. A imprensa não tem nada que confiar na Petrobras. Não devem haver acordos tácitos ou relações sigilosas entre a mídia e a Petrobras. As relações entre eles devem ser públicas e transparentes. Daí a celebração.

Commentator Fábio Couto stresses [pt] how he understands Petrobras' initiative and the press reaction:

Não vejo problema do Petrobras se defender via blog. O problema é divulgar perguntas de apuração antes da matéria ser publicada. […] Não há nada de ilegal, mas não é ético e abre um fosso entre a empresa e a imprensa. […] Mas se a divulgação de perguntas e respostas fosse feita depois das matérias publicadas, certamente o efeito poderia ser mais bem entendido.

While stressing that it does not have proper market research value, Folha de São Paulo newspaper, one of the biggest in Brazil, published a poll asking its readers whether they approved or not of Petrobras' decision to “leak” on its website newspaper questions and answers before publication. On Twitter, Idelber Avelar [pt] observed that the use of the word “leak” by Folha de São Paulo was already biased, but that, nevertheless, the poll showed that its readers were not buying it. At the time of publication, the results are as follows [pt]: out of 5,315 votes, 4,548, or 86% of voters, backed Petrobras, whilst 767 or 14% said Petrobras stance was wrong.

Folha de São Paulo Poll online since June 9th. Screenshot, June 16th.

Handling the situation carefully and highlighting positive and negative issues regarding the facts, journalist and columnist of the Estado de São Paulo newspaper Pedro Dória expresses [pt] some opinions:

Se o único objetivo da Petrobras fosse realmente transparência, era muito simples resolver: publica perguntas e respostas logo após os jornais levarem ao ar suas informações exclusivas. […] A questão real, a discussão principal da qual esta polêmica é só um capítulo, é a relação entre imprensa, empresas, governo e público. Estou longe das redações, então não sei como essa discussão está sendo encarada nas diretorias. Se eu tivesse que chutar, apostaria que ninguém está percebendo: a credibilidade da imprensa brasileira está lentamente sendo minada.

Commenter Bruno Stern adds [pt]:

Há uma coisa muito clara nessa história. A Petrobras chegou a conclusão de que, se depender do espaço na mídia tradiocional para defender suas posições, terá muitos problemas. Se há um partido da mídia, não sei. Mas que veículos como O Globo e Folha [de São Paulo] já entram nessa história com suas posições definidas tenho certeza.

On its blog, Petrobras also released [pt] the content of a letter from the Brazilian Press Association (ABI), an excerpt of which says:

A ABI considera legítima a decisão da Petrobras de criar um blog para divulgação das informações que presta à imprensa e especialmente aos veículos impressos, uma vez que as questões relativas ao seu funcionamento e aos seus atos de gestão interessam ao conjunto da sociedade, que não pode ficar exposta ao risco de filtragem das informações típica e inseparável do processo de edição jornalística. A empresa tem o direito de se acautelar, através das informações que difunde no blog, contra as distorções em que os meios de comunicação têm incorrido, como a própria ABI registrou em matéria publicada da edição de 31 de maio de um dos jornais que agora se insurgem contra o blog da empresa.

Emerson Luis expresses [pt] hope in such practice becoming part of private and government companies, and other institutions in Brazilian society, :

Importante: não basta somente que os órgãos públicos façam isso. ONGs, empresas, OCIPS, instituições, todas tem o direito de repetir a mesma prática, de divulgar suas informações na íntegra, antes das interpretações ruins ganharem as ruas. Todos tem o direito de se antecipar ao estrago iminente. É o direito, e, antes de tudo, de informar claramente.

In conclusion, the Brazilian journalism scene might be changing little by little, whilst Petrobras' stance represents something negative for some, to others it is the perfect solution for transparency and an actual democratic state and information.

Art: Luciano Matsuzaki and Mariana Lettis

On May 14th a protest [pt] against the Digital Crimes Bill proposed by Senator Azeredo to typify crimes on the Internet took place in São Paulo to promote debate. On May 25th, it was time for a demonstration in Porto Alegre. On June 1st, a similar protest happened in Minas Gerais and a new one is being planned now in Rio de Janeiro.

These protests have been called “Against the Digital AI-5” after the Brazilian dictatorship's Institutional Act Number Five or “AI-5“, the fifth, and considered the most cruel, of seventeen decrees issued by the military dictatorship in the years following the 1964 coup d'état in Brazil. Issued in 1968, AI-5 abolished freedom of expression by introducing the preliminary censorship of music, films, theater and television. Any work considered subversive to the political and moral values of the country was censored and artists jailed. AI-5 marked the transition to the toughest period of human rights violations in Brazilian history.

All over Brazil, mobilization against the proposed bill has been organized by a group of bloggers, who have put together a manifesto, a Twitter account and Mega Não! [Mega No!, pt], a blog created with the single purpose of gathering information and contributing to clarify what this bill might mean for Internet users in the country:

A proposta do Mega Não, é ser um meta manifesto, um agregador de informações e de diversas manifestações na Internet e fora dela, com o objetivo de combater o vigilantismo. Diversos núcleos ciberativistas estão surgindo e aumentando o discurso e a pressão popular contra o vigilantismo, tenta agregar, fomentar e ajudar a divulgar estes eventos é a nossa proposta, nos informe de seus movimentos, vamos juntar forças!!!

An online petition against the Digital Crimes Bill released back in 2008 has already gathered 146,627 signatures. Users of Orkut, one of the most popular online social networks in Brazil, have also entered this fight, since many of the demands of this bill are related to this specific social network. One of many related communities, “Não ao projeto de Azeredo” [No to the Azeredo Bill, pt], has already attracted 6,563 members.

Activists are also using Twitter as an informative tool for their meetings and collaborative blogging about the subject: the hashtags #meganao and #ai5digital are usually used by bloggers and tweeters and represent a source of information for those seeking updates on how to contribute to the campaign. In addition to this, many of the demonstrations' organizers, supporters and enthusiasts can also be found on Twitter, such as @caribe, @pauloteixeira13, @samadeu, @arlesophia and @myris. To keep track with all the details on the repercussions of the demonstrations and the Azeredo Bill itself, people are also using Delicious tagged bookmarks to gather information in one place.

"No, Azeredo", in São Paulo. Photo by Andre Deak, published under a Creative Commons license.

Another interesting fact is that mainstream media has not been covering this situation satisfactorily. For many Brazilian bloggers and Internet users, it looks like the media outlets, in addition to Internet companies and the government, are willing to see the bill approved, so that they will have control over what people say and do all over the Web. Antonio Arles (@arlesophia) comments on this in his blog [pt] and stresses how the Internet is useful to gather information about the demonstrations:

Participei (presencialmente ou via Internet) de pelo menos três atos este ano em que a Rede foi importante para a organização, difusão e transmissão: o Ato contra a “Ditabranda” da Folha, o Saia Gilmar e o Ato Contra o AI-5 Digital. E é justamente essa possibilidade de exercício da cidadania um dos motivos da adesão dos oligopólios midiáticos ao AI-5 Digital. A lógica é a mesma da dos órgãos de repressão do Império Soviético ou da Ditadura Civil-Militar Brasileira. Apesar de usaram a máscara de “democratas” - usando argumentos como o da liberdade quando seus interesses estão em jogo, tentando confundir “liberdade de imprensa” com “liberdade da empresa” -, os oligopólios midiáticos são fruto de uma ditadura. Em última análise, são uma das faces da Ditadura Civil-Militar que continuam vivas depois da redemocratização. A questão é que, para além dos interesses econômicos, a tentativa de criminalização e de aprofundar vigilantismo na Internet é uma tentativa de manutenção do monopólio da informação/opinião e, conseqüentemente, do poder.

Protest in São Paulo. Photo by Andre Deak, published under a Creative Commons license.

Whether this bill will be passed or not, it seems that the main aim of the Brazilian authorities is to indulge international copyright companies. In an interview for the Observatório do Direito à Comunicação blog [Observatory of the Right for Communication, pt] Paulo Teixeira, a PT [Labour Party] member of parliament for São Paulo, stresses:

Ele pretende (o Projeto de Lei Azeredo), em primeiro lugar, introduzir no Brasil uma coisa que alguns países estão introduzindo e que no Brasil, na minha opinião, nós não deveríamos permitir que se introduzisse. Ele está querendo introduzir os mecanismos de controle da internet para a garantia do direito autoral.

Signs read "Against the Azeredo Law Project" by @marioamaya

The Digital Crimes Bill has been discussed in several previous posts on Global Voices Online. Now it is up to activists, cyberactivists and Internet users to fight against the Digital Crimes Bill with even more strength. Otherwise, the Brazilian Internet might be turned into a place where people are guilty before they have even realized what they are being charged with.

Deaths were reported in areas where houses are condemned due to lack of infrastructure and the imminent risk of collapse, three of them in the neighborhood of Pirajá. Also, a mother and a daughter fell into a canal and were dragged away by the strong current. The mother's body was found on Wednesday morning, the daughter's only one day after, on May 7th.

The event, which was considered a catastrophe by the population, is another case of the type of natural disaster that in the past used to hit the city with less magnitude. In addition to this,  it reveals a lack of proper housing and urban planning in the biggest Brazilian cities, as local authorities neglect the unrestrained growth of houses and shanty towns on the slopes, further exposing residents to the risk of accidents and even death.

Photo by twitpic user @danielvbo

The North and Northeast regions of Brazil have been battered by heavy rain for some days. Thousands of people have been made homeless and many casualties have been reported. Wander Veroni, author of the blog Café com Notícias (Coffee with News), denounces [pt] the state of emergency. He says:

“Ao lembrarmos da tragédia das chuvas de Santa Catarina parece que a situação do Norte e Nordeste é ainda mais grave, principalmente no interior. Só no Ceará, centenas de famílias estão completamente ilhadas na zona rural e sem acesso à água potável, devido a adutora que foi destruída pela enxurrada. Já no Piauí, o governo estadual pediu ajuda ao Exército para socorrer a população atingida pela chuva.”

Edigarde Rodrigues (Edigarde Rodrigue's Blog, pt) argues critically about the situation. After highlighting that the population and the government have paid no attention to the North and Northeast states, he says:

“As regiões Norte e Nordeste do Brasil, que estão sofrendo com as fortes chuvas nas últimas semanas contam com 20 mortos e mais de 700 mil desabrigadas. Dos dez estados atingidos pelas enchentes o Piauí é o mais afetado com 50 mil desabrigados e 40% do seu teritório comprometido pelas enchentes. O mais intrigante é a indiferença da população do resto do país que ao contrário do que aconteceu no ano passado com os estados do sul ainda não fizeram nenhum tipo de campanha pública para angariar fundos de auxílio aos desabrigados.”

Photo by twitpic user @danielvbo

Liberdade Digital (Digital Freedom), on the other hand, wrote a post dedicated to the rains in the Northeast, calling for help from social network users to spread information about the situation and ask them to help those who were affected by the flooding:

“Esperando mais uma participação em massa da blogosfera brasileira, o L.D. faz um apelo: se você tem um blog, um site, uma lista de e-mail, participa de alguma rede social, ajude na divulgação desta informação. É fundamental que as empresas de transporte ajudem. É preciso sensibilizar também as companhias áreas e empresas de táxi aéreo para que emprestem helicópteros.”

During the floods in Santa Catarina, in the last months but especially in November 2008, Brazilian blogs had an important role in covering of the disaster. Reporting on the number of victims, floods, disappearances and how to assist those who needed help, news was updated constantly on many blogs. This time, the same kind of reaction has been scattered throughout the blogosphere and amongst Twitter and other social networks.

Journalist Sarita Bastos has recently published a map on Google Maps with information on the floods that includes ways to help the local population. The idea of the map consists in promoting collaboration among users of this technology and for each one to write testimonials of what they know about the events.

See the flood map in bigger size

Fundraising to help people has also started. “Balada Solidária” (Solidarity Party, pt), promoted by Cynthia Costa with the aim to direct part of the profit of bars and restaurants in the Piauí State's capital Teresina into the acquisition of food and donations is a highlight among the initiatives currently in place.

The Observatório do Clima blog (Climate Observatory, pt) has emphasized in a recent post the lack of infrastructure that makes cities unable to prevent disasters like this:

“[…] medidas concretas para um programa de adaptação consistente não existem no Brasil. No mês de abril,  Ivone Maria Valente, diretora de Minimização de Desastres da Secretaria Nacional de Defesa Civil, afirmou em entrevista à Agência Brasil que o país não está preparado para lidar com fenômenos extremos ocasionados pelo clima. O máximo que se ouviu falar em repercussão sobre o assunto é que a Câmara dos Deputados voltou a discutir o estabelecimento de um Fundo de Catástrofes, mas sem grandes avanços e sem que esse esteja relacionado a uma Política Nacional de Mudanças Climáticas.”

On the rebound, the state of Santa Catarina, in the south of the country, where the population suffered from the floods and landslides of last year, has now been hit by severe drought. James Pizarro, from the Antes que a Natureza Morra blog (Before Nature Dies, pt) adds to the information made public by Civil Defense agency. He says:

“A estiagem que castiga as regiões oeste e meio-oeste de Santa Catarina levou 31 municípios do Estado a decretarem situação de emergência, sendo que 11 deles em abril - Santa Helena, Maravilha, Princesa, Presidente Castello Branco, Seara, São José do Cedro, Descanso, Chapecó, Coronel Freitas, Sul Brasil e São João do Oeste. Todos esses municípios enfrentam problemas de seca desde o final do ano passado, mas a situação se agravou e as atividades agropecuárias estão bem prejudicadas, segundo informou a Defesa Civil.”

Photo by twitpic user @kingars

Reader and blogger Catarino, from Blog do Catarino (Catarino's Blog, pt), in answer to the post from Café com Notícias [pt], describes his indignation at the losses caused by climate change happening now in Brazil. According to him:

“As variações climáticas estão causando mais prejuízos para a população do que a crise econômica, pois são cidades inteiras em calamidade. Aqui no Rio Grande do Sul é a seca que acaba com as plantações e com o gado. Nesse ritmo logo a vida vai se tornar muito difícil em nosso planeta.”

Twitter: Collaborative journalism and social networks

In Salvador, during the rains that flooded the city, Twitter had its chance to shine as a social network tool that would help to show a detailed perspective of what really happened on that day, followed by a few local radio stations. In the opposite direction, mainstream TV stations and news websites – babbled brief news to the designated TV schedule only.

Whilst the mainstream media dedicated attention to a superficial coverage of the daily issues, the twittersphere was quick to act [pt] drawing the news profile in a collaborative fashion. News on traffic jams, landslides, robbery of drivers who were stuck in the gridlock, alternative ways to avoid flooding, in addition to pictures of flooded areas all over the city were a sample of the cyber-activism provided by the social network Twitter.

André Lemos, Associate Professor of the Faculty of Communication and Coordinator of the Cyberculture Center at UFBA (Federal University of Bahia), reported the experience as an “alternative media show” and as a “sample of how mass media is losing influence” in his blog (Carnet de Notes, pt). He states:

“Fui ver alguns jornais online locais mas não achei nada muito…informativo, ou algo que me servisse imediatamente e localmente. Abandonei e voltei ao Twitter, muito mais intenso, rápido e detalhado. E não tinha mesmo como ser diferente. No Twitter, acompanhando a tag #chuva e #salvador eram inúmeras pessoas escrevendo em tempo real […]”

Ana F. (Ana's Blog, pt) commented in Jornalismo de Bolso (Pocket Journalism, pt) her first hand account in following the hashtags #chuva and #salvador on Twitter:

“[…] ilhada como fiquei em casa, pude acompanhar e participar da cobertura em tempo real proporcionada pelo Twitter. Como comentei em outro blog: hoje, sites e jornais de nada me serviram. As decisões tomadas o foram graças à interação no Twitter.”

Photo by twitpic user @ksuella

The speed of the information on Twitter has exceeded the mainstream media coverage. In a sample of Collaborative Journalism, social network users made the headlines that would be seen on the news on TV later. Yuri Almeida, who also participated in the discussions on Twitter, posted [pt] on his blog Herdeiro do Caos (Chaos' Heir, pt):

“[…] os tuiteros de Salvador conseguiram mapear os principais problemas de alagamento, engarrafamento, arrastão e outras informações sobre o problema da capital baiana. O melhor: de forma colaborativa (textos e imagens), dialógica e auto-organizada. A turma atendeu aos pedidos e os tweets marcados com as hashtag #chuva e #salvador, o que resultou em uma memória informacional do fato. Não há dúvida de que a cobertura via Twitter [pt] foi a melhor da tragédia da cidade do Salvador.”

The photos above illustrate the chaos that the rain has brought to Salvador, taken by Twitpic users and are a sample of what is going on in the North and Northeast regions of Brasil. In addition to the photos, some residents uploaded footage of the city after the rain to YouTube. EdTitoBa sent a piece of footage of the Itaigara neighborhood that shows how the water stream flooded one of the avenues in Salvador: