Tag Archives: Brazil

Race + Color + Ethnicity

Brazil Feature | Black Brazilians

Video

Brazilian TV’s Race Problem

With the slow emergence of a black middle class in the country, demands have grown for more and better media representation among Brazil’s majority black and mixed-race population. Television has become a prime battleground for visibility and equal representation as Brazil continues the difficult process of shedding its history of racial repression. The Guardian takes a look at Mister Brau, Brazil’s new musical comedy at the forefront of that battle, its popular stars, and the cultural landscape it’s making a statement in.

Read more:
“Brazilian television slowly confronts country’s deeply entrenched race issues” (The Guardian)

Other coverage:
“Groundbreaking New Series – ‘Mister Brau’ – Gives Afro-Brazilians Representations to Cheer Despite Flaws” (Indiewire)

(Image Credit: Corbis & Getty Images, via The Guardian)

Nationality + Migration

Brazil News | Refugees

Brazilian president welcomes refugees as asylum process is expedited
  • President Dilma Rousseff reiterated Brazil’s openness to taking in refugees to support international efforts to provide haven to the millions of refugees pouring out of Asia and Africa.
  • In addition to granting 90-day tourist visas to asylum seekers awaiting their application results, the government approved a new program to simplify the asylum application process.
  • Brazil has led Latin America in providing asylum to Syrian refugees, having welcomed 1,740 into the country.

Read the full story at teleSUR.

Ideology + Affiliation

Brazil News | Journalists

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Provincial journalist covering government corruption murdered in Brazil, at least the 4th this year
  • Gleydson Carvalho became the 16th journalist reported killed since 2011 after gunmen stormed his radio program in Camocim, Ceará.
  • According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 65% of those murdered had been covering government corruption, with government officials suspected of responsibility in 52% of cases.
  • The targeted killings have taken place outside of Brazil’s major cities, where fewer law enforcement resources have led to stalled cases.

Read the full story at The New York Times.

Age
Brazil’s legislators eye controversial measure to lower the age of criminal majority from 18 to 16
  • The National Congress will vote this month on the legal status change as the country faces sky-high homicide rates, particularly in the state of Ceara, which sees 76.8 per 100,000 people murdered.
  • In Ceara (whose capital, Fortaleza, has been named the eighth most violent city in the world), adolescents commit 31% of violent crimes.
  • Under current law, Brazilian minors face a maximum three-year detention at “educational centers” for rehabilitation, which President Dilma Rousseff’s government would like to increase to 10 years rather than lower the age of majority.

“The solution is not to send them to adult prison. … This will give them a certificate in crime.”

More on this Washington Post story at the Guardian.

(Image Credit: Aurora Photos/Alamy, via the Guardian)

Religion + Belief
Recent attack on Candomblé followers fuels fears of religious intolerance amongst Brazil’s growing evangelical population
  • An 11-year-old and her family and friends, followers of the Candomblé religion, were attacked by a group of evangelicals while returning from temple.
  • The incident is one of a string of incidents in recent years involving abuse, beatings, forced evictions, and anti-Candomblé rhetoric.
  • Monitors have observed evangelical preachers espousing anti-Candomblé rhetoric to fortify their congregations, which have grown in share to 22% of the population from just 9% two-and-a-half decades ago.

“They want to make people ashamed to practise Candomblé, so they feel they have to turn to the church. …But how can you be a Christian with such hate in your heart?”

More on this story at The Guardian.

(Image Credit: Douglas Engle/AP, via The Guardian)

Religion + Belief
A Brazilian TV network agrees to broadcast religious freedom PSA following host’s anti-atheist comments.
  • Federal prosecutors took action after the incident in 2010, when host Jose Luiz Datena made the disparaging remarks suggesting atheists are more likely to commit crimes.
  • The Rede Bandeirantes network will run the piece on religious freedom 72 times until November.
  • Brazil’s constitution guarantees religious freedoms (including, in this case, freedom from religion), and intolerant speech can lead to fines or prison sentences for violators.

More on this story at BBC.

(Image Credit: BBC)

Nationality + Migration
Brazil accepts nearly 2,000 Syrian refugees, the second most in the Americas.
  • Brazil adopted measures to ease refugee entry nearly two years ago, according to its National Committee for Refugees.
  • Families find their livelihoods wiped away upon arrival, though NGOs and beneficence organizations help ease the transition through informal markets and language and professional courses.

“It was very difficult to leave our country, mostly because of our tradition…We chose Brazil because we heard that there is no prejudice here. It is a wonderful land that has received us very well.”

More on this Associated Press story at ABC News.

The Rounds

The Week’s Rounds

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Israel nixes bus segregation plans, the U.K. takes strong stance against undocumented immigrant labor, Russian bill looks to criminalize abortion procedures, a British Muslim woman takes on ISIS through poetry, Ireland celebrates passing of same-sex marriage referendum, and 35 other stories in this week’s news rounds… Continue reading The Week’s Rounds →

The Rounds

The Thursday Rounds

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Black Brazilian youth’s vulnerability to homicide, child grooms in Cambodia, police raids on Bosnian Muslims, a ruling on physician-assisted suicide in South Africa, and more in today’s Rounds… Continue reading The Thursday Rounds →

The Rounds

The Wednesday Rounds

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Alleged racism in English football personnel practices, the women among the most influential young Arabs, Germany’s struggle to eradicate xenophobic activity, China’s crackdown on Muslim identity, and more in today’s Rounds… Continue reading The Wednesday Rounds →

The Rounds

The Friday Rounds

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Charges in Freddie Gray’s case, the “godfather of African music” in Canada, male-only social clubs in London, and more in today’s Rounds… Continue reading The Friday Rounds →