Brasil Observer #34 - EN

WWW.BRASILOBSERVER.CO.UKLONDON EDITION ISSN 2055-4826 # 0 0 3 4DECEMBER/2015

2 brasilobserver.co.uk | December 2015

3brasilobserver.co.uk | December 2015


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CONTRIBUTORSAna Beatriz Freccia Rosa, Aquiles Rique

Reis, Franko Figueiredo, Gabriela Lobianco, Rachel Costa, Ricardo Somera, Wagner de

Alcântara Aragão

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SUMMARY6 IN FOCUS

Ambassador Eduardo dos Santos presents his credentials

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BR-UK CONNECTION Meet the project My São Paulo – Cafe Art Brazil

PROFILEHenrique Cazes and the sound of his Cavaquinho

CONECTANDOThe revolt of São Paulo’s students

NOWLearn what the Youth Agency Networks are planning

GUEST COLUMNIST Christian Laloe writes on the end of an era in Brazil

BRASILIANCE What to expect for Brazil in 2016?

BRASILIANCE The tragedy of Mariana and what to do now

GLOBAL BRAZILStudy reveals the new profile of the Brazilians in the UK

GUIDEBixiga 70: Instrumental Brazilian music to dance

CULTURAL TIPSMusic and literature with a Brazilian flavour

COLUMNISTSFranko Figueiredo, Aquiles Rique Reis and Ricardo Somera

TRAVELAna Beatriz Freccia Rosa takes you to beautiful Portugal

COVER ART Mag Magrela

magcrua.blogspot.com.br

Mag Magrela inspires herself throu-gh the Sao Paulo’s urban euphoria to transit around themes that show the mix of Brazilian culture, the faith, the “livelihood”. Her works express pain, suffering, and troubles of living in so-ciety, little daily barriers and feelings encrusted in our soul. With a sensible profile, Magrela proposes a deep mea-ning in her paintings, something that makes impossible to avoid the feeling expressed by the art. Plastic and graffiti artist since 2007, she spreads her pain-tings manly around Sao Paulo city, but also in Rio de Janeiro, her characters are exposed on walls enriched by the time, contrasting with the grey archi-tecture of the Brazilian metropolis.


B R A S I LO B S E R V E R

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E D I T O R I A L

It’s done. The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Eduardo Cunha, authorized on Wednesday 2 December the opening of the impeachment process of president Dilma Rousseff.

Much of the country, it is worth men-tioning, celebrated this news like a goal in football. We are witnessing a tragic specta-cle that has continued since the beginning of the year, and that seems to aim to make it impossible for the country to overcome the most urgent problems: public accounts on deficit, rising unemployment, galloping inflation, economic recession...

Whose fault is it? The favourite villain is Eduardo Cunha, of course, represen-ting all of the worst in Brazilian politics – he accepted the request for impeachment to shift the focus of the Ethics Commis-sion that may revoke his mandate. Or was it Dilma? It doesn’t matter. It does not matter either to define whether the situation is a coup or not. More urgent is to see that our political system is disinte-grating, with no sign of recovery until a minimal consensus in Congress is built. It is a time of opportunisms and insanity - that’s the painful factual truth.

The mistakes of Dilma’s government and PT (Workers Party) are innumera-ble – and, ultimately, the main inducers of the crisis now facing the country. In power, they behaved like the others and betrayed not only the progressive move-ment they still pretend to represent, but the hope of building a social democracy in a country deformed by centuries of inequality. Significant progress was made in the last decade. But the negation of politics as a means of confronting para-digms and building lines of passage for a new development cycle let the PT project to become unfeasible – even after Dilma’s victory in October 2014’s elections.

By promising the impossible on the campaign and hiding the challenges that the country would face in this transition cycle, Dilma and PT lost the political ca-pital necessary to keep changing the Bra-zilian reality. By adopting the discourse defeated at the polls, they lost popular support and urged the most retrograde opposition to come out. The government created, finally, the conditions for the im-peachment of the elected president to be discussed openly and daily. It is, after all, a

political process (read the article signed by Wagner de Alcântara Aragão).

And about the opposition, what is there to say? It is ironic that from Ar-gentina and Venezuela, countries usu-ally derided by the conservative parties, come the most important lesson. In tho-se countries, the “progressive” govern-ments of Christina Kirchner and Nicolas Maduro end up suffering electoral defe-ats. It is possible to win at the ballot box – that is democracy. In Brazil, however, anti-government parties want to take a shortcut, including PSDB (Brazilian So-cial Democracy Party), the main oppo-sition party that has always considered itself as republican.

But why does is happen? Four defeats in a row at the polls may be one explanation. The PSDB has long been unable to produce a national project compatible with the ho-pes of the majority of the population. Such incompetence in overcoming the PT at the polls is also one of the factors that made us reach the current state of political and economic crisis.

About PMDB (Brazilian Democratic Movement Party), there is not much left to talk about. This is the unfaithful party that holds the balance: they follow whoe-ver is in power and that’s it, nothing else matters for them.

It is necessary, however, to believe in Brazil. We have to believe in Brazilian so-ciety, even now that the pessimism is so dominant. The occupations of public scho-ols by youths in the city of São Paulo is one of the reasons for hope, despite the domi-nant narrative treat them as invaders (read the Conectando section). We must, after all, develop our democracy through the participation o f civil society. We must fi-ght the depoliticization that serves only to untouched politicians in offices. We need to politicize the politics, rescue the sove-reignty of the population.

This also applies for companies and business leaders, why not? Social achieve-ments are inseparable counterpart of sales, profits and investments. A more equal so-ciety is a key factor for good business.

Anyway, Brasil Observer wishes its readers a happy Christmas and a pros-perous New Year! We meet again in the February edition.

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IN FOCUS

EEduardo dos Santos officially took up the post of Ambassador of Brazil to the United Kingdom on 3 Decem-ber, when he went to Buckingham Palace to present his credentials to Her Majesty the Queen.

The credential letter is a for-mal letter sent by a Head of State to another, which formally grants diplomatic accreditation to a de-signated representative to be the ambassador of the country of ori-gin in the host country.

Ambassador dos Santos later made a speech in which he descri-bed the “strong and historic” rela-tionship between Brazil and the UK, which today includes significant bilateral trade, close cooperation in various important areas – such as education – and a friendly dialogue on major international issues.

“British companies are among the largest foreign investors in Brazil and Brazilian companies are increa-singly looking to the UK as a des-tination for their expansion abroad. Brazil is the UK’s most important trading partner in Latin America, with bilateral trade reaching US$ 7.1 billion in 2014. I am sure that this trade figure will increase signifi-cantly if we sign the free trade agre-ement between Mercosur and the

EU. I take this opportunity to thank the British Government for its su-pport for the proposal aiming at the exchange of offers between the two blocs in the near future”, said.

In education, the Ambassa-dor highlighted the deployment of partnerships made viable after co-ming 10,000 Brazilians to the Uni-ted Kingdom through the program ‘Science without Borders’.

“Another field that I would like very much to highlight is education. Of the one hundred thousand Bra-zilians who have received “Science Without Borders” scholarships sin-ce the programme was created four years ago, ten thousand have chosen the United Kingdom as their desti-nation. Encouraged by this success, Brazil and the UK have been suppor-ting postgraduate studies in science and innovation”, emphasized.

In addition, the Ambassador ci-ted the promotion of cultural ex-change between the two countries, and also highlighted the time it takes the post as special, to be less than a year of Brazil hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, that take place in Au-gust 2016. This is the third time that Eduardo dos Santos occupies a post as a diplomat in the UK.

In line with the global campaign ‘16 Days of Activism to Stop Violen-ce against Women’, launched by the UN, the Consulate General of Bra-zil in London held at the beginning of December two free lectures - in London (3/12) and Belfast (5/12) - focused on issues related to violence against women.

One of the key points was the te-lephone service ‘Call 180’, which is now available in the UK. The service is completely free, offers information, guidance and assistance to Brazilian women victims of domestic violence (physical and/or psychological) and sexual exploitation abroad.

The call is directed to the Cus-tomer Service Center for Women in Brasilia, which receives reports of violence, directs and guides women. The center operates 24 hours, every day of the week, including weekends and holidays. And the connection can be made from the UK. After this contact, the Consulate can contact the victims to assist or, if required, trigger local authorities.

The initiative is promoted by Brazilian federal government in or-der to extend support and assistance to Brazilian victims of domestic vio-lence, labor exploitation and human trafficking abroad.

AMBASSADOR PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO THE QUEEN

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IS LECTURE AT THE GENERAL CONSULATE OF BRAZIL IN LONDON

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Ambassador of Brazil, Eduardo dos Santos

during his speech when he presents his

credentials to Her Majesty the Queen at

Buckingham Palace

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More information: www.goo.gl/Nt6Sqv

DIVULGATION/MINISTÉRIO DAS RELAÇÕES EXTERIORES



GUEST COLUMNIST

g Christian Laloe is a financial market professional. He worked for 20 years in the international area of several renowned

institutions. Graduated in engineering, he monitors the work of some Think Tanks in Europe and Brazil.

By Christian Laloe

TThe year of 2015 will go down in the history of Brazil by its profound politi-cal and economic uncertainty. Just over a year after the re-election of President Dilma Rousseff, the country experiences a political paralysis associated with an economic recession that seems to have no end. GDP is expected to shrink by 3% this year, which means two consecutive years of negative growth, which has not happened in Brazil since 1930.

Despite the uncertainty in Brazil and worldwide, I am convinced that most of the population is subconciously convin-ced that structural changes are happe-ning and will continue to happen for some time. I like to characterize what we are living as “interregnum”, a vacuum period in history when we know that the “old” died and will not return, but in which the “new” has not yet emerged, le-aving us with little visibility ahead.

Some periods of “interregnum” were striking, such as the death of Emperor Qin, in China, and the rise of Li Bang, between 206-202 BC, beginning the Han Dynasty, which lasted nearly 500 years. Studying the history today, those times seem normal and predictable, but they sure were less obvious and peaceful for those who lived them.

The big question that many do today is whether what will emerge will be a continuation of what we already live sin-ce the post-war period, i.e. the same so-ciety based on credit and consumption, which in a way keeps the same work or-ganization, or if we are indeed at the end of an era (which began in the Industrial Revolution). The monetary stimulus sin-ce 2008 saw central banks of the United States, Europe, Japan, England and Chi-na, coupled with an exponential growth of technology, has led the organization of society and the means of production to be reviewed. This process is accelerated and we will know a new model very soon.

What draws my attention is that this vacuum that the world lives is manifold as there is in politics, geopolitics and the world economy.

Taking up an idea of Marx (which was based on studies of David Ricardo and Adam Smith): economic infrastructure determines the superstructure, i.e. how the production system is organized de-termines who will be in power. Throu-ghout the 20th century, we had pyra-midal structures with large companies, well-defined heads and hierarchies. Glo-balization changed this, making these structures more flexible, fully horizontal.

It seems to be a very interesting phe-nomenon caused mainly by the techno-logical and communications revolution that began in the 1990s. Society has been evolving much faster than traditional politics. This process leads to a lack of representativeness of the rulers. People never felt so poorly represented – most notoriously in democracies probably because of a pre-defined electoral agen-da that makes the politicians to become more a professional than a representative of the collectiveness.

Looking carefully, some leaders have followed a quite clear populist script,

either in Russia with a rescue speech of the Great Empire, or China’s Xi Jinping, who is considered the most popular lea-der since Mao. More recently, in Turkey, we had the re-election of President Erdo-gan, who has reversed in the last hour an adverse scenario, according to the polls. Are we witnessing an installation of po-pulist governments in emerging coun-tries and possibly more extreme ones in developed nations?

From the geopolitical point of view, the vacuum and uncertainty are no less worrying. It is well known what happens in the Middle East: a relentless war be-tween Shiites and Sunnis that goes from Yemen to Turkey and that will redefine the boundaries of the region in the next 20 years – which is a direct consequence of a forced rupture of the Ottoman Em-pire imposed by a fight of influences of European countries in the region. These changes mean that the relationship of most countries in the region with the Western countries will pass by a very likely review.

In Brazil, we have a young demo-cracy with some diseases of old cou-ntry. We have much to do in the areas of health, education and public safety. We have a structure of bloated govern-ment with higher public spending than the country can support, as well as an aging population process. On the eco-nomic front, we are also paying for the mistakes we made in the recent past and hoping lucidity causes meet again balance the public accounts, thus re-suming confidence, investment power and capacity for growth. I do not know when and how to get there, but I have a strong conviction that we will get. But how can I have such conviction?

For most accurate observers, 2015 was an extraordinary year in many as-pects. The main one is that so far, over the consolidation of our democratic process, we have managed to create and preserve strong institutions that will be-come even more solid and established as democracy matures. This is a slow and sometimes painful process, but it is the only one that is sure and perennial. In particular, the work of prosecutors and the Federal Police is to make our South American neighbours envy. There is no sign greater than this indicating that the country is moving forward in the right direction, despite everything else.

It is very easy, in conversations with friends, to be pessimistic, to think that tomorrow will be worse than today. Who has forgotten the great famine in Chi-na between 1958 and 1961 that killed 15 million people? Today China is the second world economy. Did those who were children at the time think they would live in the great nation that China has become? The same analogy can be made about Germany and Japan.

So we need to have courage to dare, transform, rethink what is already done. The time to do it is now. Brazil alrea-dy met similar or worse situations in its history and was able to restore. Such changes only depend on the will of so-ciety to evolve.

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PROFILE

AND HIS CAVAQUINHO

TThe setting could very well have been a botequim in Rio de Janeiro. Perhaps Amarelinho, a traditional bar located in Cinelândia, where sambistas used to go for memorable gatherings. However, in reality, the meeting happened in London, more precisely in front of Baker Street station: The Globe pub. After all, at least a (more or less) cold beer was to follow the interview.

The conversation was pretty much carioca. Because Henrique Cazes, who was born in the su-burban neighbourhood of Meier, in Rio de Janeiro, brings the tra-demark of the Marvelous City with him: samba, choro and the cavaquinho. Not to mention that those great names that make Rio an oasis of culture invariably arose: Waldir Azevedo, Radames Gnatalli, Joel Nascimento, Pixin-guinha, Jacob do Bandolim - to stay among those who inspired the character of this interview.

I asked Henrique how he would explain to an Englishman what ca-vaquinho is. “I start talking about the ukulele, that nowadays everyo-ne knows what it is, it is an ins-trument that is fashionable. Then I ask if they know where the uke-le comes from and explain that it comes from an instrument called the cavaquinho, which originally comes from Portugal...”

“This creates curiosity and when I play, many people are fas-cinated because the sound of the cavaquinho is more harmonious, more elaborate, so some say it was a throwback to the ukulele,” Hen-rique said when recalling the reac-tion which led for people used to the ukulele in Hawaii. “One im-portant way of speaking of choro

music,” he continued, “is to tell the adaptation of European dances.”

Rio de Janeiro in the middle of last century was known as the ‘city of pianos’. From the halls of the high bourgeoisie to the living rooms of the middle class, the piano used to play polkas, schottische, mazurka, waltz and other dances from Euro-pe. By adapting these genres, popu-lar musicians have added the Por-tuguese accent and introduced the common playful side to the music of African influence. Thus a tearful playing style was born - hence the name choro, which means ‘cry’ - which had Joaquim Callado its first exponent.

This was followed by other flutists as Viriato, Luizinho and Patápio Silva. After that came com-posers like Ernesto Nazareth and Anacleto de Medeiros, who paved the way for when, already in the 1910s, by the hands of genius Pixin-guinha, choro gained a definite sha-pe. Then came Jacob do Bandolim, Radames Gnattali, Waldir Azevedo and many others doing the choro to evolve, absorbing influences.

The history of choro, inciden-tally, is an important part of the ca-reer of Henrique Cazes, who in 2005 recorded the album Desde que o Choro é Choro (Since Choro is Cho-ro), going through the entire trajec-tory of rhythm. In addition, in 1998 he launched the book Choro, do Quintal ao Municipal (Choro, from the Backyard to the Theatre), which has become a reference for all who want to study and learn about it.

But if the cavaquinho was born in Portugal, why today is it con-sidered a Brazilian instrument? “The Brazilian cavaquinho created its own personality which began to

By Guilherme Reis

HENRIQUE CAZES

Cavaquinho chose me

RÔMULO SEITENFUS


be forged in the music of the last three decades of the 19th century when the radio met the samba; the Brazilian cavaquinho had an opportunity they never had in Por-tugal, which was the opportunity of professionalization, employing cavaquinho players on radios in Brazil; and not only on national radio, also in regional radio. Each radio had at least one regional group. So why has the cavaquinho developed more in Brazil? Becau-se in Brazil it had a chance in the music business,” Henrique argued.

THE BEGINNING

Likewise the cavaquinho be-gan to develop when it turned into a work tool. Henrique Cazes was taken by the ‘cavaco’ when a job offer came to play at Coisas Nossas group. “Cavaquinho chose me,” he said.

Like the vast majority of musi-cians, early influences came insi-de the home. “At home my father played guitar and my brothers star-ted playing. I was six years old when I started picking up the first chords on the guitar. My mother always sang the repertoire of Carmen Mi-randa, Aracy de Almeida and Eli-zeth Cardoso Elizeth... We used to play, all the family together, at par-ties,” he recalled.

When the disc Acabou Chorare was released from the band Novos Baianos, Henrique Cazes decided he wanted to learn how to play the cavaquinho. It was the year 1972, Henrique was 13 years old and the sound of the bandolim and cavaqui-nho on songs like “Brasil Pandeiro” made the young man venture into the new instrument. Still, he prefer-red the guitar, playing cavaquinho only in blocks of Carnival.

In 1976 came the turning point. Henrique was invited to play ca-vaquinho professionally in Coisas Nossas group and never stopped. In the first study, he had to learn a vast repertoire of songs by Noel Rosa, who introduced from the beginning to the universe of musical research. In 1980, he joined the Camerata Ca-rioca, where he worked closely with two musicians who influenced him greatly: the bandolim player Joel Nascimento and Maestro Radames Gnattali. About Camerata, Henri-que said “It was totally different be-cause I had to study music”.

The soloist career began in 1988 and that same year, he gave perhaps his main contribution to the world of cavaquinho: he launched the Modern School of Cavaquinho me-thod, the most widely used textbook of the instrument. Gaio de Lima, in fact, used this method of learning cavaquinho, although today he has the bandolim - like the cavaquinho, but with four pairs of strings - as his first instrument.

ACADEMY AND LEGACY

Aside from cavaquinho player, arranger and producer, Henrique Cazes is also a university pro-fessor. “My job as producer was primarily a fall from 2009, so I decided to open a different door and went for a Masters, to become a professor of the university,” he explained. Today, he teaches cava-quinho in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

“I tell my students: What I have to offer, more than know-ledge is experience. It is a great amount of experience as you be-gin to think it’s important to go ahead, both in an informal way as a formalized way within a course at the university. But, above all, is to reach a point in life and run less immediately things, trying to build something to let this expe-rience to be transformed into an organized knowledge”.

This experience has been ac-cumulated in over 100 produc-tions. “I stopped counting when I was 50 years old. But I coun-ted 127 productions between albums with bands, soil albums and albums I was producer or arranger,” said Henrique, who still does not feel totally com-fortable saying that he is part of the story of choro music. “It’s weird because I actually have a very young spirit. I’m always getting to do something I do not know. I went to do my Masters when I was 50 years. So, while I know I have a huge amount of experience, I’m always getting into something I do not know, like working with audio, old sounds and working to improve them,” he said.

Asked what he considered his most important works, he said: “The Pixinguinha de Bolso al-bum, with Marcello Gonçalves, was very important. We played the repertoire for three years to-gether before recording, so the studio was all very natural. The book Modern School Cavaquinho was also important, but the book on the history of choro ended up having greater meaning to my ca-reer; the book came out in 1998 and eventually became a referen-ce for everyone.”

Before we closed the inter-view, I wanted to know who had learned more: the cavaquinho with bandolim or bandolim with cavaquinho? This was the cue for Henrique to close his state-ments by giving a hint of what may happen in the future. “The bandolim learned from the cava-quinho in Joel Nascimento. Joel with bandolim reproduced what he saw Waldir Azevedo make with the cavaquinho. This thing comes and goes”.


GLOBAL BRAZIL

BRAZIL’S NEW

PROFILE IN THE UK

Study shows predominance of Brazilians who have taken

root in British soil, constituting family and social status

WWhat was once just a perception is now a fact: the profile of Brazilians living in the UK has changed. This is the conclu-sion of the most comprehensive study ever conducted on Brazilian immigrants on British soil, ‘Diversidades de Opor-tunidades: Brasileiros no Reino Unido, 2013-2014’ (or ‘Opportunities Diversity: Brazilians in the UK, 2013-2014’).

Conducted by five researchers of the Study Group on Brazilians in the UK (GEB, in Portuguese), the report says the fact that most of the Brazilians in the cou-ntry have completed higher education (29%) and decided to emigrate in search of a “life experience” (34%), and not just to “make money and return to Brazil” (17%).

There is not, however, a single pro-file of Brazilians in the UK, PhD Yara Evans, a visiting researcher at Queen Mary (University of London) and one of the authors of the research, said to the Brasil Observer.

“The Brazilian community is diverse, but in the recent past, between fifteen and ten years ago, perhaps there was a predomination of Brazilians who came here in search of economic opportuni-ties; Brazilians who came to work and capitalize, saving to invest in any way in Brazil and returning there after a few years. GEB report highlights a predomi-nance of Brazilians who have taken root in the UK, living here for several years, constituting family and managing to as-cend socially,” explained Evans.

Among the possible explanations for this change is the rise of a new middle class in Brazil and the fiercer immigra-tion control by the British government in recent years. In addition, the expansion of Brazilian higher education – nearly three-quarters of respondents (73%) said they had at least begun higher education in Brazil before migrating to the UK.

THE COMMUNITY

The survey data was collected betwe-en September 2013 and February 2014 through a questionnaire. In total 700 va-lid questionnaires were filled, which were available on the internet and in establish-ments that provide services to Brazilians, as diplomatic missions. Only adults who were born in Brazil and were residing in the UK for at least six months on the date of commencement of the research could participate in the study.

Despite being the largest sample ever obtained, the results cannot be consi-dered representative of the Brazilian community as a whole, since we do not know the actual size of the community in the UK, estimated at between 80,000 and 300,000 people, including those who have dual citizenship or are undocumen-ted – the vast majority of Brazilians in the UK lives in England (98.4%), espe-cially in the British capital, London.

According to data from the Bra-zil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, nearly 120,000 Brazilians were residing in the UK in 2012, which places the country as the third destination currently most sou-ght by Brazilians in Europe, only behind Portugal (140,000) and Spain (128,000).

According to the latest British Census, however, there were just over 52,000 Brazilians in the UK in 2011 – a significant increase compared to 2001, when there were just 8,000 Brazilian in the country.

Anyway, given the large number of participants in the survey, it can be said that the results are indicative of the characteristics and experiences of many Brazilians in the UK.

Almost half of Brazilians surveyed were between 30 and 39 years old at the time of the survey; about two-thirds (67%) were married or were living with someone; less than half (45%) declared to have children; and most were born or had the last residence in Brazil the state of São Paulo (between 31% and 35%), followed by Minas Gerais (betwe-en 11.7% and 12.3%) and Rio de Janeiro (between 10.6% and 11%).

IMMIGRATION STATUS

In this particular regard, the GEB points out that “the immigration laws in the UK have changed constantly over the past decade in order to tighten the im-migration control of foreigners coming from countries outside the European Community. Such changes have given rise

Brazil Day 2015 at Trafalgar Square


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contact (daily/weekly) with family and friends in Brazil, and Skype is the most used platform, followed by the telephone communication. Only a minority, while important (about a quarter of respon-dents), sent money to Brazil.

In terms of future plans, the study revealed a fragmented picture. About a third said to have no intention of living in Brazil, while another third intended to return to reside in Brazil, and just over one-third proved to be undecided about returning to live in Brazil.

The cost of living (50%) and lo-neliness (28%) were identified as the main difficulties of everyday life. Lan-guage (26%), housing (25%) and inte-gration into British society (23%) were also mentioned.

to a wide range of visa types that, in turn, produce complex immigration situations. However, only a small proportion of such visas apply to the case of most Brazilians who are admitted to the UK”.

At the time of research, Brazilians who reported owning European passports by descent were the majority (34%). This group is followed by Brazilians who re-ported having a European passport for marriage (22%). Similar proportions of Brazilians reported having indefinitely visa (11%) and work/residence visa (11% in each case). In smaller proportions are observed Brazilian that had a student visa (8%), and those who reported that they had obtained British citizenship by resi-dence time (5%) and those who had a tou-rist visa (1%). A small minority declared to be living in the country without a visa (5%), and another small group reported another type of immigration status (4%).

In terms of length of stay, most have lived in the UK for several years. Nearly two-thirds (64%) have lived in the cou-ntry for more than five years during the study period. Of these the largest share is to Brazilians residing in the UK be-tween 5 and 10 years (35%), followed by the group living between 10 and 20 years (24%). Of those who have lived for less time in the UK, it highlights those who

has lived between 1 and 5 years, cons-tituting the second largest contingent of sample (27%). Smaller portions were those that had come to the UK in the last twelve months (7%), and those who have lived here for over 20 years (5%).

ECONOMIC LIFE

The study inquired about the ac-tivities carried out by Brazilians in Brazil before emigrating and found that nearly two-thirds of respondents (68%) had worked before leaving their country of origin, followed by just over a quarter (26%) who stated that were student at the time.

On the activities carried out in the UK during the survey period, slightly more than half devoted to a remune-rated activity in full. Nearly a quarter (22%) worked and studied. A minority (14%) reported not having a paid job at all, and another group (12%) decla-red to devote to studies only.

A quarter of respondents carried out activities related to the business/ admi-nistration area, followed by consumer (12.2%) and cleaning (11.9%) services. Smaller groups reported exercising ac-tivities in the education sector (8.5%), health (7.4%) and construction (2.3%).

A minority (3.7%) did not declare the ac-tivity exercised, but a significant propor-tion (12.1%) reported engaging activities in another sector.

Of respondents who said they are working and studying in the UK, 41.6% were graduate students, while 30.7% were students of post-gradu-ation and 27.5% were English cour-se students. Of respondents who re-ported not working during the study period, the vast majority (77%) were dependent on a spouse. Other groups declared that they depend on income from Brazil (1.1%) and Fellowships (3%), or rely on another source (1.9%).

SOCIAL LIFE

The study also revealed that the social life of those surveyed usually revolves around activities directed to non-Brazi-lian or practiced in non-Brazilian envi-ronments, and the main exceptions are participation in religious activities and meetings at home.

Almost half did not express a prefe-rence for relationships with Brazilian and non-Brazilian but a third would rather relate only to non-Brazilians, and a fifth would rather relate only to Brazilians.

The vast majority maintains frequent

MAINTAIN THE SAME SOCIAL LEVEL IS A MAJOR CHALLENGE

Even with higher educational levels, Brazilian immigrants struggle to keep in the UK the social level it had in Bra-zil. Except in situations where he or she reaches the country with employ-ment in his or her area of expertise, the Brazilian here often experiences a situation of “social descention”, as the specialists say.“The descention occurs mostly becau-se of lack of knowledge or command of the English language, and is not an exclusive experience of Brazilians, occurs in several other immigrant groups,” said Yara Evans.“So even if they have obtained a high degree qualification in Brazil, if the-se Brazilians who arrive here do not have sufficient command of the lan-guage, they realize immediately that it is very difficult to compete in an open labour market where people from all countries compete, including those where English is the first lan-guage (United States, Canada, Aus-tralia etc.),” added one of the authors of the study.Evans also noted that other factors may weigh as working time in the area and level of training. “Until they meet such requirements, it remains the Brazilians the most immediate solution is to work in so-called ‘un-der-employment’, which here mainly involve activities such as waiters/wa-itresses, dishwasher, couriers, cons-truction (men especially), cleaners and babysitters (mostly women). ““However,” caveats Evans, “given the community size in the UK, there are many job opportunities in services aimed exclusively for Brazilian and other immigrant groups who commu-nicate in Portuguese, such as perso-nal aesthetic, preparation service and food home delivery, trade of Brazilian products, legal services, transpor-tation services, which can provide maintenance here the same social status they held in Brazil.”


BR-UK CONNECTION

THE CITY UNDER A NEW LOOK“W“When they delivered the cameras in our hands,

it looked like there was nothing beyond that,” recalls Matheus Leandro Barbosa, who is living rough in São Paulo, where he has been living for five years, coming from Bahia. Matheus is one of the hundred homeless people in Brazil’s biggest city who participated in the project, called My São Paulo – Cafe Art Brazil, born from the With One Voice program, an exchange of training and debate about art and street population between Brazil and England.

The initiative is a production of British or-ganizations Streetwise Opera and People’s Pa-lace Projects and also has the support of the Secretariat for Human Rights and Citizenship of São Paulo, besides the support of the British Council Brazil and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation UK.

The calendar My São Paulo was based on the project designed by UK-based Cafe Art, which since three years ago connects people on the streets, through art, with the local commu-nity. Each year, the organization promotes the My London photo competition, distributing a hundred disposable cameras to the English capital’s homeless population, which records, in pictures, the life of the city. The best images taken by the participants go on a calendar, with proceeds going to groups working with art and the homeless.

In São Paulo, every photographer had 27 clicks to record their impressions of the city. Of the 100 cameras, 92 were returned – a number never before attained by the project. Matheus, for example, had two pictures cho-sen to illustrate the calendar in the months of August and September. “I wanted to register people I meet on the street, because I think this project is precisely to tell these stories.” Diogo Virolli, another participant whose pho-to illustrates the month of February, clicked a house without windows that much resem-bled the house he lived as a child, in Bahia. “I remembered my childhood, which was very happy,” he says.

In all, over 4,500 photos were shot. A jury then selected the top 20, which were subse-quently sent for a popular vote during the Art and Culture Seminar for homeless people, which occurred on 10 November in São Paulo. Paul Ryan, director of Cafe Art, points out that the project is more than a competition: “It is a step forward for society approaches the ho-meless population, know their stories. It’s not about the pictures. It’s about people who take the pictures.”

The calendar will be released between 6 and 13 December, during the Humans’ Rights Festival of São Paulo, with the presence of photographers and an exhibition of the best photos taken by all 92 participants. The print run will be limited and will be sold for R$ 25 in Brazil and £ 9.99 in the UK. All income will be used to support art projects with the street population of São Paulo, to continue the ini-tiative in 2016.

To learn more about the project and to purchase a calendar in the UK, please email [email protected] titled Cafe Art Brazil.

House whitout window captured by Diogo Virolli

Two Matheus Barbosa’s chosen photos

One hundred cameras were given to one hundred homeless people living on the streets of São Paulo. They had two days to capture their perspectives

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THINGS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN

BRASILIANCE

President Dilma Rousseff ’s

impeachment threat makes the political

and economic environment

even more unpredictable and unstable in Brazil

through 2016

FFortune tellers, astrologers, eco-nomic analysts, political scientists. Anyone forecasting Brazil’s future, especially for the New Year, faces a difficult task. A succession of epi-sodes in the latter months of 2015 makes it virtually impossible to pre-dict what 2016 holds for Brazil.

The latest of these events is the threat of impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff. Not that it was not in vogue since Dilma began her se-cond term in January. However, from 2 December until now, when the pre-sident of the Chamber of Deputies, Eduardo Cunha, accepted Dilma’s re-moval request, the possibility, incre-asingly remote, reignited.

The Brasil Observer talked to two figures who were among the prota-gonists when, over 20 years ago and for the only time in Brazilian history, the impediment of a president (Fer-nando Collor de Mello in 1992) was processed and approved. They are lawyers and former holders of elected office, Sérvulo Sérgio da Cunha and Gastone Righi. The goal: get their prospects for Brazil next year – more precisely, in the coming months.

UNCERTAINTY

Gastone Righi was federal depu-ty in 1992 by PTB (Brazilian Labour Party) of São Paulo, and chaired the Board of the Special Committee set up to give the opinion about the im-peachment that was welcomed by the House. The impeachment accepted had been filed by the Bar Association of Brazil (OAB) and the Brazilian Press Association (ABI). Sérgio da Cunha Sérvulo, then affiliated with the PSB (Brazilian Socialist Party) and deputy mayor of Santos, was one of the prosecutors in the impeach-ment of Collor.

Both Gastone Righi and Sérgio Sérvulo da Cunha think the future un-certain. “We cannot predict anything,” says Sérvulo, who less than 24 hours before the application for Rousseff ’s impeachment has been accepted, dis-carded altogether this risk, and had to change his mind. The reporter who signs this text had talked to Sérvulo

about 2016, on the afternoon of 2 De-cember. Precisely because of the expe-rience he had accumulated in the 1992 impeachment process, it was asked if the ghosts will continue to haunt the country next year.

He said that without consistent basis and without tack on the streets, “the impeachment would come out of the agenda in 2016”. A few hours la-ter, however, a blackmail movement of Eduardo Cunha announced accepta-tion of one of Rousseff ’s impeachment request. Facing the turnaround, Brasil Observer had to come back to talk to Sergio Sérvulo. “Didn’t I say that it is difficult to predict anything? You can even tell this story, that I had said so-mething and hours later just the oppo-site happened, to illustrate this surreal moment. Brazil is surreal,” he said.

WITHOUT PRECIDENT

Sérgio da Cunha Sérvulo and Gastone Righi note that the reasons for Dilma’s impeachment request ac-cepted by the representative of the Chamber are no reason for preven-ting the President of the Republic. The request is based on the failure by the Federal Audit Court (TCU), the accounts of the federal government in 2014. Last year, the government repeated a common practice in the last 20 years: accounting manoeu-vres, called “tax pedalling” made by the National Treasury. The TCU’s di-sapproval remains to be seen (to be endorsed or rejected) by Congress.

Otherwise, adds Sergio Sérvulo, the compliance of the request for im-peachment took place in “anomalous” circumstances: it was accepted by a member of parliament investigated for serious accusations of corruption, threatened to be tried (and loss of of-fice) on the Ethics Committee of the House, and even at the risk of having decreed prison at any time. Eduardo Cunha, from PMBD (Brazilian Demo-cratic Movement Party), without the support of the party of the president on the Ethics Committee, the PT (Worke-rs Party) assumed an act of retaliation decided to initiate eventual Dilma’s im-peachment process.

For Sergio Sérvulo, it is not unli-kely that the Federal Supreme Court (STF) will be urged to intervene in the process. “I think Dilma will try to challenge it, and there is possibi-lity of the Supreme Court dent yes.” Yet for the impeachment of the pro-secutor of Collor in 1992, this time there is little chance the coming months there is broad popular mo-bilization in favour of Dilma clea-rance. “It is difficult to predict. But while Dilma is not ‘good in the pic-ture’ it does not mean that society is willing to take to the streets to de-fend an impeachment process that was born weak, compromised, and with no consistent motivation.”

AFTER THE STORM

Despite having doubts about the role PMDB (Eduardo Cunha and vice president Michel Temer party) will play, the former deputy Gastone Righi believes that the trend is Dil-ma will escape. In the evaluation of Gastone Righi, despite the storm that Brazil will face in the coming months around the impeachment discussion, when the process is finished – and especially in a Dilma staying scena-rio – 2016 could represent a recovery of political stability that can make the country regain its upright.

“It is a danger that exists, the possibility of PMDB – which has been characterized by patronage – to support the impeachment. But it seems that Rousseff and the PT want to hasten this process, to see if it can be overcome. If there is no betrayal of the PMDB, [the prospect] is the impeachment to be filed”, projects Gastone Righi.

The former deputy, who during the impeachment of Collor voting was the only parliamentarian to abstain, underscores that there is nothing that motivates the removal of Dilma. “In Collor we also had no real legal reason. It was a totally political issue. In the case of Dilma as well. The ‘tax pedaling’, all pre-sidents have used this instrument. The impeachment process is not a legal process, it is political.”

By Wagner de Alcântara Aragão


MORE RECESSION ON THE HORIZON

2015 – BRAZIL’S GDP PERFORMANCE 2016 – BRAZIL’S GDP X WORLD ECONOMY

If the government insists in fiscal adjustment, 2016 will not be encouraging for the Brazilian economy, warns economist Guilherme Santos Mello, a researcher at the Centre for Studies on Policy Conjecture and Economics Institute of Unicamp and Professor of Facamp.

BRASIL OBSERVER | With recent new bud-get cuts, the federal government signals that the fiscal adjustment policy will have no truce in 2016. Should it be like that or, given the projection of two consecutive declines (2015 and 2016), the government may in the course route loosen the adjust-ment to soften its recessionary effects?

GUILHERME SANTOS MELLO | If the go-vernment insists on this strategy to re-duce spending in the wake of falling re-venues, will only deepen the recession and further reduce public revenues. It is an endless strategy, as has been shown in Europe where after the fiscal crisis we have seen years of social crisis, unem-ployment and recession. I believe the government should seek alternatives to expand its fiscal space, resume public investment and thus encourage private companies to produce. For this, the go-vernment could take advantage of the strength of Brazil today: we have many reservations and little need for dollar, given the improvement in our trade balance and current derivative transac-tions of the currency devaluation. The government could use something like 10% of the reserves (35 billion dollars), convert into reais (which would reduce the tendency of devaluation that will come with the increase in American in-terest rates) and create an investment fund, which should also rely on credit of multilateral institutions such as the Bank of the BRIC countries. By creating this fund, the government should choo-se investment projects already properly licensed, with good executive projects, to improve infrastructure and produc-tivity as a way to again boost growth. Future income from these investments (whether in the form of concessions, either as resulting from its use income) would be again converted into values to finance new projects, thus becoming a public investment stabilization fund, very useful at times like this.

BRASIL OBSERVER | Are there are also some perspectives of the economic policy followed by the reduction path, albeit gradual, of interest rates, or in this respect also we have nothing very different for 2016?

MELLO | If the central bank believes that the current real interest rate clo-se to 4.25% is sufficient to reduce in-flation, there is no reason that it does not maintain the same criterion in the coming months. Namely maintaining real interest rates at the current level – one of the world’s largest ones – should guide the BC strategy, making for inflation gives little sign of abating, the interest nominal fee also begin to be loosened. Although this scenario is ideal, it seems to me that the Central Bank should be more conservative and just start to lower interest rates when the 2016 inflation expectations conver-ge back into the target, which can raise the real interest rate at the beginning next year, even without a nominal in-crease of the Selic.

BRASIL OBSERVER | The IMF projections indicate a growth in world GDP of about 3%; advanced economies and the BRIC countries (except Russia and Brazil) should also register slight growth. This improvement in the international arena can serve as encouragement relating to the Brazilian economy in 2016?

MELLO | The international scenario will only help the Brazilian economy if cou-ntries that pull global growth extend imports of Brazilian products. The Uni-ted States return to growth does not solve the problem of Brazil if they are not willing to import our products, as seems to be the case. Moreover, the global economic recovery is fragile and uncertain, driven primarily by China and to a lesser extent, the United States. The Chinese slowdown impacts us directly, reducing an important market for our exports and lower commodity prices. I tend to believe that, despite a possible breath of the external sector, we cannot and should not bet on it to pull the re-sumption of domestic economic grow-th. For this, it is essential to reactivate investment, something that the current scenario is only possible if the govern-ment finds a way to finance them so as not to increase debt. That’s why I insist on the proposed use of the reserves for the creation of a stabilization fund in-vestments in the country.

IBGE’s National Accounts:• Accumulated in the year

(January-October): -3.2%• Accumulated in 12 months

(ending in October): -2.5%

*Compared to the previous period

Projections of the International Monetary Fund:• Brazil: -1%• World GDP: 3.6%• Latin America: -0.3%• Advanced economies*: 2.2%• China: 6.3%• India: 7.5%• South Africa: 1.3%• Russia: -0.6%

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*Including US and Euro Zone

End of blackmail: Eduardo Cunha spends his last cartridge; left over the uncertainties on the government Dilma Rousseff


JUSTICEWWhen the Fundão dam burst in Ma-

riana on Thursday 5 November, there were few immediate reactions. The exaggerated silence seems to be ex-plained by an extremely bad calcula-tion on the actual size of the human and environmental catastrophe that began when those 55 million square meters of waste broke the tank barrier: trees, shrubs, horses, people, houses, cars and finally a river. Not a simple river, but an arm of water of over 800 kilometres long, on the banks of whi-ch live more than 3 million people, home of one of the few Atlantic forest reserves of the country (the State Park of Rio Doce) and that, despite the salty destination, has “sweet” as name.

When the mud of Fundão entered into the Rio Doce, Brazil’s Geologi-cal Service issued a notice alerting 15 counties in two states about the risk of flooding. The service estimated that the “brown tsunami”, as it was nickna-med, would reach the sea on Tuesday 10 November. The forecast, however, did not materialize. Instead of a short trip and barely perceptible by the clear waters of the Rio Doce, the brown spot of mining tailings went down awkward and slow. Every new city hit, a flood of photos and videos on newspapers and social networks, mixing the panic of local people to the misery of the river.

To the extent that the mud went down, the tragedy took shape: 13 deaths, 18 missing people, hundreds of kilometres of committed river and not yet calculated damage to the Atlantic Ocean in the greatest tragedy caused by the disruption of mining dams in Western countries since 1985. That year, two dams on a flerovium mine broke in Stava, in Northern Italy, launching 38,000 square meters of waste in nature and killing 269 people.

Returning to Brazil, President Dil-ma Rousseff, who was born in Minas Gerais State, epicentre of the tragedy, visited the area only one week after the collapse of the dam. Another 21 days were needed for the Institute for the Management of Minas Gerais Wa-ters to publish the results of analyzes on the river waters during the mud journey to the sea, showing high le-vels of arsenic, cadmium, lead, chro-mium, nickel, mercury and copper in the samples. These are opposite to the results released by Samarco, a com-pany that since the day of the dam break came claiming that the tailin-gs were not toxic. It has taken a long time to find that the dam capacity was much higher than the 39 million cubic meters declared by Samarco to the environmental agencies.

REACTION

The lack of clarity regarding what has taken place and the slowness in respon-ding to the problem were criticized in a United Nations report released on 25 November. In the text, the reporters John Knox, an expert on human rights and Baskut Tuncak, an expert on hazardous substances considered “clearly ineffi-cient” the steps taken by companies Vale and BHP Billiton, as well as the Brazilian government. “It is not acceptable that it took three weeks to have information on the risks of contamination”, reported the experts. “Government and companies should be doing everything to prevent future damage, including exposure to he-avy metals and other pollutants.”

The international tug of ears seems to have woken up the Brazilian government. In the same week, the Environment Mi-nister, Izabella Teixeira, and the General’s Office Attorney, Luis Inacio Adams, an-nounced that the Union and the gover-nment of the two states affected by dam break would file a suit of 20 billion reais against Samarco, Vale and BHP. “It is the biggest environmental disaster Brazil has ever seen. And it’s not a natural disaster, it is a disaster caused by an economic ac-tivity, then we need damages repairs, in addition to the fines,” the minister said during the announcement.

The same tone was adopted by Pre-sident Dilma Rousseff in Paris. During the COP, she reiterated the responsibili-ty of companies in the tragedy and pro-mised action. “We are responding with heavy punishment measures, support to affected populations, and prevention of recurrence and also severely punish those responsible for this tragedy,” said the president.

NEW RISKS

Punishment, however, does not end the nightmare lived by the communities affected by the dam spill. After the tra-gedy, it emerged that two other nearby dams, Germano and Santarem are also committed and are in danger of bre-aking up. If this occurs, the damage will be considerably expanded: the Germa-no dam alone stores an amount of waste equivalent to four times the size of the dam of Fundão.

The fear that an even greater disaster strikes led to a court decision published on Friday 27 November, determining the emptying of the hydroelectric plant of Risoleta Neves, about 100 km from Mariana. The plan is, in case of further disruption use the reservoir to contain the waste, preventing them from tra-velling again across the river, going to pour the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

By Rachel Costa

FROM MUD TO CHAOS

November 5

The village of Bento Rodrigues in Mariana, is completely destroyed by tailings from a mine operated by Samarco, a company controlled by giants Vale and BHP.

November 6

The Geological Service of Brazil launches its first alert to 15 cities bathed by the river and estimates that the mud would reach the sea on 10 November, forecast that did not materialize.

November 9

The mud gets to Governador Valadares, the first big city hit, cutting the water supply to its 278 thousand inhabitants, totally dependent on the Rio Doce waters.

November 12

Just a week after the tragedy, President Dilma Rousseff, who was born in Minas Gerais, visits the region.

November 16

The mud tsunami reaches the Espirito Santo State at the city of Baixo Guandu.

55 million m3 of mud followed Rio Doce below while public authorities and companies involved watched the tragedy unfold

ROGÉRIO ALVES/TV SENADO REPRODUCTION


EVEN IF DELAYEDAfter the breakup of the Fundão dam in Minas Gerais, Brazil has the challenge of responding to the largest environmental disaster in its history and serving justice for those affected by the tragedy

In addition, the court ordered the creation and implementation of an emer-gency plan for the evacuation of commu-nities that may be affected if a new tra-gedy occurs. After the tragedy in Bento Rodrigues, it was discovered that six ye-ars ago Samarco had hired one security specialist company, RTI (Rescue Training International) to create emergency plans for their units in Pará, Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais. The proposal, however, never got off the ground.

In an interview to the newspaper Estado de Minas, the director of RTI, Randal Fonseca, said the Samarco pre-text for inaction was the inability to invest in security due to the economic crisis. “The document included popula-tion training in case you need to leave the site with security,” said Fonseca. The training, as well as other proposed ac-tions never happened.

When Fundão broke, the mobiliza-tion of the community prevented fur-ther deaths. People like Paula Alves, who worked in the mine area and received the breaking news as it happened. Without blinking, Paula picked up her motor bike and ran toward the village to warn others about the sea of mud coming toward the village. In a story full of villains, Paula be-came a hero: without her, much of Ben-to Rodrigues residents would have been swallowed up by the mud.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

A month after the breakup and the tailings dam scattered mud and debris from Mariana to the Atlan-tic Ocean, it is not yet clear exactly what the environmental impact of the tragedy, nor how long it will take to recover the areas hit by the brown tsunami that came down from Fun-dão. Only in fish, the Brazilian Insti-tute of Environment and Renewable Resources (IBAMA) said nine tons of dead species after the passage of the waste, six of them in the section of the Rio Doce in Minas Gerais and the rest in Espirito Santo. How many other animals and plants will die by deteriorating water conditions, it is difficult to calculate.

As noted geochemistry Kendra Zamzow, from the Centre for Scien-ce in Public Participation (CSP2) in the United States, even though the heavy metals found in the river are attached to sediment, which reduces the risk of contamination of the wa-ter, there are other issues that need be monitored from now on. The main one is the deposit of waste on the river bottom, which can lead to the formation of a sort of “cement”, affecting the lives of the entire aqua-tic ecosystem.

HOPE FOR CHANGES

With the bleak picture of devas-tated river and communities through the mud and a history permeated by cases of inertia and inefficiency of the government and companies, what is left is to look to the future and hope that at least this can be a lesson. Not only for Brazil, but for the world, says geophysicist David Chambers, also from the CSP2. Chambers has created a database with the registry problems in tailings dams around the world, co-vering the entire last century.

By rescuing and gathering this information in one place, the resear-cher found that while there has been a reduction in the number of events with advancing technologies, disrup-tions have become more serious over the years. In Chambers’ database, the largest concentration of many serious accidents was in the first decade of the 21st century. Between 2000 and 2009 there were 10 disruptions to this clas-sification around the world. In com-parison, between 1950 and 1959, there was no very serious event. The forecast is that the same average observed over the past decade will repeat until the end of this decade, with an average of a large dam break each year. Fundão was just one of them.

The problem, says Chambers, is far from being only Brazilian. “When I divulged my study, the response I received was that a great disruption would never happen in North Ame-rica. Six months later, there was the dam break in Mount Polly,” says the geophysicist, referring to the disaster in Canada in 2014, when 23 million cubic meters of tailings were released into the environment, affecting water supplies in the region and destroying a lake used for salmon farming.

That’s why Chambers believes the Brazilian case could encourage the cre-ation of international standards to help set limits to mining. “When there is a disruption of these, you need to restore the environment, pay people who had destroyed homes, lost lives, destroyed businesses... All this needs to be com-pensated and the government has no financial security to cover this expense. It depends on the companies, which is a problem because insurance companies will not cover disasters caused by the rupture of dams,” says the expert, who advocates the creation of funds held by their own mining companies that can cover costs in cases of emergency. “I do not know how strong environmental regulation is in Brazil, but the country certainly has a lot of mining and is very impacted by it,” says Chambers.

November 17

Samarco recognizes that Germano and Santarém, the other two nearby dams also face disruption risks.

November 22

The brown stain of waste invades the sea in Linhares, Espirito Santo, changing the color of the water.

November 25

UN asks Brazilian government and the companies involved to take immediate steps to protect the environment and communities.

November 27

Vale announces the creation of a voluntary fund for the recovery of Rio Doce, without informing values and disclaims liability in damages to those affected by the tragedy.

December 4

At an event held in London, under protest of demonstrators in the hotel entrance, Vale says it expects all displaced by the tragedy to be in permanent homes until Christmas.

FRED LOUREIRO/SECOM-ES GUI TAVARESROBERTO STUCKERT FILHO/PR


CONECTANDO

STUDENTS OF SÃO PAULO REFUND THE CITY

Revocation of state governor’s decree that would close 93 public schools proves that occupations are a legitimate political method

By Alceu Luís Castilho, from Outras Palavras www.outraspalavras.net

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Students protest against school closures


TThe São Paulo’s state governor Geraldo Alckmin won checkmate in the first week of occupations in the city of São Paulo. But it took a while for him to realize it. Even more than it took the president Dilma Rousseff took to realize the scale of the disaster in Mariana (MG). Students made a masterstroke. Occupying public schools that would be closed led to the state government to be seen as truculent – which would only be exacer-bated in the event of repossession.

It was an alternative to street protests, prematurely aborted by bla-ck blocs. These were isolated by high school students, in front of the Bandeirantes Palace, as they tried to break down the bars. The violent method served the government – and public opinion – to discredit the movement. But the new generation of teenagers from São Paulo was more mature than traditional militants. They did not give up. They met in assemblies and conquered territories.

And the territories were the public schools, initially the ones that would be closed in the reorganization scheme announced by the state government. What made the traditional criminalization by the corporate media to sound ridiculous: this came to report that “students invaded schools”. How to repeat that they did not want to take lessons, if it was the schools they were fighting for? Geraldo Alckmin did not know what to do. He seemed only hope that the movement would eventually stop.

But it spread. It doubled the goal. Until Friday, 4 December, when the governor gave up the reorganization and fired the Secretary of Education, 196 schools were occupied, more than double the 93 schools he wanted to close. It got so lopsided it looked like teenagers playing a game of chess, while Alckmin staunchly applied to a game of checkers – binary.

Like any political battle, this is also a communication battle. And who usually defends the state government and its truculent police found itself suddenly as defeated as the governor. The miracle of multiplication of the word “invasion” in the titles was gradually being perceived as so-mething alien. It could be only our newspapers to criminalize the politi-cal method of occupations – as if they were very dangerous creatures to threaten people or public property.

DEFEATED PRESS

That’s why the historic victory of students also means a win against a way of making political journalism. Although disguised as political journalism, hidden in the name of “impartial” news, it is no longer perceived as such. Datafolha, from the last week of December – which showed the fall in popu-larity of Alckmin and the popular support for the occupations – also showed that the press had a great defeat. And so it has to rethink.

The implications are many. But it is worth insisting on the political weight of calling occupations as “invasions”. If demonstrated (with the approval of the judiciary) that occupations are legitimate, how to continue perpetuating the discursive criminalization – that generates repression – in the titles about homeless and landless people, and students?

Meanwhile, the chess game of the high school students was mana-ging communication in a contemporary way. Using the city as one of the pieces. Occupying the EE Fernão Dias Paes school in Pinheiros, meant to bring the discussion to the expanded canter, more visible, a dispute that could have stayed in the suburbs – those that tend to be criminali-zed without the São Paulo’s middle class feel guilty. Students catapulted from there, demanding changes.

And they communicated. Through groups in WhatsApp, with the help of social networks, the counter-hegemonic press (ready to report government and police abuses), and knowing how to use one’s own coverage of the mains-tream media. This would not distort the facts all the time, for a long time – and was forced to witness the largest urban manifestation in network that we know in the 21st century, in this country that got used to seeing cities as just something sprayed.

A NEW CITY

The city of São Paulo has just been reinvented. Students from all over the city occupying schools with politics, art, culture and self-management capacity showed to the whole country – not just to this governor suddenly lethargic – there are other ways of thinking about the city, not just as a suc-cession of isolated buildings.

The city has a new centre. It is everywhere and has the school students signing their freedom. It has just been inaugurated in São Paulo as the re-possession of political struggle. The streets full of right-wing people exposing their depoliticization (to the point of taking selfies with military) are not usu-ally free for those who have a list of leftwingers. So students sought the vir-tual streets and barricaded; and the trenches were an indisputable territory: schools. Public ones.

“É O ENCONTRO DO AFROBEAT COM O DOM MUSICAL BRASILEIRO E DEIXA O OUVINTE SUSPIRANDO DE ADIMIRAÇÃO” MUSIC NEWSRICH MIX SEXTA 29 JANEIRO COMONO.CO.UK

BIXIGA 70CRIOLODOMINGO 24 ABRIL KOKO KOKO.UK.COM 0844 847 2268UMA DAS ATRAÇÕES DO O FESTIVAL DE MÚSICA LATINA DE LONDRES

lalineafestival.com @lalineafest lalineafestival

AN ALBUM OF BRAZILIAN RESISTANCE SONGS UM DISCO DE CANÇÕES BRASILEIRAS DE RESISTÊNCIA

SUNG BY MÔNICA VASCONCELOS PUT TOGETHER WITH THE HELP OF ROBERT WYATT

INTERPRETADAS POR MÔNICA VASCONCELOS NA PRODUÇÃO, UMA MÃOZINHA DO AMIGO ROBERT WYATT

JOIN OUR CROWDFUNDING EFFORT. BE PART OF THIS MOVEMENT! WWW.IGG.ME/AT/THESAOPAULOTAPES

THE SÃO PAULO

TAPES

THE SÃO PAULO

TAPES


DNETWORKS FOR NEXT SUMMER

APOIO INSTITUCIONAL

PATROCÍNIO REALIZAÇÃO

PARCERIA

During the summer that is arriving in Brazil, 36 projects will take place in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Leading this wave of achievements are young people of po-pular background from the four zones of the city. The focus is to impact territories and show new possibilities to act and circulate. To strengthen this youth mo-vement for new spaces of action and vi-sibility, the Youth Agency Networks has approached a network of national and international partners. Meet them now!

TERRITORY

“Rio de Janeiro begins in Santa Cruz” is how Marcus Faustini, founder of Youth Agency Networks refers to the neighbou-rhood where he grew up. Located in the west of the city, the neighbourhood bor-ders other municipalities in the state. Apart from its geographical context, Santa Cruz is a strategic point in the Agency networks because there is one of the oldest partners of the trajectory of this methodology.

The CEBs Santa Veridiana (Base Eccle-sial Community), located in Santa Cruz, was one of the areas responsible for cultu-ral and political formation of Faustini and many other young people in the region. “Throughout its 23 years of existence, it has maintained in order to be open to any kind of meeting,” says Alair Rebecchi, re-presentative of the community. Thus, in addition to host the Agency’s meetings, the site also receives samba ‘rodas’, capo-eira and taekondo classes, and performan-ces of rock and funk. One of the new areas of activity is in black culture and for this the CEBs is supporting the formation of the NGO Association of Women of Afri-can Descent Active (AMADA). Local ini-tiatives that came to life by supporting and occupation of space show the importance of having as first points of a network part-ners in the territories.

CITY

Expanding the strategic points of the articulations, the Youth Agency Networks understands it is essential to

establish contact with the government. The youth need to have rights granted and this happens through institutional processes. Thus, the Agency represen-tatives, among fellows and staff, were present in culture conferences, public hearings and other means of communi-cation between civil society and the va-rious areas of governance.

One result of this performance was to get closer to the Rio de Janeiro pre-fecture, through the Instituto Eixo Rio/SMC, which began in 2015. According to the institute’s president, Marcelo Sil-va, the Agency brings a new perspective to the place of youth in the city. “From the meeting with these young people, the Agency proposes a strengthening action for those in the territory and interaction with other spaces and townspeople. So that they act in the construction of ini-tiatives and projects, taking role in their life projects,” says the president.

WORLD

Recognizing the adaptive nature of the methodology and identifying com-mon issues in youth elsewhere in the world, the Agency started to establish international connections. One goal is to generate outstanding opportunities for young people of popular backgrou-nd. The first occurred in Europe in 2012 through the award made by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

The result of this achievement was the investment in the creation of The Agency, in England, in the cities of London and Manchester. Partners who jointly lead this endeavour are Batter-sea Arts Centre, Contact Theatre and People’s Palace Projects.

“I believe that the methodology brou-ght more evidence that art and creative work are essential for young people to become entrepreneurs,” says André Piza, project manager of People’s Palace Pro-jects, on a pillar of the methodology: to increase the art performance in social issues. “If a young project is recognized in cities across the world as a transfor-

DIVULG

ATION

By Juliana Sá e Marina Moreira, from Youth Agency Networks

mative project, how to ignore the voice of this young people in the discussions that it is part of being inside their city or their country?” adds Andrew.

In 2015, another major international partnership was established with Stan-ford University, through the Program on Poverty and Governance (PovGov). According to Beatriz Magaloni, program director, to understand the Agency is to formulate another way to positively im-pact youth in the world. “We chose to work with the Agency because we think the organization has designed a metho-dology that has the potential to revolu-

tionize the strategies we use to alleviate poverty and combating violence in many areas of the developing world through education,” she says.

These partners are part of an extensi-ve network that puts young people of po-pular background and their impact pro-jects in the territory and living in various visibility routes. Recognition of their ac-tions and their immediate need to spa-ces of decision, research, promotion and many others that guarantee them the ri-ght to act in the city and the world.

*Collaborated Carolina Lourenço


BIXIGA 70>> PAGES 24 & 25

NICOLE HEINIGER

Brazilian instrumental

band performs in London



GUIDE

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC TO DANCEBixiga 70, from São Paulo, debuts on British soil. Mauricio Fleury, keyboardist and guitarist, talks with Brasil Observer

The year of 2015 was a special one for those who live in London and enjoy good quality Brazi-lian music – and it seems 2016 will be no different! If this year the city received shows of masters na-mes such as Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, and from the new generation such as Criolo and Emi-cida, among others, next year the trend continues, starting with Bixiga 70, from São Paulo, who plays at Rich Mix on 29 January.

Mixing sound influences from Africa and South America, and a spirit that brings us to the unmis-takable music of Fela Kuti, the band of ten mem-bers, created in 2010, performs in the UK for the first time. And it brings the repertoire of its three albums released so far – the first two in 2011 and 2013, and the latest in September. The latter raised the band’s sound to a new level thanks to the inter-play of the group, whose reflection can be noted in the compositions, more collective and identified with the characteristics of each member.

On the eve of Bixiga 70 debut on British soil, keyboardist and guitarist Mauricio Fleury gave an interview to Brasil Observer:

How do you define the sound of Bixiga 70?

Brazilian instrumental music to dance.

How important is the integration between the ten members? Do you already work in automa-tic or it takes much rehearsal?

The integration is very important – it’s where the sound comes from. It has been improving since the beginning of the band to get a sound that has a strong identity, which is the face of the ten members. We rehearse every Tuesday from the beginning of the band in 2010. We understand each other faster and faster, but still talked a lot and we prepare for each step together.

Does being an instrumental sound cause it to be more accepted outside Brazil or makes ‘interna-tionalization’ harder?

I believe that makes the sound more accessible for those who do not speak Portuguese, for it transcends the barriers of verbal communication.

How do you evaluate the three discs of the band? Do you feel that there has been an evolu-tion in your work? In what sense?

We feel a clear evolution and so we are beating us every album. In many ways: in the form of a more collective composition, where the ideas of each are contemplated, and the search for a unique identity as the sum of these ideas. Our records do not have titles, because we believe that these first three albums are searching for an identity, what means Bixiga 70.

What’s your expectation of London? What au-dience do you expect?

Regarding the public I still do not know what to ex-pect, but we hope they dance a lot! Our expectation is the best possible, it will be our first time in the UK and we are looking forward to it!

Tickets atwww.comono.co.uk


CRIOLO RETURNS TO

LONDON IN APRIL

In addition to bringing the sou-nd of Bixiga 70, the Como No team is preparing the next edi-tion of La Linea - The London Latin Music Festival, which takes place in April. Among the attractions already confirmed is Criolo, on the 24th of that month at Koko. One of the most prominent representatives of contemporary Brazilian music scene, the rapper has been in the English capital several times – and it seems that left longing.

LE

CO

DE

SOU

ZA

DIV

ULG

ATIO

N


CULTURAL TIPS

MUSIC

THE SÃO PAULO

TAPES

London based Brazilian singer Moni-ca Vasconcelos has launched a crowd funding campaign in order to finance her new CD, ‘The São Paulo Tapes’. The album brings together songs written by some of Brazil’s greatest composers as a response to a military dictatorship that took over Brazil be-tween 1964 and 1985. It will be put together with a ‘helping hand’ from rock legend Robert Wyatt. Contribu-tions can be made up to January 5th.The dictatorship period was marked by heavy censorship. But it was also a time of immense creativity in the arts. Unable to express themselves freely, Brazilian songwriters skillfully dodged the censors to create a collection of masterpieces which will stand forev-er as monuments to universal values. Love. Freedom. Justice.The São Paulo Tapes pays tribute to some of these master composers and lyricists. Chico Buarque, João Bosco, Aldir Blanc, Ivan Lins, Gonzaguinha, Caetano Veloso, Geraldo Vandré.Monica Vasconcelos has lived in the UK for two decades. She has released 7 albums to date. Among her collab-

orators in these efforts are Brazilian composer and guitarist Guinga (spe-cial guest on her album ‘Gente’), Brit-ish jazz pianist Steve Lodder and Bra-zilian guitarist Ife Tolentino.Another collaborator and friend is rock legend Robert Wyatt. Monica sings on his album ‘ComicOpera’. He has collaborated and sings on her al-bum ‘Hih’. Wyatt lends a helping hand on the production of The São Pau-lo Tapes. He brings to the resistance songs his fresh ears (he is only now getting to know the material) and his unique musical background.This project is made more unique by the addition of a booklet containing in-troductory texts, which give context and meaning to the lyrics. In English and Por-tuguese, they come courtesy of transla-tor and professor of Brazilian culture Da-vid Treece (Kings College London).Contributions to the crowdfunding effort range from £12 to £1,000, and will be rewarded with prizes. Among the prizes you can have a copy of the album, the contributor’s name on the ‘Thanks to’ list on the CD booklet or a gig in the contributor’s living room!

g More info: https://goo.gl/ozGxK3

AR

Ô R

IBE

IRO


BigyouPRIN

Partnership with a

PRINTING AS A CAREER FOR YOUNG PEOPLE IN BRIXTONWe are beginning the New Year with creating an opportunity for young people to train in screen printing.

Building on people capabilities and capturing their interests and aspirations is often said to be the key to success investment in people. It may well be the key, but how do we know what their capabilities are, let alone their aspirations. Well, The Big local North Brixton and Big You have teamed up to give young people a chance and space to explore their potential in screen printing.

We will encourage young people who live in North Brixton to sign up for this exciting opportunity. They must be prepared to attend workshops and training session for six weeks. We are identifying young people ready to work hard and have enthusiasm to learn a skill in the printing industry. It is fair to includethose who want to give it a try to see if this industry appeals to them, so we will give a few places for those who want to try this industry.

Our key question for this programme is, Have the applicants always wanted to try something new or extend their creativity but 'have not had an opportunity to creatively express themselves?' If the answer is yes, then we want to place you on the programme.

The workshops will focus on starting a journey to creating a clothing brand and selling your brandedproducts.

We know that young people have talent for creativity. So when it comes to screen printing and designing, it is obivious that this is the age group we turn to. Their minds are seething with imagination and given half a chance many have the aspiration to translate imagination into real designs. This pilot programme, we are encouraging employers and corporate groups to join us as stakeholders and continue to play their roles in raising young people's aspirations offering them opportunities and getting them off the street to become active citizens. To be accountable for their social corporate responsibilities.

There are plans for the programme to ensure progression for participants into placements or starter jobs. We anticipate that most of those taking part in this training will be supported and given addition skills in starting their own printing businesses. The measure of our success will be based on how many of these young do not return to being idle in the community.

We have limited spaces for those who want to join the training, so contact us now.

Special Offerto all readers of the Brasil Observer get 50 FREE business cards printed one side in colour, size 85 x 54mm when you email us at [email protected]

All artwork must be ready for print & does not include postage &package. This Offer applies to only one customer per email andfull postal code given. Bigyou does not accept any responsibilityfor any errors.

Merry Christmas &Happy New Year

LITERATURETHE BRAZILIAN BILINGUAL BOOK CLUB CELEBRATES ONE YEAR

The Embassy of Brazil is delighted that our Brazilian Bilingual Book Club celebrates its first year of truly en-joyable and enlightening meetings in December. Not only has our Book Club successfully assembled British and Brazilian readers, but also mem-bers of other nationalities that live and work in this superb cultural hub, London. In fact, as the article in The Linguist (issue 54) shows, The Brazil-ian Bilingual Book Club is the first and only book club convened and hosted by a diplomatic mission in London among other bilingual book clubs. The twelve classics enabled our book club members to unveil various lay-ers of Brazilian life, history and soci-ety as well universal ideas that were distilled, circulated and assimilat-ed through fictional narratives. The ACLAIIR blog (Bodleian Library, Ox-ford) reprinted a Newsletter of our

Book Club under an aptly titled head-ing, ‘Myths and stereotypes undone through literature: Brazilian Bilingual Book Club promotes invaluable cul-tural exchange’ (Sept 2015). We are persuaded that our Brazilian Bilingual Book Club will eventually interest British and other publishers to (re)print good quality translations of the neglected classics of Brazilian literature until now. We welcome all readers that have a passion for liter-ature to disregard clichés and critics and just read Brazilian authors to dis-cover the soul of Brazil in the year of the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games! Don’t miss the celebratory 17th Decem-ber meeting: discussion of A Carne by Julio Ribeiro + Literary Quiz with prizes + Announcement of Reading List for 2016. The Brazilian Bilingual Book Club is or-ganised by Nadia Kerecuk.

By Minister-Counsellor Ana Maria de Souza Bierrenbach

g Mais informações: www.culturalbrazil.org


COLUMNISTS

I am here listening to the second album of the singer Valéria Lobão, the double al-bum Valéria Lobão – Noel Rosa, Preto e Branco (Tenda da Raposa). After listening to it – and I recommend you to do the same as soon as possible – I realized that I would ne-ver hear Noel Rosa again without thinking about the way Valéria did it.

The idea of the album is simple: select 22 works of Noel repertoire, sing them always accompanied only by a piano – a different pianist every track – and invite six interpre-ters sharing the corner with Valéria in half a dozen of these masterpieces. But there are not only great classics on the repertoire – and this is one of its merits: virtually unk-nown songs were recorded by Valéria and their pianists’ partners.

Each player took hold of the song that played, imbuing it with great talent; recre-ated harmonies; played introductions, im-provisations and intermezzos that are so

ardent and intense, bring us good moods. All this creative power shines like a gem, ex-pertly handled by a goldsmith piano. That’s what Valeria Lobao receives, all committed to give Noel Rosa music with elegance that, in fact, they have always had, but now earn reaffirmed features of excellence.

Valeria sings gentle and glides from one to another. For each track, sweetness, malice or emotion; seriousness and sense of rhy-thm. Her divisions are great as well as her breathing. The pitch... well, the pitch of Va-léria Lobão is more than perfect.

The CD 1 opens with “Pastorinhas” (Noel and João de Barro). On the piano, André Mehmari. His arrangement and the interpretation of Valéria give the exact di-mension of the project idea: to reveal Noel Rosa in unusual ways.

Played and arranged by Rafael Vernet, “Só Pode Ser Você” (Noel and Vadico) brin-gs on its lyrics the sadness of Noel with Ceci,

the great love of his life. Joyce Moreno and Valéria sing and add even more melancholy to the verses.

With arrangement of André Mehmari, played by Robert Fuchs, “Sinhá Ritinha” (Noel and Moacyr Pinto), little-known Noel’s work, has beautiful melody, full of notes, allowing Valéria to show another of her many talents. Another such is her theatrical interpretation of the bustling “Minha Viola” (Noel), arran-ged and played by Leandro Braga. “Filosofia” (Noel e André Filho) is on CD 2; the arran-gement and interpretations of Itamar Assiere and Valéria are a striking force.

All produced, recorded, mixed and mas-tered by pianist Carlos Fuchs – he who cre-ated the arrangement and divided “Último Desejo” through an interpreter, success of Noel that closes the CD 2.

So Valéria Lobão experienced her musical trance, always imposing sure that music has no limit to go to deeper beauty. Even Noel Rosa ones.

AQUILES RIQUE REIS

IMPECCABLE INTERPRETER

This winter season up and down the coun-try, from Yarmouth to York, from Manchester to Margate, you will notice that there will be a pan-tomime playing at a local theatre. It’s a tradition. Before Christmas, over the bank holidays or as a New Year treat, pantomime is the family destina-tion: eccentric, silly theatre to entertain.

Even the wartime period didn’t stop pantomi-mes from being produced. The period after the Second World War which ended in 1945, produ-ced some of the most difficult times for theatre and pantomime, and at least, in the early days of war in the 1940s the world of pantomime existed as a glittering escape from the streets blasted by air raids and austere conditions at home and abroad.

Theatres became places to escape the trou-bles for a few hours. Britain certainly needed it in order to stay sane, and nothing like a great ‘panto’ to do the trick

Pantomime is a fabulous and wonder-ful British institution. It always takes pla-ce around Christmas period and is nearly always based on well-known children’s sto-ries such as Peter Pan, Aladdin, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and similar others.

Pantomimes are performed not only in the best theatres but also in village halls and whe-ther a lavish professional performance or a lo-cal amateur dramatic production, pantomimes are more often than not very well attended.

Audience participation is a very impor-tant part of a pantomime and it draws on Victorian music hall convention. Audience members are encouraged to boo and hiss the villain, cheer the hero, and outdo each other by singing along loudly.

Popular Victorian variety artists, music hall performers, and later, radio stars, all used to tread the boards, playing characters from pan-tomime’s favourite tales.

Today, the top billing still goes to celebri-ty guests. This winter you will find comedian Julian Clary in Cinderella in Wolverhampton, choreographer and TV celebrity Louie Spencer on Aladdin in Hastings, Baywatch actor David Hassellhoff in Peter Pan in Glasgow, Strictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood appears in another production of Peter Pan in Dartford and actor John Barrowman, famous for his role in Torchwood, also appears in a production of Cinderella.

In London there is Elf, the musical, Cin-derella at the Lyric Hammersmith and Robin Hood at Theatre Royal Stratford East. The Na-tional Theatre engaged singer/composer Da-mon Albarn to create Wonder.land, as this ye-ar’s alternative panto. And last year, you could even catch Brazilian clown Angela de Castro at the National’s Treasure Island.

There is a lot of slapstick and throwing of custard pies; you often have a pair of ugly sis-ters (usually played by men) falling over, lots of silly and over the top costumes, and the iconic pantomime horse which is played by two peo-ple in a horse’s costume. Whichever the story, you are guaranteed a roller coaster of silliness and laugh out loud jokes. The villain will be defeated, true love is conquered and everyone lives happily ever after.

None of those are remotely Christmassy, so it might seem odd that pantomimes are only produced during the winter season. One of

the origins of pantomime lies in the medie-val moral plays performed at Christmas that had a storyline of good triumphing over evil. The ancient midwinter celebrations of twelfth night and Roman saturnalia also played their part. The cross-dressing and gender role rever-sal that is such a part of pantomime today can be traced back to these two traditions – when the natural order of things was turned upside down for the duration of the festivities.

Experts also say that the traditional panto may have also evolved from the Tudor Feast of Fools, presided over by the Lord of Misrule. The feast was an unruly event, involving much drinking, revelry and role reversal. The Lord of Misrule, normally a commoner with a reputa-tion of knowing how to enjoy a good party, was selected to direct the entertainment.

A good pantomime will have something for everyone, not only a fairy tale world for all the children spiced up with lots of in-nuendos for the adults, but also topical and contemporary references. Pantomimes can also be political: two years ago, the King’s Head Theatre produced a gay pantomime where the King Rat was a banker intent on bringing down the economy of his island.

Panto is like the Christmas tree, like it or not, it will always be there, shining bright. The-re is something quintessentially English about pantomimes, you’ll need to experience it live to truly understand its world.

When everything around us seems despai-ringly dark and cold, and that’s not just the we-ather, why not melt your winter woes and go see a panto this winter!

FRANKO FIGUEIREDO

GO SEE A PANTO!

g Aquiles Rique Reis is musician, vocalist

of MPB4

g Franko Figueiredo is artistic director and associate

producer of StoneCrabs Theatre Company


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PEDALINGTHE EFFORTS AND CHALLENGES OF SAO PAULO AND LONDON

IN TRANSFORMING URBAN MOBILITY WITH BICYCLES

STAGNANT ECONOMYTo reassume growth, Brazil needs increased investments

EMICIDA EXCLUSIVEBrazilian rapper hits London and speaks to Brasil Observer

REPRODUCTION DIVULGATION


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GENERAL ELECTION

THE BRAZILIAN VOTE IN THE UK

ART FROM PERNAMBUCOEmbassy of Brazil in London presents new exhibition

MISSING THE SUMMER A tour through Jericoacoara’s beach to forget winter

DIVULGATION DIVULGATION


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NEW YEAR...…AND WHAT’S IN STORE FOR BRAZIL IN 2015

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CRIOLO IN LONDONBrazilian rapper talks exclusively to Brasil Observer

HIDDEN PARADISES Who isn’t dreaming of a holiday in the Brazilian sunshine?

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STATE OF THE ARTTOP BRAZILIAN BUSINESSES VISIT ADVANCED RESEARCH CENTRE

IN THE UK WHERE PARTNERSHIP POSSIBILITIES EXIST

BRAZIL’S PUZZLE On the streets, people react to austerity and corruption

BEAUTIFUL GAME A humorous vision for the Brazil vs. Chile friendly in London

ELZA FIÚZA/AGÊNCIA BRASIL RAFAEL RIBEIRO/CBF


STATE OF THE ART

In the last week of November, São Pau-lo received the third Brazilian edition of the Catalan festival Sònar. With a diverse line-up, there was space for debates about technology, creativity and of course, music.

Sonar+D, which discusses new trends and technologies, took place in the Red Bull Station and was curated by Hermano Vianna, Ronaldo Lemos and Ale Youssef. The central concept of the event was to “remake”, in the sense that everything, at present time, is being and should be rebuilt, from the way you consume to our day-to-day walking around the city.

I attended the lecture of Grant C. Dull (ZZK Records), music researcher, label owner and creator of The Naked LatAm Sound, a program on the Latin American music scene that will be released soon. More focused on electronic footprint with regional mixtures, he highlights the likes of Chancha Via Circuito and Nicola Cruz, as well as Bra-zilian Omulu, João Brasil and Gang do Ele-tro. There was also a “maker” space, with lec-

tures on new music business, start-ups and the DIY spirit. Sónar Cinema, held at MIS, was a tribute to Dutch filmmaker Frank Scheffer. Among the highlights of the show were Frank Zappa: A Pioneer of the Future of Music and Brian Eno: Music for Airports.

CONCERTS

The festival is best known for the musi-cal acts, which were few this year. The Che-mical Brothers (UK), Zopelar (BR), Hot Chip (UK), Pional (ES), Valesuchi (CL), Evian Christ (UK) and Brodinski (FR) pre-sented in a rainy night at the Espaço das Américas for an audience of six thousand people. Great public for an event costing 550 reais. Unlike the public who attends Tomorrowland or even Lollapalooza, the average age there was 30-something.

The English duo started the show with one of the biggest hits, “Hey boy, hey girl”, and no doubt was the attraction that most excited the public, who jumped for an hour

and a half. I felt transported to 2005, when the forties not leave the mp3 list in my pho-ne. I heard rumours that only one of the brothers would show up, but they came to-gether and also brought giant robots for the festival. Absolutely great!

After waiting over an hour sitting on the floor since there was no place where I could relax, Hot Chip opened the show with “Huarache Lights”, song from the latest album, Why Make Sense, released in 2015. And after that we had one hit after another: “One Life Stand”, “Night and Day”, “Over and Over” and “Ready for the Floor”. I felt that the audience (at least me, to be honest) was enjoying a revival more than dancing. The party never ends, but age arrives.

Overall, the festival has a great propo-sal, but the current format was somewhat confusing and expensive. Options would reorganize the bands and DJs at parties for several days or increase the weight of attrac-tions and do a festival with several stages in a friendlier place. Let’s see next year!

RICARDO SOMERA

IMPRESSIONS OF SÓNAR SP

g Ricardo Somera is an advertising professional and you can find him on Twitter @souricardo and Instagram

@outrosouricardo


TRAVEL

PORTUGALFROM LISBON

TO PORTO

DIVULGATION

By Ana Beatriz Freccia Rosa


Get ready to see castles and his-toric buildings, taste excellent wines and enjoy lots of good food. With this script from Lisbon to Porto, Por-tugal may be the perfect destination for your next holyday.

With 315 km to go, the best al-ternative is to rent a car and visit the little towns along the way. The highways are well-located and easy to travel, the distances between the towns are small and landscapes, bre-ath-taking! For seven days I drove the path between the two main Por-tuguese cities stopping in Cascais, Sintra, Obidos, Fatima, Batalha and Coimbra. I’ll now point out the hi-ghlights of each location.

LISBON

Lisbon has so much, but so much cool stuff that’s hard to pick just a few recommendations. Start your tour ri-ding the Elétrico, or train – traveling the historic neighbourhoods you’ll have an idea of the city.

Visit the Jeronimos Monastery and the Belém Tower, two of the most famous world heritage sites. And of course, taste the famous Pastel de Be-lém, whose recipe is one of the grea-test secrets of Portuguese cuisine.

Be sure to climb the São Jorge Castle, the highest point in the city. Lose yourself in the districts of Alfa-ma and Mouraria. Choose one of the restaurants to try your favourite Por-tuguese dish and listen to fado.

Go to the yard of Paço, the largest square and symbol of the city, and wander through the edge of the Tejo River. Enjoy the Santa Justa Lift as it goes through the Baixa – the view is beautiful and you can see the old town. The elevator, by the way, is over a hundred years old and was desig-ned by Ponsard, a disciple of the gre-at master Gustave Eiffel.

Also visit the Chiado district, ide-al for shopping, and watch the sunset on the viewpoints of Santa Catarina or São Pedro de Alcântara. End the day having dinner at Alto neighbou-rhood, the liveliest spot in Lisbon.

CASCAIS

Only 30 minutes away from Lis-bon and still considered a village, Cascais has several forts located be-tween the beach of Abano and São Julião da Barra, as well as Roman ruins, churches and chapels. The site has a mild climate, beautiful scenery, varied cuisine and even a casino.

SINTRA

Only 20 km separate Cascais from the beautiful town of Sintra, a UNES-CO World Heritage site in the cate-gory Cultural Landscape. Between hills, forests and palaces, everything is beautiful and unforgettable. It is worth spending a little more time in

the city and visit the Pena Palace, one of its main attractions. The Moorish Castle, built in the 10th century, is located in one of the summits of the Sintra hills. The walk is worth the breath-taking view. Also a must is the Capuchin Convent, built in the midst of nature to house 12 monks who lived in complete simplicity. Be sure to taste the famous ‘travesseiro’ ou a ‘queijada’. Pastry Piriquita is the best one. ÓBIDOS

The word Óbidos derives from ópido, which means fortified citadel. In 2007, the Óbidos Castle received a candidate’s degree at one of the se-ven wonders of Portugal and recently the city walls were part of the project “Wonders of Portugal”, created by the General Directorate of Cultural Heri-tage along with Google – and you can view the local with a 360 degrees view from Google Maps. At Christmas, Óbidos becomes a great “Christmas Village”. It is the main attraction for locals and many visitors.

FATIMA

Known for being one of the lar-gest Catholic pilgrimage centres in the world, Fatima attracts more than six million people annually. The site, which was only a small chapel where children saw Our Lady of Fatima for the first time, today is up to twice as large as the St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican. With an ima-ge of Our Lady, visit the Chapel of the Apparitions. There are several services in different languages. In 2007, the Basilica of the Holy Tri-nity was inaugurated, with capacity for up to 8,000 people, as the Basi-lica of Our Lady of Fatima, where the three children are buried, could no longer take care of receiving so many visitors. All sites are close to each other, so easy to visit. If you do not like crowds, avoid the visit on the 13th of each month. Especially on 13 May, date that marks the first appearance of Our Lady of Fatima.

BATALHA

The Batalha Monastery is one of the deviations that worth to take. Considered one of the most beau-tiful of Portugal, it was built thanks to the Virgin Mary for the victory in the Battle of Aljubarrota. There were more than two centuries and seven reigns for its construction. Today is World Heritage by UNESCO and one of the seven wonders of Portugal.

COIMBRA

Besides being the oldest univer-sity in Portugal, the University of Coimbra is also one of the oldest in the world. So stroll through its

campus and its facilities is a great choice, precisely because the best attraction will be there: students and their black cloaks.

Because it is a full of traditions university, students are proud to wear the toga – so much so that there are specific stores that only sell these products, including clothes and ac-cessories for college.

If you are in Portugal in May, do not miss the ceremony of burning the tapes, which takes place during the Academic Week and is the feast of the university graduates. Coimbra is small, easy to be covered and if you want to spend more time there, be sure to visit the Old Cathedral, which looks like a castle and that even today is largely intact.

Stroll through downtown, the historic part, visit the Convent of Santa Clara, built in memory of Queen Isabel and is located on the hill, which has the best view of the town. Before leaving, do not miss the Quinta das Lágrimas. Today a gorgeous hotel, the site is considered the scenario of “Romeo and Juliet” in its Portuguese version.

PORTO

The famous city of Porto, the se-cond largest in Portugal, offers di-verse and enchanting attractions that can be seen in one day, by the pro-ximity between them. If you are not too tired or find that climbing hills is good exercise, enjoy walking to know everything.

On the other hand, take advan-tage of the transportation system works well and scroll through the city by bus, stopping at several metro stations, taking a tuk tuk – a common cart in Asia and already has its Por-tuguese version – or cycling in some areas after all, you have had so much coffee and ate so many sweets to get here that any effort pays to spend a little bit of calories.

Surrounded by old houses and historical buildings, start your tour across the Dom Luis I Bridge and vi-sit the cellars in Vila Nova de Gaia, across the Douro River. Enjoy the view from there, it’s beautiful, look at the Ribeira and then again cross the bridge toward that area.

The Ribeira, from where the boat trips end, is a great place. From there, walk to the Bolsa Palace, the Cathedral, the Tower of the Clerics and then to Avenida dos Aliados, considered the heart of the city. Vi-sit the Rua de Santa Catarina, where you will find several shops and the famous Café Majestic, in addition to Bolhão Market.

The Serralves Museum of Con-temporary Art is also a good option. Sample Francesinha, typical dish of Porto, and if you still have time avai-lable and enjoy architecture, be sure to visit the House of Music.

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Sintra

Delicious food from Portugal

Fátima

g For more tips about Portugal and other destinations, visit www.omundoqueeuvi.com


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Brasil Observer #34 - EN