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8OBSERVATIONSTags: Democracy, Referendum, Ibero-American Art, Pele

10GUEST COLUMNISTSSimon Usherwood on the EU referendum Marshall Eakin on the politics of identity in Brazil

14INTERVIEWHeurelho Gomes, the goalkeeper

16REPORTThe world view of Brazil’s interim government

18CONECTANDOVoices from Rio Doce, six months after de tragedy-crime

22CULTIn the cadence of samba: Martinho da Vila and Roberta Sá

24CULTURAL TIPSTags: Theatre, Cinema, Exhibition, Music

26COLUNISTAS Franko Figueiredo on what’s cultureHeloisa Righetto on feminism

28LONDON BYNathália Braga around Kingston and Hampton Court

31BR TRIPShaun Alexander on Rio 2016 Olympic Games

CONTENTS

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The impeachment of Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff is disproportionate to the “responsibility crime” allegedly commit-ted by her. The so-called tax pedalling (i.e. taking money from one basket and putting in other) has been common practice in Brazil for a long time, both by State gover-nments and former presidents (including Lula and Fernando Henrique Cardoso). Such manoeuvres also occur in developed countries such as the United States.

Moreover, against Dilma Rousseff there isn’t any charge of corruption. The same can-not be said about those who are judging the elected president, in the Chamber of Depu-ties and the Senate, the latter responsible for the final decision of the ongoing impeach-ment process.

Audios recently released showing conversa-tions between leaders of the PMDB (Democra-tic Movement), party of the interim president Michel Temer, support the thesis that Rousse-ff ’s suspension is a manoeuvre to stop the Lava Jato operation, investigating corruption.

For all that, despite being written in the Constitution, the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff may be called, without asto-nishment, a ‘kind of soft coup’, in the words of philosopher Noam Chomsky. The military forces, this time, are quiet in their place. But democracy is wounded.

It is not the case, however, to consider the PT (Worker Party) and the Dilma Rousseff gover-nment itself as victims. The PT governments, including Lula, adopted spurious practices to keep the party in power since they entered the Presidential Palace. Despite the undeniable ad-vances, they made pragmatic alliances in the name of illusory coalition that, in addition to preventing a deeper development of the coun-try, undermined the credibility of the party as driver of progressive forces.

The wrong decisions taken by Dilma Rou-sseff in the economic and political areas made her lose the condition of governing and put Brazil in serious crises – at least two years re-cession and two digits unemployment. It also allowed a liberal-conservative alliance to take power temporarily.

The interim government of Michel Temer has no democratic legitimacy. His political and economic agenda would never be able to win a presidential election. But, as predicted by this newspaper, it has the support of the native mainstream media, excited with the dismantling of the Workers Party era – which, after all, was already completely exhausted.

Brazil follows the fate of a betrayed coun-try. Firstly by Europeans before it was called Brazil. Then by the genocide of its indige-nous population. By three centuries of sla-very that even today leaves its mark on the back of a people beaten daily by a fictitious democracy. Latter by the military dictator-ship and the illusory redemocratization that kept the powerful in their places. Now, by a plot that takes the country by storm after four consecutive defeats of the conservative camp in the polls.

EDITORIAL

THE COUNTRY BETRAYED


Luis Felipe Camargo, known as Fepe Camargo, was born in São Paulo in 1985. Graduated in Fine Arts in 2006, Fepe began his career working as a designer of fabrics prints, illustrating books and magazines, and also as a graphic designer. Taking experimentation as an important part of his creative process, he has worked with ceramics, painting, sculpture, all attached with the drawing practice and the study of the human form. After many exhibitions in Brazil and Europe, now lives in Spain, in search of new opportunities for the expression and evolution of his art. He is currently part of the collective Brazil>World Cocoon Collective.

SUPPORT:

The cover art for this edition was produced by Luis Felipe Camargo for the Mostra BO project developed by the Brasil Observer in partnership with Pigment and with institutional support from the Embassy of Brazil. Each of the 11 editions of this newspaper in 2016 is featuring art on its cover produced by Brazilian artists selected through open call. In December, all of the pieces will be displayed at the Embassy’s Sala Brasil exhibition.

COVER ARTLuis Felipe Camargo www.behance.net/fepefolio


OBSERVATIONS

ExPERTS ANALYSE THE POSSIBLE CONSEqUENCES Of ‘BRExIT’ fOR THE

RELATIONS BETwEEN THE UK AND LATIN AMERICA

First ibero-AmericAn Arts AwARD IS LAUNCHED IN LONDON

CALLING fOR ARTISTS TO ExPLORE THE CONCEPT Of ‘UTOPIA’

BRITISH MPS CONDEMN THE SUSPENSION Of BRAzIL’S PRESIDENT

DILMA ROUSSEff; AMBASSADOR EDUARDO DOS SANTOS REPLIES

The Guardian published on 26 May a mani-festo signed by 20 British MPs from the Labour Party, the Scottish National Party and the Plaid Cymru stating “Dilma Rousseff ’s suspension is an insult to democracy in Brazil”.

The manifesto says: “We condemn the suspen-sion of President Dilma Rousseff in Brazil. It is tho-roughly wrong that a few parliamentarians tram-ple upon the political will expressed at the ballot box by 54 million Brazilians. The new government has shown its true colours by appointing a non-re-presentative, all-male cabinet and launching neo-liberal policies that will hurt millions of working and poorer people. The interim government has no mandate to implement policies that reverse the social programmes that took 40 million people out of poverty. We join Brazil’s progressive politi-cal and social movements and groups from across global civil society including the trade union mo-vement, in condemning this attempt to overthrow democracy in Brazil.”

The day after, following the guidance of Bra-zil’s new Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Serra, to combat the view that the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff is a “coup”, the Brazilian Ambassador to the UK, Eduardo dos Santos, defended the process

that led Michel Temer to the interim presidency and said that “democracy in Brazil is alive and well”.

The letter written by Eduardo dos Santos and published by the Guardian says: “It needs to be pointed out that the impeachment pro-cess strictly complies with the requirements of the Brazilian constitution and the rule of law, under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court. It is incorrect to depict the ongoing process as poli-tical manoeuvres taking place against the will of the electorate. Under a democratic presidential regime, the votes received by a president do not prevent the commencement of an impeachment process to assess whether crimes of responsibi-lity have been committed by the head of state. The deputies and senators also received millions of votes and are expected to fulfil their consti-tutional duties, which include investigating and judging the president if he or she is charged with crimes of responsibility. (..) The Brazilian em-bassy rejects any allegation that there has been an attempt to overthrow democracy in Brazil, or that the social programmes of recent years could be reversed. Indeed, the acting president has cle-arly stated his commitment to continuing and improving existing social policies.”

On 23 June the United Kingdom decides in a referendum whether or not it will remain as a member of the European Union (EU). To un-derstand the consequences that a possible ‘Brexit’ would bring to the relationship between the UK and Latin America, the Brasil Observer consulted two experts: Laurance Blair, Research Analyst for Latin America at the Economist Intelligence Unit, and Nacho Morais, CEO of Frank Consulting. Both participate in a debate on the topic at Can-ning House, on 15 June.

“The first thing to say is that a UK exit from the EU is unlikely. And even if ‘Brexit’ were to happen, this would not eliminate British ties to Latin America at a stroke,” said Laurence Blair. For him, however, “an EU exit would certain-ly set back a lot of progress made in UK-Latin America ties, especially in recent decades, whi-ch would be difficult to recover.”

The main consequence is commercial. “Through its membership of the EU, Britain has access to free trade agreements with Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Peru, as well as Economic Partnership Agreements with 15 Caribbean na-tions, all of which have been painstakingly ne-

gotiated over several decades. These facilitate a significant and growing trade relationship whi-ch would be severely disrupted (and maybe even need renegotiating from scratch) in the case of Brexit. In addition, there are signs that EU free trade talks with Mercosur may finally begin to bear fruit. It would be a huge missed opportu-nity if Britain were to leave the EU just before these deals were signed,” said Laurence.

Nacho Morais added that “Latin American companies can sell products with the same speci-fications across the EU, and can sell services to the whole of the EU from a UK location. The market unity, in the first case, and the access, in the se-cond, are broken in case of Brexit.”

Laurence Blair also cited other areas of coo-peration between the UK and Latin America that would be affected, such as energy, technology and climate change, because they depend on agree-ments with the EU. And that the UK would give more diplomatic attention to Europe, giving less priority to Latin America. Nacho Morais recal-led that the anti-immigrant rhetoric in favour of ‘Brexit’ may affect the Latin American community living in the UK.

The Embassies of Latin American countries, Spain and Portugal, in collaboration with Itaú Unibanco launched in May the first ever ‘Ibe-ro-American Arts Award’. In an unprecedented exchange between the UK and Latin cultures, the exhibition and award invites all UK-based artists to explore the concept of Utopia in Ibero-American cultures.

In 1516, Thomas More published his Utopia. Playing on a pun contained in the neologism ‘uto-pia’, he had conceived a place that was both ‘good’ and ‘non-existent’. Throughout time, utopian nar-ratives have sought to examine this fundamental tension: whether or not a ‘perfected’ society is possible, or even desirable, to achieve. 500 years on, our participating artists are invited to consider the relevance of the “utopian impulse” to Ibero-A-merican nations, whose intellectual and artistic histories may indeed be seen as a rich tapestry of utopian dreams, projects and debates.

The Ibero-American Arts Award is an ini-tiative organized by the Embassy of Brazil and

ACALASP (Association of Cultural Attachés of Latin America, Spain and Portugal), in partner-ship with People’s Palace Projects, and sponso-red by Itaú Unibanco, Latin America’s largest private bank.

Renato Lulia, CEO of Itaú BBA Internatio-nal, said: “For over 50 years Itaú Unibanco has been a custodian of Brazilian and Latin Ame-rican art. We are very pleased to be sponsoring this first Ibero-American Arts Award and in this way further foster the development of Latin-ins-pired art around the world.”

Submissions for the competition, which may include paintings, drawings, sculpture, photogra-phy and prints, are now invited from artists living and working in the UK. Participants must be aged 16 or over. Entries can be submitted digitally up until midnight on Sunday 16 October 2016.

For further details about the competition and how to enter visit

www.iberoamericanartsaward.org


A collection with more than two thousand pieces of Pele, the greatest football player of all time, will be auctioned in London this month. the event, organized by Julien’s Auctions, was scheduled for 7, 8 and 9 June. Among the objects are the gold medal won by Pele in the 1958 World cup and the championship ring of the 1977 American soccer League. the most expensive piece is a replica of the Jules rimet trophy: £ 410,000.

KING OF FOOTBALL:

WHO GIVES MORE?

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GUEST

OOn 23 June, the UK will have its third national referendum on whether to remain a member of the European Union (EU). While important, many people are still unsure about what this ac-tually means or what impact it might have. In this article I want to set some of the background, the main arguments and the potential conse-quences, to help you make sense of things.

Prime Minister David Cameron first annou-nced that a referendum was a possibility in a speech in early 2013: he committed to holding a vote should the Conservatives win the 2015 general election, which looked uncertain at the time. However, following their surprising return to power in May of that year, Cameron was lo-cked into a two-stage process of ‘renegotiation and referendum’.

Between May 2015 and March 2016, Came-ron spent much time working with leaders of other EU member states and with the institu-tions of the EU itself, to ty and carve out a deal to improve the terms of British membership of the organisation. While he had started out talking of major changes of those terms, written into the treaties themselves, by the time an agreement was finally reached, it contained much more modest political agreements. Of these, the most important was an acknowledgement that the UK has had to deal with exceptional levels of immi-gration from the EU and so would be able to li-mit access to welfare benefits to new immigrants for several years.

By the time that Cameron produced his ‘new settlement’, the referendum preparation was in full swing, with many groups being set up on both sides to try and win the vote. However, it was only after this point that a definitive date was set, for June.

Right now, we are in the middle of the formal, 10-week-long campaign. Groups have been de-signated as the lead organisations on each side, while the government has allowed its members freedom to campaign on either side, even thou-gh official policy remains to keep the UK inside the EU. In common with general elections, the-re are restrictions on campaign spending, equal and balanced reporting by TV channels and a series of official communications to voters.

BRITAIN’S EU REFERENDUM:

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?

By Simon Ushewood g

The outcome will be important, both for the issue at hand and more generally, because it deals with the UK’s role in the world

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WHO’S WHO?

The lead group for the remain side is Britain Stronger in Europe (usu-ally called Stronger In). This is broad group, with members from across the various political parties, business fi-gures and other public personalities. Both Cameron and the Labour party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, have spoken under its barrier.

Vote Leave is the official group on the other side. Like Stronger In, it has a membership across political parties and business, although no party lea-ders. This is because there is a second large leave group, Leave.EU, which is closely linked to the UK Independence Party (UKIP). Its leader, Nigel Farage, has not be keen to join forces with a group that he sees as too close to the political Establishment that his party wishes to challenge beyond the narrow issue of EU membership.

Aside from these three groups, there are many other, smaller groups, often campaigning on specific issues or speaking to specific audiences. In a referendum, where everyone’s vote is equally important, this makes sen-se, because the more groups can tailor their messages and arguments to indi-vidual concerns, the more likely they are to have an effect.

THE ARGUMENTS

Broadly speaking, the arguments tend to fall into economic and political categories.

Economically, remain campaigners say that membership has been good for the UK, as it means free access to one of the largest and richest markets in the world, keeping down prices and allowing British companies to grow much bigger than they could otherwi-se. They point to the many jobs in the UK they say are reliant on continued membership.

Leave activists point to the poor economic performance of the EU in recent years and the way in which EU membership limits the UK’s ability to conclude trade deals with new and emerging markets. In addition, they claim that EU regulation holds back British companies, by imposing extra costs on them.

Politically, the leave camp talk of-ten about the lack of influence the UK has in the EU, which forces Britain to adopt policies it doesn’t want or need: the EU lacks sufficient democracy and is unreformable, in their view. In addi-tion, membership limits British control of who can enter the country, which is a major concern with the refugee crisis in Europe over the past couple of years.

Remain groups argue that instead that membership is good for British in-fluence and that for the large majority of the time, the UK is on the winning side of decisions. The UK already has a number of opt-outs from key EU activi-ties – the Euro and the Schengen zone of free movement, for example – while still being able to take part on joint de-cisions to tackle problems that might be beyond any one country to deal with.

Naturally, on both sides there is a lot of selective presentation of ‘the facts’, so if you’re looking for a non-partisan perspective, you might try our websi-te (www.ukandeu.ac.uk), where we’ve produced lots of explainers to give a more objective view.

WHY DOES IT MATTER?

The outcome of the vote will be im-portant, both for the issue at hand and more generally, because it deals with the UK’s role in the world.

If the UK remains an EU member, this will not mean that all of the historic difficulties it has faced will go away. One of the biggest problems has been that the UK has never been very clear about what it wants to achieve in the EU, and this referendum debate is unlikely to change that. However, by putting the membership question to one side, it mi-

ght well allow the British government to make progress on the other issues facing the EU, including improving economic performance, stabilising re-lations with Russia and tackling climate change. At the same time, it’s also clear that this referendum has tried the pa-tience of other member states, so their willingness to accommodate British ob-jections might not be as big as before.

If the UK left, then things are less clear. There would be a process of nego-tiating a post-membership relationship and that would be central in determi-ning where the UK goes. In essence, the big question will be whether or not to give the UK access to the EU’s single market or not. Access would reduce any disruption to British companies, but would limit freedom to conclude new trade deals.

In addition, a vote to leave might well result in Cameron stepping down as Prime Minister, so the Conservative party will need a new leader. The choice they make will be vital in determining the future path of the UK’s relations with the rest of the EU.

g Simon Usherwood is a Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Surrey and member of the ‘UK in a changing Europe’ programme


Brazil is in the midst of its worst political crisis since the 1960s and possibly its most severe economic downturn in the last 100 years. The economy will not – and cannot – improve until the country emerges from the political chaos of the mo-ment and puts into place strong and legitimate leadership. Most of the commentary on Brazil’s current cri-sis has focused on politics and eco-nomics. I believe that a more pro-found threat generated by this crisis will be to Brazilians’ sense of self – to their very identity as Brazilians.

In my 40 years studying Brazilian history and culture, I have never seen the country more polarized. Over the past decade, I have spent extended periods in Brazil resear-ching and writing “Becoming Bra-zilians: Race and National Identity in Twentieth-Century Brazil,” whi-ch will be published by Cambridge

University Press in 2017. More so than many countries, Brazil has had a powerful and dominant narrative of national identity for decades.

But now Brazilians are bitterly di-vided. One side hates President Dil-ma Rousseff, ex-President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, their Workers Party (PT). The other side sees Rousseff ’s impeachment as an abuse of the legis-lative process by corrupt politicians.

Brazil is Latin America’s largest economy, one of its most stable de-mocracies and a growing power on the world stage. Should the current crisis cripple Brazil, it would have serious economic and political reper-cussions for the region, for the United States, and for the emergence of the so-called Global South.

I suspect that the damage to the world’s sixth largest economy will likely be short-term. However, the spectre of politicians – who are

themselves under indictment and investigation for corruption – ous-ting a president on flimsy charges could damage the fourth largest de-mocracy on the planet for the long term. Brazilian civic culture and national identity could be additio-nal casualties of this deepening po-litical divide.

For much of the 20th century Brazilians of all social groups col-lectively forged a rich and vibrant cultural nationalism around the notion of mestiçagem — racial and cultural mixing. The iconic intel-lectual Gilberto Freyre (1900-1987) produced the most influential ver-sion of this narrative. According to Freyre, “every Brazilian, even the light-skinned fair-haired one, car-ries with him in his soul, when not in body and soul (…) the shadow, or at least the birthmark, of the In-dian or the Negro.”

Many diverse political regimes from the 1930s to the 1980s placed an official seal of government approval on this narrative of mestiçagem. They hoped to publicize Brazil’s supposed “racial democracy” to the world. As I argue in my book, the lived realities of the great masses of Brazilians se-emed to provide abundant evidence of the creative power of mestiçagem. Carnaval and Brazilian music like samba and bossa nova arose out of this dynamic mixing. The jazz on the playing pitch of Pelé and other great players produced the world’s most beautiful football.

As Brazil moved out of a military dictatorship and to a truly vibrant de-mocracy in the 1980s, many new so-cial movements flourished. The black movement, grassroots feminism, and environmentalism fostered a flowe-ring of civic culture on a scale ne-ver experienced in Brazilian history.

THE POLITICS OF IDENTITY

IN BRAzIL A more profound threat generated by the country’s current crisis

will be to Brazilians’ sense of self

By Marshall Eakin g

‘Workers’, by tarsila do Amaral (1933)


Movements promoting Afro-descen-dant and indigenous rights challen-ged the dominant narrative of mesti-çagem. They condemned Freyre as a racist bent on eliminating the African influences in Brazil. These move-ments helped forge a new multi-cul-turalism in Brazilian politics and so-ciety. The powerful national narrative of a society with a rainbow of peoples and skin tones has come under sus-tained assault.

Brazil’s last three presidents have promoted decrees and legislation re-cognizing Brazil’s history of racism and prejudice. The government has promo-ted many affirmative action programs throughout the bureaucracy and the public education system.

The vast majority of Brazilians conti-nue to describe their society and the Bra-zilian people as mixed. The dominant narrative of cultural identity, however, has been eroding for several decades.

The suspension of Dilma Rous-seff from the presidency provided vivid evidence of what may be a looming battle of cultural narrati-ves and civic society. At his hasty inauguration, Vice President Mi-chel Temer, who is of Lebanese des-cent, surrounded himself with his 22 newly named cabinet ministers. All are male and light skinned.

In both his statements about the new administration and his appointments one thing is clear. The officially sanctioned govern-ment approval of multiculturalism and the new social movements over the past 20 years will now come under direct assault. Much of the inflamed rhetoric in both houses of congress during the impeachment proceedings demonstrates the re-surgence of an unrepentant Right after more than 13 years of PT ad-ministrations.

The New York Times quoted Bra-zilian TV evangelist Silas Malafaia as saying Temer’s new education minister will “be able to sweep away the ideology of pathological leftists.” This resurgent Right may attempt to erase many of the constitutional and legal changes that have suppor-ted this multiculturalism. Brazilians could find themselves in an intensi-fying culture war over what it me-ans to be Brazilian. The emphasis on redressing past social and cultural injustices could end.

The political shift could roll back affirmative action and efforts to re-dress discrimination against peoples of indigenous and African descent. We may see an official return to a nar-rative of racial democracy.

Ultimately, disillusionment with the political system may pro-ve even more damaging than cul-tural warfare. For several decades

through civic mobilization many groups have asserted their rights to become full-fledged citizens. The example of widespread corruption across all political parties may da-mage this activism.

Deposing Rousseff will not help the legitimacy of the political sys-tem for many groups across the political spectrum. Whatever the resolution of the impeachment process, it is likely to set back de-cades of expanding civic culture and participatory politics. It will leave Brazilians questioning who they are as a people and who they might become.

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g Marshall Eakin is Professor of History at Vanderbilt

University. This article was originally published at

www.theconversation.com

http://www.theconversation.com


INTERVIEW

T

GOMESTHE WALL

OF WATFORDBrazilian goalkeeper ends the 2015/2016

season on the rise in England, talking exclusively to Brasil Observer

By Guilherme Reis

The best goalkeeper in English foo-tball is Heurelho Gomes from Brazil. This is not patriotism. According to WhoScored.com, specialising in the in-depth analysis of detailed football data, the player of modest Watford had the best performance of the position in 2015/2016 Premier League.

In the words of the WhoScored.com editor-in-chief, Martin Laurence, for his blog in The Guardian website: “While Watford’s season may have ended in a disappointing fashion, they secured their goal of survival with months to spare. No player contributed in a more significant way throughout the campaign than Go-mes, who produced more saves than any

other goalkeeper in the league (120), boasting the fourth best save suc-

cess rate of those to make at least 20 appearances (71.6%)”.

The most impressive per-formance of Gomes in the

season undoubtedly took

place on 16 April. Watford was playing away against West Brom and winning by 1-0 when at the minute 67 the referee signalled a penalty for the home team. Saido Berahino shot and Gomes saved. Three minutes to go to the end of mat-ch, a new penalty. Saido Berahino shot again and Gomes, the wall of Watford, made a save that secured the win.

It was not just a victory. Gomes be-came the first goalkeeper in Premier League history to save two penalties in the same game twice. The Brazilian player did the same in 2010, playing for Tottenham. At the time, he saved two penalties shot by Darren Bent, from Sunderland.

Heurelho Gomes was born in Jao Pinheiro, in Brazil’s State of Minas Gerais, on 15 February 1981. Starting to play professionally for Cruzeiro in 2002, he wore the shirts of PSV (Ne-therlands), Tottenham (England) and Hoffenheim (Germany) before signing with Watford in 2014. He also made 11 appearances for the Brazilian natio-nal team between 2003 and 2011, win-ning the Confederations Cup in 2005 and 2009. His gallery of titles includes a Brazilian Championship (2003), a Brazil Cup (2003) and four Dutch championships (2004-05, 2005-06,

2006-07, 2007-08).Read below the exclusive in-

terview Gomes gave to Brasil Observer.


How do you evaluate the season that has just finished? Watford reached the FA Cup semi-finals and ended the Premier League ranked 13th. Do you feel the team could have done more?

The season was very good and we exce-eded expectations. A lot of people said we were contenders for relegation. Of course we wanted more, perhaps qualifying for the Europa League, because had been in the classification zone for a few rounds. We could have reached the FA Cup final too.

Personally, you end the season on the rise, being called the “king of penalties”. How do you feel making history in the Premier League? Do you do any special training for penalties?

It is very important for goalkeepers to be prepared for any situation. I never enter a game wanting to make history. I always think about helping my team. It was an important moment. I’m very calm when I face a penalty and this tranquillity helps me make saves, it is a moment of great concentration, a lot de-pends on how you are in the game.

I wanted you to talk about your adaptation in England. How to reconcile football life with a wife and children?

It was easy. I lived in the Nether-lands four years, where there is a very high quality of life, but England and London have much more things to do. My family is completely adapted, my children. Here it’s easy because we train once a day, in the morning, then I am always with my family.

You’ve been here for a long time. Do you have contact with other Brazilians playing in England, such as William and Oscar?

We meet whenever we can, the boys from Chelsea, Sandro from Queens Park Rangers, and other Brazilians too. It’s very good. It means a lot and I think it makes us fill some lack of our friends who are in Brazil.

And off the field, what are your projects?

I don’t do many plans because I work a lot to make things happen now. But I have to start to prepare myself. This year I want to start a coaching course. I don’t know if I will be a coach, but I want to be prepared.

A great friend of mine who supports Cruzeiro asked: was that Cruzeiro squad of 2003 the best team you ever had?

I can say that, as a whole. PSV had a very good team too. When I arrived, in 2004/2005, we went to the semi-fi-nals of the Champions League. It was a wonderful team. But Cruzeiro’s team of 2003 was complete in terms of achie-vements, we won everything we played: the Triple Crown in 2003. So I can say it was the best team I’ve played.

With so many years in European football, how do you evaluate Brazilian football? And the national team, how do you see the 7-1 loss and the chances of Brazilian football at the Olympics in Rio?

Technically there is no question the quality of Brazilian football, but in ter-ms of organization we are far behind. I do not know what happens, but we do not prioritize the Brazilian fans. The fans get overlooked. Here the first thing they think is the fans. And the TV quo-tas help teams in financial terms du-ring the season. Unfortunately in Bra-zil we do not have that yet, the quotas are divided according to the team. Here is more equal.

The national team is a special case; it was already running the risk becau-se it is a period of transition. In my view it is a badly managed transition. Usually you do not change all players at once; you start taking one and ano-ther, and then put the younger ones. Unfortunately the 7-1 defeat happe-ned, and nothing has been learnt given the last games.

Olympics are another case. We ne-ver won and I don’t know if we will win, the other teams are very good, but hopefully we will win the gold medal within the country. We have chances, but we are not favourites.

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João Donato & Janis SiegelB o s s a N o v a m e e t s A m e r i c a n J a z z

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REPORT

THE WORLD VIEW OF

THE INTERIM GOVERNMENT

With the suspension of President Dilma Rousseff and the appointment of José Serra for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Brazil’s foreign policy suffers direction changes

WWithin weeks, the interim Brazil’s President Mi-chel Temer and his team of ministers gave cle-ar statements indicating they intend to put into practice a very different government program than the one that elected President Dilma Rou-sseff, removed from office as a result of impea-chment proceedings. Among the areas in which occur the most significant changes is the foreign policy. The choice of José Serra for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is a clear sign of the new paths to be taken in this field.

Serra took office on 18 May in a ceremony at the Itamaraty Palace. In his speech, although with refe-rences to the importance of Mercosur and the BRI-CS (Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa), he made it clear he intends to give priority to re-lations with the United States, Europe and Japan. As his party (Brazilian Social Democracy) did in the last three presidential campaigns (2006, 2010 and 2014), the new foreign minister rejected the option of Lula and Dilma governments for greater integration with emerging countries, especially in the Southern Hemisphere.

Before that, however, the new minister embraced

an arduous mission: to achieve the international community’s recognition of Michel Temer gover-nment. Brazilian embassies around the world re-ceived the Foreign Ministry circular which calls for “actively combat” the allegations that the interim government is actually the result of a political coup.

REGIONAL LEADERSHIP UNDERMINED

Inconsistencies in the process that led to the sus-pension of President Dilma Rousseff have not only been seen as wrong by foreign press, but have also led leaders and international bodies to question the legitimacy of the new government. Evidences that the elected president is being judged primarily by political and partisan criteria – not for constitutio-nal reasons – pose a threat to internal democracy and, by extension, raise questions about the legal and institutional stability of the country.

That’s the opinion of the geographer Zeno Cro-cetti, post-graduated in Geopolitics and professor at the University of Latin American Integration (Unila). “All the casuistry, the mess and manipu-lations [of the impeachment process] strengthened

the sense of political coup. Only Argentina expres-sed its ‘respect’. Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Uruguay and Chile gave the expected answer: qualified the Brazilian situation as a coup. In the eyes of the diplomatic game the most important reaction so far was the silence of the United States and Colombia,” said the professor to the Brasil Observer.

The Organization of American States (OAS), through its Secretary General, Luis Almagro, and the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), also through its Secretary General, Ernesto Sam-per, have shown resistance to accept the interim government of Michel Temer.

For the professor and political scientist Anthony Pereira, director of the Brazil Institute at King’s College London, these reactions will make it more difficult for the country to exercise its regional le-adership in South America. He added to the Brasil Observer, however, that “the impeachment process against Dilma has not been so obviously unconsti-tutional as to trigger the official condemnation or suspension of Brazil from bodies such as Mercosur, Unasur or the OAS.”

By Wagner de Alcântara Aragão

José serra, the new minister of

Foreign Affairs


FOCUS ON TRADE AGREEMENTS

Judging by José Serra inaugural speech as foreign minister, bilateral free trade agreements will be the priority. The new minister condemned the multila-teralism that guided the foreign policy of Lula and Dilma administrations. “Brazil, clinging exclusively to them [multilateral negotiations], remained on the margins of the bilateral free trade agreements. We need to recover lost opportunities,” he said.

For political scientist Lucas de Aragão, a partner and director of Arko Advice, “Brazilian diplomacy is back to the Foreign Ministry after spending years in the Planalto Palace [official workplace of the President of Brazil].” To the Brazil Observer, he said that “Serra will drive a foreign policy focused on trade and bu-siness, leaving aside the ideological foreign policy of the previous governments.” And that “support for the so-called Bolivarian governments will certainly be re-duced very strongly.”

A similar opinion was given by Rodrigo Scaff, a founding partner of Suriana. “In the past 13 years, the focus of Brazil on the conclusion of new trade agree-ments was in countries with less representation in the

global context, then I see with optimism the possibili-ty of return to put energy in markets with greater po-tential for collaboration, such as the European Union and the United States,” he said to this report.

“Brazil will continue fighting for a greater integration of its products in foreign markets. There is always the priority in breaking down tariff barriers, especially in agribusiness, but at the same time, the only solid way to gain international competitiveness is to approach struc-tural issues that make our cost to produce very high. We need better infrastructure, more labour flexibility and a more rational tax system, which does not encumber products made in Brazil,” added Rodrigo Scaff.

In this sense, the new role of the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brazil) se-ems essential. “By taking the Apex from the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC) and putting it into Itamaraty, the new government se-ems to be signalling that bilateral trade agreements will be a priority,” said Anthony Pereira.

At the time of writing, information indicated that the new president of Apex will be the ambassador Roberto Jaguaribe, who has served in the UK and currently holds the position of Brazilian ambassador to China.

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MERCOSUR-EUROPEAN UNION

In his inaugural speech, José Serra also advoca-ted the implementation of a trade agreement betwe-en Mercosur and the European Union. For Professor Zeno Crocetti, the political and economic situation in South America does not favour the formalization of this agreement. “We had a fragmented and complica-ted advance of popular governments. With the return of unemployment and inflation, these models began to fall apart, and then began gradual return of reac-tionary forces to power. If there are no changes in this scenario in the short term I do not see concrete condi-tions for an EU-Mercosur agreement,” he said.

In the opinion of Professor Anthony Pereira, “the hope of the Temer government will be that the new proximity to Argentina will allow Brazil and Argen-tina to negotiate together and try to finish the long-delayed trade negotiations between the EU and Mer-cosur.” The last meeting between Mercosur and the European Union took place on 11 May, when the first exchange of tariff offers was carried out, which main-ly affects the agricultural products. Anthony Pereira pointed out, however, that “these negotiations have stalled for reasons that go beyond differences between Argentina and Brazil – for example, French interests in protecting their small farmers is still a formidab-le obstacle to an agreement. So it is not clear whether even now an agreement can be reached.”

Undermining Brazilian ambitions, a group of 34 MEPs asked the Commissioner of the European Union’s Foreign Policy, Federica Mogherini, to sus-pend the negotiations on the agreement with Mer-cosur. For members of the European Parliament, the trade pact cannot be negotiated by a government wi-thout democratic legitimacy, referring to the interim administration of Michel Temer. Until the time of wri-ting, neither Federica Mogherini nor Brazil’s Foreign Ministry had commented.

PRE-SALT FUTURE

The appointment of José Serra for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has rekindled expectations of opening the exploitation of oil reserves in the pre-salt layer to international players. After all, it is authored by Serra himself the bill approved by the Senate in February, which takes from Petrobras the obligation to partici-pate in all exploration as single operator – and with 30% minimum participation. The proposal still needs to be approved by the lower House of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies.

For James Green, professor of Latin American history and director of the Initiative Brazil at Brown University in the United States, “it is very clear that the forces that are in favour of impeachment [of Dil-ma Rousseff] are interested in renegotiating the agre-ements surrounding the use of the pre-salt royalties that were to be dedicated to education.” “One can only expect that the proposal that Serra presented in the Se-nate last year regarding the partnerships between Pe-trobras and foreign companies will reduce Petrobras’ share and increase the possibilities of foreign explora-tion of Brazilian oil”, he added to the Brazil Observer.

Local content rules in the oil and gas sector are also likely to be changed. These laws have already been liberalized in practice somewhat, but this go-vernment could go farther. These national content laws are unpopular with multinational corpora-tions that do business in Brazil, because they force the multinationals to find Brazilian partners and order inputs from Brazilian suppliers, thus develo-ping the national industry.

As Professor James Green commented, “it’s ama-zing how an interim government, which may or may not be permanent, has already tried to entirely change Brazil’s foreign policy”.


CONECTANDO

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VOICES FROM

RIO DOCEMore than six months after the dam burst in Bento Rodrigues,

no one was held accountable. The local population still suffers the

consequences of the tragedy-crime

CONECTANDO

GOVERNADOR VALADARES, MG

Lack of social participation and sense of injustice. These were the main sto-ries told by those affected by the toxic mud that flooded the Rio Doce (Sweet River) after a dam owned by Vale, Sa-marco and BHP Billiton in Bento Ro-drigues, in Brazil’s State of Minas Ge-rais, collapsed on 5 November 2015. Complaints and experiences that seek alternatives to the hegemonic deve-lopment model in the region were presented during the Rio Doce Basin Territorial Convoy, which ran between 11 and 14 April from the river’s source to its mouth on the coast of the Espí-rito Santo State. Involving around 150 members of social movements, rese-archers and indigenous, among other sectors, four simultaneous routes met in Governador Valadares to promote a political act and a debate on the si-tuation of the population, six months after the tragedy-crime.

According to official data, 20 people died in the tragedy and hundreds were displaced. To date no one has been held accountable and Samarco paid no fines submitted by Ibama (Brazi-lian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) and the Federal Public Ministry. The en-vironmental impacts are still unima-ginable, with the extinction of several species of local biodiversity, and social damage are dramatic, with thousands of people without having how to se-cure their livelihood through fishing, agriculture, crafts and tourism, among other sources of income. The mining company is paying a card worth a mi-nimum wage (880 reais) plus a basic basket of food, and a 20% increase per dependent, but not everyone is assis-ted. This service has generated discord among residents, due to the individual care and demobilization attempts of collective actions of the residents by the company.

The convoy, according to its poli-tical letter, is a political-pedagogical tool built by the agro ecological move-ment in Brazil with various organiza-tions, networks and social movements. “These are trips of learning, exchan-ges, solidarity and political struggle, exercising a set of popular views about the territory, placing contradictions, potentials and challenges to build a new society based on agroecology, in land reform, public health, social eco-nomy, women rights, and respect for traditional communities. We seek to give visibility to the complaints, so-cial and environmental conflicts, the strength of experience and autonomy, appreciation of regional and popular culture”, says the document.

Now, after the event, it is being prepared a report – with complaints of those affected – that will be sent to in-ternational and human rights organi-zations such as Amnesty International

and Global Justice. According to Eduardo Braga, from the Brazilian Association of Geographers (AGB), the convoy was a moment of unity and convergence of different peo-ple and groups of the region around the Samarco tragedy-crime. There were public acts, conversation circles, community experiences, hiking and debates, among other initiatives exer-cising self-organization and popular communication works.

“It was possible to see the impor-tance of the river in the lives of people. This gave us a much more real dimen-sion of the impacts when these stories were told. They kept alive the memory of the crime. Looking forward the bi-ggest challenge is to keep the groups and populations mobilized. After all, the agreement that the company sig-ned with the state was not discussed with the population neither the Fou-ndation created. We have the challen-ge of communication, to continue the dialogue with these populations. Build the notion of ‘popular surveillance of the territory’, set strategic themes of action and observation, monitor river pollution and to continue the com-plaints about the impacts,” he said.

INDIGENOUS AND FAMILY AGRICULTURE

One of the communities visited by the convoy was the Krenak indi-genous village, in Resplendor, Minas Gerais. According to its young le-adership, Douglas Krenak, compa-nies and governments are taking the wealth of the territories and leaving only the tragedy. For many years his people has been struggling in defen-ce of the environment, but they are still excluded from spaces created for participation and decisions.

“We’re kind of desperate, because the river is a rich source of support for our people. The problem is this un-controlled creation of dams without the opinion of the people, which is leading to the genocide of traditional communities in the long run. We do not have sewage treatment; it’s all di-rected to the river. But we must not falter, and we will fight,” he said.

For Douglas, there is no point if the company continues its activities and there is no ecological awareness of future generations. “Nature is very generous, but when charging back there is no distinction between rich and poor, black and white. So we have to complain. They want to get people out of the river and reforesting, but the company is still there causing the same problems. While the cancer is not destroyed in the heart of Rio Doce, this will continue,” he declared.

In the municipality of Tumiritinga, in the region of the middle Rio Doce,

By Eduardo Sá and Morgana Maselli – from Governador Valadares, Minas Gerais


CONECTANDO is a project developed by Brasil Observer aiming to enhance experiences of ‘glocal’ communication. With universities and social movements, our goal is to bring local content for a global audience. To participate, write to [email protected]

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still in Minas Gerais, the convoy visi-ted the property of Luiz and Eva, in Cachoeirinha settlement. The couple has lived in the area for over 20 years and works with agriculture and fish farming. They had six plantations ir-rigated with water from the Rio Doce and sold production for the National School Feeding Programme (PNAE). Since the dam waste arrived on their property, the production has been drastically reduced.

“It ruined everything! All my life I irrigated and now I do not have water. We had six plantations and now there is only one left, we don’t have water for everything,” said Eva. “We had over a meter of waste in our plantation and it affected the fish tanks, we lost more than 6,000 fishes. We used to earn more than eight minimum wages from our production and now we are

just living with the card provided by Samarco. They said we would receive only up to six months. What are we going to do after that?” Luiz asked.

COAST AND TOURISM DEVASTATED

The village of Regência, in Linha-res, on the Espirito Santo State coast, suffers from environmental devasta-tion. Located at the mouth of the Rio Doce, the city created by a colony of artisanal fishermen and known as one of the best surfing spots in Brazil had its life changed. Residents ex-pect more transparency of the com-pany with reports revealing the im-pacts, and their error recognized as the dam had signs of leakage.

Samarco is paying aid to those affec-ted, as fishermen, seafood restaurants

and merchants. However, some re-sidents have not received anything, they have a steady job and, according to the agreement, they have no ne-eds. Schools and churches are ahead in the struggle, while most of those who are receiving money are in si-lence. The teacher and nurse Luciana de Souza, 43, has lived there since she was born, and works at the scho-ol and the hospital. According to her, it is a process of economic injury and acculturation that is causing people to leave their territory, especially young people, because there is no fishing, surfing and agriculture plan, which are now impractical.

“The community was injured in their rights with Petrobras, and now with the mud are all desperate. They want to stay, but do not have another way out. This river is not that of my

childhood, it is absurd that progress can do. They are trying to decimate our lives, culture, way of life, essen-ce, but we will resist. Who has to pay, have to pay,” she said.

The village’s economic activities were driven mainly by surfing and environmental tourism, in addition to fishing, which have been drama-tically impacted. Throughout the basin of Rio Doce there is great con-cern with water. The quality of the offered water has been questioned by the population, which during the convoy reported cases of skin and stomach diseases. Moreover, in ru-ral areas, from top to bottom of Rio Doce family farmers have had great difficulties to maintain their produc-tion, since the water used for irriga-tion came from the river, and now it is no longer suitable for the activity.

rio Doce basin territorial convoy route 2

rio Doce basin territorial convoy route 3

eva and Luiz: family farming hugely affected

‘We cannot drink ore’: act in Governador Valadares

Fishermen observe the rio Doce

mailto:[email protected]


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THE BEAUTIFUL CADENCE

A very popular Brazilian song (“Samba da minha terra”, by Dorival Caymmi) says those who don’t like samba are not good people, have something bad on their mind or some disease on their feet. But even they would agree: samba is the highest expression of what’s Brazilian. As the poet-singer-song-writer Vinicius de Morais would say, samba is sadness with a swing. Which means: sadness, an inevitable feeling, may be faced with love and grace, with instruments like cava-quinho and pandeiro.

Martinho da Vila and Roberta Sá, with concerts scheduled for late June in London, represent the best of what samba can offer: poetry, cadence, and in-telligence. In the words of Aquiles Reis, vocalist of the iconic Brazilian band MPB4 and a music critic, “Martinho da Vila has the power of Zumbi dos Pal-mares”, a leader of the black resistance against sla-very in Brazil during the 17th century, and Roberta Sá is a singer who “was born with the blood of samba circulating through her veins”.

Both of them gave an interview for Brasil Obser-ver by e-mail. “I think samba, morna and fado have a intersection point”, said Roberta Sá about her most re-cent work, the album Delírio, which brings a delicious combination of these musical genres from Brazil, Cape Verde and Portugal. “They are very different genres that dialogues with each other. The sonority of Delírio has a lot of this. I started looking for music in a more com-prehensive way, in the way I do it and where I want to go with it. Thus I have this desire to play in other con-tinents, to do more this exchange with musicians that add elements to my universe,” she added.

Naturally considered a samba singer, Roberta Sá commented: “if you listen, the work of Brazilian ar-tists you will see that samba is present in almost all repertoires.” For her, “even in the more electronic, in the more modern, samba is present. The root is what makes you fly safely. I sing samba because I still think it is, above all, a democratic rhythm. All social classes understand samba, it is a cultural heritage of our country”.

Delírio marks the return of Roberta Sá to studio after three years and brings original songs by Adriana Calcanhotto, Moreno Veloso, Rodrigo Maranhão and Cézar Mendes, in addition to participations by Chi-co Buarque, António Zambujo, Xande de Pilares and Martinho da Vila.

“Martinho is a gift”, said Roberta Sá about one of her partners in Delírio. She told that the idea of singing one of his songs came up during a tour when they met each other. On the occasion, Martinho da Vila offered her the song “Amanhã é sábado” (“Tomorrow is Sa-turday”). For Roberta Sá, it “speaks about women em-powerment, about women who now are family chief, business women and arrive at home tired, looking for her beloved”.

“Roberta is a great artist and is conquering inter-national audiences”, said Martinho da Vila about Ro-berta Sá. “We have already shared the stage many ti-mes and we are mutual fans”, said the samba master.

In June, London will taste samba with two voices that represent the best of what this rhythm can offer

By Guilherme Reis


ROBERTA SÁ

MARTINHO DA VILA

When26 JuneWhereUnder the Bridge (Fulham Road, London SW6 1HS)entrance £25info www.underthebridge.co.uk

When 28 JuneWhere Barbican Hall (Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS)entrance £25-45info www.barbican.org.uk

OF MARTINHO DA VILA AND ROBERTA SÁ

PARENTHESIS FOR MARTINHO DA VILA

Martinho da Vila is undoubtedly one of the greatest names of Brazilian music. He appeared to the general pu-blic at the Record TV Festival in 1967, when he presen-ted “Menina Moça”. On the following year, in the fourth edition of the same festival, he launched the classic “Casa de Bamba”, his first success, followed by “O Pequeno Bur-guês”. He soon became a renowned artist and won many awards, being a major album seller in Brazil. In 1995, with the album Tá delícia, Tá gostoso, he became the first samba singer to exceed the mark of one million copies sold in record time. Now he is preparing a new album for the second semester.

In addition to his music carrer, Martinho da Vila has two other equally important aspects: he is a writer and cultural activist. In 2016, he released his 14th book, the novel Barras, vilas e amores, which came up from his thoughts about politics. Martinho studies International Relations and created the character of an ambassador who tells stories about his travels around the world, in-cluding the Vila Isabel neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro, which gives his nickname Da Vila. In 2015, he attended the Paris Book Fair, launching Os Lusófonos in French. In previous years, his books Joana e Joanes and Ópera Negra were also translated to French.

As a cultural activist, Matinho da Vila promoted this year concerts of Clube do Samba (Samba Club), an initia-tive created in the late 1970s by João Nogueira, another renowned samba singer, which aimed to boost this music genre in a scenario dominated by foreign music. To the Brasil Observer, Martinho said “we made four comme-morative editions to keep alive the memory of this mo-vement that was very important. Other editions are still possible to happen, but depends on sponsorship.”

‘DIRTY LAUNDRY WE WASH AT HOME’

Many artists have positioned themselves on the politi-cal crisis in Brazil. So I asked the opinion of both. Some-thing annoying, yes, but relevant.

Roberta Sá said: “I take great care to talk about it. The feeling is that everyone knows everything about politics now and I think it’s dangerous. The division of the coun-try is clearly seen and, on both sides, there is an over-ag-gressiveness that doesn’t represent me. We need to review many things, starting with our archaic electoral system. The fortunes of election campaigns elect our represen-tatives in all power ranges. Then keep that political gear running at any price is more important than investing in health, education, culture, sanitation, and housing. I do not understand much of it, but unfortunately I see no so-lution in the short term.”

Martinho da Vila kept it short: “I don’t feel comforta-ble talking to the international press about the scandalous Brazilian political crises. I am ashamed and follow the popular saying: dirty laundry we wash at home”.

ON STAGE IN LONDON

The concerts of Brazilian artists abroad are often quite different from those in Brazil. The audience, in most cases formed by different nationalities, is generally quieter, and the entire focus is directed to the music. What do Marti-nho da Vila and Roberta Sá think about that?

“I think it’s wonderful,” said Roberta Sá. “It is impor-tant and delightful the warm from the public, the joy, but it is also essential that other side, know to hear a song and get in touch with other emotions.”

For Martinho da Vila, “those who are on stage deter-mine the audience behaviour.” “I want to do a show to be heard, appreciated and interactive. The important thing is to be emotional,” said the singer.

It’s not hard to imagine: London will become greater in the beautiful cadence of Martinho da Vila and Roberta Sá.

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‘nAmíbiA, não!’: A BRAzILIAN PLAY IN BRITISH THEATRE

ALFreDo VoLPi: At the crossroADs oF BRAzILIAN MODERN ART

Namíbia, Não! uk is the English production of a comedy that explores the plight of two black Brazilians following a sudden government decree that all African descendants are to be repatriated to the land of their ancestors, their reaction and its consequences. This is an award winning piece of contempo-rary drama that will question our preconceived ideas about post-colonialism and our own sense of belonging somewhere.Namíbia, Não! UK exposes British audiences to the work of contemporary cutting-edge Brazilian playwright Aldri Anunciação, thus strengthening the collaborations between Brazilian and British theatre. Prof. Catherine Boyle mentors the transla-tion process and Xavier Roide, known for his work with Placebo and his classic renditions of the work of Tribalhistas and Secos e Molhados is a guest composer and sound designer. The project counts with the support of Franko Figueiredo, co-founder of StoneCrabs Theatre Company, as creative producer. The cast com-prises of Femi Oyeniran, famous for his role of Moony in the films Kidulthood and Adulthood by Noel Clarke, and Anyebe Godwin, most recently seen on ITV’s show Autopsy: Last Hours of Notorious B.I.G Sean Smith. Director and translator Almiro Andrade leads the four week development process, in order to bring Anunciação’s script to the British stage with scratch performance taking place at the Soho Theatre Upstairs. Almiro is currently developing his PhD research – Brazilianism: Translation and Adaptation of Contemporary Brazilian Drama through Devised Performance – at King’s College London. He’s also taken an active part in several productions in the UK, working as an actor, a writer/director, most recently as a dramaturge for Franko Figueiredo’s Tieta in 2015.

When: 23 June, 7pmWhere: Tutu’s King’s College LondonWhen: 29 June, 4pmWhere: Soho Theatre Upstairsentrance: Pay what you can eventinfo: https://goo.gl/iZJEXj

Cecilia Brunson Projects brings Volpi: at The Crossroads of Brazilian Modern Art, an exhibition of paintings by Alfredo Volpi (1896 – 1988) curated by Dr Michael Asbury. The presentation is the second in the gallery’s series of shows which aim to introduce London audiences to some of the major figures of modern and contemporary Brazilian art, presented in association with Almeida e Dale Art Gallery, São Paulo.Although set to be a new discovery for most London audiences, Alfredo Volpi is rightly regarded as one of the most influential figures in 20th century Brazilian art. A painter whose work articulated popular themes with a sophisticated use of geometry and co-lour, Volpi stands at the crossroads between the Brazilian modernismo of the 1920s and 30s and the experimental art that would emerge in the late 1950s and 60s.Few artists in Brazil have received such universal acclaim and recognition, demonstra-ted through multiple retrospectives and books devoted to his work, as well as the legion of ‘volpistas’ who followed and championed his painting during his lifetime. Volpi was considered one of the pillars of Brazilian Modernism, admired by the concrete move-ment and lauded by the pre-eminent critics of the day Herbert Read and Mário Pedrosa.Although Volpi has exhibited widely since his first solo exhibition in 1944 – partici-pating in an exhibition of Brazilian art which toured the UK at venues that include the Royal Academy (1944), the Venice Biennale, the São Paulo Biennial, in addition to numerous museum exhibitions around the world – this will be Alfredo Volpi’s first solo show in the UK.

When: 11 June to 29 July (Tuesday-Friday: 2-6pm, Saturday: 12-4pm)Where: Cecilia Brunson Projects (Royal Oak Yard, Bermondsey Street)entrance: Free info: www.ceciliabrunsonprojects.com

FESTIVALSAMBA fEVER HITS LIVERPOOL wITH BRAzILICA fESTIVAL Liverpool’s Brazilica Festival is to return for its ninth consecutive year. The main Carnival Day will be held on Saturday 16 July. Derby Square will be the main location. A programme of events is being organised to lead up to the main Carnival Day, while the Brazilian Film Festival will return following its success in 2015. There is also a Brazilica Fringe Festival featuring exhibitions and workshops, with artists visiting from Sao Paulo, and samba per-formances in Church Street on 16 and 17 July.

When:15 to 17 July Where:Venues across Liverpoolentrance:Free info:www.brazilicafestival.co.uk

http://www.ceciliabrunsonprojects.com

http://www.brazilicafestival.co.uk


CINEMA MUSIC

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ATION

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‘embrAce oF the serPent’: A JOURNEY THROUGH THE AMAzON

cinecLub brAziL: ‘BATGUANO’ AND ‘THE DEAD GIRL’S fEAST’

Directed by Ciro Guerra, Embrace of the Serpent is an extraordinary spiritual jour-ney through the heart of the Colombian Amazon. A German scientist arrives in the Amazon in 1909 and is guided by Karamakate, a tribal shaman, in his search for the sacred, psychedelic yakruna plant. Decades later, an American scientist repeats his quest, led by the same, but much-changed shaman. Although based on the journals of two real-life explorers, Guerra’s Oscar-nominated film is seen through Karamakate’s eyes as we witness the corrosive effects of colonialism on his tradi-tions and on the environment to which he’s inextricably linked. The beautiful black and white cinematography mesmerises throughout, as do the fine performances. A truly poetic cinematic experience.

When: From 10 June Where: Cinemas across the UKentrance: Depends on the venue info: www.peccapics.com

The Cultural Section of the Embassy of Brazil in London, in partnership with Dirty Movies (www.dirtymovies.org), presents a season of “the dirtiest Brazilian films from the past 10 years”. A ‘dirty movie’ is not an ordinary movie: it challenges and breaks conventions. This season will combine five screenings, with introductions, talks and a roundtable, supported by 14 reviews and two articles written specifically for the occasion. The first screening will kick off on 8 June with Batguano, directed by Tavinho Teixeira, which shows Batman and Robin struggling to survive in an apocalyptic third world. On 22 June, it’s time for The Dead Girl’s Fest, directed by Matheus Nachtergae-le, a story around a celebration in a small riverside community in the upper part of the Negro River. Each screening will be introduced by Victor Fraga (Dirty Movies).

When: 8 and 22 June, both 6.30pmWhere: Embassy of Brazil in London (14-16 Cockspur Street)entrance: Free (RSVP to [email protected]) info: www.londres.itamaraty.gov.br

BIxIGA 70

ELIANE ELIAS

HERMETO PASCOAL

João DonAto + JAnis sieGeL + DieGo FiGueireDo

EMICIDA

DOM LA NENA

O RAPPA

ORqUESTRA JAzz SINfôNICA

Following their sold out UK debut at Rich Mix in January, Bixiga 70 make a swift return to London with a ground-breaking fusion of Afri-can and South American rhythms and sounds. Brazilian instrumental music to dance.

When: 23 JuneWhere: Scala (275 Pentonville Rd, London N1 9NL)entrance: £15 advance info: www.scala.co.uk

Brazilian pianist Eliane Elias plays at Ronnie Scott’s with the band Steps Ahead, featuring the great musicians Mike Mainieri (vibra-phone), Donny McCaslin (saxophone), Marc Johnson (bass) and Billy Kilson (drums).

When: 4-6 July Where: Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club (47 Frith Street, London W1D 4HT)entrance: £35-55info: www.ronniescotts.co.uk

Composer and multi-instrumentalist Herme-to Pascoal is a towering figure in Brazilian music. He performs with his all-star British ensemble conducted by Jovino Santos Neto in celebration of his 80th birthday year.

When: 9 JulyWhere: Barbican Hall (Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS)entrance: £15-35 plus booking feeinfo: www.barbican.org.uk

Three generations of musicians find a mee-ting point between American Jazz and Bra-zilian music, performing material from the career of pianist João Donato, and standards from the Bossa Nova back catalogue.

When: 10 July Where: Barbican Hall (Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS)entrance: £15-30 plus booking feeinfo: www.barbican.org.uk

His first tracks were created on a tiny keyboard and recorded to a tape deck, and he first rose to prominence through rap batt-le videos uploaded to YouTube. Now, Emicida is one of Brazil’s bi-ggest rappers. Experience his Hip-Hop at this year’s Walthamstow Garden Party (16-17 July).

When: To be confirmedWhere: Walthamstow Lloyd Parkentrance: Freeinfo: www.walthamstowgar-denparty.com

Brazilian singer-songwriter Dom La Nena has broken international ground with her exci-ting multi-lingual new album Soyo, released in the UK in 2015. Her next concert in the UK is part of Womed Festival (28-31 July).

When: To be confirmedWhere: Womad Festival, Charlton Parkentrance: £175 weekend ticketinfo: www.womad.co.uk

After the enormous success of last year’s show in the English capital, the Brazilian band O Rappa is coming back to London. The band will return to play more songs of their latest album Nunca Tem Fim.

When: 13 August Where: Electric Brixton (Town Hall Parade, London SW2 1RJ)entrance: £25 plus booking feeinfo: www.electricbrixton.uk.com

The São Paulo Jazz Symphony joins Marin Al-sop and the city’s symphony orchestra for a Late Night Prom exploring Brazilian popular music.

When: 24 augustWhere: Royal Albert Hallentrance: £7.50 to £25info: www.royalalberthall.com

http://www.peccapics.com

http://www.dirtymovies.org

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.londres.itamaraty.gov.br

http://www.scala.co.uk

http://www.ronniescotts.co.uk

http://www.barbican.org.uk

http://www.barbican.org.uk

http://www.walthamstowgardenparty.com

http://www.walthamstowgardenparty.com

http://www.womad.co.uk

http://www.electricbrixton.uk.com

http://www.royalalberthall.com


COLUMNISTS

g Franko Figueiredo is artistic director and associate producer of StoneCrabs Theatre Company

S

FRANKO FIGUEIREDO

Sitting at a café in central London, I could not help eavesdropping on the conversations arou-nd me. On the table to the left, there were two gentlemen discussing their latest discoveries on TV, to the right was a young couple talking about a theatre play. And behind me there were two young men discussing books and music gigs, and one turned to the other and asked: “Culturally speaking, what is happening to Bra-zil? Aside Bossa Nova, Carnival, Paulo Coelho and Criolo, what does Brazil offer to the inter-national cultural landscape?” The other young man took a long breath and said “I don’t think there is much happening actually. Brazil doesn’t invest in popular or any other culture properly”. That question stayed with me.

Culture is all around us, though we may not realise, it forms a big part of our lives and influences us in many different ways; it shapes our current world, from high street fashion to TV commercials, from the crisps you eat to the places you visit. Culture, in keeping with the original meaning of the word, is some-thing that’s cultured over a period of time. It is not solid or definable. It is organic, so it is not measured in numbers and sizes and so on. We create it, we consume it. Culture infiltra-tes our lives in unimaginable ways. It changes our behaviours. Take Shakespeare’s language, for instance, there are so many expressions we use in English and other languages that came from his writing; Yve Klein’s blue colour cre-ated in the 1960s gave rise to a range of new shades; jeans were made popular by actors like James Dean in the 1950s; the 1970s cul-tural liberation needs no explaining on its impact on the world. We can live and breathe culture, but whose culture?

I actually believe that Brazil, however slowly, was beginning to move from periphe-ries of global culture conversation, to become active players in a wider exchange. Indeed, there needs to be more investment in culture if we want to break through international boun-daries. Unfortunately, the artists that do mana-ge to make it are either from economic elite or benefit from their financial support.

“Public life without arts and culture will be much poorer”, says the Arts Council of En-gland, who is also going through massive cuts from the current austerity measures. “The arts are integral to all our lives – they give us the pleasure and the opportunity for self-expres-sion. They also bring social and economic be-nefits to our communities and our nation.”

But how can we see the intrinsic value of arts if half of the population can barely afford to eat? I believe in being fed both physically and spiritually, and the arts provide for the latter. We need to find the balance between one and the other.

We are culture and we need to allow our true selves to come through the arts. Arts creates our identity, makes us who we are. Forget facts and figures. Culture is not

accountancy. Culture, like the urge to find culture, is built on hunger – people hungry for something to mitigate the drudgery of their day-to-day, to express themselves or simply to do what they like to do.

The bureaucratic, neo-liberal people in power are too blind to see how important cul-ture is for a country’s wellbeing. Perhaps they are just too greedy, taking as much as they can now, and only leaving the bare bones for the next generation. Everything nowadays must be for profit. We can’t seem to be able to invest in something if it doesn’t wield big financial re-turns. In Britain, up and down the country, we see very little risk taking, with culture houses only producing safe box office projects. Litt-le risk equals little investment which in turn equals dead culture.

The current systems value appearance and profit more than morals and ethics. It is blatantly and almost literally displayed with governmental behaviour within the British parliament, we were all aghast at Mr Came-ron’s comments over what Mr Corbyn was wearing for a Commons’ debate. And in the Brazilian Congress we have witnessed much worse. What this shows is that lack of culture produces arrogant people and politicians that have little or no regard for the humanity of the other; parliaments and congresses ought to be the podium where dialogue and respect are most valued, but no, we see the opposite... And it is not a question of education; it is lack of culture, lack of ethics and morals that provoke such animalistic behaviour in the politicians of today. Unfortunately, they are our mirror.

Having said that, I have witnessed a change already happening in some places, for instance, Greece which has suffered a massive economic crisis, has not stopped investing in culture. Even in Dubai, a country in the 1990s known for very little cultural options, is now a place where you can witness fish market porters giving up we-ekends and evenings to invite the general public into their workplace to watch films, talk ideas and drink tea – usually without charge because it is financed by the local government.

Simply put, the against-all-odds desire of people to keep themselves not only entertai-ned, but engaged in a debate that is focussed on bringing equality and humanity to flourish in the world is the true meaning of culture.

I remain positive as I hear newly appoin-ted London Mayor Sadiq Khan state that “culture is the DNA of our city, it is the glue that binds us together” and adding that he will prioritise the arts, hopefully others will follow suit. I believe we are heading towards that goal; we just need to improve how we invest our time and money.

Perhaps next time I am eavesdropping on a conversation at a local café, I’ll hear a different response to the question: “where is Brazil in the international cultural landscape?” Perhaps the question won’t even come up.

Culture is built on hunger – people hungry for something to mitigate the drudgery of

their day-to-day

WHAT’S CULTURE?


“Oh, she’s talking about feminism again”. I’m pretty sure that’s what everyone thinks when they read or listen to my feminist rants, my criti-

cism towards patriarchy (another word that makes people roll their eyes) and my requests about taking part in campaigns. They probably think it’s just a phase, a temporary ob-session. But for me, and I believe this also applies to most feminists that are activists, feminism is not a fling. Feminism is the clo-sest thing to religion that I will ever experience. It’s a cause I will embrace as long as I live and, if I’m capable, contribute to its legacy.

I didn’t wake up one day and decided I was a feminist. It wasn’t a sud-den revelation. It was so-mething I started explo-ring little by little. With friends’ support and on-line campaigns spearhea-ded by women that have become key leaders in the feminist movement, I rea-

lised I have always been ‘one of them’. I am a feminist since my very first sexist memory, but it took a while to understand what this means.

The Everyday Sexism Project was essential to my feminist journey. It’s a website (which turned into a book) where women share experiences of sexism. Things that me and many wo-men used to see as part of everyday life. Things that we got used to because we thought they came with the ‘being a women’ package. For a few weeks I browsed the website daily (which is still updated and has been translated to several languages) to read the sto-ries. So I decided to share my expe-riences as well, and it was sad to realise that my very first childhood memory is also a sexist memory.

Throughout my childhood and te-enage years, I spent the new year ce-lebrations with my family. Not only

my parents and sister but also cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles. No-thing beats the fun of big family ga-thering, am I right? Fun and sexist. I clearly remember new year’s day, after celebrations on the night before and the traditional lunch of January 1st, all women of the family went to the kitchen to wash the dishes and cle-an up the mess. And where were the men? Drinking. Sleeping. Chatting. I remember the year my eldest cousin was summoned to help, and it got me thinking: when will be my turn?

After I shared this on The Every-day Sexism Project website, many other memories popped up and I started remembering experiences that I had suppressed for years. Like the time I was harassed on the street. Alone, or alongside my sister and my friends, and even with my mother by my side. That’s what happens when you take off the sexist veil that blurs our view: you see how it is embedded in society and everyday life.

I started to search for similar cam-paigns and to talk about the issue with my closest friends. I have to admit I wasn’t surprised to learn that they all had similar experiences, and just like me they wiped out harassment (on the streets, at work, in public areas, at school) from their minds, after all they were never told this was a problem. They just dealt with it.

But they shouldn’t. I am a privileged woman (white, middle class, educated, straight and cisgender) and I no longer want to just ‘deal with it’. I started to question. If I have to face sexism on a daily basis, I wonder how bad it is for less privileged women? Black women. Disabled women. Transgender wo-men. I wonder how women live with sexism in countries that we all know are oppressive. Worse: how is it for wo-men living in refugee camps?

Women need to have their voices heard. And feminism is here to do this. To show the world how women still suffer with violence, harassment and oppression just because they are wo-men. The more we talk about this, the more people will listen. Shall we battle?

I am a feminist since my very first sexist memory, but it took a while to understand what this means

HELOISA RIGHETTO

HOW I FOUND OUT I WAS A FEMINIST

g Heloisa Righetto is a journalist and writes about feminism (@helorighetto – facebook.com/conexãofeminista)


LONDON BY

NATH

áLIA

BRAGA

PERFECT COMBO:KINGSTON AND

HAMPTON COURT


OOne of the things I like the most about London is that you always have a new place to go. Even after four years living in the city, I still go around exploring a different region – and always come back home with the feeling of having made a trip that day. My last adventure was at one of the four royal boroughs in the British capital, Kingston Upon Thames, in southwest London.

Tranquility, green spaces and hou-ses by the River Thames: the setting of-fers a real therapy, something quite di-fferent from the hectic pace of central London. And getting there is easy: 30 minutes by train departing from Wa-terloo Station. The South West trains are perhaps the most comfortable in the city, and along the way you can hear conversations in the very posh style – the most British of accents!

Leaving Kingston station, head towards the Old London Road to see one of the local postcard pictures: the art installation Out of Order, popular-ly known as the telephone cabins tum-bled over each other. The work was done by David Mach and the twelve cabins were placed there in 1989. In 2001, it passed through a renovation and since that it remains intact, with no graffiti, and many tourists around taking pictures.

After seeing the cabins, it’s time to explore the other side of the small cen-tre. Walk towards the Thames to pass through the Ancient Market Place, which works in a very charming squa-re every day of the week from 10am to 5pm. Take your time around there watching the stalls and discovering the diversity of international cuisine. How about a famous English pie? Or a deli-cious Moroccan wrap? Do you prefer a sushi or French food? No problem. There is food for all, and stalls with fruit, vegetables, fish and breads.

But if you want a lunch with ama-zing views, resist the temptations of the market and go to the High Street. There you will find several restaurants, some with shy facade, but make no mistake: most have outdoor area on the edge of the River Thames. Stein’s Kingston drew attention to the small queue at the door and the small wait was worth it: delicious food and German beer.

While looking at the river and ad-miring the beauty of the place, you probably will realize that you are in the middle of your day, which can continue around Kingston Upon Thames region or may be extended to the Hampton Court Palace. If you choose the second option, you will not regret it!

HAMPTON COURT PALACE

Taking a bus or walking for about 40 minutes are some of the ways to get to Hampton Court Palace from Kingston Upon Thames. But even better is to enjoy the boat ride, whi-ch lasts about 20 minutes. If weather helps it will be the highlight of the day. The return ticket costs £8 – £6.50 one way. The boats run up to a certain time, generally stop the ear-ly evening. If you want to stay late, buy one-way ticket. And do not wor-ry about how to get home, because the train station of Hampton Court is just minutes from the palace and from there you get trains back to Wa-terloo Station.

But believe me when I say the last thing you will think about is going home! A visit to Hampton Court Palace is worth every penny of the £21 you pay to enter (£19 without the donation rate). The out-side area is already impressive, but there is much more to see.

Explore the interior of the palace, which served as a residence for King Henry VIII, but allow enough time to visit the gardens, plus a little time to try to find the exit of the famous la-byrinth of the palace. Take a map and be sure to visit The Great Fountain Garden, which seems to have been taken from a fairy tale.

In the spring time, flowers leave the garden very colourful. Walk throu-gh the gardens to reach the vine that was planted in 1768 especially for King Henry VII and has entered the Guin-ness Book of World Records as the lar-gest vine in the world.

After the visit, the feeling is you don’t want to go back home. Walk along the river, sit on the lawn outdo-ors or go to a local pub to end the tour in this place so quiet that don’t seem to be so close to central London.

By Nathália Braga g

Tranquillity, green spaces, and houses by the River Thames: the scenery is so therapeutic that it seems out of London

g Nathália Braga is a journalist, works in digital marketing and has lived in London since 2012. In her blog Lar Doce Londres (which means Home Sweet London – www.lardocelondres.com), she writes about life in the British capital, its stories and everything included in the package: challenges, travel, culture, career and family.

http://www.lardocelondres.com

http://www.lardocelondres.com


BR TRIP

Shaun Alexandertakes his chance to run with the Rio 2016 Olympic Torch

while it passes him in Vitória, Espírito Santo

T

RIO 2016: NO CLIMATE IN BRAzIL FOR OLYMPICS?

The Rio 2016 Olympics is almost here! Bra-zil. Surely it will be the greatest Olympic Ga-mes ever to have happened? Following the runaway success of the World Cup... right!? Perhaps, but let’s slow down.

In 2012, I was living in London. Olym-pic fever had struck, and the torch was about to come by my offices at Bank. I thought bad to go out for a skive, but then everyone in the entire office did. It was a huge event, and the streets were lined with thousands of tie-clad office workers wan-ting a glimpse of the thing. It was about to be broadcast to hundreds of millions of pe-ople around the world, after all.

Skip forward to 2016, Brazil. I went out to see the Olympic torch here too. How could I miss it? I am a foreigner so can put aside everything else and focus on the sporting spectacle. However, truth be told, there is far less enthusiasm in Brazil for the Olympics than there was in London.

The reasons for this lack of enthusiasm are many, but mostly, the country’s poli-ticians have let the people down in a bad way. Public trust is gone because, as has now been proven, so much public money has been stolen through bribe schemes for over-charged infrastructure projects. It’s almost guaranteed the Olympic construc-tion works are no different.

The betrayal of Brazil’s politicians has gone far beyond that, though. The govern-ment has been totally frozen, dozens of in-dividuals involved should definitely be in jail, while President Dilma - largely with her hands tied by a house of corrupt Deputies - has been impeached for made-up crimes. Many call it a coup.

Perhaps worse than that, if we look at Rio specifically, many of the promises the city’s administrators made to the Olympic Com-mittee to secure the games are not going to be met. Many of these promises would have bettered the life of people in Rio. For exam-ple, Guanabara Bay was to be cleaned up through the construction of sewerage plants, cleaning up the heavily polluted waterways of the whole Rio area. Not done - and the Rio government threw the towel in on this pro-ject as long as a year ago.

In London 2012, the talk was about being ready on time for the Olympics. Would it, wouldn’t it be? It was and, to be honest, I think Rio will be too. That’s not in question. The betrayal of Brazil’s government against its people across far too many fronts to possibly go into de-tail in this column are the reason why, as many Brazilians tell me, this is simply not the climate for Brazil to host an Olympics.

I probe further. Brazil will have to be fake to the world. If it appears fine and well, pe-ople around the world should know things are definitely not fine. The recession has crippled the economy, the population is totally divided about political ideas and, it has to put on a smile.

This was supposed to be Brazil’s arrival on the big world stage. The stand-in Presi-dent, Michel Temer, who the world will see in the stands probably hosting world lea-ders in this function, many Brazilians see as illegitimate. Frankly, many will see his presence on that world stage as an affront to their democracy.

The Olympics, therefore, will be so-mething for the gringos to enjoy - which many will, perhaps ignorant of the pro-blems faced by the host country. It doesn’t seem fair, really.

There was one thing about seeing the Olympic torch up close in the flesh that gave me hope. Lining the streets, greeting the tor-ch runner with chants, shouting and excited laughing were hundreds of children. These school kids are innocent and, perhaps even oblivious to the problems faced in Brazil. That is absolutely a good thing. They can see the Olympics for what it is: an exciting sports event happening in their home country. Their local Brazilian athletes will be performing for them and, who knows, perhaps they can be-come sporting heroes one day too?

This is what the Olympics should be about. The future generations will remember this forever and aspire to emulate their Brazi-lian Olympians. But as I say in my YouTube vlog, weeks before the event itself, those who can put aside the problems Brazil faces will start to focus on the greatest sporting event in the world for exactly that and will remember it for that alone.

Something that shouldn’t be in any doubt: Brazilians will always greet foreign guests to the country with a smile, a warm hug and a huge party, regardless of what is happening in their own personal lives. If you’re coming to the games from abroad, be assured - you will have the time of your life at the event. Rio de Janeiro is one of my favourite cities in the world and you - I absolutely promise - will love it. Come with an open mind and heart and let Brazil infect you.

In case you are wondering, the athlete carrying the torch in my video and pictu-res is called Alison. He’s a local favourite here in Espirito Santo state - a beach vol-leyball player with a real chance at the Rio 2016 Olympics. Good luck to him and the rest of Team Brazil when things get down to it in August 2016.


g If you would like to see the video of me running with the torch, or more vlogs from Brazil, go to www.youtube.com/ShaunVlog

REPROD

UçãO

PERSON

AL A

RCHIV

E

http://www.youtube.com/ShaunVlog



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