Brazil's soft coup

A note from the editor

Vanessa Baird

Rebranding dictatorship in Latin America

Not so long ago Brazil was a country with both a booming economy and an enviably progressive set of social policies.

Today, almost exactly one year since Dilma Rousseff’s ‘impeachment’ (which many call a ‘coup’), Latin America’s most populous nation is in social, political and economic meltdown.

Each day brings a new government initiative to pillage on behalf of the super-rich. Every news bulletin delivers another instalment in a corruption saga that is shaping up to be the world’s biggest.

‘We always knew there was corruption,’ one young Brazilian journalist told me, ‘but the scale of it, the number of politicians and the amount of money involved, has left us totally disgusted and demoralized.’

Nothing is predictable. ‘Anyone who can tell you what is going to happen is certainly ill-informed,’ another journalist, a veteran, quipped.

At various points, while researching this month’s Big Story, it looked like Brazil’s corruption-mired Michel Temer could not possibly hold on to the top job. At the time of writing, he is still in place.

Then there is the case of ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who could win next year’s presidential elections – or could be in prison.

These are the big players. But, being New Internationalist, we also tune in to the people who are most impacted by Brazil’s extraordinary and complex crisis – the people at the grassroots, whose voices are increasingly drowned out by the elite roar of privilege.

Elsewhere in this edition, Cynthia Enloe unpicks the persistence of patriarchy, which she says ‘is as hip as football millionaires and Silicon Valley start-ups’, while Arun Gandhi, Mahatma’s grandson, talks to Danielle Batist about his grandfather’s ideals, technology and Trump.

Vanessa Baird for the New Internationalist co-operative.
www.newint.org

The big story

Brazil's soft coup hardens

Vanessa Baird sets out to see how dictatorship is being rebranded in Latin America’s most populous nation.

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Features

What is Brazil’s ‘Operation Car Wash’?

Is Operation Car Wash the world’s biggest corruption scandal? By Vanessa Baird

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Indigenous people, set to be robbed of their land rights, took their protest to Brasilia – to be rebuffed by armed forces.Photo: Gregg Newton / Reuters

Grand land theft

Vanessa Baird writes on how agribusiness has mounted a coup against rural Brazilians.

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Brazil already suffers a high rate of violence towards women. This activist is taking part in a campaign in Rio.Photo: Sergio Moraes  / Reuters

What's sex got to do with it?

The rights of women and minorities are receding fast since the coup.

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Marcela's Recipe of the month

Marcela’s recipe: How to make a soft coup

This dish may seem a bit challenging at first glance, but is guaranteed to impress your guests!

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The spirit of creative resistence is strong in the Rio favela of Maré. But Brazil is suffering a ‘genocide’ of black youth.Photo: Vanessa Baird

‘We have a lot to teach the city’

What does ‘the state’ mean to you if you are poor or black or both? Vanessa Baird reports on life down-and-out in post-coup São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro

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Indigenous rights activists after the ‘Unsettle Canada Day 150 Picnic’ in Toronto, Ontario. Photo: Mark Blinch / Reuters

No celebration of colonization

That is the demand of many First Nations people during Canada’s year-long jamboree to mark its 150th anniversary of confederation. Sian Griffiths reports.

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Arun Ghandi.Photo: Dimitri Koutsomytis

‘When people are tired of exploitation, they resort to violence’

Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Arun Gandhi, speaks to Danielle Batist about technology, Trump, and anger as a gift.

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Opinion

A vigil is held in front of a statue of Confederate general Albert Pike in Washington, DC on 13 August 2017.Photo: Salwan Georges/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Down with America’s racist monuments

Taking down monuments to people who fought to defend slavery should not be controversial at all. Yet in the US today, it is, writes Mark Engler

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The robots are coming!

Modern technological advances are making it look like millions of us will be left twiddling our thumbs, writes Steve Parry

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Agenda

On the frontline:  Members of the  All-Polish Women Strike blockade a far-right extremists’ march last August , in Warsaw.Photo: Janek Skarzynski/AFP/Getty Images

Polish women counter Nazis on the streets

Women are playing an essential part in fighting for civil rights in Poland, contributing to a shift in the country’s political agenda, writes Benedetta Leardini

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Deadliest year for eco-defenders

Deadliest year for eco-defenders

For environmental defenders – from activists to indigenous leaders – 2016 was the deadliest year on record, writes Kelsi Farrington

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Whistleblowers un-gagged in Australia

Whistleblowers un-gagged in Australia

Australia dropped secrecy rules which were unnecessary, undermined democratic accountability and were likely to have been unconstitutional, writes Kelsi Farrington

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Heads of state, stateless

Heads of state, stateless

An artist from Damascus has painted a range of world leaders – all depicted as displaced or disenfranchised people in a moment of despair. Amy Hall reports

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Creative commons

Introducing... Emmanuel Macron

Macron won more than twice the number of votes than he was expected to win, writes Richard Swift

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Indonesian flight-path farmers pushed out

After five years of resistance, Indonesia began the construction of an international airport set to destroy the sand-dune ecosystem and houses of residents already forced out of the area, writes Pramilla Deva

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Balfour declaration – an overdue apology

Balfour declaration – an overdue apology

The Balfour Declaration was a 67-word statement penned by Foreign Secretary Lord Balfour to Lord Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community. Lydia Noon reports

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Nigeria: No slick deal

Nigeria: No slick deal

In the first case of its kind, a small Nigerian community is taking on oil giant Eni in the Italian courts. By Francesca Gater

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Oregon trumps the Fed

Oregon trumps the Fed

The state of Oregon has expanded access to abortion, birth control and post-natal medical care for women, writes Amy Hall

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Reasons to be cheerful

Reasons to be cheerful

Army of Robins; Fossil fail; Mothers halt HIV

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Regulars

Letters

Praise, blame and all points in between? Your feedback published in the October 2017 magazine.

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Open Window - Begging for War

This month's cartoon by Vasco Gargalo from Portugal.

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Illustration: Sarah John

Welcome to the jungle

Amy Booth goes to the back of beyond in Bolivia and hears of a surprising migration.

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Clockwise from top left: Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland; a young woman plays basketball at Socsa (Somaliland Culture and Sports Association); a woman selling gold from a stall in Hargeisa market sits behind a display case; Ahmed Yusuf Yasin the former vice-president of Somaliland; and a bride before her wedding sitting with her bridesmaids.Photos by Liba Taylor / Panos Pictures.

Country Profile: Somaliland

Political gatherings will be met with heavy-handed security from state-owned paramilitary groups; and the independence of civil society and media will be greatly restricted. Claire Elder reports on the status of Somaliland.

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Jamila Afghani

Making Waves: Jamila Afghani

A profile of Afghan campaigner for women’s education and rights Jamila Afghani, who started by persuading the imams. Beena Nadeem talks to the unassuming trailblazer

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Riek Machar (left) and Salva Kiir (right) sit for an official photo. Picture: Albert Gonzalez Farran/AFP/Getty Images

Worldbeaters: Sava Kiir Mayardit and Riek Machar

Richard Swift takes aim at Sava Kiir Mayardit and Riek Machar, once friends but now foes at the pinnacle of violent South Sudanese politics.

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The Big Push, the latest book on patriarchy by Cynthia Enloe

The persistence of patriarchy

Renowned US feminist Cynthia Enloe reveals how patriarchy is adapted and sustained by its adherents – knowledge which is essential to challenging it

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Photo: Jean Paul Saint Fleur

Southern Exposure

Jean Paul Saint Fleur photographs two boys getting ready for carnival in southern Haiti.

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Thea Gilmore

And finally... Thea Gilmore

British singer-songwriter Thea Gilmore’s acclaimed new album The Counterweight was written during the turbulent events of 2016. She spoke to Danny Chivers about music, politics and crying on stage.

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Film, Book & Music Reviews

Mixed Media: Films

Mixed Media: Films

Tramontane directed and written by Vatche Boulghourjian; Kills on Wheels directed and written by Attila Till.

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Mixed Media: Music

Mixed Media: Music

At Least Wave Your Handkerchief At Me by Saz’iso; Frost on Fiddles by Frigg.

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Mixed Media: Books

Mixed Media: Books

The Red-Haired Woman by Orhan Pamuk; The Gurugu Pledge by Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel; Walking on Lava by The Dark Mountain Project; Out of the Wreckage by George Monbiot.

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Also out there...

Also out there...

Black Orchid String Band; Dream Theory in Malaya; Road to Mandalay; My Pure Land; Protest: Stories of Resistance; The Great Regression; Good Money

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