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Cover Trying to save the Portuguese Language Only English and Spanish are spoken by more people than Portuguese in the western world. There are around 200 million people whose mother tongue is Portuguese and 169 million of those are Brazilians. Some Brazilians, however, have sounded the alarm that Portuguese is being deprived of it richness by an invasion of English brought in by technology, Hollywood goods and all kinds of cultural products from up north. Leading a campaign to put an end to this indiscriminate invasion, congressman Aldo Rebelo has introduced a bill in the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, Rebelo's detractors have dismissed his initiative as just "the paranoia of the Brazilian left-wingers." In his interview to Brazzil Rebelo came across as an open-minded intellectual ready to listen and to incorporate new ideas to his bill. Rebelo was inspired by a similar law passed in France, but he believes his legislation will not be not as far-reaching or rigorous. His main complaint is that more and more Brazilians are using English words when Portuguese is more than able to express the same idea. In recent years businesses, the media and individuals have adopted terms like sale (liquidacao), diet (dieta), teen (adolescente), day off (dia de folga), help (ajuda), delivery (entrega). To counter this, there is a group that is in the forefront of the fight to preserve the language. It's the National Movement in Defense of the Portuguese Language. We wonder, however, if they will be able to keep their focus on preserving the language without disseminating xenophobia. RAI
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BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
Contents 11 17 11 11 11 21 24 25 27 31 35 37 41 41 52
4
Christmas A piece of coal for Santa Surgery Rocky road to hilly breasts 500 Years Indians were not welcome Marketing X is for global Minimum Wage It sounded great on paper Canada With a green-and-yellow touch Media Fabricating the news Indians These good for nothing Short to
"Venha Comigo" by Calixto Jose Hakim Travel Parati is Rio too Work Teaching English in Brazil
Literature Brazil's alive in Cora Coralina's poetry Music Marco Pereira, alchemist of sounds Review Rita Lee, still all together Human Rights Torture never ends
Be artmeots 08 Rapidinhas 18 letters 41 Cultural Pulse 49 Classifieds 50 That's Brazilian
5
Ho Ho Hot Santa Cabelo ganhou mplante Bolia sob os olhos foirretirada P asbca arrebrtou nanz
Peeling aca .oijco espinhas Car
For being naughty and appearing cheery and fresh with his hands covering the naked boobies of a Brazilian dancer, Santa Claus didn't get any gifts this past Christmas. Au contraire, he was scolded and the magazine that showed him on the cover in the wicked posture had to pay a fine for its daringly bad taste. The appearance of dancer Carla Perez in the company of Santa on the December cover of Playboy magazine—the publication was released on the first week of December—provoked the ire of those who make a living dressing as the Good Old Man during the Christmas season. Papais Noeis (as they are called in Brazil) from Rio and So Paulo protested loudly against the sacrilege. In Rio, a group of Santas placed a black stripe on their red caps as sign of mourning. Limachen Cherem, the director of a school for Santas from Rio, was fuming: "We are in mourning. In our school the student learns to live the character with dignity and respect. It is not enough to wear the clothes and go out there. You need to portray and honor the image of the Gcod Old Man. The magazine cover is in bad taste. It doesn't make sense to show Fapai Noel looking like a sexual pervert. When my three-year-old daughter saw the cover of the magazine printed in the newspaper she asked many questions. How many children will have the same reaction? Even being a Carla Perez's fan, tri y daughter was shocked with the image of Santa Claus and Carla. Children see Salta as an innocent character, something almost holy. It's very sad to see this beliedestroyed. There was no need to place Santa Claus together with a naked woman." There is no other country like Brazil in which the lines between men's magazines like Playboy and mainstream publications are so blurred. It's a rare month that the daily papers don't deal with contrc versies brought by the nudity displayed in the glossy monthly. This time, several papers not only talked about the cover in question but also reproduced it, bringing the image of the naughty Santa inside the home. The controversy was compounded when a zealous judge from Rio sent workers with a black stripe to cover the exposed derriere of the same Carla Perez, this time showing her nudity on billboarcs throughout the city, once again publicizing her appearance in Playboy. The copy accompanying the billboard showing the indecently exposed dancer read: "Santa Claus will never again go out with those viadinhos ." In Portuguese, the word viadinho has double meaning. It means little deer, but also, little queers. At that time, thanks to all the free publicity, the magazine was already sold out in newsstands across the nation. Although paired with Santa in the cover, inside the magazine, Perez was photographed in Chapada dos Veadegros, state of Goias, with a background reminiscent of the American Old West. Posed as a cowgirl, Perez was dressed in no more than a hat and a whip, at tines galloping on a white stallion. The dailies didn't forget to mention that the Carla shown this Christmas was a muchimproved version of the model from past seasons. Thanks to plastic surgery she was able to show a new nose, a new stomach, new breasts-enlarged by almost two inches-and even new buttocks, her trademark. Talking to No. (Nolicia e Opinkio—News and Opinion), a Webzine, Carla Perez, tried to soothe those who complained about what they thought were too-radical changes in her body: "My nose might have changed, but my butt is still the same." And added quite philosophically: "I used to be a mere butt." Among several published articles commenting on her new look, at least one made reference to American pop singer Michael Jackson and his multiple face 6
BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
Behavior
mutations. The 23-year-old dancer has being surgically improving her body since she was 20. Since 1997 she has added 220 mg of silicone to her breasts, removed acne spots from her Self-apface, smoothed her hair, lifted her pointed national nose, straightened her belly, and even conscience touched up her derriere. weekly Perez, who posed for Playboy for newsmagazine the first time when she was 18, was Veja (circulation: cited as saying: "After the last essay 1.2 million copfor Playboy I decided that! wouldn't ies) sounded the pose nude again. But the magazine alarm: there is a insisted since January and I decided to shortage of silishow another Carla Perez. My nose is cone in Brazil. becoming famous now. But my career The warning came has gone through phases. In the beginin a full-page arning I was a butt, which was an injusticle illustrated tice since I dance with my legs and my with the semiswing and not with my derriere. After covered breasts of awhile I left the band E o Tchan and eight Brazilian festarted to be known as a TV anmale celebrities nouncer. Today I feel people refer to Art t and the reader was my butt in a kinder way. They don't invited to match a call it bunda anymore, but bumbum." face to every mammary with correct answers shown in a little box. Carla's new layout has also fired Since 1998 the number of Brazilian women turning to plastic surgery to improve up the main plastic surgeons in the on their bosoms has jumped from 10,000 to more than 20,000. The implant fever country. The best-known, world-re- has been triggered by a series of well-publicized breast enhancement procedures done nowned Ivo Pitanguy commented: by famous women like children's entertainer Xuxa, veteran movie and TV actress "We need to know whether there is a Vera Fisher and dancer-presenter Carla Perez, whose claim to fame until now has real need for plastic surgery or been a prominent derriere that she has frequently exposed in Brazilian Playboy. whether it is a mere whim. We also Silicone implants have become a coveted Christmas gift in some quarters. The have to keep in mind that we are deal- SBCP (Sociedade Brasileira de Cirurgia Plastica—Brazilian Society of Plastic ing with a human being and not only Surgery) estimates that there was an increase of 30 percent in silicone implants this a physical structure" For Raw lson de past December, many of them as gifts from fathers to daughters and from husbands Thuim, another famous plastic sur- to wives. Veja cites Luiz Carlos Garcia, president of SBCP, commenting on the crisis: "It's geon, the dancer had the right to do what she did: "Her nose looks great. not like an outbreak or calamity, but some people are being forced to postpone this Before it didn't fit her face. And there surgery up to 10 days. Celebrity surgeon Ivo Pitanguy wasn't spared the inconveis no problem of age. We can have nience and the silicone stock in his clinic is dangerously low. "Since July the number of patients has doubled," revealed Pitanguy. "And these clients are not only new breast implants starting at age 14." To what Hugo de Castro, another ones, but returning customers who decided to further enlarge their breasts." While Xuxa has added a modest 150 mg of silicone and model Luma de Oliveira plastic professional, retorts: "People like this who are obsessed with chang- opted for 175 mg, the national preference nowadays is 175 mg, which, according ing their own characteristics have a to those in the know, is enough to give breasts that coveted hilly roundness that gives disease. This is a case for psycho- tactile and visual pleasure to women and men alike. All this implanting furor has analysis." Surgeon Edmar Fontoura even earned a term to designate women improved by silicone: they are the s iliconadas also participated in the debate: "The (the siliconated ladies). Webzine No. told the story of Juliana Gentil Limas, 32, an architect from Sao plastic surgery that removes somebody's identity is a problem. Paulo who got new buttocks as a Christmas gift from her boyfriend. Juliana revealed that she was thrilled with the gift: "I wasn't offended. Au contraire! I laughed and You can't go to a doctor's office and jumped atthe idea.! hated my butt that was turned to the inside." She had the operation ask to have the face of somebody else. and was planning to have a premiere of the results on a beach in Bahia by the first That's what happened to Michael of the year. "The new derriere doesn't look bad at all," she said. "If actresses can Jackson who wanted to look like go for the works why can't IT' Diana Ross." Prices haven't deterred those Santas willing to give silicone as gifts. New breasts cost anywhere from $2500 to $4000. A new bumbum, however, is considerably more: from $6000 to $8000. With this kind of money you can buy a new car. In popular clinics the wait for a new you can be long. At Sante in So Paulo, for example, 11.1 appointments for a consultation aren't available until July, 2001. 1.14. Much of the silicone used in Brazil has to be imported because the country has only one manufacturer. Rio's Silimed is producing 1200 breast prostheses a year, more than double what they were making five years ago. Some of the material is exported, though, tom,. and Brazilian clinics have to look for the product overseas. In all .;'17 this booby-enhancing craze some doctors have detected what most J•41 see as a disturbing trend: an increasing number of teens enlarging their breasts.
Not All Quiet on the Root
ESTA FALTANDO SILICONE
JORNAL DO BRASIL
111
BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
7
According to Amnesty International a new investigation is needed to look into the military police action of Apri122, 2000 against indigenous and black groups, landless activists, and others protesting against Brazil's official 500th anniversary celebrations in Porto Seguro, Bahia state. On that day, when Brazil celebrated the 500'h anniversary of the Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral's arrival in Brazil, 30 protestors were injured, and over 140 were temporarily detained, when military police reportedly attacked peaceful protestors using tear gas, rubber bullets and baton charges. At the end of the year, those responsible for the operation - and the human rights violations committed - remained no closer to justice. "The authorities have not responded adequately to the strong witness and documentary evidence of unprovoked and disproportionate police force against demonstrators," said the human rights organization. "A full review of the case is essential." In its new report, Amnesty International argues that instead of investigating and bringing to account all those responsible, and also compensating the victims, the authorities sought to portray the victims as the perpetrators. The organization also stated that the authorities justified the police action in terms of preventing disruptions to the official celebrations. Last year, a federal police investigation exonerated the military police from allegations of excessive and arbitrary use of force. However, the federal prosecutors office responsible for initiating investigations in the case has been highly critical of the investigation, calling it inadequate and superficial, and is seeking to disprove its findings. "The problem is that those seeking to further the investigations have faced lack of resources and overt official support for the military police officers involved--the officer in charge of the operation was promoted in recognition for his role," said Amnesty International. "It is the responsibility of the authorities, both state arid federal, to ensure that a full and fair judicial process can take place. So far, the authorities have appeared unwilling to establish such a climate, denying the victims the right to justice and redress," the organization added. Amnesty International has documented over many years human rights violations against indigenous peoples and other minorities, including the failure of the judicial system to provide justice. The events of April 22, and the subsequent failure to effectively investigate the abuses and adequately compensate the victims, lend further weight to the claims of these groups that the judicial system discriminates against them. Background On April 22,2000, the Bahia state military police reportedly used arbitrary and excessive pol ice force in order to prevent protestors from the Marcha Indigena 2000 and Outros 500 campaign from reaching Porto Seguro, Bahia, where official celebrations were taking place. Photographs and witnesses appear to support the claims of those who participated in the protest that the police action was unprovoked. For a copy of the report, "Brazil: Police Violence & the 500' Anniversary" (AMR 19/29/00, December 2000) or for more information you can call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 Amnesty International, l Easton St., London WCI X ODW. Their Website http://www.amnestv org
Human Rights A fresh look
All this fuss for an X? State oil company Petrobras had barely announced that it had changed its name to PetroBrax when nationalists ofall colors started to rally against the move. Politicians from antagonist parties and worker union leaders let it to be known that they- would fight the new name, even going to court if necessary. Not because they didn't like the sound of it. even if it was true for some, but because they smelled something funny in the arrangement: probably a prelude to privatize the giant oil conglomerate. a4111111**Ces, :111111INIKW The name change didn't last more than a couple of days though. Pressured by the public reaction, Petrobras posted this message on its Webs ite, 48 hours after having announced-with fanfare-its new name: "Petrobras has suspended the measures to change the trademark of the company. The de- 11 row cision was made at the request of the President of the Republic, responding to the public reaction to this change. Questions concerning Petrobras's foreign commercial activity will be analyzed at the appropriate time," Henri Philippe Reichstu I Presidente da Petrobras.
The IFactor
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BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
Thoseresponsible for the new name argued that it was a necessary measure to rid the company of an image of inefficiency. The x, according to them, lends an air of modernity and technological cutting edge (Esso has also changed to Exxon, hasn't it?) and would make Petrobras—it had a record $5 billion profit in 2000—much more , competitive in a global market. The name change was announced December 26 and Petrobras has already paid $350,000 to the Sdo Paulo designing firm UND for the new PetroBrax logo. That would be the fourth time that the company logo is altered. From 1954 to 1993, the different logos always kept 1, the Brazilian flag colors (green and yellow) and an image that evoked the shape of the flag. In the last seven years the abbreviation BR received prominence in the logo, but the name . Petrobras and the yellow and green colors were kept. What some House representatives were complaining about was the price tag attached to the name conversion: $50 million in order to change logos and signs in approximately 7000 gas stations owned by Petrobras in Brazil and Argentina. The hastily-assembled Frente Parlamentar Nacionalista (Nationalist Parliamentary Front) made up by 132 congressmen of several parties took an urgent measure and summoned Petrobras president, Henri Philippe Reichstul, to find a good explanation for the announced change. "A $50-million x is way too much," said representative Vivaldo Barbosa, the Front president. Barbosa is from Rio de Janeiro and belongs to the opposition party PDT (Partido Democratic° Trabalhista—Democratic Labor Party) Rio representative Carlos Santana, from the PT (Partido dos Trabalhadores—Workers' Party), another opposition party, has joined the chorus of protests: "It is absurd," he said, "that in a country of 40 million miserable people, who are starving, we can spend $50 million to throw in the trash the patrimony of a 50-year-old company that is a resounding success here and overseas. There is no need for a name change. The Petrobras name is more than 30 years old and it is well known. The Petrobras president said that this was a commercial question. But we are worried that this is just the first step to totally privatize the company." Santana admitted, however, that he would like to see a more aggressive Petrobras acting in the international market. The announcement of the new name didn't go well with the vast majority of the public if the Globo On Line site is a reliable gauge. More than 80 percent of 2890 readers answered No to the question: "Do you agree with the name change from Petrobras to PetroBrax for better acceptance of the company in the foreign market?" sao Paulo CUT (Central Unica dos Trabalhadores—Unified Workers' Central)'s president, Antonio Carlos Spis, seemed indignant: "This a demoralization for the Brazilian society. The measure's intention is to decharacterize the state company trademark for a population that for 50 years saw Petrobras as atypically Brazilian company. The company should invest in better working conditions for its workers and in the maintenance of equipment so new ecological disasters can be avoided." In the year 2000 alone, Petrobras had six serious incidents of oil leakage. On January 18, 1.3 million liters of oil contaminated the Guanabara Bay in Rio, after a duct at the Duque de Caxias Refmery broke. On March 16, problems in the Almirante Barroso maritime terminal caused the release of 7.250 liters of oil on Ilha Bela's pristine shores in sao Paulo's north coast. In what became the worst environmental disaster for Petrobras in the last 26 years, 4 million liters of oil escaped from Presidente Get-Ulio Vargas Refinery, on July 16, contaminating rivers and land in Araucaria, a metropolitan area in Curitiba, Parana's state capital. On August 8, an oil leakage in Caraubas, state of Rio Grande do Norte, caused damage to 80 km of Northeastern caatinga (brushwood area). 1,800 liters were spilled at the time. Ilha Bela was again flooded by 86,000 liters of oil on November 4 when the cargo ship Verginia II at the service of Petrobras had an accident. This time the coast of Caraguatatuba and Sao Sebastia° were also contaminated. On October 27, another 3000 liters of oil leaked from a Braspetro's (a Petrobras subsidiary) pipe, damaging Paranagua's bay in the state of Parana. Even people who are not known for their nationalism didn't favor Petrobras's attempt to change its name. Pedro Martins Junior, vice-president of Chase Manhattan Bank of Brazil, for example, suggested that the state company should be worried with more pressing questions such as opening the market and finding new ways for getting foreign financing. "Looking at this as an investor I don't see it as a priority," he commented. "I don't believe that the name change will have any significant impact on the company's business." Despite the recent criticism and oil spills, Petrobras had much to celebrate in 2000. It increased its daily production from 1.3 million barrels in 1999 to 1.4 million last year. But the company also started to prepare for the coming years with the opening of the market. By 2005, the competition will have taken 30 percent of the fuel market. The Petrobras monopoly erosion will accelerate starting January of next year, when the state company will no longer be the exclusive seller of gasoline and diesel oil in Brazil. BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
9
Residing in the same city, but living worlds apart, Carioca (from Rio) youngsters share at times the slang that trickles down from favelas (shantytowns) nestled in the hills to the middle- and upper-middle-class youth from Rio's south zone neighborhoods. The sharing of the new terms usually occurs during funk balls promoted at the Jove/as. Patricinha (little Patricia) and Mauricinho (little Maurice), two terms used to designate yuppies, have widespread use in Brazil, but it was created by street kids in Rio. By the way, most of the new slang originates in Rio and spreads throughout the country via popular song lyrics and sometimes with the help of that omnipresent Brazilian behavior shaper: the novelas (soap operas). One of the most recent slang terms to win widespread acceptance is the word sufocador (choker), which designates an annoying person, a bore. Talking to Rio's daily 0 Globo, DJ Marlboro, a slang creator in his own right, expressed his love for argot: "These are expressions created by people who have no schooling and invent words to express their ideas. They are perfect and things seem to make much more sense with the help of such words." 0 Globo has compiled a small glossary of new slang current making the rounds: arrumar conflito (literally to arrange conflict)—to get into a fight, to give someone a hard time bombar (to bomb)—to be a hit, to be lively. As in: A festa esta bombando (The party is a success.) CB—"abbreviation" of sangue born (good blood), a cool person demoro (it took long)—finally tá dominado (it's controlled)—it's all finished que emotion (what an emotion)—it's great entrar no fita (get into the tape)—to understand, to participate in a conversation mala (bag)--a bore multiface (multifaced)--a cheater ninguem merece (no one deserves it)--said of someone who is a pest passar cerol na mcio (to apply wax to the hand)—to take a woman to bed perder (to lose)—to go through an embarrassing situation pichadcio (covered with pitch)--ugly, charmless popozuda (woman with a big butt)—pretty, shapely woman preparado (prepared)—smart, modern show (show)—excellent. As in: Esse filme foi show. (This was a great movie.) sinistro (sinister)—very good, very bad sufocador (choker)—a bore teco-teco (small plane)—ugly woman; the opposite of avid° (plane)—gorgeous woman terror (terror)—someone brave or very good at what she/he does
language
Wot Did Ya Sa
After decades of declining public attendance, Brazilian movie theaters are celebrating full houses and exhibitors are busy building more theaters in the big cities and the interior. The latest numbers from the BNDES (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Economic° e Social—National Bank for Economic and Social Development) are in and they show that Brazilians spent more than $250 million at the box office in the year 2000, 37 percent more than in the previous year. There was a movie-going public of 169.2 million people, six million more than in 1997. "People are back to the theaters," says a cheery BNDES manager Willian Saab. Curiously, the increase of public and profit occurred at the same time that ticket prices had fallen. The average ticket that cost $4.60 in 1997 is now $2.87. And according to Saab, prices should continue to decline due to stiffer competition in the marketplace. Large chains like Rio's Grupo Severiano Ribeiro have different prices for different neighborhoods and students throughout the country pay only half price. In the best neighborhoods in the south zone of Rio, tickets can cost as much as $6. The Severiano Ribeiro group is investing close to $25 million to open five new multiplexes in VitOria (Espirito Santo), Fortaleza (Ceara), Rio, and Sao Paulo. The American group Cinemark, which already has more screens than any other company (215), will be opening new theaters in 2001 in several cities in the interior. They have big plans for Brazil since the country is their second best market after the U.S. The UCI (United Cinemas International) group, a joint venture between Universal and Paramount Studios isn't complaining either. They were expecting to make close to $40 million dollars in 2000, after having earned $25 million the year before. The potential o f the Brazilian movie market is enormous. With less than 1500 movie theaters throughout the country (blockbusters in the U.S. open simultaneously in twice or three times as many screens), there are only 8.4 movie theatres for every one million Brazilians. The best places for growth are now towns from the interior that had been abandoned in recent years by theater owners. In many cases the theater already exists and all it needs is to be remodeled and modernized. Between 1997 and 2000 there was a growth of 32 percent in the purchase of movies tickets in Brazil, which is still too little when you know that it translates to a per capita jump from 0.32 to 0.47 tickets per year. 10
BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
Fo the sake of clarity, the Portuguese translations of English words will be italicized throughout this article, while original English words and ex ressions, as encountered in present-day writing and sp ch of Brazilians, will appear in bold and italic.
English Spoken Here To deny the contribution of English to the Portuguese vernacular would be foolish. However, the overuse of English by Brazilians can sometimes border on abuse. MARTA ALVIM
BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
Americanl guist John Crawford once said that "Language is the ultimate c nsensual institution. Displacing a community's vernacular is e uivalent to displacing its deepest systems of belief." It is wi apprehension, therefore, that some sectors of the Brazilian so iety are witnessing an unprecedented invasion of English wor into the Portuguese vernacular. In an attem t to reverse this trend, Brazilian legislators— both at federal and state levels—have already proposed bills which, if appr ved, would regulate the use of the Portuguese language in Br II. As is often the case with linguistic conflicts, the matter is co troversial and has generated heated debates and discussion be een supporters and opponents ofthose bills, with a great deal of a ention going to the bill introduced in Congress by Representa ve Aldo Rebelo. (Please read the accompanying interview ith congressman Rebelo.) It would be exaggerating to say the Portuguese language is facing an imp ding doom or demise. An estimated 200 million people th ughout the world speak Portuguese. It is the official langua e of seven countries and ranks third among the western langu ges, surpassed only by English and Spanish— it ranks eighth among the most spoken languages worldwide. In Brazil alone, there are 169 million Portuguese speakers, and as a result of the Mercosul alliance, of which Brazil is a member, Portuguese is now being taught as a foreign language in the other member countries—Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Moreover, the Portuguese vernacular has consistently received linguistic contributions from a variety of ethnic groups, and the language has thrived under these conditions. The list of foreign words in orporated into Portuguese is extensive: arroz (rice), alface ettuce), granizo (hail), and cha (tea) are just a few of the wo ds borrowed from the Arabic, the Spanish and the Chinese. In Brazil, the indigenous population, African slaves and European immigrants all contributed to new words to the Portuguese la guage: mandioca (manioc), caju (cashew), and moleque (stre t child) are among those contributions. So Brazil' current linguistic strife should be of no concern, except for the act that languages have been extinct throughout world history, and the ones that still flourish and survive have done so due to he implementation of effective cultural policies. Furthermore, inguistic dominance is intrinsically associated with political, economic and cultural power. A case in point is genous languages that contributed to the makethat the very up of Portugu se have all but disappeared, banned as they were colonizers. by the Europ Today, En lish is the lingua franca and the United States of America is the orld's wealthiest and most powerful nation. The swiftness wi which the English language has spread throughout the world caught many non-English speaking countries unprepared, an avalanche of new technical words followed the unparalle d technological advances that occurred in the . To deny the contribution of English to the twentieth cen Portuguese v macular would be foolish; the opposition to the English incur ion is closely associated with the objections to 11
U.S. supremacy.
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It's a Small World Linguistic Abuse When it comes to international diversity of company names, shopping center Rio Sul (one However, the overuse of Enof Rio de Janeiro's most popular shopping malls with over 300 hundred stores) is a window to glish by Brazilians can sometimes the wide world. Calliente, Caro Cuore, Gelateria Italiana, Les Cadeaux and Le Postiche are just border on abuse. As congressman a few of the foreign names adorning Rio Sul's storefronts. In general, however, English is by Rebelo complains, more often than far favored by most merchants, as the following short sample of store names shows it. Rio SW not Brazilians are merely substitutis not an exception, though; this is a countrywide phenomenon. ing English words for Portuguese, Ambient Air Access Auto Parts even though there are perfectly Babies Barber Shop Body Shape suitable Portuguese translations for those words. A few examples: teen, Casual Side Chef Dog ..j Cribb Dancing diet, light, delivery, day off game, Eclectic Extreme Fresh Water help, hot, in, out, top, down, sale, Gang Hot Butte Innocence country, boom, freezer, and so Internews Mr. Co Mr. Cat forth. Not to mention the pseudoMr. Cookie Noble English that Brazilians invent by Oh Boy Parrot calling a tuxedo, "smoking" and a Smash Pepper billboard, "outdoor", among other Soft Way The Palm gibberish. Track & Field World Video On a corporate level, linguistic abuses can be even more serious, as Si they may deliberately mislead cusExchange Commission (SEC) without even bothering to transtomers or other interested parties. Comissao de Valores late it into Portuguese. Clearly, it is not the task of CVM to Mobiliarios (CVM), the regulatory body of Brazil's stock analyze or judge the rules established by SEC or by any other market, has chastised Brazilian companies for their contempt international regulatory body. However, it is their responsibilfor the institution's rules. CVM requires that any information ity to protect the rights of Brazilian shareholders—especially released abroad by corporations operating in Brazil's stock minority shareholders who don't have access to what is happenmarket must also be released in Brazil, in Portuguese. However, ing in other countries. several companies have attempted to break those rules, includWhen it comes to linguistic abuse, the academic world is not ing mining giant Companhia Vale do Rio Doce and Gerdau Steel without fault, either. Last year, Universidade Federal de Minas Group. During the approval process preceding the launch of Gerais (UFMG), a federal-funded university, sponsored an stocks at the New York Stock Exchange, both companies sent event from which the use of Portuguese had been excluded CVM the information submitted to the U.S. Securities and initially. Call for papers for the I Electronic Conference estab•••••• lished that proposals might be submitted only in English, French, • German or Spanish. Confronted by the National Movement in • Defense of the Portuguese Language (MNDLP), the school • rationalized the exclusion of Portuguese by alleging, among •• The following exchange took place (in Portuguese) beother reasons, that "in international debates, speakers of Por• tween a Brazilian translator by the name ofJussara Simoes tuguese can communicate in Spanish perfectly well while the • (JS) and a customer service representative of the Internet • reverse is not necessarily true." After motions submitted by the Service Provider Universo On Line (UOL). It certainly • MNDLP to the Ministry ofEducation, to the governor of Minas • "underlines" the ongoing linguistic conflict between EnGerais State and to the school's dean, UFMG eventually relented • glish versus Portuguese. • and allowed the use of Portuguese during the event. • • UOL — Your e-mail, please. MNDLP •• JS — jussara, sublinha (=underline), simOes. (http://www.novomilenio.intbeidioma/idioma.htm) UOL — I beg your pardon? • • JS —jussara, sublinha, kinks. The National Movement in Defense of the Portuguese •• UOL —jussara, underline, simOes? Language is not only a pioneer in the organized movement for • JS — No, hon, jussara sublinha, simoes. • UOL — It's that little line underneath, right? • JS — Exactly, a little line underneath—sublinha. • • UOL — Then it's underline or underscore. • JS — No, hon, it's underline or underscore in English, • • but I'm not talking to you in English; I'm in Brazil and • I'm speaking Portuguese. •• UOL — No, ma'am, it's underline or underscore. JS —Honey, let me repeat this: I'm in Brazil, we speak • • Portuguese here, and the name of this sign is sublinha. I • • don't speak English and I don't want to learn it either. • UOL —But the name is underline or underscore; your • e-mail is jussara, underline, simOes. •
•
12
BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
the preservation of the Portuguese vernacular, but it is by far the most active organization in Brazil's linguistic battlefield. Headquartered in the town of Santos (in Sao Paulo State), the MNDLP hopes to become an important tool in the promotion of linguistic awareness among Brazil's populace and hopefully it willcontinue to keep its focus on linguistic equilibrium rather Some have dismissed his initiative as just "the than on xenophobia. For a couple of months, this reporter subscribed to the paranoia of the Brazilian left-wingers", but Rebelo mailing list sponsored by the MNDLP, before being crucified comes across as a judicious and dignified for criticizing the inappropriate publication (not the content) of a manifesto against the privatization of oil giant Petrobras in a congressman who remains open to dialogue. language-related forum. The group's coordinators insist that the movement is about the preservation of the Portuguese language. MARTA ALVIM However, the animosity of some of the MNDLP members towards everything American is a fact, and only exacerbates the PC do B (Communist Party of Brazil) representative opposition to the linguistic legislation proposed by Aldo Rebelo, Aldo Rebelo has been derided at for his position in favor of which is also endorsed by the MNDLP. This is Albania's communist regime. More recently, a very politicized group of people and it in , Congress, when he protested against the couldn't be otherwise, as linguistic conflicts intallation of self-service gas pumps in Brazil's themselves are always very political by nature. gip stations and of automated ticket-vending Likewise, to pretend that the political, economic turnstiles on board Brazilian buses, he was and culture might of the United States isn't a again criticized for his unrealistic attempts at major issue in the language debate would be stopping inevitable technological advances. It unrealistic and preposterous. Other nations also just happens that deputado (representative) have taken steps to protect their languages against the invasion of foreign words, mostly Rebelo believes that the implementation of against English, as spoken in the U.S.A. both measures would lead inevitably to the layIn just over a year since its inception, the off of thousands of Brazil's unskilled workers. MNDLP lias sponsored a number of debates In September 1999, when he presented a bill to with Portuguese teachers and linguists, while the Chamber of Deputies (Brazil's Lower keeping a close eye on the linguistic atrocities House) proposing the regulation of the Portucommitted either by individuals, the governguese language usage, he was again thrust into ment and private-owned companies. Whenever the nation's limelight. the need arises, the movement's coordinators The fear of the communist evil, instilled in don't hesitate to confront the offender, which Brazil's populace by the military dictators who they do invariably in appropriately diplomatic ruled the country for over two decades, has and deferential ways. What is seldom mentioned, though, is that greatly subsided, but the stigma still remains. the English vernacular—especially its AmeriTherefore, it comes as no surprise that Rebelo's can variant—is also riddled with words bordetractors have responded to his movement in rowed from other languages such as Latin, defense of the Portuguese language in a sarFrench and Spanish, just to mention a few. It is donic way. They have dismissed his initiative also true that on occasion the United States has as just "the paranoia of the Brazilian lefttaken action to protect its own language against invasions ofthe many foreign languages that inevitably follow the periodic wingers" due to the expansion of the United States' political flooding of new immigrant groups into the country. Neverthe- and economic power throughout the world. However, in his interview with Brazzil, Aldo Rebelo less, American language policies are still some of the world's comes across as a judicious and dignified congressman who most democratic. Just last year, President Bill Clinton signed an executive order that will make key information on health and sticks by his political agenda and ideology while remaining education available not only in Spanish and Chinese, but also open to dialogue as well. He is conspicuous in his approach in most of the several foreign languages spoken by millions of to the language issue and expresses his beliefs and thoughts people in the U.S.A. in a collected manner. As a seasoned politician, he is respectful of his opponents' views, and takes their criticisms in stride. Deputado Rebelo (now a Sao Paulo State representative) had been active in the fight against Brazil's military dictatorship since the early '70s, when he was a member of the National Student Union (UNE). He was first elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1990, and has since been reelected twice—in 1994 and 1998.
Rebelo's Turn
(Website: http://www.camara.gov.br/aldorebelo/ principal.htm) BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
13
Brazzil—Deputado Rebelo, how did you arrive at the idea for your bill? Aldo Rebelo—It came about in stages. I had been following the debate in France surrounding the linguistic legislation that was enacted there in 1994. Some time later, the Chamber of Deputies created a committee to discuss the commercial, economic and cultural impact that the ALCA (Free Trade Area of the Americas FTAA) treaty would have in Brazil. When the language issue was mentioned, I realized that the time was ripe to do something to try to shield the Portuguese language from the indiscriminate invasion of foreign terms that had been taking place in our country for the past few years. That's when I came up with the idea for this bill. Yes, the French legislation was the starting point, my source of inspiration, but the legislation I propose is much more flexible than what they now have in France. Besides, our problems are different from France's.
vived the invasion of Gallicisms without any kind of legal protection. Why do you think that legislation is necessary to protect our language from the current invasion of Anglicisms? Aldo Rebelo—There is a big difference between what happened in the past and what is happening today. For instance, as a result of our lengthy relationship with the Arabs between the eighth and twelfth centuries, we have borrowed and incorporated many Arab words into our vocabulary. In the nineteenth century, when France was in .the forefront of technological, scientific and humanistic innovations, we didn't have words to define garage and chauffeur, among others; consequently, we have borrowed many French words by giving them a Portuguese spelling— as in garagem and chofer. However, what we are seeing nowadays is a forceful rather than a spontaneous incorporation of Anglicisms, with the mere substitution of English words for Portuguese.
Brazzil—Would you say that the incursion of foreign words used by Brazilians is a trend that started with the advent of the Internet? Aldo Bebelo—No, I'd say it started prior to the Internet. It is a result not only of technological innovations, but also of an increasingly globalized ideological, political, commercial, cultural and economic environment. The evolution of a language is a delicate balance between its inherent susceptibility to change, renewal and incorporation of foreign words, and the tendency toward continuity and stability. Lately, the balance between this type of conflict has been lost; the changes have been occurring in such a fast and intense way that the very continuity of our language is threatened. Once that balance ceases to exist, people tend to accept the changes as if they were absolute and final. As a result, we Brazilians might just be babbling meaningless words, because we no longer understand this new type of bilinguism.
Brazzi/—Wouldn't you be infringing upon freedom of speech by trying to legislate language usage? Aldo Rebelo—The Brazilian Constitution guarantees freedom of speech, and my bill cannot and does not violate this principle. If someone should decide to publish a newspaper in Brazil—whether in English, French or Italian— that person is entitled to do so. My bill doesn't mean to suppress people's right to speak another language; it only tries to introduce discipline in the use of the Portuguese language. Keep in mind that the same Constitution that guarantees freedom of speech also establishes Portuguese as the official language of the Federative Republic of Brazil. Therefore, doesn't the government have an obligation to use Portuguese as well? Does Brazil's president have the right to announce an economic plan to the nation in English, as he did recently? Does the government have the right to use English in its institutions, as it is the case with IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) which has an IBGE Teen section on its website? Business contracts drawn in Brazil are supposed to be in Portuguese; so why are they being drawn in English? On another front, why does the media, when talking about soccer, Brazil's most popular sport, insist upon using American basketball-related expressions, such as play-off (eliminatoria, in Portuguese), knowing that most Brazilians don't follow the latter? So, should we respect the Constitution with regards to freedom of speech, but not the use of our language?
Brazzi/—Realistically, Deputado, do you believe it is possible to prevent the invasion of foreign words through legislation? Aldo Rebello—First of all, let me emphasize that what I'm proposing is a national movement in defense of the Portuguese language. Legislation is not the movement's main .element; our main goal is to raise Brazilians' selfesteem with regards not only to their language but also to their own country, their history and their culture. Although not the largest segment of the Brazilian society, the middle class is indeed the most influential. Unfortunately, while part of this middle class retains its national identity and allegiance to its country, there is another part that is extremely individualistic and anti-nationalistic. These are the people who lament the fact that they were not born into a first world country; who want to have their children educated abroad; and who don't care about much of anything, including the Portuguese language. Brazzil—In the past, the Portuguese language sur14
Brazzil—Y our detractors criticize your campaign for its focus on the invasion of Anglicisms while ignoring past linguistic influences of other foreign idioms—such as Arab and French—from which so many Portuguese words derive. They claim that your bill is mostly about your political ideology; that it's the paranoia of the Brazilian leftists with the evils of American imperialism. How do you respond to that? Aldo Rebelo—I won't deny that there is a trace of BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
ideology in everything I do in life; I couldn't live in this world without any ideology, without political orientation and without a cause—and every legislation is motivated by a cause. But this bill is more than that, since it deals with a concrete cultural problem. We have an awkward situation in which most of Brazil's working class do not speak English, yet more and more corporations are using English to advertise their merchandises and services. Some time ago, a journalist from Porto Alegre (capital of Rio Grande do Sul State) wrote to me, describing an incident she had witnessed in her town. According to her, a lady and her two children were standing in front of a pastry shop trying to pronounce the name of the establishment— Sweet Way, which the woman, in her ignorance, pronounced "sweat vie". I mean, these are situations that can be humiliating for those who only speak Portuguese. If there's paranoia, it's the one that springs up in certain sectors of the Brazilian society, where people look up to and idolize the North, with envy, and won't accept that someone else might possibly love his own country and try to preserve its interests, its culture, its history and identity. Brazzil—Deputado, if linguistic subservience is an indication of a nation's economic submission to foreign interests, wouldn't it be pointless to try to fight the effect without fighting the cause first? Aldo Rebelo—Not at all. You can't separate cause and effect, because they are intrinsically interconnected—the latter feeds, reinforces and motivates the former. You may not have the mechanisms to suppress the cause first, but you can start to confront its effects. Besides, I believe it is easier to reclaim a nation's economy than its cultural identity. An industrial plant that has been destroyed can be rebuilt in six months, but how does one rebuild a nation's consciousness and culture once it's gone? Brazzi/—Brazilian linguists are some of the most vociferous opponents of your bill. They claim that the attempt to regulate a language is a form of cultural centralism, that it's an underhanded way to constrain the language of prestige and power. What are your comments on that? Aldo Rebelo—That is an antidemocratic and elitist opinion. Most linguists believe that there should be a hub of enlightened people—them—who are out to decipher the linguistic science from the encirclement of their labs; who know everything about the language and think that the "rest" of us should speak it in any way we want to. That is, the "rest" are the plebeians, who supposedly should have any type of norm in speaking their own language. I feel that the position of those Brazilian linguists reflects a total disregard for the common people and the right they have to speak their own language correctly. Brazzi/—Your bill would establish monetary sanctions to individuals, companies and institutions for failure to comply with its provisions, isn't that se BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
Aldo Rebelo—I have dropped the monetary sanctions from the bill and left to the Executive to decide what type of penalties should be applied. Some people believe that there should be an alternative penalty, such as sending the transgressors back to school to learn Portuguese. Keep in mind that the main focus of my bill is educational—it is meant to alert people that we have our own language and that this language needs to be preserved. Social harmony must combine freedom and limits. Just because the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech it doesn't mean you can go out on the street and start swearing at people. Freedom of speech doesn't entitle you to slander and verbally abuse others. The same applies to the use of the language: there is freedom, but the language must be preserved as well. Just as you pay a fine for a traffic violation, you'd also be subject to sanctions for committing a linguistic infraction. Brazzi/—It's a well-known fact that President Fernando Henrique Cardoso is given to using foreign words in his statements and speeches. Would he also be subject to sanctions? Aldo Rebelo—Absolutely. Brazzil—Vho would supervise and enforce such a law? Aldo Rebelo—This has yet to be decided. I think the Ministry of Education, together with state and municipal councils, should be in charge of overseeing and applying the sanctions. Maybe the government could create something like a Council for the Preservation of the Portuguese Language. Presently, the Brazilian Academy of Letters is in charge of regi tering new words into the VOLP (Portuguese Language Vo abulary). Unfortunately, they have not been very selectiv , and they have even incorporated several foreign words without due concern for their translation or the creation of a Portuguese spelling. Brazzil—According to your bill, sanctions would be imposed in cases of abusive and deceptive use of the Portuguese language, as well as of use that may be damaging to the cultural patrimony. Could you please explain to us what those expressions mean? Aldo Reblo—Abusive use is when foreign words are substituted for existing and established Portuguese words, thus exposing people to humiliating and vexatious situations. The use of foreign words may be justifiable if there isn't the Portliguese equivalent, but use is one thing, abuse is another. Deceptive use is when people—individuals or businesses—are deliberately deceived by misuse of the language. Damaging use is when the use of foreign words or expressions jeopardizes, corrupts, or somehow perverts any element of the Brazilian culture. Marta Alvim is a Brazilian journalist, freelance translator and interpreter. You can reach her at mItdalvim@yahoo.com 15
My mother and my two sisters were school teachers in the Sao Paulo state network, as teaching was at the time one of the very few upper level professions open to women (there were a few young ladies in medical schools, as far I remember.) Mother was considered an agitator because she was always calling meetings of teachers to demand better conditions of work and better pay. And starting petitions. At the time, they were considered the queens as they had "so many pnvileges!" Can you imagine what were the conditions in less rich states. and for those who were municipal teachers, or employed by some private association? I think of mother as the first feminist I met, more than 70 years ago. Willie Velloso Zephyrbills, Florida
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1.1111111111111121PIl1 11 I am a Brazilian living in the United States and I visit the Brazzil site to hear stones about home, I am saddened, however, by the way your magazine places so much emphasis on sex in Brazilian culture. Though this emphasis on all things erotic may help you attract a readership, it gives a very skewed view on Brazilian culture and promotes many of the stereotypes regarding Brazil that foreigners hold. Gabriel Medeiros Via Internet I am an American and just read your article on the vote counting in the United States. I understand that this presidency situation was at the very least a fiasco, but I thought your article was a little harsh. I'm very proud that we "stick our nose where it doesn't belong." Before I didn't like this, but then I came to realize that this is what our country was founded on. Not just life, liberty and pursuit of happiness for ourselves but for everyone to have this opportunity. By the way for us Americans who are dumb, the capital of Brazil is Brasilia. In 1957 it was constructed to help with the overcrowding of Rio de Janeiro, which was the previous capital. I have had the honor of meeting some really great Brazilians who were here in the US working. I have nothing but good things to say about your people and your country. While I have only seen pictures of your country it is very beautiful and I cannot wait until I have the opportunity to visit it. Adeus. Michelle Chorn Via Internet 111.11111Midlinialiall Dear Marta Alvirn. i enjoyed very much your piece on Brazilian women in the current issue of Brazzil. It is very informative and gives us the hope that in the not so distant future things like the murder of Sandra Gomide by her boyfriend Antonio Pimenta Neves in Ibnina, Sao Paulo state, last year. be a very old story. And that Neves go in the pen. Actually I got the news from a friend who is also an amiga of Pimenta. However, she was very upset because he had been arrested! She was full of concern for him. Later I found out that many people of the bourgeois class in Sao Paulo were calling Sandra a `whore'. No compassion, not even respect for a murdered woman! And, as you know, under Brazilian law a suspect with a college degree is entitled to "special jail", probably with TV and telephone. Something I could never understand in a so-called democratic society.
Dear Ms. Danielle Thompson. I recently read your article about Brazilian Jazz in Brazzil magazine. I have also read about other topic of Brazilian music of yours. I don't know how you did it, but it seems you have all the info I have always wanted to know about Brazilian music. Not only did I get a review of Rosa Passos but also the history of Lumiar Publishing Co. I have been obsessed with the same kind of music since high school and my obsession has never stopped even until now. I live in Indonesia but have always tried to maintain my Brazilian music contact either through my own heart or through various media. I was impressed with your writings because you exposed Brazilian musicians that I have never heard before which makes me very curious to look for their albums in the future. Thanks again for your valuable info. Dan! Sofichin Via Internet A few weeks back, Ms. Bebel Gilberto and her also very good band was in concert at Bimbo's 365 Club. Bimbo is right...a sad number of the audience were carrying on as if on a holiday and chatting, laughing, meeting new friends, and having a rip roaring loud good time...during the concert. The entertainment from Ms. Gilberto's singing and communication with the standing in front audience and her charisma along with a fabulous Brazilian but surprisingly international band was an awesome tribute to her generation and their continued extraordinary Brazilian music we can apparently look forward to. For those of you who are Brazilophiles, and aficionados da mOsica brasileira, Bebel Gilberto is another one of the greats of Brazilian music; her music is lilting, soothing, up-beat, happening, fun, and many of the lyrics carry your mind on pleasant journeys in your soul. The venue at Bimbo's I guess runs hot and cold depending on the audience. I've found it unique that people pay $20 to see a sold out show and then not participate by enjoying the music instead, do their best to drown out the music with their bantering.
Sergio Mendes and Brasil 2000 were presented at the same Bimbos' and what a super enjoyable concert that was. I think Bebel would entertain us better at Yoshi's or somewhere else considerably more intimate. Bimbo's needed a little crowd control that night. Try one of her CD's. she is rnaravilhosa. J. Trennoche San Francisco, California I have lived in this country (USA) for as long as I can remember, and I still can't get used to the way some Brazilian business owners conduct their business here. Sometimes I crave for a typical Brazilian dish and then I get out of my way to visit and enjoy something that it will take me back to my childhood days back in Brazil. Knowing that, some people will take advantage of you by skyrocketing prices while the quality of the food decreases. The same old Brazilian mentality: Tax more on less than tax less on more. That's what happens when your head is too narrow to absorb and embrace a new culture that has been here before you decide to take the boat and come here. Next time I will order a pizza. Odie Blank Via Internet I represent a gay Brazilian man, detained in New York, in his application for asylum. I am looking for up-todate information on the persecution of homosexuals in Brazil, and for someone very familiar with the situation to prepare an affidavit for submission to the court, and for,any contacts you may have in the New York City area who may be able to testify. In sum, I am looking for a lot of help (I represent this client for free). If you are willing to help me, I will provide more specific information, including a confidential version of my client's affidavit (story). I have Brazilian Portuguese speakers willing to assist in translation. Muito obrigado. Jeff O'Brien jeffrey.obrien@dpw.com New York, New York
immumilitaujimumm
Above all we ( my family and I ) want to thank you for this great job that you guys are doing, Brazzil is the most valued magazine in the USA. It brings words... Not blah blah, as many "papers"... So thank you very much. I am sending a contribution for a one-year subscription Maxwell Oliveira Lynn, Massachussets AU i 1:11111 Please extend my subscription as far as this $20 will allow. I am a frequent visitor to Brazil and I lecture in several universities. Your Brazzil is the most informative of any materials I have found. I am acquainted with several Brazilian-Americans in San Diego. They delight in your magazine. Milton Smith San Diego, California
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No Good Intentions It's a good bet that President Fernando Henrique Cardoso will close out his second term in office in 2002 and not conclude a proper tax reform, thus reneging on one of the major campaign promises from 1994, the year he was originally elected. ADHEMAR ALTIERI
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Each year, Brazilians witness a debate over how much of an increase the country's badly anemic minimum wage should get. This annual political tussle usually takes place in the run up to Labor Day, May I" being when the new minimum wage traditionally takes effect. When this year's edition ofthe debate arrived months ahead oftime—so early it actually got under way last year—many saw it as a possible attempt by the government to conduct the discussion at a higher level than in previous years, hopefully with less playing to the masses and more concern about practical results. Only now is it becoming apparent that such noble intentions were strictly in the eye of the beholder, and not in the minds ofmost participants from the Executive or the Legislature. Seems those early impressions were just a preamble to a bizarre turn of events, that may well result in yet another filching of Brazilian taxpayers. And this time, the cash grab is based in part on a seriously flawed proposal that, according to most jurists and legal specialists, is quite clearly unconstitutional and can't possibly survive a legal challenge. What left a positive impression at the outset was the fact government officials were calling for the minimum wage increase to be defined in ongoing budget commission discussions. More than that, the government said to Congress it could submit as big an increase for the minimum as it liked, so long as it also pointed out what should be cut from next year's budget to accommodate the proposed hike. These may seem like obvious things to say and do when planning a budget, but it was all quite novel for Brazil, where due process has traditionally been ignored by politicians, and minimum wage increases have tended to be shouted into place long after the credibility-poor budget process is concluded. This government-inspired process actually got offto a good start around September, with the left-wing opposition joining hands with government-aligned parties, all saying they would find a way to raise the minimum to R$180—the equivalent of $100 at the time. But just about every "solution" proposed, involved a tax increase of some sort. This, in a country where the tax burden matches or exceeds that of many developed countries, while services rendered at times make the onlooker wonder whether any taxes are collected at all. At one point, so many attempts that would "solve" the minimum wage riddle through tax hikes were in discussion, that a seasoned newspaper columnist—probably fearing another swipe at his wallet—wrote that throughout its history, Brazil has yet to see a day when taxes were lower than the day before... Finally, the past week saw Brazil's oh-so creative legislators in a suspicious alliance of sorts with cash-hungry Revenue Department officials. Seems together they saw the light, and at last came up with a way to raise the minimum to R$180 per month (no longer the equivalent of $100 because the crisis in Argentina affected exchange rates in Brazil, and R$180 is now worth closer to $90). The solution at hand was a set ofmeasures currently being sold to the public as new "government weapons against tax evasion". A closer look will show they're just more of the same: measures designed to augment tax collection, projected to yield an additional R$6 billion in taxes in 2001 (about $3 billion). And, the measures include one highly controversial twist: a new rule allowing Revenue Department officials to break a taxpayer's bank secrecy, virtually without judicial approval, if they suspect that taxpayer might be guilty of tax evasion. Now, only a tax evader would complain about efforts to stop the practice in Brazil. Evasion is a major problem, and the Revenue Department estimates that for every $1 collected, $2 get away through illegal activities and the burgeoning so-called underground economy, where no sales slips are ever issued. But BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
what we've got here is quite another story. Remember this all began with the search for a way to cover the cost of raising the minimum wage. Strangely, it ended up with a highly questionable measure now being rushed through Congress at lightning speed—coincidentally, the same measure Brazil's Revenue Department has been dying to have approved for quite sometime... The fact is that the Revenue Department has been successfully improving its tax collection methods. Its success has become a key element in Brazil's positive fiscal numbers and successive primary surpluses ofthe past few years (fiscal results before interest payments are considered). The Department's efficient revenue-gathering performance is seen by critics as a big reason why the government has shown next to no interest in pursuing a sweeping tax reform—a vital reform Brazil badly needs, and all sectors of society have been clamoring for. Not only has the government not cooperated with tax reform, it has shot down attempts by Congress to push it forward, and has done so rather blatantly. This is widely interpreted to mean the government is satisfied with its revenue collection, and is simply not interested in opening the incredible can of worms that is Brazil's tax system—even ifthis means losing additional revenue, since proper, even-handed taxation would probably encourage businesses to stay away from under-the-table operations. It's definitely a small-minded approach with no regard for the long term and lacking in ambition, something along the lines of why "rock the boat" if we're taking in "enough" revenue as it is... There's an added twist here. What recently got the Revenue Department excited about gaining the right to break bank secrecies without judicial approval was a study involving Brazil's infamous CPMF tax, which is charged on each banking transaction. By comparing CPMF collection totals with income tax records, Revenue officials found that 11.7 million individuals, and over 464-thousand companies which did not file an income tax return for 1998, together handled over R$341 billion (about $175 billion) in funds through their bank accounts. Possible tax evasion of massive proportions? Definitely, although experts point out there are numerous, entirely legal ways for cash that is not taxable income to flow through one's bank account. So while there must be major tax offenders hidden in those numbers, sweeping conclusions about all involved would not be advisable. The CPMF was devised originally to raise money for the health system, a goal most Brazilians seriously doubt was ever accomplished at any level by this tax—most believe the funds have simply disappeared into the "black hole" of government expenditures. It came with a clause that said the Revenue Department could not check CPMF collection data against income tax returns. So the first step in the current strategy was to eliminate that obstacle. This was done with a vote in the Lower House of Congress on December 5. Then came the other measures, including the one allowing Revenue officials to break bank secrecies, approved on December 6 and up for a vote by the Senate before the end of the year 2000. After that, all it needs to be up and running is to be sanctioned by the President. It's important to note how this bank secrecy measure would actually work. The mechanics of it are so revolting that they alone have been responsible for the avalanche of columns, editorials, letters to the editor, plus radio and TV interviews slamming this measure throughout the Brazilian media. Once the Revenue Department spots a suspected tax evader, it will submit a request to the Judiciary, which then has six days to rule on the request to break the bank secrecy. Should the Judiciary not respond within six days, the request would be automatically considered approved. Given the massive caseload of the Brazilian legal system, chances are slim at best that anything will be looked at in six days... which is why the measure is being so criticized. In effect, it takes away the Judiciary's prerogative and hands BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
it to a government bureaucrat, whose reasons for wanting to look inside someone's bank account may or may not be valid. As many legal experts have put it, if approved this will be a definite blow against citizenship and the proper development of an organized society. Not to mention the Brazilian Constitution specifically says that the clause protecting an individual's bank information cannot be the object of an amendment: it is a permanent clause... A few plausible conclusions from all of this: - Raising additional revenues is clearly still the priority, and the Brazilian government remains seriously disinterested in tax reform. - It's a good bet that President Fernando Henrique Cardoso will close out his second term in office in 2002 and not conclude a proper tax reform, thus reneging on one of the major campaign promises when he was originally elected in 1994. - The Reve ue Department already has instruments allowing it to go to th Judiciary and break someone's bank secrecy. These are the s me instruments available just about anywhere in the world: b sically, show the judge you have valid suspicions. Instead f doing things by the book, the Revenue folks are trying to av id the homework, the investigation required to back such requ st. It's a lazy, unacceptable copout that hands a key prerogati e of the Judiciary to a government bureaucrat not necessarily as balanced as a judge might be about whether or not someone's bank activities should be snooped on. - It would b! rather decent ifthe Revenue Department called a spade a spad : it neither wants nor needs new tax evasion fighting instruitnents, all it's looking for is easier, faster ways of collecting nore tax revenues, to sustain the government's positive fiscal performance. - President Cardoso is coming under fire from all quarters, including ma y of his allies, for reportedly being a staunch supporter ofth bank secrecy proposal. He will take additional, prolonged hea , if this proposal is indeed approved in its current form. - For anyone wondering why legislators are pushing this through Congitss so quickly while tax reform sits forgotten for three years: keep in mind the "anti-tax evasion" measures are projected to raise about $3 billion in 2001. $600 million of that will be used up to pay for the minimum wage increase. The remaining $2.4 billion will be at the disposal of Congress, to finance amendments and add-ons to next year's budget. Think of the party one could throw with $2.4 billion, and all the happy voters a member of Congress could guarantee back at the ol' political corral... To think it was all a simple matter of how to increase the minimum wage! Adhemar Altieri is a veteran with major news outlets in BrazikCanada and the United States. He holds a Master's Degree in Journalism from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and spent ten years with CBS News reporting from Canada and Brazil. Altieri is a member of the Virtual Intelligence Community, formed by The Greenfield Consulting Group to identify future trends for Latin America. He is also the editor of InfoBrazil (http://www.infobrazil.com), an English-language weekly e-zine with analysis and opinions on Brazilian politics and economy. You can reach the author at editors@infobrazil.com
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Where are the Brazilians "We had a dream of bringing music here, having a Carnaval. But lots of things got lost on a personal level. It is more joyous now. The idea of life, living, is a very playful idea. We need a lot of Brazilian joy." Vinito DAWN TYLER
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VANCOUVER, B.C.— If you are a certain kind of traveler and you ever find yourself here in this paradise-by-the sea with nothing to do and you are looking for a certain kind of magic, you might ask, Where are the Brazilians? For the cognoscenti, it means saudade, samba, alegria, fantasia e felicidade corn mitsica. It's esoteric. In this beautiful city that is fast becoming the film-location capital of the world they are celebrating life and loving it and making cultural contributions despite occasional yearning for the familiar rhythms and beauty of places like Bahia and Rio because Vancouver, Van—as the locals call it—which is located in the province of British Columbia, a rainforest, is a special place as is Brazil. And like Brazil, Canada (with a population of some 283 million) represents a kind of landscape for the future because it is changing fast and absorbing the best that other cultures have to offer. Brazilians are here with their drum: Despite their small numbers, their presence is echoing in Vancouver's social and cultural milieu. According to the 1996 census published by Statistics Canada, there are 6520 Brazilians in Canada, who live mostly in Toronto, a city of some 3.9 million. With 1065 in the province of British Columbia and 740 in the city of Vancouver, out of a total population of 1,813,935, they are a tiny minority but, already, capoeira and samba are in the air (perhaps everywhere soon) and, if you are a regular reader of The Georgia Straight, a widely read city weekly, you will now see listings for capoeira instruction and Brazilian cultural events. A`clit
SAUDADE E MUSICA
Sometime in the 1980s I first saw musician-composerguitarist Celso Machado perform somewhere on Fourth Avenue in Vancouver. He reminded me of the year and place: It was in 1989 at the Rattlesnake Grill, where he was featured regularly. It was a treat because, at the time, there were no Brazilian performers of any kind here, and it was great to hear those gentle, hypnotic, poetic sounds distinctive of the Brazilian soul—shades ofAntonio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfa, Vinicius de Moraes, Joao Gilberto, Caetano Veloso and other great Brazilian composers. "Now, I don't feel totally alone," reminisced the 47-yearold musician, a humble, self-effacing, gentle man, who hails
BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
position, "Varal," was inspired by the songs slaves would sing as they washed their clothes, rhythmically slapping them on riverbanks. Musically diverse, the CD begins with familiar samba and bossa nova rhythms as in "Depois de Anos" (After Some Years) and moves through African-inspired rhythms and indigenous themes born of the sights and sounds of the Amazonian rainforest. According to the notes on "Corpo" (Body), first comes "mouth and body percussion": "There is a saying in Brazil that samba begins with the feet." In Celso' s family, which included his five brothers, "that soon spread to bodies, mouths, tables, boxes, frying pans and pieces of paper, with each brother and their mother imitating an instrument: surdos (bass drums), shakers, agogo bells and tamborins." This was evident in "Virou Ate urn Baido" (Sudden Change to Baido), which, features digeridoo, ganzti, mouth percussion, mouth thunder storm, and monkey sound, according to the CD notes. You can imagine the sounds of the Amazon rainforest: the buzzing of bees, screeching monkeys, the sounds of birds of paradise before the rain on other tracks. Melodic from Sao Paulo and is one of Canada's most respected musi- guitar accomp niment to African refrains in "Que Fait Lit," cians. Celso never met any musicians from Brazil when he came segues to the v ry effective "Canto do Escravo" (Chant/Song to Vancouver from Europe twelve years ago. I talked with Celso of the Slave), which ends this thoughtful, reflective CD. "I am a Brazilian who plays music, not a Brazilian musician. this summer after he participated in the Dragon Boat Festival at the Plaza of Nations in Vancouver. Nominated in 1997 for I make music,"Celso declared, pointing to the influences in his the Juno Award for Best CD in the Latin American/World Music music from Morocco, West Africa, the Middle East and North America, allowing that he does a lot of research to incorporate category, he was awarded the prize in 1998. different elements into his music. He feels that, And again in 1999 he was nominated for while Cuban music, primarily salsa, is very the prize for his CD Jongo Le in the same popular, it is melodically and harmonically category, and he received it in March 2000 Brazil... simpler. Of Brazilian music, he says, "You have Where hearts were entertaining in Toronto in the presence of all of the bestto listen carefully, it is very sophisticated." June known names in Canadian music at this twoWe stood beneath an amber mpon Celso sometimes plays with other Brazilday award fest. He also won a Leo Award in -someday And softly murmured ians in Vancouver, such as the musicians in the 2000 for best music score for "In the Comsoon" capoeira troupe Ache Brasil, and occasionally pany of Fear," written for a documentary We'd kiss, and clung togethei plays small venues. This is a good time for him about Columbia. He also completed music professionally because he is doing different Readers Digest for three documentaries for Then, tomorrow was another day things and growing in many directions. Married in the United States: a piece called "AmazoThe morning found me miles away with one child, he now has to think about famnia"; another, untitled, about the mountains With still a million things to my ily as well: "I like Vancouver, it's home for me. Now when twilight dims the sky in South America; and another about the I wish there were more Brazilians, but there are above South American coast. Recalling thrills of our love beautiful mountains, a beautiful sea, the ocean. On being asked to name a Brazilian word There's one thing I'm certain of What more do I want?" that came to mind when he thought of BraReturn [will to old Brazil zil, Celso said, saudade:"Saudade is on the CAPOEIRA tip of the tongue for all Brazilians. We carry Brazil... saudade everywhere we go. In music, life. The Brazil that I knew Perhaps the question where are the BrazilSaudade is a good thing. If you have it you Where I wandered with you is what Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom ians can express your emotions more. Saudade Lives in my imagination Selleck, dressed in the colors of the Flamengo Where the songs are passionate makes you do good things." soccer team, and Wesley Snipes flanked by four And a smile has flash in it A clothes line with colorful clothes And a kiss has art in it bodyguards, asked during a break from filming sways in the breeze in some country town as For you put your heart in it when they showed up at Mardi Gras, a capoeira a young boy, barefoot and content, walks by And so I dream of old Braid show produced by Ache Brasil last year at the eating a slice of watermelon, evoking, perMaritime Hall here in Vancouver that showhaps memories of a childhood in Brazil on (From Bob Russell's English vercased the skills ofthis capoeira troupe in a halfthe cover of his CD Varal on which he comsion of Ary Barroso's song hour segment on local television news in Febposed, sang and performed all the music. Aquarela do Brasil) ruary 1999. According to the CD notes, the second comBRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
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Mestre Edison de Jesus, a musician, poet, dancer and master teacher ofcapoeira, who also does stunt work, has been teaching in Vancouver for ten years, seven ofthem as a capoeira master. Teaching since he was 15 years old, thirty-six-year-old Edison, who is from Quilombo, Pernambuco, has almost singlehandedly launched an interest in capoeira in Canada. He has done more than 1000 shows for schools, has appeared on TV talk shows and has been the subject of many articles in Canadian papers like the Globe, Mail and National Post. But it was a cover story in May 2000 The Georgia Straight that catapulted him into the national Canadian spotlight causing an escalation of interest in capoeira. It's a family affair at his studio on Sixth Avenue in Vancouver that his wife Christiane has managed for the past five years. Edison conducts 18 classes and his 14-year-old daughter Vanessa, who has been studying capoeira since she was six years old, helps out with accompaniment on the atabaque. He also has another 12-year-old daughter who also has an interest in this art form. It was only two years ago that Edison noticed an interest in capoeira beginning to form in Vancouver, and when he started teaching capoeira, he only had one student. Now, because of growing demand, Edison plans to add new classes and another master teacher from Brazil to help instruct a cultural rainbow of students: Canadian students of various ethni cities, a Filipino drummer, a student from Africa, and one from Germany playing the gunga (the big berimbau) for the roda or capoeira circle formed to summon the votive spirits for the demonstrations and martial dance contests. The studio, which operates at full capacity, occupies two floors and is spacious, with mirrored artlined orange walls and the colors of the Brazilian flag evident everywhere. Downstairs there is a space for rehearsals and costumes for shows Ache Brasil puts on all over Canada and elsewhere. Edison came to Vancouver in 1990 and decided to stay after performing at the Vancouver Children's Festival and formed the performance group Ache Brasil. His credits in film work include the Ninja Turtles series, The Sentinel and Mr. Magoo for Disney, and he was invited to represent Canada in capoeira at Arnold Schwarzenegger's fitness clinic. Ache is a Yoruba word that means "everything positive in the universe," he pointed out, stating, "It was my dream to make a Brazilian cultural society, but so far I have been too busy booking shows and taking care of this [his capoeira studio]." SAMBA E ALEGRIA "Dance is about enjoying, connecting with the sound," exclaimed twentysomething dancer-choreographer Ana da Silva, who epitomizes the spirit of samba and the generosity and warmth of Brazil. "I really know every dance from Brazil. Since I was five I have taken part in competitions. Dance is very easy." Ana has also studied capoeira and has appeared in some of the productions of Ache Brasil. Beautiful, with a cascade of 22
almost-waist-length black hair and an enviable figure, Ma, who is of Portuguese, Native South American and African descent, was born in MaceiO, a city of 3000 near Pernambuco, where she grew up with three brothers and two sisters. For three or four years from the age of seven she attended candombM rites in her hometown and was infused with the spirit of candombM and dance: "Through dance you feel the presence of the universe," she declared, revealing that she achieves a kind ofelation when she does numerous turns. Ana, who makes her own oneof-a-kind costumes, was happy to give me samba demonstrations while showing me her colorful costumes. In Brazil, she worked as an optometrist and danced in the carnavais (c arn a val s) of Pernambuco and Bah ia. She loves Rio but prefers Bahia for its art and culture. In Vancouver she plans to continue teaching Brazilian dance and doing workshops in community centers (she has been a regular teacher at the Roundhouse Community Center) but she is planning to travel to other places to do more shows and hopes to perform internationally. A former member ofBale Tropical in the province of her hometown, Ana has also performed in New York, Toronto and the Yukon. She explained the Brazilian mystique: "Brazil is about. culture, music, lots of music all the time." And she misses the beautiful beaches and Salvador: "It' s really magical, with a very strong energy." Ana's heart may be in Bahia but her life is here in Vancouver. And wherever she goes there is alegria. FA NTASIA E FELICIDADE Born in 1panema—"a Norman colony to which the Portuguese came in 1400"—Virginia "Vicky" Quental, who is known socially as Vinito, is a painter, muralist, graphic designer, illustrator, poet, teacher, translator in three languages (Portuguese from Brazil and Portugal, French and English) and consultant on architecture whose résumé identifies her as a Renaissance woman. Eclectic, spiritual, other-worldly, humorous, generous (some of the adjectives that come to mind in attempting to describe her), Vinito has been living in Vancouver for twenty years and has three children: Amanda and Bianca from her first marriage and an eighteen-yearold daughter from her second marriage, Willow, the subject of one of her paintings, and a grandson whom she adores. Gregarious, with a profound affinity for nature, Vinito has a large circle of friends. A self-described muse, she is a seeker of truth. Her reminiscences are endless: Experiences as an exchange student in Delaware in 1965, where she used to visit the American painter Andrew Wyeth, "an important influence in my life"; meetings with Antonio Carlos Jobim about the time that he wrote his world-famous "Girl from Ipanema" with Vinicius de Moraes; playing the berimbau with Dois de Oro; memories of the politics ofthe time in the era of Gal Costa, BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
Maria Bethania, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and others: "We represented a stand for the future for joy, the joy of being" is how she described the period. A graduate in Visual Communications at the Escola Superior de Desenho Industrial (School of Industrial Design) in Brazil, where 81-year-old Dr. Carmen Portinho was its director, Vinito has a résumé that also includes drawing and painting in the Greek Islands over a three-year period and lecturing at the Casa do Estudante do Brasil on Brazilian Native aboriginal design. She also studied piano with Lficia Branco, did work on a master's at Lesley College Graduate School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and postgraduate work in ancient art techniques (mural, fresco, mosaic, etc.) at the Museum School of F me Art§ in Boston, Massachusetts, and taught art at the Guilford School and the Emily Can of Art and Design in Vancouver. Vinito, whose granduncle is Anthero de Quental—a renowned Portuguese poet from the 19th century—came to Vancouver in 1971. Of Dutch descent on her father's side (he was a millionaire in Pernambuco who "recovered and lost a fortune"), Vinito grew up in a family of five boys and two girls and was encouraged to succeed and taught "never to be afraid of losing." After studying industrial design and visual commu„ Robert and Tennyson nication in Brazil, Vinito met her first husband, Peter Pratt, a Canadian, in Rio and got married in Athens, Greece, where she went to study City Planning and Architecture. She mentioned that she was a design consultant on the Canadian Embassy in Brazil and that she collaborated with her husband on projects in Granville Island, a picturesque market in Vancouver, B.C. A return to Brazil found Vinito teaching and living by the river, where she used to teach and translate the poetry of Olga Savary, a Brazilian poet, whose twelve books of poetry, Repertoria Selvagem Obra Reunida she proudly owns. She also has vivid memories of psychic experiences in Bahia. And she has also studied expressive therapies: the importance of dreams (the arts and magic) and how to paint and relate to dreams, how to paint and have a "path of self-knowledge through dreams." She sees her form of painting as magic realism. When Vinito first arrived in Vancouver she noted that there was no Brazilian consulate and, because of economic reasons, there was no Brazilian consulate in 15 countries, so at the time she helped foal(' the Associacclo do Brasil in Vancouver to assist Brazilians with consular matters. Vinito plays piano and the flute and is now studying the Tao, which is a very important aspect of her spiritual life. Some of her ideas: She feels that you have to find happiness in your heart, that the roots of the samba are in sadness and happiness; that "there is a natural sadness that we all feel"; alegria is rooted in African and Native Brazilian culture; that when Brazilians get together they try to connect to create alegria through cultural and artistic expression: by painting, doing the samba, or BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
meeting at a fie ta or a concert. She occasionally misses Brazil, and pointed out that the climate is so hot that there is no separation bet een the inside and the outside. As the bars in Bahia are almos on the street, life has an easy infectious charm. On rememb ring having Pele and the Brazilian team at her house after a Wo rid Cup and dancing until five a.m. at her home in Vancouver, Vinito the Carioca, reminisced: "Vancouver was very sad when we first came. We were going to bring Ze Kai to Vancouver in 1973 but it was very difficult to get things happening. We had a dream of bringing music here, having a Carnaval. But lots of things got lost on a personal level. It is more joyous now. The idea of life, living, is a very playful idea. We need a lot of Brazilian joy." HONORARY BRAZILIANS Vancouver-born Robert Sexton, owner of the shop Marimba, has been an active participant in the alternative arts scene for years. A world traveler, Robert, who is endowed with movie-star good looks and a heart to match, has always tried to make artists and visitors to Vancouver from around the world comfortable. Possessed of an easy charm, he interacts effortlessly with customers in his shop Marimba on West 4th Avenue in Vancouver featuring clothes and accessories from exotic locales. This shop has also been a center for the arts, so to speak, where you can find out what is happening culturally by checking out the flyers promoting concerts and myriad cultural events. Sensing a need for Brazilians to have a place to socialize, Robert has generously opened his home, which has now become a sort of place to meet and greet for Brazilians and others at parties. Brazilians, he feels, create a certain kind o ambience that was missing here. And popul Jamaican-born realtor and fellow Brazilophile, Tennyson Ha ghton (Tennyson to everyone), a resident of Vancouver for over 28 years, during which he has seen the city change from a quiet residential town by the sea into a worldclass destinati n for travelers, agrees with Robert's assessment of the "life" t t Brazilians have added to Vancouver. In expressing sent' ents that Brazil has finally come to him, he remarked, "This is just amazing!" It is amazi g. To Brazilians everywhere, Happy New Year. And, by the wa ,Happy New Millennium too. The same to Van. A special t i anks to Tennyson for taking most of the photos and helping m meet the Brazilians. Thanks also to Ache Brasil for providing 'ome professional photographs and to a member of their staff w o took some of the pictures. I'm sorry that I did not get to talk ith Dinho Ribeiro, an expert at capoeira, but he may be in ne of the photographs. For the live of Brasil, Dawn Tyler is an occasional writer for Brazzil magazine and can be reached at datyler2001Ahotmail.com
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How to *lute Racism In the end, sometimes not even a line of the original dispatch survived. But the story was published with the signature of "our special envoy". JANER CRISTALDO TRANSLATION: TEREZA BRAGA
I live in Sao Paulo due to a circumstance I owe to Saddam Hussein. I'd better explain that. With the advent of the Gulf War, Folha de sag Paulo created a special section to cover the events in the Middle East. Once the war was over, that section remained as part of the newspaper. International news got its own space in the paper and it was in this space that I came to work. My first war was the Yugoslavian one, during the days of its independence from Croatia. Our correspondent in charge of Eastern Europe was then sending his stories from Berlin because this business of covering wars from the front is too risky. Around three in the afternoon his dispatches started coming in, based on the news featured in the morning papers. This meant that newspapers were written yesterday, the actual news happened the day before yesterday and the Brazilian readers would read them tomorrow. The news agencies, more agile, sent us some others, fresh from the oven. As editors, our job was to replace the lead of the reporting with hot material. At around five in the afternoon, those dispatches had already dropped to the bottom of the story. When Gabe ira reported that the Yugoslays were planning an attack, we already had the targets destroyed and the airplanes back in their bases. The war coverage was actually done in the newsroom at Rua Barao de Limeira, in Sao Paulo, a location that was, in a way, closer to the facts than our correspondent in Germany. In the end, sometimes not even a line of the original dispatch survived. But the story was published with the signature of "our special envoy". In December 1991, the newspaper got another correspondent in Berlin. On one occasion, she sent an excited report about the Dubrovnik bombing by the Croatian Navy. The bombs fell in my hands. I called Berlin and asked the young lady to check her facts. Croatia did not have a fleet and would not have any reason to bomb its most beautiful city. "But I can read it right here in front of me, with my very eyes, on television, the Croatian Navy is bombing the coastal areas". I asked her to check it further, since we still had an hour to close the section. Twenty minutes later, her tone was bashful. "Well, it's actually the Yugoslav Navy". The eyes of the brave war correspondent, as beautiful as they could be, were mistaken. These memories come back to me on account of a mail from Andrea Gruber, a Brazilian residing in Vienna, who arrived at a melancholy conclusion: "During my whole life, following the news was a complete waste of time; I don't believe in anything anymore". Come on, Andrea, international news is a matter of faith. In the 1990s, our newspapers used to publish every Monday or Tuesday an update on the slaughtering going on in South Africa. Every weekend we had about twenty or thirty black people dead. It became such a routine that the deaths were no longer worth headlines. A small note, usually nine lines, at the bottom of the page, was enough. With no information whatsoever about who was doing the slaughtering. Several times, the same sentence followed the beginning of the story: "Racist leader Eugene Terreblanche has declared that..." Readers were thrown thirty black corpses right on their faces, plus the news that a white leader, unfortunate enough to be named Terreblanche at birth, had said something. For the reader, it became clear that the whites of South Africa, led by some guy called Terreblanche, were slaughtering the blacks. What was actually happening was that blacks were being massacred by blacks as a result of tribal rivalry, instigated by the weekend booze. This detail was omitted. If in 24
BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
South Africa blacks were wiped out, the murderers could only be whites. European whites and, therefore, racists. Because an African racist, by definition, doesn't exist. One of the most disturbing cases of manipulation of facts took place during the European summer of 1993, in Holland. At the staff meeting, everyone was excited. A Moroccan girl, Naima Quaghmiri, nine years old, had died when she fell into a lake in Rotterdam. Two hundred people were reported to have watched her drowning without offering to help. The director held the telex up and shook it with fury. The idea was to produce a headline such as DUTCH RACISTS LET AN IMMIGRANT'S DAUGHTER DIE. Once more, the bomb landed in my hands. The news was absurd. Two hundred people do not watch passively as a child drowns. The lake, shown in the picture to be a kind of dam, was shallow. In the middle ofthe lake stood a fireman, with water by his waist. Every piece of copy featured in an online newspaper, even when it doesn't have a printed signature, has an electronic signature so that the author can eventually be held responsible. I refused to write that obvious distortion of facts. I tried to show to my colleagues how incongruent the report was. But it was in vain. The intention was to denounce European racism. Another editor wrote the piece. Two days later, a new dispatch rectified the previous one. There had been no girl drowning and no two hundred Dutch watching. Naima had drowned many hours before. Policemen and firefighters had asked the vacationers to form a semi-circle, holding hands, and walk the extension of the lake and look for the corpse. The vacationers refused to do so. I asked the editor if the report would be rectified. "It's not necessary"—he said—"Tomorrow nobody will remember this anymore." But journalism is the recording ofthe stories and it is in the archives of the past, I argued, that the researchers of the alleged tomorrow will search for information for their essays. "We only get to find out what really happened"—the editor said— "months later. That's the way journalism is". When they start rummaging through newspaper archives, future researchers will learn that Holland was a small European country inhabited during the last century by white racists cruel enough to deny help to a Moroccan child who was drowning. This was confirmed by Folha itself. In 1994, in an article about racism, one of its editors again mentioned this story as if it had been actually true. BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
Indian Arrogance What were the significant contributions of our native peoples to this place we call Brazil? Except for some toponyms, none. Indians are only good for postcards and for people from nongovernmental organizations to earn a living. JANER CRISTALDO TRANSLATION: TEREZA BRAGA "I think Indians now have a path for the future, and this is what my work is about, to educate Braziliar society about the philosophy of the indigenous civilization"—said Marcos Terena, in a recent interview for the magazine Caros Amigos [Dear Friends]. These declarations by chief leader Terena brought me back many m mories of my teaching days in [the southern Brazilian state of] Santa Catirina. The degree in Philosophy at UFSC [Federal State University of Santi Catarina] included in its curriculum, as I found out, an exotic course—nothfrig less than "History of the Philosophy of Santa Catarina". As a country, Brazil has not even created what we could call its own philosophy yet. But Santa Catarina already had, in the 1980s, nothing less than a history of the islander philosophy (1). Therefore, in this country of ours, where Marilena Chaui or Carlos Nelson Coutinho can dispute with Kant or Plato the prestigious title ofphilosopher, no one should be surprised by the fact that Santa Catarina has its own history of philosophy or that there should be, in Terena's imaginary world, a philosophy of the indigenous civilization. While the Phoenicians, several millennia before Christ, had already discovered the alphabet, now, two thousand years after the death of the Jew, Brazilian indigenous cultures have hardly arrived at a preamble of a grammar. Cultures with no writing system, they had to borrow an alphabet from the colonizers in order to express their languages graphically. Defenseless in time, living in an economy of hunting and gathering, they still have no words to designate new things created by human ingenuity. The Terena language has no word for train, for example. 'They say "ru mumocOti ituko-xand". Which means, sort of, "the one who walks on the rail". Also according to Marcos Terena, Indians can only count to three. After three, it is too many. Which means that our indigenous peoples, who can't even use the five fingers of one hand to create an arithmetic and with no specific words in their language for things that are part of our daily life today, can already form in their noodles the sophisticated concept of philosophy. And not any philosophy, but the philosophy of the indigenous civilization. The way the Brazilian public university system is going, we should not be surprised if tomorrow we are offered a course in the History of Brazilian Indigenous Philosophy. Next week [this article was originally written in Apri12000] we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Discovery of Brazil. A "Marcha Indigena 2000" [Indigenous March 2000] arrived yesterday in Brasilia and is proceeding to Bahia in order to protest the scheduled celebration events. They will save no efforts to create confrontation with police, which will provide exciting headlines abroad. With the ceremonies approaching, an anti-western hysteria has been overcoming both the domestic and foreign presses. There is a story circulating now in Brazil, with the attributes of dogma, that there were six million natives at the time the Portuguese arrived and that today there are only 350 thousand. Therefore, what we have here is another genocide committed by European whites. According to indigenous leaders, there is nothing to celebrate. Because Brazil belongs to the Indians and all 25
white people are invaders. This figure of six million is not over the world by omitting data about the effects of nicotine. fortuitous. It goes back to the holocaust. It is arrived at by bad Every smoker who sees the film walks away in horror of the math and the figure is created through a complicated intellec- cynicism of the Yankee capitalists. Well, if the Indians of this tual juggling based on migratory, linguistic and archeological continent have made any one truly universal contribution to estimates. humanity, this legacy is tobaccoism. But nobody wants to reDeep inside, it is a desire to condemn the white colonizer member that. and, by extension, Europe itself. Which coincides with these (I) [translator's note]: the state has many islands off its coast. times when crack-brained utopias are on the low. Even if we in (2) [translator's note]: bugre = coarse or savage person fact had all those millions of natives, how can anyone prove the massacre? How many actually died as a result of tribal wars, Cristaldo is an author, translator and journalist and endemic diseases, pandemic diseases, malnutrition and even suffers Sao Paulo. His e-mail address is war-like confrontation with the colonizers? Nobody knows. cristal@baguete.com.br Without these slandered navigators, there would be no Brazil Tereza Braga is a professional free-lance translator today, or Latin America, with everything that those two conaccredited by the American Translators Association. She cepts mean, for the best and for the worst. What were the sigspecializes in technical and legal translation, as well as nificant contributions of our native peoples to this place we call simultaneous interpretation, for corporations doing business Brazil? Except for some toponyms, none. Indians are only good with Brazil. Tereza came to the U.S. in 1984 as Trade Promofor postcards and for people from non-governmental organization Officer with the Consulate of Brazil in Dallas, where she tions to earn a living. They are, yes, human beings—a condiserved for nine years. She can be reached at tion that the clergy, now their defenders, denied them—and they tbragaling@cs.com should be treated as such. And emancipated, too. But not all of them wish to be emancipated, because it means they will have to start obeying the law and accepting responsibility for certain acts which are defined as crimes. What would be a dream for a Representative in Congress constitutes a right for a savage. In a revealing document drafted "Ship to Brazil with the company that really knows how." in July of 1981 in Geneva, the Christian Church World Council recomBEST SERVICE + BEST RATES mended to missionaries "to instruct AIR - IATA 01-1-9279-012 and teach reading to the indigenous OCEAN - FMC 3853 peoples, in their mother tongues, inculcating in them courage, determination, boldness, bravery and even a little bit of an aggressive spirit, so that they can learn how to ' protect their rights. It is necessary to TO ANY AIRPORT IN BRAZIL take into consideration that the Indians of these countries are apathetical, malnourished and lazy. It is necessary for them to see the white man as a permanent enemy, not only their enemy but also an FULL CONTAINER & DIRECT CONSOLIDATIONS enemy of the ecological system of AN\ WITHOUT TRANSLOADING IN MIAMI Amazonia. It is necessary to awaken in them whatever pride they have inside (...) It is necessary to insist in the concept of ethnicity so as to awaken in them the natural instinct ofsegregation, orthe pride to belong to an ethnic nobility, the conscience of being better than the white man." This document, published two decades ago in the Brazilian press, is said to be apocryphal by the defenders of the Indian cause. Maybe it is. But its authors—because even apocryphal documents have authors—were anticipating what we see today. Bugres (2) who have never evolved enough to even have a grammar now wield concepts such as philosophy and genocide in order 12833 SIMMS AVE. - HAWTHORNE, CA 90250 to condemn the immigrants who really created this country. There is a film running in Brazilian movie theaters now called The Insider. The film denounces the maneuvers ofthe American tobacco industry, which spread cancer all
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BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2301
Come With Me As I drive across the border I see a person holding up a sign that reads tjubjiana'. I was a little confused with the lights, officers, signs, tolls—with Slovenia in general. Especially all those consonants and no vowels make me very agitated CALIXTO JOSE HAKIM
BRAZZIL -JANUARY 2001
Acordei lentamente, cansado. Olhei para o lado e vi o copo de pldstico branco. Estava ainda cheio corn o vinho tinto que o Mombo havia me dado ontem de madrugada. Mombo trabalhava as noites na recepcao do hotel e para a minha sorte, aquele negro simpatico do Senegal nAo se importava de me fazer urn rango quando eu chegava faminto e sedento de alcool naquelasmadrugadasestranhas em Trieste. No consegui acabar o vinho, mas opouco que tomei junto corn urn comprimido azul que havia trazido de casa, me botou para dormir legal. Finalmente tive oito horas de sono. Naquela semana flat) tinha dormido muito bem. Fuso-horario, pesadelos, bebida, taquicardia, ansiedade. Lembro o que um argentino que conheci nesse festival me disse ontem a noite quando perdiamos mais uma de nossas batalhas para consegiur se divertir nessa cidade fria e enigmatica. —Trieste ë triste, parceiro. Na recepcao do hotel fico sabendo que os dois venezuelanos que jam comigo para a Eslovenia mudaram de ideia e no se importaram de me avisar. Quis dizer adeus para o argentino e umas outras pessoas mas nao os encontrei. E sempre assim quando um festival de cinema acaba: todos somem. Como se aquela semana de encontros, filmes, aventuras, amizades novas e etc fosse apenas fruto da minha imaginacao. A cidade parecia estar de luto. No que tenha sido diferente quando eu cheguei; sempre nublada, fria e melancOlica. Acho que nao vi o sol nem urn so dia sequer. Consegui arranjar urn carro do festival para me levar ao aeroporto. Na ida um conterraneo de Curitiba que mora na Alemanha conversa corn o motorista que é peruano e morana Italia. Estou pensativo, um pouco saudoso de tudo que aconteceu e deixou de acontecer entre esses cinco longos dias de noites interminaveis. 0 brasileiro comenta para o motorista que quando chegar em Stutgart pegard uma carona para sua vila. —Eu sei que aqui na Italia é proibido pedir ou dar carona, mas la é normal. —NA° tern perigo, nao,--diz o paranaense. Eu me lembro de Floripa, grande FlorianOpolis; la a galera pega bastante carona. Nao que eu tenha dado ou pego carona, mas eu me lembro de ter visto vdrios jovens na estrada corn o den() pm cima. Agradeco aoperuano, doutchau parameu conterraneo e you alugar um carro. Dizem que na Europa a melhor maneira de viajar é de trem, mas eu estou precisando de liberdade; e liberdade para mim 6 ire vir a hora que eu quiser. Nem que seja para o lugar errado. Jade carro, eu erro o rumo um as cinco vezes. Nao faz mal nao, eu estou numa adrenalina, livre para errar o caminho mai s dezvezes. 'Slovenia', le-se na placa, 6 para Ia que eu you. Sempretive um tesao de conhecer o !este europeu; no sei porque. Talvez o fato de que esteve fechado por quase cinquenta anos. Varios segredos, misterios, muitas reyolucOes, guerras. Em letras vermelhas eu vejo urn letreiro: `Cambio. Exchange. Wechsel.' Melhor trocar uma grana aqui.—La estou eu falando sozinho novamente. Quando entro na casa de cambio eu escuto uma mtisica familiar no ar, paro e tento reconhecer aquela melodia. "Ue, isso al é o hino do Brasil, porra!", penso comigo mesmo. Eu explico para a mulher do caixa que amnsica do radio é o hino do Brasil e que eu sou brasileiro. Rimos enquanto ela troca os meus Mares por tOlares. Entro no carro, passo a fronteira e vejo uma pessoa corn uma placa `LJUBJ1ANA'. Eu estavaum pouco confilso corn as luzes, guardas, placas, pedagios; corn a Eslovenia em geral. Principalmente aquele monte de consoantes e nenhuma vogal 27
estavam me deixando bastante agitado. Olhei de novo e vi que o carona era uma menina com cabelo bem curto, quase raspado. Me lembro do curitibano falando: "Eu sei que aqui na Italia é proibido pedir ou dar carona, mas la é normal. Ndo tern perigo." Paro o carro e abro o vidro. Esta um frio danado . Ela se abaixa Lubiana. e fala em esloveno: —Kjlkjdkvtzjnskjjd Ela é linda, urn rosto limpo mas corn tracos fortes, olhos azuis, alta e magra e tudo ao mesmo tempo. Eu digo: —Yes, yes. Ela pele a mochila no banco de tras e eu jogo minhas coisas (mapas e etc.. ) para tras. BAM! Eta já esta sentada dentro do carro. Ela me cla urn sorriso bem timid° e fala: —I don't speak Italian. Eu naquele instante sinto algo diferente. Papo vai e vem. 0 nome dela é Iva; ela tern 23 anos, estuda chines nauniversidade de Lubiana, aprendeu ingles na Irlanda, morou um ano na China e esta vindo de Veneza onde estava visitando algumas amigas que conheceu na China. E eu pensando que eu era urn cara descolado. Ela me mostra urn bed and breakfast no centro hist6rico de Lubiana, me da urn beijo no rosto e se oferece para no dia seguinte me mostrar a cidade. Eu naquelanoite tive um pesadelo, ou melhor, uma visita de sei la o que; pois eu tenho certeza que naquela noite eu nao estava sozinho naquele quarto e essa `presenca' nao queria me tranqUilizar mas sim me atazanar. Mas isso é outra estoria. Acordo das poucas horas que consegui dormir e ligo para Iva. —Infelizmente, não you poder pois meus primos da Croacia estdo aqui e vamos almocar corn toda a familia. Talvez mais de tarde. Eu te ligo. Eu desligo e fato corn a minha imagem no espelho: —Fodeu. Merda. A maldicao de Trieste continua. Ndo, ela liga de volta e marca para se encontrar As cinco horas. Eu decido ir ao café em frente ao meu hotel e tomar uma Piva (cerveja) enquanto a espero. As cinco e tres ela vem andando em passos grandes e precisos. Ela anda corn a tranqUilidade de um passeio no parque e a conviccdo do exercito vermelho ao mesmo tempo. Seus labios ndo se mexem, mas eu tenho certeza que ela esta cantarolando uma musica em sua cabeca. Ela esta vestida corn urn capotdo cinza claro. —Iva.—Eu fato alto da Unica mesa fora do bar. Ela se vira, meio perdida, mas nao perdendo sua elegancia. Ela me ye e sorri. Seus dentes sdo perfeitos. Ela vem ate a mim. Eu pensei algo, ndo me lembro o que, mas algo bonito. Falamos muito. Comentei que gostava do Iggy Pop e ela responde: Ta passando urn flume antigo do Emir Kusturica, Arizona Dream, na cinemateca. 0 Iggy Pop canta a musica tema feita pelo Goran Bregovic. Voce gosta de Bregovic? —Garcon, mais uma cerveja, por favor. Varias cervejas depois—ela s6 tomou coca pois estava dirigindo o carro da mde e nao era correto beber. Ate nisso ela é correta— decidimos ver o flume. 0 filme é muito born. Emociona mesmo. A mUsica é linda. Born nao, o fume é do caralho. Estou sentado ali ao lado da minha Sinead O'Connor da Eslovenia e minhas mdos comecam a suar, meu coracdo dispara, e penso que you ter urn treco ali mesmo. Eu olho pra ela e ela esta totalmente empolgada corn o filme, de boca aberta e tudo. E eu louco para lhe dar um beijo mas ndo consigo. Travou. Travou tudo. Eu estou corn 13 anos de novo. Penso: "Espera. Depois do filme, voce ataca. Ou nesse caso, se declara. Vai ser uma noite maravilhosa." 0 flume acaba e ha emoceies de todo o tipo rolando entre minha cabeca e meu corpo. Sinto minhas glandulas produzindo tudo que é tipo de hormonio 28
que eu nem sei para que serve. A fantasia real do cinema acaba e na saida eu noto uma menina de oculos e cabelos escuros me olhando. Seu olhar ndo mente, eu sei exatamente o que ela quer. Ela sorri e vem falar conosco. Ela cumprimenta a Iva e diz que meus olhos sdo muito fortes. Bonitos e intensos. Eu fico sem jeito. Numa outra noite qualquer eu nao desperdicaria essa deixa; pois apesar de ndo ser linda essa menina de oculos e sorriso safado deve ser urn furacdo tropical na cama. Mas fico mais satisfeito é do jeito que a Iva reagiu quando ela notou o flerte da menina para comigo, do que no flerte em si. Senti que a minha heroina ficou urn pouco enciumada; pois logo falou algo em sloven° para sua concorrente e segurou no meu braco. —Vamos. Nos despedimos do meu flerte e de repente, do nada chega urn "figura", alto e corn um rosto meio esburacado, como uma daquelas estradas do interior do Brasil. Cumprimenta a todos meio rapidamente. Eu ndo dou muita bola mas sinto um clima estranho no ar. Iva acende seu vigesimo cigarro da noite. A amiga se vai mas ndo antes de dar urn sorriso, como quem diz: "Voce ndo sabe o que esta perdendo" A figura fala em esloveno corn a minha deusa. Ha pausas e dal dc olhapara mime pergunta alguma bobagem no seu ingles de fundo de quintal do tipo: —Esta gostando daqui? Onde voce esta hospedado? Eu digo o nome do hotel e que adoro Lubiana principalmente pelo fato da Iva, a menina mais linda da Europa, morar aqui. Etc olha para a Iva, traga seu cigarro e olha para mim. —Claro, claro. A Iva é excepcional. "Excepcionial. Que porra de elogio é esse?", eu penso. Ela estatotalmente acanhada e eu comeco a matutar: "S6 falta esse merda querer vir corn a gente". Ndo deu outra. 0 filho da puta fala que tern urn bar au i na esquina. —Vamos!—diz a figura corn uma certa autoridade de urn Milosovic da vida. Enquanto andamos pelas ruas frias daquela cidade medieval, eu comeco a notar uma vibracdo diferente e o fato de que ele dá umas encaradas silenciosas na minha deusa e uns olhares estranhos para cima de mim contribui mais ainda para esse cenario g6tico. NA° e a toa que o Paulo Coelho vem sempre para ca. Papo vai, papo vem e eu sentado au i no meio dos eslavos ndo entendendo muito. Sinto uma certa frieza na Iva e uma frustacdo na figura. "Era s6 o que me faltava", penso eu. Preciso de mais scotch. Indo pagar a conta, a figura pula da cadeira e chega junto A Iva. Eles falam num torn diferente. E uma discussdo, corn certeza. Os dois saem do bar discutindo e eu atras nervoso, ainda contando o meu troco em tolares. Penso: "Fodeu, you ter que cair na porrada corn o cara." Detalhe, o cara é grande e eu nem bebado estou. Eu ndo sei jiu-jitsu, meu sobrenome ndo é Gracie e eu quase nunca briguei na minha vida. A ndo ser quando pequeno. As vezes apanhava do meu primo nas reuniOes de familia; ou outra vez na Oktoberfest, quando gracas a Deus apartaram a briga antes de comecar. Eu paro no meio da rua. Ndo agtiento mais ver minha princesa sendo agredida verbalmente. —What is the problem? Am I the problem? I mean, whatta fuck is going on here? Os dois olham para mim. 0 cara ta bufando. —No. lam the problem. Rove her. Rove her. But she doesn't want me! Tesdo, é s6 comigo mesmo que acontecem essas coisas. Eu olho para cima e fato corn o Homem la em cima. — Por que tudo tern que ser complicado? A resposta vem corn urn beep do alarme do carro. Ela abre a porta do veiculo de sua mde. A figura fecha, grita alguma coisa e sai andando. BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
Eu entro, eta entra e antes que eu fate qualquer coisa eta diz: —I'm sorry. Ela esta chorando. Seus olhos azuis se tornam rosas combinando corn sua camisa do mesmo tom. Mas o clima ë como o capon() dela, cinza. Ela me explica que o Yuri, sei IA o nome daquele babaca, era seu ex-namorado ha mais de urn ano. Mas o cara ndo Ora de ligar, segui-la, mandar cartas ou incomodar seus amigos e amigas. Mesmo quando eta passou urn ano na China, ele chantageou a kind mais nova dela para pegar o seu telefone de Id. 0 cara e urn psycho. Yuri, o psicopata. Etc já a ameacou varias vezes, falou que ia se matar, que ia contar para mde dela que ela ndo era virgen, que fumava casca de banana e o escambal. Quanto mais eta falava mais eu pensava: "Esse cara é patetico." Yuri, o loser. Born, corn esse clima o negOcio esquecer essa noite, porque para tentar algo corn ela nesse estado s6 podem acontecer duas coisas. Um ou vai ser se aproveitar da situacdo e bola na rede ou escorregar no campo liso e quebrar a perna. Mas a Iva rid° é um jogo. E eu estou completamente apaixonado e pensando: "A vida aqui ndo deve sertäo dificil, o aluguel aqui deve ser baratissimo. Amanhd you procurar urn ape." N6s decidimos que ndo seria born dormir assim, agitados de cabeca quente. —Vamos tomar algo. Naprocura de palavras para quebrar aquele silencio gritante e um bar para poder sentar nossas carcacas emocionadamente já desgastadas, andavamos sem destino ao longo do canal. Na porta do que parece ser um bar eta comeca a se desculpar e eu, tambem super nervoso, a escuto. Ela comeca a chorar e eu you acalmA-la e falar que estou apaixonado, mas no abraco que the dou comeco a chorar tambem. "Mas que porra é essa.", penso eu. Ao inves de lascar-lhe urn beijo, nao; eu you e choro tambem. Ndo sei o que aconteceu, s6 sei que isso no estava no script e que o `mocinho do filme' jamais fariauma bobagem dessas. Ela me olha corn uma certa ternura materna e enxuga meu rosto e eu o dela. E belo, hein? Born, chega de frescura; eu preciso de urn scotch e uma Guinness pra minha gata. Entramos no bar. Era um bar gOtico, num pequenoporao corn parede de pedras, mas que infelizmente tinha perdido toda sua personalidade corn uma decoracdo de Halloween, que ao inves de assustar me lembrava mais do Castelo Mal Assombrado da Disneylandia. Ate ali, o mat da plasticidade americana me rondava. Falamos, falamos e aos poucos fomos nos relaxando. Ela realmente esta corn medo do Yuri. Eu a acalmo e falo para eta se cuidar e avisar seu pai para que se isso continuar, chame a policia. JA vi muitos filmes sobre amantes rejeitados que se tornam loucos a ponto de matarem sua namorada ou/e a si prOprio. 0 bar esta cheio de bebados, uma muffler completamente travada me pede urn cigarro e eu aponto para Iva que acuda o vicio dela. A mulher acende o cigarro ao contrario e sai.Nisso Iva me avisa que o Yuri em uma hora ja ligou 17 vezes para o seu celular. —Opa, agora é minha mde. Iva apaga seu 38° cigarro e vai para fora do bar ligar para a Iva mde. Ela volta corn uma carinha decepcionada. —Etc ligou pra minha mac e disse que eu estava corn um estranho num hotel fazendo mil coisas. Agora o Yuri pegou pesado mesmo. A Iva vai ter que ir para casa e se explicar para a Iva mde e eu you ter que ir para o hotel bater corn a minha cabeca repetidamente na parede ate dormir. Na ida para o hotel a Iva ye o carro do Yuri estacionado perto do dela. Eu me lembro que na maior inocenciaeu havia dito para o Yuri aonde eu estava hospedado. "Agora foda-se tambem, se for para apanhar vamos apanhar por uma boa causa. E a Iva ate agora 6 uma excelente causa," penso eu. BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
—VA para o hotel andando pelarua de tras.—eta diz, agitada. —Ndo, eu you corn voce. —Isso ndo é problema seu, yd. —Nao, etc pode te machcar, Iva. —Etc ndo ne machucaria, mas voce e que me preocupa, etc meio louco. quando o didlogo fica ruin assim, tipo novela mexicana, que voce sabe que o filme tende a desmoronar. 0 Yuri já é grande mas louco: "to fodido." Meu heroism° tern uma recaida. —E se agente chamasse teu pai, ou sei in. Eu sei, ndo 6 muito romantic° da minha paste, mas po, eu nao quero morrer antes de fazer um longa pelo menos. Eu paro e penso: "Masque merda, deixa de ser cagdo e vamos Ia.". Decidimos ir juntos ao hotel. Ela entrou no carro e eu no hotel. Dormi corn aquela tensdo que a qualquer momento alguns eslovenos, comandados pelo babaca do Yuri, entrariam no meu quarto e dali eu nAo sairia mais. 0 fato de o meu quarto ser literalmente ao lado da recepcdo do hotel ndo ajudou muito. 0 telefone tocava, eu acordava. Uns italianos procurando por urn quarto, o recepcionista roncando; escutei tudo. Dia seguinte e tinha que is, pensei em ficar, mas tinha que ir. Por que? Compromissos, reuniOes, carro tern que ser devolvido, hotel lotado. Por que? "Porque sim, porra. A viagem st5 ta comecando, ainda tern Veneza, Lucca, Mild° e etc...". Eu ligo para a Iva e falo: —Tou indo, te ligo de Veneza. Vern pra Veneza comigo. —NA° posso, acabei de vir de la. Hoje é feriado aqui. Dia dos Mortos, is no cemiterio, almoco corn o primo da Croacia, passar o dia corn a familia e etc. —TA end° tchau. Mas eta disse que queria me ver; entao marcamos As onze e meia. Estava uma manha linda. Fria, mas corn um ceu azul limpido. Ninguem nas ruas. Primeira vez que vejo o sot e ndo tenho ninguem corn quem o compartilhar. Eu compro duas rosas, nao vermelhas Iva é rosa claro, leve. Nos encontramos e fomos ate a praca em frente a catedral. Sentamos num bar aberto, tipo os da ma XV, em Curitiba. Para matar as sauda es, pedi urn quentdo e uma porcao de castanhas assadas. Me lembrei do inverno em Curitiba, quentdo e pinhdo. Eu estava urn pouco distante e ela tambem. Talvez tido quisessemos machucar um ao outro. Ela foi ao hotel comigo e IA the dei as du s rosas. Eu jã tinha arrancado todos os espinhos delas corn meu canivete suico. Havia muitos espinhos e folhas quando as corn rei. NA° queria que ela se machucasse. Ela ficou surpresa corn s flores. —Ah, ma por que? Ndo precisava... e bin, blA, bk. Eu ja urn pouc nervoso, nAo sabendo se e rejeicao ou sei IA o que. Ndo sei s eta quer que eu \TA ou fique, nao sei se eu quero ficar. Naquel instante eu s6 queria sair daquela situacdo estranha, daq etc momento incomodo. Eu ndo quero esse momento. "Seta que clA pra devolver esse momento e me dar outro?" falo corn o Homem la em cima. Etc jA escutou esse mesmo pedido de mim varias vezes, desde que eu era pequeno, mas nunca me atendeu. Eu continuo pedindo, vai que Ele atende. Demos um abraco frio, sotto; daqueles abracos meio desajeitados. Ela ehtra no carro e paste. Eu volto ao hotel para pegar minha bagageni e o gordinho da recepcdo fala que o tempo vai mudar e que vai cair um tor6. —Ndo?Hretruco eu num tom quase agressiyo. —Born é o que eks dizem,--ele fala, meio se desculpando. Eu sorrio e saio pensando "Eles sdo uns merdas." Na saida a camareira sorri para mim e me diz: —Hoje 6 rneu aniversArio. Eu paro meio confuso e the dou os parabens. Seu uniforme rosa e seus olhos azuis traziam urn misto de tristeza e alegria. 29
Ela vem e me da urn longo e forte abraco. Eu sinto um peso saindo de mim e uma leve energia entrando pelos meus poros. E urn abraco bem homeopatico. Natural e leve, mas que funciona. Ela me beija o rosto e me deseja boa viagem. Dutra cam areira chega, as duas sorriem e voltam a seus afazeres hotelarios. Na estrada eu já me sinto melhor, mais leve. 0 ceu, do nada, se fecha e comeca uma chuva do cao. Nao é que eles tavam certos. Eles.—eu resmungo comigo mesmo. Eu penso em voltar, mas la na frente eu vejo uma luz. E o so!. Bern no final da linha do horizonte nao chove, esta claro. Eu cruzo a fronteira da Italia e paro para trocar dinheiro no mesmo lugar em que havia escutado o hino do meu pals. Procuro algum sinal, alguma pista, uma confirmacao, algo que me diga: "volte ou siga em frente." Nada. Um careca gordo e mal encarado troca meus tolares por liras. 0 ceu se abre e o sol vem chegando. Eu paro numa lanchonete. Estou perdido, cansado, confuso e corn muita fome. Uma mulher do balcao grita: —Buongiorno! Ela é alta, de cabelos negros e longos. Bern maquiada e produzida; uma donna tipicamente italiana. —Me dá uma coca e urn pan/no de prosciutto, por favor— falo numa mistura de portugues corn espanhol num sotaque italiano, —Claro. De onde que voce 6? —Brasil. — Ah, Brasil! Adoro teu sotaque. Conversamos urn pouco e ela me ensina como chegar ao aeroporto. Ela pede a um caminhoneiro simpatico, que sentava na mesa ao lado, que quando saisse me avisasse para eu poder segui-lo ate o aeroporto. Ela era umamulher completa em todos os sentidos: sensual, simpatica, extrovertida e, alem de tudo,
descolada. Eu sorri. Sentei e respirei fundo olhando aquele ceu azul. --Ragazzo brasiliano, ti place formaggio? Eu já mais relaxado olho para aquela mulher cheia de vida a me sorrir. Non capisco. 0 panino de prosciutto voce quer corn queijo tambem? Ali naquele instante eu me sinto energizado, uma alegria me contagia. Estou pronto para seguir essa viagem. Sim, queijo, bastante queijo. Me ye doispanini, por favor. Eu falo num torn extasiante, como se alguem tivesse me aplicado uma injecao de vida. —La vita e buona. —Claro, la vita é buona, ela concorda comigo. Molto buona! diz o simpatico caminhoneiro da outra mesa levantando seu copo de cerveja.NOstres nos olhamos e trocamos sorrisos. A bela italianaaumenta o volume do radio e escuto "Via con me" (Venha Comigo) de Paolo Conte, a tocar. Eu comeco a cantarolar a mirsica do mestre do cool italiano: "it's wonderful, it's wonderful..." This short story is called "Venha Comigo" in the original. Calixto Jose Hakim, the author, is a native of Curitiba, in southern Brazil. Hakim left medical school to pursue his real passion—filmmaking. He attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He won acclaim with his first short film, TV and with his second film effort, Distorted Images, he took a more risky step in attacking the politics of his homeland and gained innumerous international awards. Hakim has written three feature screenplays, Something Inc, American Dollars and Decay in LA: and is now in preproduction on his first feature. The author resides in LA and you can get in touch with him by writing to: calixtoh@hotmail.com
EDGARD() QUINTANILLA, Esq. ATTORNEY AT LAW/ABOGADO/ADVOGADO MEMBER, STATE BAR OF CALIFORNIA
(818) 986-1295 e-rrialLecilamvpaciDell_rat
IMMIGRATION MATTERS BUSINESS VISAS DEPORTATION DEFENSE DIVORCES SAN FERNANDO VALLEY, CALIFORNIA 30
BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
The small state of Rio de Janeiro offers the traveler much provide superb hiking and climbing opportunities. more than just the cidade maravilhosa. Within four hours of The other mountain region where Cariocas play is the travel from any point in the state, and Itatiaia area, in the corner of the often much less, are beaches, mounstate that borders Sao Paulo and tains and forests that equal any in Minas Gerais. Getting there takes Brazil. Many of these places offer only four hours, the route passing more intimate settings in which to near the steel city of Volta Redonda. meet Cariocas who have known about Indian Names the natural wonders surrounding the Many place names in Rio state city for years. You won't find virgin are derived from Indian words. sites, as you will in the Northeast— Among them are: tourism here is fairly developed and Araruama—place where the prices are higher than in most of macaw eats Brazil. But if you have only a couple Bare—in the middle of many of weeks in Brazil and think that fish you'll be returning some day, an itinCunhambebe—women who erary that covers the entire state of Rio speak too much would be one of the best possible. For Grataii—ghost's den those with all the time in the world, it's Grumari—a kind of tree easy to pass a month or two here. Guanabara—arm of the sea Rio de Janeiro state, which lies just Guaratiba—place with much above the Tropic of Capricorn, has an sun or place with many holes area of 44,268 sq km—about the size Ipanema—place that gives bad luck or place of dangerous sea of Switzerland—and a population of more than 14 million. The littoral is Itacuruca—stone's cross Itaipu—stone that the sea hits •backed by steep mountains, which deItaipuacu—little Itaipu scend into the sea around the border Jabaquara—crack in the earth •with sao Paulo and gradually rise Beaches wait to be explored, Jeriba—a kind of coconut palm slightly further inland in the north. Mangaratiba—banana orchard This forms a thin strip of land nestled particularly further away from Marica—belly between the lush green mountains and Rio city, where the coastal road Parati—a kind of fish the emerald sea, with beaches that are Paratining a—dry fish the most visually spectacular in Brazil. stays close to the ocean and the Sapeca—burned Divided by the city of Rio and the Saquarema—lagoon without views are spectacular. Here we giant Baia de Guanabara, which has shells 131 km of coast and 113 islands, there present the most famous of Tijuca—putrid-smelling are two coastal regions, each with someswamp what different natural characteristics: them: Ilha Grande, Angra dos West of Rio de Janeiro the Costa Verde (to the west) and the Reis and Parati. ILHA GRANDE Costa do Sol (to the east). Ilha Grande is what Hawaii Along the Costa Verde, where the must have been like before the mountains kiss the sea, there are hunarrival of the British. It's all tropi•dreds of islands, including Ilha Grande cal beach and jungle, with only and the Restinga de Marambaia, which make for easy swimming and boating. The calm waters and three towns on the island. Freguesia de Santana is a small the natural ports and coves allowed safe passage to the hamlet with no regular accommodation. Pamaioca has a •Portuguese ships that came to Parati to transport sugar cane, few homes by a lovely strip of beach near the old prison. and later gold, to Europe. They also protected pirates, who Abraao has plenty of pousadas and camping grounds, and ferry connections to Mangaratiba and Angra dos Reis. found a safe haven on Ilha Grande. If you really want to get away from it all, Ilha Grande Beaches wait to be explored, particularly further away •from Rio city, where the coastal road stays close to the ocean may well be the place to go. The options are pretty and the views are spectacular. The most famous spots are attractive. You can rent a boat in Abraao for $8 per hour and buzz around to Freguesia or Pamaioca. There are •Angra dos Reis, Parati and Ilha Grande. To the east, the mountains begin to rise further inland. trails through the lush, steamy jungle to various beaches The littoral is filled with lagoons and swamp land. Stretch- around the island. For instance, it is a 2 1/2-hour trek to ing away from the coast are campos (plains) which extend Praia Lopes Mendes, claimed by some to be Brazil's most about 30 km to the mountains. Btizios and Cabo Frio, beautiful beach, Praia de Pamaioca also ranks up there. •famous for their beauty and luxury, are only two hours from And these are just two of the island's 102 beaches! Vila do Abraao Rio by car. Saquarema, one of Brazil's best surfing beaches, Abraao could be a movie set for Papillon. It has a is even closer. Driving due north from Rio city, you pass through the gorgeous, palm-studded beachfront of pale, faded homes, city's industrial and motel sections and soon reach a wall of and a tidy white church. Not far away are the ruins of an jungled mountains. After the climb, you're in the cool Serra old prison that will still give you the creeps if you go dos Orgaos. The resort cities of PetrOpolis and TeresOpolis inside. As a base on Ilha Grande, you cannot go past Abraao, are nearby, and many smaller villages offer Cariocas an escape from the tropical summer heat. The fantastic peaks of and not many do. It's a popular weekend destination for the Parque Nacional da Serra dos Orgaos, outside TeresOpol is, young Cariocas, so things get pretty busy then, but during
Beyond Rio
BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
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t
ie week it's very peaceful. It's OK to rouse the dogs Facao (nowadays Cunha, Sao Paulo) to the valley o sleeping on the dirt and cobblestone streets. .They're Paraiba and from there to Pindamonhangaba, Guaratinfriendly, and seem to enjoy tramping around the and isl to gueta and the mines. the abandoned penitentiary, the beaches, the forest, the Parati. became a busy, important port as miners and hills and the waterfalls. supplies disembarked for the gold mines and gold was For Places to Stay and Places to Eat, read the book- Shipped to Europe, The small town prospered and, as always, the wealthy built churches to prove it. There was ANGRA DOS REIS so much wealth in Parati that in 1711, Captain Francisco Angra dos Reis is a base for nearby 'is-lands and do Amaral Gurgel sailed from Parati to save Rio de beaches, not a tourist attraction in itself. The savage Jmeiro from athreittened French siege by handing over a beauty of the tropical, fjord-like coastline along this ransom of 1000 c tes of sugar, 200 head of cattle and stretch of BR-101 has been badly blemished by hidu 610,000 gold cruzidos. alization. Supertankers dock in Angra's port, a rail lin • Parati's glory cOitys didn't last long. After the 1720s, a connects Angra to the steel town of Volta Redonda, new road from Rigto Minas Gerais via the Serra there's a Petrobras oil refinery, and, thanks to the military • wOrgaos cut 15 days off the route from Parati and the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), town started to dePline. In the 19th century the local a controversial nuclear power plant has been built nearby. •economy revived wiith the coffee boom, and now, ' with the The closest beaches to Angra are at Praia Grande and recent constnictio* of the road from Rio, the towns Vila Velha. Take the 'Vila Velha' municipal bus. coffers are once again being filled. Parati is also reFor Places to Stay and Places to Eat read the book. nowned for its exc Ilent cachaca. Thee town is eastto look around: just walk on the pesPARATI , de mole e (streetf rchins' feet), the local name for the Oh! Deus, se na terra houvesse um par Is°, rtegularcobblestotie streets, washed clean by the rains muito longe daqui! and high tides. It's* couple of km off the Rio to Santos (Oh! God, if there were a paradise on earth, it wouldn't highway, at the soil west corner of Rio de Janeiro state. be very far from here!) Until 1954 the °ill access to Parati was by sea. In that Amerigo Vespuccl year a road wasbifilt through the steep Serra do Mar, passing the town of Cunha, 47 km inland. In 1960 the Amerigo was referring to steep, jungled mountains coastal road from Rio, 253 km away, was extended to that seem to leap into the sea, a scrambled shoreline with Parati, and beyond ki Sao Paulo, 330 km away. hundreds of islands and jutting peninsulas, and theclear,, Climate ., warm waters of the Baia da Ilha Grande, as calm as an Like Rio Paratt gets hot and muggy in the summer. empty aquarium. All this still exists, if no longer ' The rains are mostffrequent in November, January and pristine state, along with one of Brazil's most enchanting ing a May. Be ready for plenty of nasty mosquitoes towns—the colonial village of Parati, which Amerigo did . Orientation * not get to enjoy. Parati is small and easy to find your way around, but Parati is both a great colonial relic, well preserved and one thing that bectMes confusing is street names and architecturally unique, and a launching pad fora dazzling house numbers MMy streets have more than one name, section of the Brazilian coastline. The buildings are marked which has the local*, as well as the tourists, thoroughly by simple lines that draw the eye to the general rather than perplexed. The ho*se-numbering system seems totally the specific, and earthy colors and textures that magnify random through contrast, the natural beauty that envelopsthe' * Churches town. So while the individual buildings in Paratimay well Pariah's I 8th-ce#tury prosperity is reflected in its be beautiful, the town when viewed as a whole is truly a beautiful old homes and churches Three main churches work of art. were used to seParat4the races—Nossa Senhora do Rosario Dozens of secluded beaches are within a couple of forslaves, Santallitaforfreedmulattos and Nossa Senhora hours of Parati by boat or bus. There are good swimming dasTh Dories for the white elite. beaches close to town, but the best are along the coast greja Nossa Senhora do Rosario e Sao Benedito toward Sao Paulo, and out on the bay islands. doshltemendsPretos (1725), on Rua Dr Samuel Costa, was One of the most popular spots between Rio and Sao bu Renovated in 1857, the church has Paulo, Parati is crowded and lively throughout the sum- gilded wooden sallatavi:i *dedicated to Our Lady of the Romer holidays, brimming with Brazilian and Argentine try t ,Benedict and St John. The pineapple crystals are holiday-makers, and good music. That the town iS all for Prosperity and good luck. tourism there is no doubt; there are so many boutiques and Igreja Santa Rita dos Pardos Libertos (1722), on Praca so few cheap places to eat and sleep. But if voug et around Santa Rita, has a tiny museum of sacred art, and some fine these obstacles, Parati is a delight, and there are plenty of woodwork on the doorways and altars. Capela de Nossa beaches to accommodate all visitors vf-3, Senhora das Dores (1800),Rua Dr Pereira, was renovated History in 1901. The cemetery is fashioned after the catacombs. Parati was inhabited by the Guianas Indians when Matriz Nossa Senhora dos Remedios (1787), on Praca Portuguese from the cap itania of Sao Vicente settled here Mons Nebo Pires, was built on the site of two 17thin the early part of the 16th century. With the discovery of century churches. Inside there is art from past and congold in Minas Gerais at the end of the 17th century, Parati temporary local artists. According to legend, construcbecame an obligatory stopover for those coming from Rio tion of the church was financed by a pirate treasure de Janeiro, as it was the only point where the escarpment hidden on Praia da Trindade. of the Serra do Mar could be scaled. The precarious road Forte Defensor Perpetuo was an old Guianas Indian trail that cut past the Serra do The Forte Defensor Perpetuo was built in 1703 to
32
BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
/Lend from pirate attacks the gold being exported from Grande is an easy-to-reach alternative to the beaches in Minas Gerais. The fort was rebuilt in 1822, the year of Baia de Parati. There are 11 municipal buses a day leaving Brazil's independence, and was named after Emperor from Parati, thi first at 7. 10 am. Dom Pedro I. It's on the Morro da Vila Velha, the hill just Praia de Pa rati-Mirim past Praia do Ponta!, a 20-minute walk north of town. The For accessibility, cost and beauty, this beach is hard to fort houses the Casa do Artista e Centro de Aries e beat. Parati-Mirim is a small town 27 km from Parati. The Tradicties Populares de Parati. beach has barrocas and houses to rent. From Parati, it's Beaches & Islands a couple of hours by boat. If you're on a budget, catch a The closest fine beaches on the coast—Vermelhai municipal bus, which makes the 40-minute trip for only Lulas and Saco—are about an hour away by boat (camp- S0.50. Get the `Parati Mirinf bus from the rodoviaria at ing is allowed on the beaches). The best island beaches 6.50 am, or 1 or 4.40 pm. nearby are probably AraUjo and Sapeca, but many of the Praia do Sono islands have rocky shores and are private. The mainland They don't get much prettier than this beach. Past beaches tend to be better. These beaches are all small and Ponta Negra on the coast going south, about 40 km from idyllic; most have a barraca (serving beer and fish) and, Parati, Praia do Sono can have rough water and is someat most, a handful of beachgoers. times difficult to land on. It's a four to five-hour boat ride. Parati has 65 islands and 300 beaches in its vicinity. The much cheaper alternative is to take the Laranjeiras Whatever the count, there are enough. Following this is a bus from Parati, then get directions in Laranjeiras for the list of the most accessible beaches north of town. Don't 1 V2-hour walk to Sono. Buses leave Parati at 5.15 am, and limit yourself to this list, as there are plenty more to be 12.30 and 6.40 pm. There's food but no fomial lodging at found. If you do come across any really special beaches the beach. and you can bear to share your secret, we'd love to know Praia da Trindade about them. 1 About five km before Sono, this is another beautiful Praia do Ponta! beach. It has lots of simple pousadas, so you can stay here On the other side of the canal, 10 minutes away on for a night or two. The beach is accessible by boat, as well foot, is Parati's city beach. There are several barracas as by the same bus as for Praia do Sono. Ask the driver to and a lively crowd, but the beach itself is not attractive let you off at the entrance to Trindade. From the bus stop, and the water gets dirty. it's a four-km downhill walk. Praia do Forte, Inland I On the side of the hill, hidden by the rocks, Praia do The old gold route, now the road to Cunha (six km), is Forte is the cleanest beach within a quick walk of the city. a magnificent jungle ride up the escarpment. The steep, It is relatively secluded and frequented by a youngish dirt part of the road gets treacherous in the rain. Catch the crowd. 'Cunha' bus. Praia do Jabaquara Take the Ponte Branca' bus from Parati to the Igrejinha Continue on the dirt road north past Praia do Pontal, da Penha, a small, triple-turreted hillside church. You'll over the hill, for two km to Praia do Jabaquara, a big, find a 750-meter jungle trail to a beautiful waterfall and spacious beach with great views in all directions. There is water slide. Buses charge $0.25 for the round trip, and a small restaurant, and a campground that's better than leave at 5.45, 9 and 11.30 am, and 2 and 6 pm. those in town. The sea is very shallow, so it is possible to Fazenda Bananal-Engenho de Murycana is four km wade way out into the bay. off the Parati to Cunha road, 10 km from town. It's a Festivals touristy spot with an old sugar mill, a restaurant, a zoo, Parati is known for its colorful and distinctive festi- and free samples of cachaca and batidas. vals. The two most important are the Festa do Divino Parque Nacional da Serra da Bocaina Espirito Santo, which begins nine days before PentecosOn the border between Rio and So Paulo, where the tal Sunday, and the Nossa Senhora dos Remedios, on 8 mountains of the Serra do Mar meet the sea, is the Parque September. The former is planned throughout the year Nacional da Serra da Bocaina. Rising from sea level to the and features all sorts of merrymaking, revolving around '2132-meter Pico da Boa Vista, the park contains a mixthe folios, musical groups that go from door to door ture of vegetation, from Mata Atrantica in the lower singing and joking. altitudes to Mata Araucaria (pine forests) and windswept The Festas Juninas, held during the month ()fine, are grassy plateaus in the higher altitudes. filled with dances, including the xiba (a circle clog dance) Wildlife is plentiful and includes a large population of and the ciranda (a xiba with guitar accompaniment). The the rare spider monkey, as well as other monkeys such as festivals culm inate on 29 June with a maritime procession the howler and ringtailed. Other animal species include to Ilbs do Aralijo. Parati is a good option for Carnaval if the tree porcupine, sloth, deer, tapir, giant anteater and you want to get out of Rio for a couple of days. the otter. Birds found in the park include the harpy and The Parati region produces excellent cachaca, and in black-hawk e gles and the black-beaked toucan. 1984, the town council, in its wisdom, inaugurated the annual Festival da Pinga. The pinga party is held over an August weekend. Excerpts from Brazil - A Travel Survival Kit For Place to Stay and Places to Eat as well as 3rd edition, by Andrew Draffen, Chris INIcAsey, Getting Around read the book. Leonardo Pinheiro,and Robyn Jones. AROUND P TI IL
Praia Barra Grande About 20 km up the Rio to Santos highway,.B
BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
For more information call Lonely Planet: (800) 275-8555. Copyright 1996 Lonely Planet Publications. Used by permission.
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On my first visit to Brazil three years ago I was so enchanted by the people and the language (and the idea of getting out of the U.S. for awhile) that! started considering the possibility of my living here. A friend of a friend knew a woman who was the director of an English school and I was able to set up an interview with her. I remember my nervousness and excitement as I entered the office. From what my friend had told me about the need for English teachers in Brazil I was sure I would be hired on the spot. The director asked of my experience in teaching of which! had none. She asked about my education in the English language. I hadn't had any since high school. As the interview progressed my enthusiasm diminished. Wrapping up the interview I was told that it was unlikely that I'd be hired but that I could send my rĂŠsumĂŠ again once I was settled in Brazil. I left the interview disheartened and wondered how I would ever fmd work teaching English sans experience and sufficient English schooling. If! knew then what!know now, I wouldn't have been worried a bit. You are in demand Thanks to the power of the Internet I have been in contact with many people looking for a way to really live in Brazil, not just visit. Their reasons are usually centered around a love connection and a spirit of adventure. Their backgrounds are varied and most have had little success at finding work in their respective areas. Brazil's unemployment rate is very high and the taxes and bureaucracy to sponsor a foreigner to work here are immense. These factors combined with the salary a foreigner might expect make the chances of employment slim. With globalization in full force however, the market for English teachers continues to grow. It is imperative that Brazilians learn to speak, read, write, and understand the English language in order to grow professionally. Just as you would prefer to learn Portuguese from a Brazilian, a Brazilian would much prefer to learn English from you; a "native." English schools know this and will readily hire you as having a "native" speaker on staff directly translates into more clients, and thus, more revenue. You are qualified You may have forgotten what your high school English teacher taught you about auxiliary verbs, the rules of past participles, and when we use the gerund form of a verb. It doesn't matter. The books you'll be teaching from will explain all of this, in English of course. A British ex-patriot friend of mine gave me some wonderful insight that I'd like to share with you. When a student asks a Brazilian English teacher a question and the teacher doesn't know the correct answer the teacher is seen as unqualified to teach the language. When the same happens with a "native," the student feels great. They have stumped the professor. Your only obligation is to be honest and bring the correct information to your next class. The majority of your classes, at least in the beginning, will consist of conversation classes. Advanced students need to practice their EnBRAZZIL -JANUARY 2001
You will earn much more teaching English in Brazil than many college
educated Brazilians working in their
respective
professions. This is an unfortunate reality but an opportunity for you to keep your standard of living intact. BENJAMIN GOOGINS
ING4,ta
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66m Es
lish in order to keep it fresh and they're lways looking for new slang. Speak normally sing your own expressions. If something is 'far out" say so but be prepared to give several onyms. Don't translate if you speak Portuese. This defeats the purpose. Speak at your onnal speed. Everyone knows that the president of the ext Fortune 500 company to put down roots in razil won't speak slower or clearer than he/ he does at any other meeting. Your students ill appreciate the practice in trying to figure ut what the heck you're saying. Also, your life ong experience in speaking English gives you e ear to hear when something seems off or ould be said in a better way and that's the kind f expertise an advanced student needs. A note on training There are many different methods to teachng English as a second language. The most opular nowadays is the Communicative ethod which emphasizes speaking and using e student's real-life experiences much more an repetition and translation. The idea bed this method is that, as long as the student s communicating, even with errors, we're aldng progress. Schools will ask you which ethods you've used (if any) and may suggest at you need training in their particular teachg method. My personal opinion is that you do not need o spend weeks, often without pay, learning ow to teach English for a particular school. If ou feel the need for training, by all means, ccept it. There are however, many schools hich will not require you to train and may not yen meet with you face-to-face. You'll get the ddress and time to show up. Consider this an itiation by fire. Remember, you are qualified. You can make a living Your income depends on the amount of ours you work but I can promise you that you ill earn much more teaching English than any college educated Brazilians working in eir respective professions. This is an unfortuate reality for Brazilians but an opportunity for you to keep your standard of living intact. I'd like to give you a very general idea of the going rate for English teachers from my experiences in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Hourly pay is higher in Sao Paulo as the general feeling is that the cost of living in Sao Paulo is higher as well. Most schools start paying $9 an hour. In Rio you can expect $8 an hour starting out. After you spend more time with a particular school you can demand more money. You are an asset to the school and your presence at businesses will most likely bring new students to the school. The good money lies in private classes. You will begin making contacts the day of your first class. You will charge by the hour and may ask for payment monthly (most common), weekly, or after each class. Maybe you'll make a package deal with your new client. It's all up to you. How much to charge is also up to you. I can tell you this. Most schools charge between $20 and $40 an hour. If the student's company is paying for his/her classes this price is not so steep. 'When it's coming out of their own pockets though, it may seem high. Shoot below and you'll fmd students who 35
are willing to pay for your services. Please remember, once you have your first private student you are in business for yourself. Everyone knows the old "you get what you pay for." It holds true for English classes as well so, if you're charging a high hourly rate, be sure to give the client what he/she expects and needs. Your students will be your best advertisement and recommendations are the best way to expand your business and income. Where to find work The first place to look for your new job in Brazil is the newspaper. In Rio, I recommend 0 Globo. Every Sunday you will find several advertisements seeking English teachers. Give the school a call or send them your résumé. You can also simply take a walk around and drop in on the schools. There are many and the opportunities are out there. I recommend you avoid the chain schools like Wizard and Yep. They pay lower wages and may not give you the chance to get to businesses where the private students await. As these schools are franchises you may be surprised to find out, as I once did, that the owner/director doesn't even speak English. The ups & downs Everything has its good side and bad side. We've all come to accept this fact of life. Let's get the bad out of the way first. You won't be able to work straight through the day. Most people need classes early in the morning (we're talking 7 a.m. folks), at lunch time, and in the evening after work. You may find yourself with two or three hours with nothing to do and no time to get home and return before your next class. My suggestion is to always have a good book on hand or some paper to right the family back home. You will also need to travel around the city a lot, as most probably your classes will be in different businesses or different schools. This can mean several hours on a bus per day. Depending on how much you like roller coasters this could get old very quickly. Now, on to the good side. You're your own boss. You make
. FROULAX .
$
.
599 7
your own schedule (more or less.) You'll learn proper English. You'll meet many interesting people and learn many new things. My various students have taught me things like how to set up an intranet, how pharmaceuticals are marketed, and what the difference is between cement and concrete. Your students will also love the fact that you are here; learning about their culture and their language. You'll get the best recommendations for restaurants and places to visit and you'll probably be invited to many churruscos. What more do you need in a job? Legality and my personal disclaimer Working in Brazil without the proper work visa is illegal!!! Now, with that said you can come here and fmd plenty of work, no questions asked. Schools don't care if you have papers as they won't be hiring you legally anyway. As I've mentioned, taxes are too high and no one wants to pay you benefits when you may be gone in six months. It's better for them to pay you "under the table." You probably won't have a bank account so be sure to tell them to please not "cross" the check. This will allow you to go to their bank and cash it using your foreign identification. Again, no questions asked. I'd like to sum up this information by saying that there are many wonderful Brazilian English teachers here. They have studied diligently and probably speak English better than you or I ever will. These people are true "teachers." I am honest with my students and tell them that I'm not really a teacher but a guy who speaks English and is paid well based on this fact. I think it is lamentable that a foreigner can come here and make more money than many doctors and other professionals, but that is the economics of Brazil and the economics of Brazil is another lesson all together. Ben Googins is a twenty-six year old American who is broadening his horizons in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Please feel free to contact him at bengoogins(&hotmail.com.
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'Inside me lives/The peasant/ Grafted to the land,/ A little moody./ Hard worker./ Early riser./ Illiterate./ Barefoot./ Good midwife./ Good child raiser./ Her twelve children,/ Her twenty grandchildren." Cora Coralina GILSON P BORGES
In the heart of Brazil, in the heart of Goias state, in the heart of the city of Goias, in the heart of the Casa Velha da Ponte (Old Bridge House), still beats the heart of Cora Coralina. In her house we can feel the presence of this poet who immortalized stories and legends of Goias in her poems. When we think about Cora Coralina, the image that comes to mind is one of a kind grandmother entertaining a hypnotized audience with her astonishing fairy tales. This idea, however, obscures the real life of this incredible woman. Cora Coralina, or Ana Lins dos Guimaraes Peixoto Bretas, was born in the city of Goias in 1889. Her parents were Jacintha Luiza do Couto Brandao Peixoto and Francisco de Paula Lins dos Guimaraes. He was her second husband, 43 years older than her, and died two months after Cora's birth. According to Cora's daughter, Vicencia Bretas Tahan, in her book Cora Coragem, Cora Poesia (Cora Courage, Cora Poetry), Cora's childhood was not a very pleasant one ("I have frustrated my mother's hopes since I was born./ She desired a son"). Everybody in the city considered her a clumsy girl, "sad, nervous and ugly," terribly slow to learn the lessons taught in Mestra Silvina's school ("Numbers were never/ part of my understanding./ Maybe because of the poverty that would mark/ my life forever./ I did not need numbers very much"). She also had the "strange" habit of reading books, instead of preparing herself to get a good husband ("I was never encouraged by my family to be literate./ There was always in the family, if not a/ certain hostility, at least a clear reserve/ toward this innate inclination of mine"). When she was 16 and started dating Jose, who studied medicine in Rio de Janeiro and was spending his vacations in Goias, his parents decided to send him back to Rio earlier than usual, in order to avoid his union with a woman who could read, but could not handle domestic tasks. After this, she felt increasingly lonely, because nobody seemed interested in dating her and all her old friends were now married and had children, topics that were not part of her world. So she found shelter in her books, and at 18, was considered a hopeless case: she was already a spinster. Although she seemed destined to this sad fate, some months after her twentieth birthday her life changed when a new police BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
chief, the lawyer Cantidio Tolentino de Figueiredo Bretas, arrived in Goias. Among all the pretty and talented girls of the city he chose Aninha, and they were soon in love. All her dreams of marriage could be fulfilled now. Everything seemed perfect until the day they found out that before going to Goias, Cantidio had married in the state of Sao Paulo, where he had three children; he had then moved to the North of Brazil, where he had a daughter with another woman. Cora's mother immediately forbade them to see each other, destroying the only hope of marriage for the young girl. However, Cora continued dating Cantidio secretly. As a result, she got pregn nt. Since the city's conservative inhabitants would not ac ept her pregnancy and her marriage with a married man, รงora and Cantidio decided to run away to Sao Paulo state. This was the year 1911. They traveled some days by horse, took train, arrived in the city of Sao Paulo, and some days later, mo ed to Jaboticabal, a small town 220 miles from Sao Paulo city In Jaboticabal, Cora worked for a charitable institution, whose main goals were to distribute milk to poor children, provide health treatment for old people, and find jobs for the beggars of the city. There, she also bought a small farm and started plantin roses to sell to her friends and neighbors. After living togethe for fifteen years, Cantidio and Cora received a letter with the ews that his first wife was dead, and they finally married. Their m age, however, did not last long, for in 1934 Cantidio died. fter his death Cora decided to move to the city of Sao Paulo, here her children could continue their studies. In order to pa for their education, she opened an inn. She earned some oney with this undertaking, but it also exhausted her, s she closed the inn and started selling books. The next ci Cora moved to was Penapolis, still in the state of sao Paulo, here she opened a fabric shop. She then moved to Andradina gain in Sao Paulo, where she bought a farm and started planting corn and cotton. In Andradina she also had a big surprise: a deputy from Rio de Janeiro asked her to marry him. She felt very pleased, but did not intend to marry again and refused his request. In 1956 Cora returned to Goias and started making sweets 37
to sell in the Casa Velha da Ponte. She was also thinking about publishing her poems and for this reason, decided to take a typing course. She was 70 years old, which made her the oldest student in the school, but also a symbol of courage and persistence for the younger students. One day she fell down while cooking and broke a leg. Her doctor suggested that it would be better for her to go to Goiania, where the hospitals were better equipped to treat her. Her friends sent her many flowers, which she decided to take with her in the ambulance to decorate her hospital bedroom. When they arrived in Goiania, the doctor opened the ambulance's door, saw the flowers and asked: "If she was already dead, why did you bring her to the hospital?" Cora promptly answered: "Hold on, doctor. I'm not dead yet!" Operated on, she had to use a crutch to walk. After the accident, Cora traveled throughout the country to give talks, interviews and publicize her books, and at 94, she received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Federal University of Goias. Her frequent trips were too much for her health. She also got a cold and was forced to return to Goias. As her condition worsened, she was taken to Goiania, where she died during the night, in 1985. She left four children, sixteen grandchildren and twenty-nine great-grandchildren. Her body was buried in her father's tomb, in the city of Goias, and she left the following epitaph to posterity: Morta... serei arvore Serei tronco, sereifronde E minhas raizes Enlacadas as pedras do meu berg() Silo as cordas quebradas de uma lira. Enfeitai de folhas verdes A pedra do meu tamulo Num simbolismo De vida vegetal. Não morre aquele Que deixou na terra A melodia de seu cantle° Na masica de seus versos. Dead... I will be tree I will be trunk, I will be frond And my roots Tied to the stones of my cradle Are the broken strings of a lyre. Embellish with green leaves My tombstone As a symbol Of vegetative life. He will not die Who left in the earth The melody of his song In the music of his verses. Cora started writing her poems when she was 14. e During her years in Sao Paulo she also published many articles on issues of social justice, showing herself to be a woman ahead of her time. She defines her poetry thus: "My poetry... was already alive when I was not even born./ It poured out in a distant gravel vein./ My cradle was made of stone./ My way was made of stone./ My verses:/ broken stones in the rolling and beating of so many stones." She also tried to define herself in the following poem: 38
Todas as vidas Vive dentro de mim Uma cabocla velha De mau-olhado, Acocorada ao pe do borralho, Olhando para o fogo. Benze quebranto. Bota feitico... Ogum. Orixd. Macumba, terreiro. pai-de-santo... Vive dentro de mim A lavadeira do Rio Vermelho. Seu cheiro gostoso D'agua e sabdo. Rodilha de pano. Trouxa de roupa, Pedra de anil. Sua coroa verde de sdo-caetano. Vive dentro de mim A mulher cozinheira. Pimenta e cebola. Quitute bem feito. Panela de barro. Taipa de lenha. Cozinha antiga Toda pretinha. Bern cacheada de picumd. Pedra pontuda. Cumbuco de coco. Pisando alho-sal. Vive dentro de mim A mulher do povo. Bem proletaria. Bern linguaruda, Desabusada, sem preconceitos, De casca-grossa, De chinelinha, E filharada. Vive dentro de mim A mulher roceira. —Enxerto da terra, Meio casmurra. Trabalhadeira. Madrugadeira. Analfabeta. De pe no chao. Bern parideira. Bern criadeira. Seus doze filhos. Seus vinte netos.
All Lives Inside me lives An old backwoodswoman Of evil eye, Crouched by the embers, Looking at the fire. She cures blights Makes spells...
Ogum. Orixd. Black magic, terreiro.
pai-de-santo... Inside me lives The washerwoman from the Red River. Its good smell Of water and soap. Small circle Of clothes, Blue powder. Its coroa verde de sao-caetano. Inside me lives A cook. Pepper and onion. Well-done food. Clay pan. Firewood. Old kitchen All black. Ringed with picumc7 bunches. Sharp stone. Coconut pot. Crushing garlic-salt. Inside me lives The working-class woman. So proletarian. So gossipy, Impudent, unprejudiced, Rude, With little slippers, And many children. Inside me lives The peasant —Grafted to the land, A little moody. Hard worker. Early riser. Illiterate. Barefoot. Good midwife. Good child raiser. Her twelve children, Her twenty grandchildren.
Vive dentro de mim A mulher da vida. Minha Tao desprezada, Tdo murmurada... Fingindo alegre seu triste fado.
Inside me lives The prostitute. My little sister... So despised So maligned... Disguising in happiness her sad fate.
Todas as vidas dentro de mim: Na minha vida— A vida mera das obscuras.
All lives inside me: In my life— The mere life of the obscure.
Her poems were praised by internationally renowned poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade, in a letter he sent her in 1979: Dear Cora, I don't have your address, but I blow these words in the wind, hoping that it will put them in your hands. I admire and love you as someone who lives in a state of grace with poetry. Your book is delightful, your verse is running water, your lyricism has the power and delicacy of natural things. Ah, You BFtAZZIL -JANUARY 2001
make me miss Minas, so close to your Goias! It makes us happy to know that in the heart of Brazil there is a being called Cora Coralina. With affection and admiration, Carlos Drummond de Andrade. As a poet she was also honored with diplomas, prizes, medals, trophies and plates. Libraries, schools, squares and streets were named after her, and she was elected to the Women's Academy of Letters of Goias. Her poems and short stories were collected in books like Poemas dos Becos de Goias e Estorias Mais, 1965 (Poems from the Alleys of Goias and Other Stories); Meu Livro de Cordel, 1976 (My String Book); Iintern de Cobre, 1983 (Copper Penny); EstOrias da Casa Velha da Ponte, 1986 (Stories from the Old Bridge House); Os Meninos Verdes, 1986 (The Green Boys); and 0 Tesouro da Casa Velha, 1989 (The Old House Treasure). In all of them she revives memories of her childhood, including of her teacher, Mestra Silvina, who "is now in heaven/ has in her hands a big golden book/ and teaches the angels/ how to spell;" the alleys of Goias, "alley of my hometown.../ I love your sad scenery, absent and dirty;" and the Old Bridge House, "centenary boat stranded in the Red River," which hides secrets from ancient times. The story of Thebas Ruiz is but one of its secrets. According to a local legend, Ruiz, a treasurer of the Portuguese kingdom, stole and buried gold in the basement of the house. He later poisoned himself and one of his slaves, in order to avoid being sent to jail in Portugal. Nowadays, the Old Bridge House, built in 1890, is a museum called Casa de Cora Coralina (Cora Coral ina' s House), and in one of its rooms the visitors can meet the kind Mrs. Helena M. Lima, head of the PROLER project, which tries to encourage the habit of reading among the population. After listening to the objectives of the project, you can "try" some
"poetic pills," w ich contain Cora's poems, and through them taste the poetry o "Cora Coralina, de Goias", title conferred on her by Drummo d in a 1980 Jornal do Brasil article. In the same rticle, Drummond expressed his admiration for Cora: "In my opinion, Cora Coralina is the most important person of Goias She is more important than the Governor Members of Par iament, rich and influential men of the state. However, she is little old woman with no possessions, whose only wealth is er poetry and inventiveness, and who is identified with Ii e like, for example, a road is". By reading her poetry you can ive deeper and deeper into the magic stories that still, flow in the alleys of Goias. Gilson P. B rges is a graduate student at Indiana University, Bloomingt n, where he also teaches Portuguese. You can reach him at g,_borges*)indiana.edu.
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Crossing genre barriers, charismatic Marco Pereira brings new sensibility and insight to the Brazilian guitar. BRUCE GILMAN
Musicians attach great importance to dates of passage—first bands, first important gigs, first recording sessions, just as they can remember with phenomenal accuracy, where they were the first time they heard a particular tune, even if it were years before. Somehow they always know when something of vital significance is taking place and burnish the memory forever afterward. I'm not a professional musician, but I clearly remember hearing Gal Costa's version of -Ultimo Desejo" (Last Wish) for the first time. I was at a friend's apartment in Rio making tapes and enjoying a few too many calpirinhas the night before returning to Los Angeles. Ever since, I have wanted to write, not about an evening enshrined in my imagination, nor about Gal, but about her accompanist on the recording, a musician who communicated with a kind of vibratory chemistry, Marco Pereira. Player, composer, arranger, and university professor. Pereira is equipped with superb technique and commands a vast storehouse of musical insight with which he creates dazzling and inspired music. By combining the strength of his musical ideas and the warmth he breathes into them, Pereira has carved out a niche for himself as an indispensable presence both on stage and at recording sessions for artists like Milton Nascimento, Edu Lobo, Daniela Mercury, Gilberto Gil, Joao Bosco, Gal Costa, Zelia Duncan, and Djavan. Possessing that rare quality that enables him to accompany prolific artists, Pereira's work as a sideman demonstrates the highest aesthetic and spirit of authentic Brazilian performance practice. In concert he exhibits great daring and imagination, without a hint of having anything to prove. His playing is tough, sinewy, and intelligent, an unending volcano of feeling that is always just barely compressed. Rarely have I witnessed a more blazing affirmation of faith on the part of an interpreter than when I heard Pereira perform at the recent International Guitar Night (1GN) in Northridge, California.' Regardless of the composition—Jobim's "Luiza," Ary Barroso's "Na Baixa do Sapateiro," Chick Corea's "La Fiesta," or the traditional "Mulher Rendeira"—Pereira' s playing was characterized by a concentration of emotion that flowed forward with a spontaneity that bound together composer, performer, and 40
BR.VZIL - JANUARY 2001
listener. I f Baden Powell's "Samba Triste," played in duet with guitar legend Ralph Towner, did not rise to the greatest heights, it came within measurable distance of them. Pereira's thorough grounding in the classical repertoire can be attributed both to his studies with Isaias Savio— Pereira' s mentor while he attended the Conservatory of Drama and Music in Sao Paulo and the University of Sao Paulo—and to his work at International University of Music in Paris, where he earned his Master of Acoustic Guitar degree. During the time that he was living in Paris, Pereira broadened his understanding of the jazz concepts, which today characterize many of his compositions. While there, he also defended his dissertation, "The Guitar in the Works of Heitor Villa-Lobos," at the Department of Musicology at the University of Paris, Sorbonne; was chosen to perform at a week-long master class in Lichtenstein given by Julian Bream, with whom Pereira studied; and stimulated international recognition for himself by performing concerts and festivals in Europe, Canada, and the United States. Winner of two international guitar competitions and three Premios Sharp one for "best arranger" in 1993 for Gal and two in 1994 for "best soloist" and "best instrumental recording" for his duo project with pianist Cristovao Bastos, Bons Encontros—Pereira has also acquired the reputation both as an educator with an encyclopedic knowledge of theory and guitar literature, and as a hugely prolific composer.2 His output, which is published by Editora Lemoine of Paris, includes works written for a wide variety of instrumental combinations, running the gamut from solos, duos, trios, and quartets to larger works for chamber ensemble and orchestra. Pereira has developed advanced guitar and harmony courses at the University of Brasilia and is currently an adjunct professor in the Composition Department at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Pereira's latest CD, Valsas Brasileiras, is an homage to a genre Brazilian composers have been cultivating for over 200 years, and the choice of repertoire reflects his informed taste. Like an anthology, the CD features Pereira's arrangements of works by outstanding composers including Edu Lobo, Chico Buarque, Guinga, Garoto, Ernesto Nazareth, Heft° Delmiro, Antonio Carlos Jobim, and Canhoto as well as two of Pereira's own compositions. I spoke with Marco Pereira after his performance at the IGN about his new CD, the recording industry, and university teaching.
I started by just picking up what! saw and heard others playing, a few chords and some melody lines. Playing regularly accelerated my development, and my hunger to learn quickly grew. After two or three years of working with the guitar like that, I enrolled in a small music school in my neighborhood so I could study theory. Little by little, as! learned more, playing became a passion, and! found myself practicing the guitar sometimes for ten hours a day, never knowing where the time went. Braz#1—W as Baden Powell a strong influence on your writing or playing? Pereira—Yeah, especially my playing in the beginning because when I started there were, I can say, three very important guitarists on the scene: Baden Powell, Paulinho Nogueira, and Dilermando Reis. I also used to listen to Garoto and some other guys, like Luis Bonfa. By that time, Garoto had already died, but we frequently saw Baden Powell, Paulinho Nogueira, and Dilermando Reis playing on TV. For me, Baden Powell was the most impressive guitarist that we had in Brazil. I had all of his records. As! said, we couldn't buy sheet music to read and learn new pieces. It just wasn't available. We worked directly from the records, and I picked up all I could from Baden Powell and learned how to play by trying to imitate the way he played. I really feel that Baden Powell was a guitar revolutionary, especially in Brazil, and his influence spread quickly throughout the world. The way he played rasgueado was not the same as the way the technique had traditionally been applied in the flamenco style.' The flamenco players use a lot of rasgueado. It' s indicative of their style. But,Baden Powell created a way of incorporating a kind of rasgueado into the samba rhythm. And the way he did it was quite different, remarkable really, and we've had such wonderful results from that. He was a radical who changed the Brazilian guitar 'forever, and, of course, he influenced me strongly and most, if not all, of the serious guitar players from my generation. Brazzil—Did you ever have an opportunity to play together? Pereira—No, uafortunately, but in 1987 or '88 we met in Brasilia where! initiated the guitar program for the University of Brasilia, you know, the curriculum for their degree in guitar performance. Wz had invited Baden Powell to perform a concert on campus, and this was when! finally had the great pleasure of meeting him. Years later, I played a program with him in Martinique, but we didn't play together. I played the first half of the program and Baden Powell, the second half.
Brazzi/—Marco, what initially attracted you to the instrument and motivated you to develop in so many different styles? Pereira—Well, I started playing the guitar by ear. In Brazil, people customarily start like that, maybe not today, but in my time. That's how it was for me and Paulo Bellinati and Rafael Rabelo. We didn't have sheet music or those fingering charts that show how to play scales and chords. I started playing rather late for someone who would eventually become serious Brazzil—I understand that a similar situation will be comabout music, like when I was thirteen, almost fourteen, which ing up in December with Hermeto Pascoal? Pereira—Yes, some time back, I was asked to be the artistic was probably because I am the first musician in my family. director for a performance series at a new venue in Brasilia, the We lived in Sao Paulo and were very poor; consequently Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil. The series began in October there was never much for me to do. But some friends of mine with Wagner Tiso, last month Paulo Moura was there, and this in the neighborhood had started playing guitar, and I looked up month, Hamilton de Holanda and I will be playing as a duo to them and liked hearing and watching what they were doing. during the first half with Hermeto Pascoal playing the second. And one day, when I was feeling a little sorry for myself, I At the end of the show, we'll play three or four pieces together, started thinking that, maybe if! had a guitar, I could play too. and as you know Hermeto, you know that it will probably all It was a funny way to start, but for me, it happened that way. BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
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be improvised. Hermeto is my idol, and for me, it is going to be a tremendous honor to be on stage with him for the first time. Over the last five or six years, we've played on some of the same projects, but now I'm going to play together with him. I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun. Also, I'llbe releasing anew CD with Hamilton de Holanda before Christmas called Luz das Cordas, which is another very exciting project. Brazzil—Can you tell me a little about it? Pereira—Luz das Cordas is a work that was originally written for mandolin, guitar, and string orchestra, but I also wrote an arrangement for just guitar and mandolin, which is the version we've recorded. It's all recorded, mixed, and mastered. Everything is ready. Everything is done, even the cover art. Initially, it will be released independently, without any record label support or distribution. I'm starting with the Luz das Cordas CD the same way I started with Valsas Brasileiras, which is now being distributed by NUcleo Contemporaneo in Brazil and has been licensed to GSP for distribution in the United States and the rest of the world. Actually, GSP is also talking about distributing Luz das Cordas. Brazzil—Do you foresee a major label underwriting one of these projects? Pereira—Let me explain a little about this. The kind of music I'm making is not like the pagode fad that is happening right now in Brazil and generating enormous profits. You know, there are many pagode groups that have only recorded one CD and nothing more becausepagode is a kind of wave. Big record labels are penny wise. They have monster pop acts making hundreds of millions of dollars, but won't spend an inconsequential amount to record Brazilian instrumental music, which is enduring. They're only interested in the bottom line, in maximizing profits. There are, however, a few small record labels in Brazil interested in this kind of music, who record it because they love the music. They do an admirable job of absorbing the increasing recording costs and providing whatever they can in terms of product support. But after some time, it's so difficult for them to continue, that they fail and close their doors. There was a very, very good record label in Sao Paulo called Som da Gente where I made my first two recordings. I have nine solo CD's, but my first was recorded on vinyl for Som da Gente. They've since closed their doors and still have the masters for those early recordings, so I can't do anything with them. I've tried many times to buy my masters. I've tried to license them to someone else. Even though Som da Gente is no more, they're holding on to their catalog and won't negotiate. Just being able to print some CD's to sell during my tours and concerts would be great, but they refuse. So I've learned to do things for myself, you know? That's why I made Valsas Brasileiras by myself. I paid for everything. I even designed the cover art. Now I can negotiate from a more lucrative business position. I've only licensed the disc to GSP and to Nucleo Contemporaneo for distribution. And I'm thinking about stipulating that the contract with GSP be for four years, maximum. So if it doesn't go the way I want it to, I can stop and do something else, maybe look at licensing through the Eldorado record label in Sao Paulo.
yo4 record the string version of Luz das Cordas? Pereira—Yes, I'm planning to record a concerto CD with my own concerto for guitar and orchestra, the Villa-Lobos concerto, maybe the Tedesco concerto that I played with the Orquestra Sinfonica de Brasilia in October last year, and Luz das Cordas. I also recorded a CD this past October with the Quinteto Villa-Lobos that will be released in March.' We've recorded afrevo I wrote called "Seu Tonico na Ladeira," which is dedicated to the group's flautist, Toninho Carrasqueira; my composition "Lis" for flute, guitar, and cello, with the bassoon playing the cello part; and Pixinguinha's "Lamentos." It's a beautiful project. Brazzil—How different is the wind quintet arrangement of "Lamentos" from the versions you've already recorded on Danca dos Quatro Ventos and with Paulo Sergio Santos on his Segura Ele album? Pereira—Actually, I didn't take part in that project. Yes, "Lamentos" is on that album, and I am playing it with Paulo, but... I'd better clarify this because !was a bit angry with Paulo about that recording. There is a producer in Rio de Janeiro who heads Kuarup Discos, Mario de Aratanha. Many years ago, when I was still living in Brasilia, he had a project to make a record for the Brazilian oil company, Petrobras, and he invited me to record with Paulo Sergio and to write an arrangement for the Pixinguinha. It was not even a CD, it was an LP, and I did it for that record. But when Paulo released Segura Ele, I found that he had implanted the "Lamentos" we had previously recorded on his new CD, without telling me about it. He is my friend, and I love him, but at that time, I was really irritated with him. You know, I don't even like the version on Segura Ele, although it is a little better then the original because they brought out the guitar more in the mix. On the original version the guitar is so far in the background that you can hardly hear it. I was a little annoyed about that too, but especially because Paulo didn't tell me that he was going to put the cut on the CD, and I thought! deserved to know. You know, "Just call me and say, 'Oh, we're going to include that track." We should have come to some kind of agreement because I play on the track, and he doesn't own my performance... Let's forget it. Anyway, I love him, and I think he's a great player. You know, he's the clarinet player in the wind quintet that I mentioned. And it's interesting that the arrangement I wrote for wind quintet and guitar is completely different, but based on the one that appears on the Segura Ele CD. Yeah, it's a great piece:13346e way, Paulo's son (Caio Marcio) is a fantastic guitarist. Yeah, Paulo Sergio Santos's son is one of the best in Rio de Janeiro right now and is performing with his father's trio. Brazzil—Can you talk a little about your work with Gilberto Gil and recording Parabolicantard? Pereira—That CD was done just after I did the CD with Gal Costa. At the time, I had already met Gil and knew him personally. One evening we were just playing guitar together, and the next day he called and invited me to record on the Parabolicamaro CD. Yeah, I was really very happy. It's an outstanding CD, and working on it was such a pleasure because BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
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I'm a big Gilberto Gil fan. For me, he's the most important Valsas Brasileiras project that I wanted to work principally musician in Brazil. He's incredible. When you see him in a big with the modern waltzes, not the old ones. I started by looking show, with his group and a large audience, it's a magical at fifty or sixty different waltzes, just melody and harmony, experience. I've seen Gilberto Gil in many different situations, and finally I selected the twelve that appear on the CD. and he's always incredible. The last time Gil was at a radio station, he brought two or Brazzil—You have included two waltzes from before bossa three musicians from the band, just to play a little bit. He's like nova. Why "Eponina" and "Desvairada" out of so many that, you know? A radio station is a cool place to go and talk possibilities? a little about your work, and he could have brought the CD and Pereira—Although the form of "Eponina" is rather conservajust talked about it. He could have brought only his guitar and tive, like a rondo form with three sections, it was quite different sung one or maybe two songs, but he started playing and from the other pieces composers were writing at that time. singing, and there was such an outpouring, such a strong When Nazareth wrote "Eponina," he was really pointing to the response from the listeners, that they had to cancel the regu- future. He wrote the original for the piano in A flat major, but larly scheduled programs and continue with Gil's interview. my arrangement is a semitone higher, in A major, so that the He was there only to promote his new CD, but he played for fingers lay more naturally on the guitar fingerboard. Also, I two hours. Yeah, that's true. It's fantastic how he makes people didn't stay exactly with the original harmony, and I changed happy. His music is incredible, and he's a great musician, the section endings a little. Even some harmonies are different, magical. I've seen how everything quiets down, nothing moves, some embellishments, just to make the piece a little more upand then Gilberto Gil comes on stage and starts singing; people to-date. become genuinely happy. It's fantastic. I really love that guy. "Desvairada" has always been a kind of virtuosic showpiece for the Brazilian guitarist. And, at first, I didn't want to include Brazzll—Marco, Valsas Brasileiras is an interesting ap- it on the CD. But one day when I was playing it, something proach for a CD. How did the idea originate? came to mind, and I started improvising. As a rule, "Desvairada" Pereira—The Valsas Brasileiras project started many years has been played at the same tempo throughout, no changes, but ago when I was living in France. I had a record by John as I approached the third part, I adapted a slower tempo. When Coltrane called Ballads. I was crazy about that record and had I did that, it felt really, really good. Then I decided to transpose stopped listening to everything just to listen to that record, it up to E minor, almost the same as the original, which is nothing else for a month, without stopping. And I became written in D minor, but the new key gave the piece a certain really inspired to try something like Coltrane's Ballads, some- brilliance on the guitar. By changing the tonality and taking the thing cool and romantic. But I'm not really a jazz musician, and third section at a slower tempo, the piece took on a fresh I wanted to do something Brazilian. So I started looking at the profile, one that I think many guitarists will appreciate. This waltzes because the feelings you can express through them are new interpretation flowed so well with the other pieces I had similar. The waltz has been in Brazil for 200 years, maybe chosen for the project, that I decided to include it on the CD. more, but came originally from another kind of rhythm. The first waltz came to Brazil from Europe, from Austria where the Brazzil—It might be my ear, but there's got to be more than works of Johann Strauss were rather famous. one guitar player on "Valsa Negra." But in Brazil, the waltz took its own course. In the begin- Pereira—You know, it was difficult to make the Valsas ning, waltzes were naïve. You had very fast waltzes and very slow waltzes; because the harmony was simple, the melodies had to be simple too. With the composers who came after bossa nova, and even those who were involved with the bossa nova in Brazil, the waltz took on notable changes. It was no longer pure 3/4 rhythm, supported by simple broken chords in the bass and commonplace melodic ideas. It's very interesting. When you analyze the waltz from the end of the 19th century until today, you can see, exactly, the evolution of Brazilian music in terms ofharmony and, in turn, the increasing sophistication of melody. Composers like Tom Jobim and Edu Lobo developed the form into a subtle art, a vehicle for the expression of varying moods of the widest scope. I think, the waltzes we have now and those that have come about over the last fifteen or twenty years are extremely sophisticated. In terms of melodic line, harmonic structure, and form, the jazz ballads bear a favorable comparison to our modern Brazilian waltzes. I knew from the beginning ofthe BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
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Brasileiras CD. Overall, it's very cool and calm. It's a CD that your heart feels more than your feet, which was my original intention. But when I started the project, even though I had very, very good pieces, I was thinking, "Damn, the same 3/4 all the time might get boring." Waltzes, of course, can be played faster or slower, and by phrasing two bars of 3/4 together, you create 6/8, which is a kind of African rhythm, but I needed tunes that were a bit more virtuosic, just to "cook." Shortly after I started work on the project, I went to hear a concert given by a friend ofmine from Rio de Janeiro, the great pianist Leandro Braga, really a great musician. He played "Valsa Negra," and I knew immediately it was the piece I needed to close the CD. Although I tried to keep as close as possible to his original, Leandro's piano playing is so plush, that I couldn't realize his piece on just one guitar. I even tried two guitars, but! finally needed to overdub four guitars on that track, four guitars to express his music. This is a piece that really pushes the waltz concept. Brazzil—We were talking earlier about the different versions of"Lamentos," and I'm curious why "Plainte," which appears on Danca dos Quatro Ventos, was recorded in a different version for Valsas Brasileiras? Pereira—Yes, you've made an interesting connection. Plainte is a French word that means lamentos. And yes, I did record "Plainte" for the first time on the Danca dos Quatro Ventos CD. I don't think of myself as a composer, but sometimes I need something to play right away, and I don't have it in hand. I'll look for the right piece, but if! still can't find it, I'll just write exactly what I'm looking for. When I was recording Dario dos Quatro Ventos, I felt that there was something missing. I needed a piece that would bring a kind of closure to the CD. So I wrote "Plainte" the night before the last recording session. It took me about five or six hours. After the recording session,! was a little unsettled about the second part. But it had already been recorded, and there was nothing more I could do with it. Then when I was recording the Valsas Brasileiras project, the piece came to mind, and I put "Plainte" on my possibility list, you know? When I played it through, however, the second part was still bothering me, so I rewrote it. Now the B section is more aesthetic, more connected to the first part. The version on Valsas Brasileiras is, for me, the final version. Now "Plainte" is complete. Brazzil—I'm surprised you say you're not a composer. Pereira-1 say I'm not a composer because, I think, a composer has to work everyday composing for many different instruments and ensembles. lam a guitarist, and! have to work with my instrument. Really, the most important thing for me is to play the guitar. I teach also, so I never have enough time for composition, never as much as I'd like. That's why! say that I'm not a real composer. Brazzil—But you're teaching in the composition department. Pereira—I'm attached to the composition department, but I don't teach composition. I teach harmony, and! very much like teaching that. I stopped teaching guitar because I don't believe in the traditional method of teaching where you have one 44
student at a time taking a lesson from you. I like being in the classroom with many people.! think it's more dynamic. I think lessons, no m atter what instrument—guitar, piano, saxophone— should be done with, at least, three or four students together at the same time. And I tried to do that at the University in Rio de Janeiro, but the administration didn't like it. So I decided to teach harmony, which I like very much. And I've started teaching a new course at the University in Rio—Functional Harmony. I teach two kinds of harmony. Harmony in the traditional sense, like Mozart, like Beethoven, you know, the classical European style, from the beginning of harmony through the beginning of the 20th century, with Debussy and Ravel. But the subject is kind of antiquated today, so I started a new course that works more with jazz concepts. Actually, the harmony is the same because you have the same scales and the same notes put together into chords. But the choice of the chords, the way they are put together, and the way a player incorporates them, makes all the difference. Jazz has its own way of building chords and working with them. The phrasing and chord progressions are completely different in jazz. Even the way chords are indicated on the page is different. In traditional harmony, Roman numerals are used for first degree, second degree, inversions, and so on. But in jazz, letters are used, and this is important for students to understand. Brazzil—Has making the transition from the erudite world BRA7_21L - JANUARY 2001
of playing concertos to that of playing samba or vice versa ever been uncomfortable for you? Pereira—You know, we are very rich interns of rhythm in Brazil, and there are some strict rules within the choro and samba tradition. I started playing Brazilian styles, by learning the samba and the choro, the lines of the choro, the rines that you have to play. Then I went to intrilic IC10,01 to take lessons in the classical style and worked with the classical guitar for a long time. I was playing only the classical repertoire, until I came back to Brazil, and during those transitional periods,! was really like a stranger in the village.
It's not a good thing for a classical performer because composition takes time away from your practicing. If your approach is more like aja4z musician, oh, you can play with anyone and everyone you v4ant to, like we did during the IGN tour. We didn't roMnine, we just improvised, and sometimes it was really bad, but ometimes we surprised ourselves because it happened at the moment we were playing. For me, that's fantastic. I love that feeling. Official Web Site: http://www.marcopereira.com.br
'International Guitar Night is the brainchild of San Francisco Brazzil—What was guitarist Brian Gore, who, the most valuable INN OM /11111111,11111111,111111111 IMO 1111.1 IMP MI NM NM MIMI Will MN in response to the numermin IINININ 1111m lesson you learned ous International Guitar from the European Festivals throughout village? Europe, created a forum in the United States for Pereira—When I Marco Pereira presenting the world's went to Europe and Hamilton de flolan most original guitar lived in Paris, I met Marco Pereira player/composers—artists some jazz musicians, who refuse to recognize and that really made traditional boundaries. the difference forme Says Gore, "The Brazilian because! really liked players that we have in the the way that the jazz International Guitar Night musicians played. I are the most emblematic liked the music they of what the IGN is all played, but more than about." N gueira that, I liked the way The Premio Sharp is Various that they ran their Brazil's equivalent of the lives. It was different I Edu Lobo Grammy Award. The a Various from the way I saw • Paulo Srgio Slantos international competitions classical musicians ▪ Various were the Concurso Andres living. Perhaps clasSegovia and the Concurso sical musicians are I Marco Pere Francisco Tarrega. 3 Rasgueado is a technique too serious. SomeCristovao Bastes in which the guitar strings times they are so inWliglier Tiso are strummed rapidly in . Gil flexible, and I didn't Gilberto I ▪ Gal Costa succession with the thumb want to become a I Marco Pereini or fingernails, producing boring guy. Jazz gave I Marco Pereira: an arpeggio, that is, the me a sense of freeMarco Pereira notes of a chord played dom. That's what I one after another rather loved from the very than simultaneously. beginning. Even toQuinteto Villa-Lobos, an Neot day, I really like the sermii NA all-star ensemble of aura surrounding the Brazil's top al and recording session soloists, is the jazz scene, and I try to convey this, whether I'm playing an oldest and ce • ly one of the most esteemed chamber groups orchestral work or samba and choro. in Brazil. Although personnel has changed since the group's formation in 1962, the current lineup—Toninho Carrasqueira Brazzil—Do you think that classical seriousness is more (flute), Paulo Sergio Santos (clarinet), Luis Carlos Justi (oboe), pronounced for guitar players? Philip Doyle (French horn), and Aloysio Fagerlande (basPereira—Yeah, I think, because there is something about the soon)—finds the quintet in its strongest and most balanced guitar, especially the classical guitar, that isolates. If you are a phase. classical performer, you are alone. It's like a curse. That's true. Bruce Gilman, music editor for Brazzil, Maybe, three times in your life you'll be able to play with an received his Masters degree in music from California orchestra. Or if you are really, really famous like John WillInstitute of the Arts. He leads the Brazilian jazz iams, maybe you can perform with an orchestra ten times in ensemble Axe and plays cuica for escola de samba MILA. your life. But normally, you are alone, you play alone, you cry You can reach him through his e-mail: alone, you laugh alone. And you have to play the same limited cuicaginterworld.net repertoire. Really, because you can't be a composer. I
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Still Queen Rita Lee's new album, 3001, sure is electric. For years I hadn't heard such a tight, great-sounding album by her. ERNEST BARTELDES She started her career in her late teens when she joined the Mutantes, a rock band from Sao Paulo from the late sixties. Her big break with the band was participating in a 1967 pop festival alongside Gilberto Gil in which for the first time, electric instruments were used, to the outrage of the more conservative anti-rock audience who thought that electric guitars in Brazilian music were a symptom of the "Americanization" of local culture. It is good to point out that many intellectuals were outraged by the then recent military coup, which changed the course of Brazilian politics. A year later, Gil and Caetano Veloso recorded a manifesto album that would go into history: it was the Tropicalia, which was Brazil's response to Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band—they didn't admit to that at the time, but 30 years later Veloso finally gave in. In that album, alongside Gil and Veloso, were Tom Ze, Nara Ledo— who was also involved in the bossa nova craze ten years earlier—, the Mutantes and classic maestro Rogerio Duprat. However, Rita did not fit in with the ego battles of the other members of the band, so in 1973 she finally left the Mutantes and started a career of her own. And what a career she's had! In the seventies, backed by a band called Tutti-Frutti, she recorded a number of albums that made rock and roll history in Brazil. In the late seventies, Rita met her soul mate, guitarist Roberto de Carvalho, who had earlier worked with Ney Matogrosso and other musicians. From then on, they were inseparable, and started writing songs and living together. Although many do not agree, Rita lived her best moment in the early eighties, although her albums, then with songs fully written by Lee and Carvalho became more and more commercial, and her albums "rocked" less and less. During the eighties, her career declined a bit. She went through problems with booze and other drugs, and the insistence in pushing Carvalho as a solo composer and singer—her albums in the eighties were all credited to Rita and Roberto—made the quality of her music fall. Enter the nineties and Rita Lee goes acoustic. 1991 came and with it her acoustic Bossa and Roll, which was an awesome album recorded live, in which she played an acoustic guitar augmented just by another guitar played by a relative—not Roberto. The best moment of that album is surely her version of "Every Breath You Take" by Sting. For the first part of the 46
nineties she remained quiet. There was a studio album simply labeled Rita Lee, in which Carvalho also did not participate. The couple were then separated, and Rita Lee was addicted to tranquilizers. The turnaround for her career came in 1995. The Rolling Stones were coming to Brazil, and Mick Jagger insisted that Rita supported the tour. She did not have a band then, so she invited Roberto de Carvalho and their son, Beto Lee, to form a band to do the show. I remember that back then, the press labeled Roberto de Carvalho her "ex-husband". The results were great, and they decided to go on tour and to release a live album. The album, Marca da Zorra, was an incredible and very electric live album, which highlighted the best moments from her career, including the years with the Mutantes. At that time, I finally was able to see Rita Lee live for the first time in my life (before that, I recall being strangely unable to attend). Although there was some sound system failure during her Fortaleza gig, the show was great to see. I purchased the live CD right after that. At around that time, Rita and Roberto reconciled, and finally got officially married. 1996 came with Santa Rita de Sampa, her first studio outing—produced by Roberto de Carvalho, who seemed happy to be out of the limelight—after sometime. I must admit the album was not exactly very good. When I heard it, I remember thinking how musically bad the two soul mates sounded as composers. And I wished for another live album. 1998 brought her MTV Unpluggedal bum. Again it spanned her full career, and this time she chose an orchestra and a full-blown acoustic backing band instead ofjust guitars, plus presence of some friends. Which brings us to the new album, 3001. For years I hadn't heard such a tight, great-sounding album by Rita Lee. It is not exactly heavy, but it sure is electric! I immediately purchased it after hearing it in a local store. Roberto de Carvalho and Beto Lee are present, but, like in the previous album, they are just supporting musicians. However, both son and husband co-wrote a handful of tracks. One of the best tracks is "Pagu", in which she duets with Zelia Duncan with great verses: .not every Brazilian woman is a bottom my breasts are my own and I'm tougher than many men are" Another great one is "0 Amor em Pedacos" (Love in Pieces), penned by Fernanda Takai and John, which are from a young Brazilian band, Pato Fu. The couple guests in backing vocals and guitar. At the time Pato Fu appeared, many noted Takai's resemblance to Rita Lee's early style. In this album, they are together and sound as if they've always played together, despite the adolescentsounding lyrics. Who cares? It sounds great! There are a few weak tracks: The opening track, "3001", is directed to the dance floor completely, despite of the intelligent lyrics co-written with Tom Ze. It is too long and too electronic. Another recording of "Poison Ivy" in Portuguese was completely unnecessary, even though the band did try to make it sound good. It only sounds better that Linda McCartney's version, which was never intended for release anyway. Bottom line, it is an album to be appreciated completely, even despite its weaker moments. Long live the Brazilian queen ofRock and Roll. Ernest Barteldes, the author, was born in Michigan USA and has been a teacher of English in Brazil for over ten years. He is a graduate from Ceara State University and recently married a Brazilian. Barteldes has been a regular columnist for the Greenwich Village Gazette in New York City and has also collaborated to a number of magazines and newspapers in the US and in Brazil. He can be contacted at ebarteldes@yahoo.com BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
Penido Ross, Clara Carvalho, Sandra Corveloni, and Zecarlos Machado.
Rettibulo da Avareza, Luxtiria e Morte (Retable of Avarice, Luxury and Death)— Drama—The public sits on tables sipping wine as if they were on a cabaret while the play is shown. Written and directed by Rodolfo Garcia Vazquez with Ivan Cabral, Tadeu Peronne, and Germano Pereira.
Do vies Just-released American
movies:Quills (Contos Proibidos do Marques de Sade), Lost Souls (Dominaca-o), Get Carter (0 Implacavel), The Emperor's New Groove (A Nova Onda do Imperador), The Little Vampire (0 Pequeno Vampiro), The 6th Day (0 60 Dia), High Fidelity (Alta Fidelidade), The Cell (A Cela), 102 Dalmatians (102 Dalmatas), Whatever it Takes (Correndo Atras), Bless the Child (Filha da Luz), Reindeer Games (Jogo Duro), Autumn in New York (Outono em Nova York), Charlie 's Angels (As Panteras), The Family Man (Um Homem de Familia)
RIO Dois Perdidos Numa Noite Suja (Two Lost Souls on a Dirty Night)— Plinio Marcos's text, which has become a classic. Two tramps trying to survive in the big city. Directed by Tanah Correa, with Alexandre Borges and Jose Moreira. Isabel—The last hours of Princess Isabel in Brazil before leaving for exile. Isabel became famous for signing the law that liberated Brazilian slaves in 1888. Written by Aderbal Freire-Filho who is also one of the interpreters. Directed by Domingos Oliveira, with Clarice Niskier as the princess. A Mu!her sem Pecado (Sinless Woman)— Nelson Rodrigues play about Olegario, a compulsive jealous man who lives to catch his wife in a wrongdoing. Directed by Luiz Arthur Nunes, with Jose de Abreu and Luciana Braga.
Todo Mundo Tern Problemas (Sexuais) (Everybody Has Sexual Problems)—Six funny stories as told to psychoanalyst Alberto Goldin, who with Domingos Oliveira wrote the text and directs the play. Goldin writes the column "Vida Intima" (Intimate Life) for Rio's daily 0 Globo. Pedro Cardoso stars.
SAO PAULO Caixa 2 (Under the Table)—Comedy. It has been playing since October 1997 and was seen by more than 600,000 people. Angela, a secretary, is used by her lover to hide money from the Revenue Service. Directed by Fauzi Arap, with Juca de Oliveira and Mauro Mendonca. As Sereias da Zona Sul (The Sirens of the South Zone)—Comedy. Play in four episodes about the adventures of women from Rio's south zone beach communities. Written by Miguel Falabella Vicente Pereira and. Contos de Seducao (Seduction Tales)— Comedy—Love in Belle Epoque France through the eyes of Guy de Maupassant. Written by J. E. Amacker, directed by Eduardo Tolentino de Ara*, with Brian BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
Um Anjo Trapalhiio (A Fumbling Angel)—Brazil/1996—Comedy. Released originally on TV. Simpleton Didi Moc6 arrives at Vila Esperanca decided to make its residents once again believe in Santa Claus. Directed by Alexandre Boury and Marcelo Travasso, with Renato Arag4o plus Isadora Ribeiro, Francisco Cuoeo, Regina Duarte and Deborah Secco. 0 Auto da Compadecida (The Compassionate Lady Play)—Brazil/1999—Comedy. Two men from the Brazilian Northeast, Jodo Grillo and Chic6 have a hard to survive and to through some hilarious situations. Directed by Guel Arraes, with Matheus Nachtergaele, Selton Mello, Marco Nanini, Fernanda Montenegro, Mauricio Goncalves and Lima Duarte. Pop Star—(Brazil/2000)--Comedy starred by Xuxa, an internationally-renowned top model who comes back to Brazil to meet the Charming Prince she met on the Internet. Directed by Paulo Sergio de Almeida and Tizuka Yamazaki, with Luigi Baricelli, Silvia Pfeifer, and Marcos Frota. Capitdes de Abril (April Captains)— France-Portugal/2000—The 1974 end to the military dictatorship in Portugal and the story of a group of military men who go to Lisbon to depose Salazar. Directed by Maria de Medeiros, who worked as actress in Pulp Fiction. Eu, Tu, Eles (I, You, They)—Brazil/ 2000—Drama. Based on the real story of Darlene, a northeastern woman who lives in the same house with her husband and two lovers. Directed by Andrucha Waddington, with Regina Case, Lima Duarte and Stenio Garcia. 0 Rap do Pequeno Principe Contra as Almas Sebosas (The Little Prince's Rap Against the Greasy Souls)—Brazil/2000— Documentary. Gun for hire Helinho and rapper Garnise, both from Recife (state of Pernambuco) suburbs, are the two heroes of this documentary on Brazilian hip-hop. Directed by Paulo Caldas and Marcelo Luna. Inquietude (Restlessness)—PortugalFrance/1998—Drama. Three stories about love and the passage of time. Directed by Manoel de Oliveira, with Jose Pinto, Luis Miguel Cintra, and Isabel Ruth.
ooks best sellers FICTION 1 Harry Potter e o prisioneiro de Azkaban, J. K. Rowling. Rocco, R$ 25 2 As mentiras que os homens contam,
Luis Fernando Verissimo. Objetiva, R$ 16,90 3 Harry Potter e a pedra filosofal, J. K. Rowling. Rocco, R$ 22 4 Harry Potter e a camara secreta, J. K. Rowling. Rocco, R$ 22 5 0 demonio e a srta. Prym, Paulo Coelho. Objetiva, R$ 19,90 6 A con fraria, John Grisham. Rocco, R$ 27,50 (b) 7/6 7A caverna, Jose Saramago. Companhia das Letras, R$ 31 8 0 ceu esta caindo, Sidney Sheldon. Record, R$ 28 9 Imagem no espelho, Danielle Steel. Record, R$ 28 lOOltimo judeu, Noah Gordon. Rocco, R$ 35
NONFICTION 1 0 avantajado livro de pensamentos do Casseta e Planeta, Casseta e Planeta.
Objetiva, R$ 15 2 A fantastica historia de Silvio Santos,
Arlindo Silva. Editora do Brasil, R$ 23,90 3 A arte da felicidade, Dalai Lama. Martins Fontes, R$ 32,50 4 0 melhor livro sobre nada, Jerry Seinfeld. Frente, R$ 19 5 Coraeoes sujos, Fernando Morais. Companhia das Letras, R$ 31,50 6 Uma Rica para o novo milenio, Dalai Lama. Sextante, R$ 24 7 Renato Russo, o trovador solitario,
Arthur Dapieve. Relume Dumard, R$ 15 8 Os templarios, Piers Paul Read. Imago, R$ 40 9 Autopsia do medo, Percival de Souza. Globo, R$ 44 10 Pal rico, pai pobre, Robert Kiyosaki. Campus, R$ 24
COMPUTER 1 Como fazer planilhas, colecao Sucesso
Profissional. Publifolha, R$ 14,90 2 Como usar o e-mail, colecao Sucesso
Profissional. Publifolha, R$ 14,90 3 Como navegar na Web, colecao
Sucesso Profissional. Publifolha, R$ 14,90 4 Manual completo do hacker, Spyman. Book Express, R$ 45 5 Java, como programar, H. Deitel. Bookman, R$ 94 6 Como fazer cartas e malas diretas,
colecao Sucesso Profissional. Publifolha, R$ 14,90 7 Flash 4, criacilies multimidias interativas, Marcos Jose Pinto. Erica, R$ 45 8 Hacker, guia de consulta e aprendizagem, Spyman. Book Express, R$ 13 9 Dom inando o Linux, Matt Welsh e Lar
Kaufman. Ciencia Moderna, R$ 59 10 A Internet e os hackers, Mgrcio.
Chantal, R$ 39 According to Jornal do Brasil, http://www.jb.com.br 47
TABLETS
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NATIONAL CREDIT REPAIR - For only $399.00 - Do you have inaccurate, erroneous, or obsolete... Bankruptcies, Chargeoffs, Foreclosures, Judgments, Late Payments, Repossessions, Tax Liens, Student Loans? Ask about Our 110% Money Back Guarantee - Evandro M. Faustino, 1749W. Niles Ave, Salt Lake City, UT, 84116, Independent Representative ICR Services, wwwicrserv.com, Tel (801) 359-9630, Fax (801) 359-9630, e-mail: evanfaust@home.com [178]
ISCO MOUS Looking for partner to buy or build pousada in Northeast Brazil. See the Northeast with our 4x4 tour, Natal to Jericoacoara on the most beautiful beaches. E-mail: zo@planetguides.com Phone: (941) 774-7458 [178]
brazzil-AOS (3231 255-8062 ; DO S CANDANGO BOOKS: On-Line Sebo http:// www.candangobooks.com [184]
MOS PORTUGUESE CLASSES - Brazilian teacher. Fast, easy, efficient and pleasant way to learn Portuguese. (949) 240-8178 [184] Conversational Brazilian Portuguese Method - "I tried several methods to learn BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE, but when I started lessons with NILSON, I knew immediately that I'd found the best one. And in just a few months, I was able to communicate on a one-on-one basis." Individual, Total Immersion, Corporate Group and SemiPrivate. Phone (310) 379-0738 [178] Portuguese Courses in Salvador da Bahia, Dialog°, http://www.brazilstudy.com, E-mail: diJogo@brazilstudy.com, fax:0115571336-6329[155]
n er amen Experienced "Brasileiro" Guitarist; Brazilian native Joao Junqueira (MFA in Jazz Guitar at CALARTS) is available to play, sing and record, solo or accompanied, his specialty, Authentic Brazilian Music, Originals and Jazz. Please call (818) 716530r write j_jungueira@yahoo.com [179]
OF 0 0 BRAZIL. Wildlife Refuge - 130 acres Atlantic Forest, near Recife. Also tropical fruits. Excellent income from tourism. $100,000. (310)832-4367 [156]
Procuramos mulheres para trabalhar como modelo exetico na regiao do condado de Los Angeles e de Orange. Telefone para 310-2177615 e deixe mensagem e numero de telefone em I ngles, Espanhol ou Portugues. Fale Portugues muito lentamente pare que possamos entender. [179] Wanted: garment maker to sew clothing for individual. Possible "start-up" business. Part-time/ flexible hours. Must have own sewing machine. Sane Portuguese preferred. Gail (310) 849-5922 [177]
0 Ong BRAZZIL -JANUARY 2001
Looking for partner to buy or build pousada in Northeast Brazil. See the Northeast with our 4x4 tour, Natal to Jericoacoara on the most beautiful beaches. E-mail: zo@planetguides.com Phone: (941) 774-7458 [178]
'ILSIC Brazilian Music in its totality. Samba, bossa nova, chorinho, baiao, axe, and more. Merchant Express (954) 785-2131
'poppers , ragannes Jornais e revistas do Brasil. Recebemos jornais dierios e todas as principais revistas, incluindo masculinas e femininas. Tel. (954) 785-2131
ersona 'nman see s man Brasileira, atraente, procure americano 40-50. Foto para Liana, 140 Del Paso Ct, Fairfield, CA 94533 Tel.: (707) 429-0878 [178] Brazilian mulata lady—a knockout at 35—seeks young nice looking young boy 18+. Preference to dark skin. For good times. Letter and pict to: Cida, PO Box 894, Wildomar, CA 92595 [165]
' MORO
an ee s Homan Frances-Americano, 45, delgado, atraente, olhos azuis, professor, falo frances, ingles, espanhol, urn pouco de portugues, procuro brasileira delgada, 18-38 morando em Los Angeles. William (310) 305-2090 [181] Brazilian man, lam looking for American person. I am single, I am 28 years old. E-mail: lindos@msn.com [178] Americano, jovem 49 anos, branco, olhos azuis, seminao querfilhos, cavalheiro, honesto, procure brasileira magra, jovem para casement°. Outramente procuro qualquer brasileira por amizade, ensinar Ingres, ou participar de musica folclOrica/rock. Escrevo portugues. John PO Box 10401, Glendale, CA 91209 [177] African/American Male, 40, Engineer, handsome, affectionate, romantic, in Houston, desire to meet Brazilian lady 25-35, send letter with photo; Wilfred Edwards, PO Box 2025, Missouri
City, TX 77459, USA E-mail: wilfred.edwards@ usa.net [166] Brasileiro-Americano, 36 anos, romantic° e atraente, procurando relacionamento corn brasileira ou americana. (818) 344-1881 [166] Handsome US Citizen, 5'8' tall, 159 lbs, seeks Brazilian or Latino girl, age 30+, friendship first. (510) 223-5548. E-mail: petenaji@aol.com [177] Swedish gentleman, widower, 58, well educated, speaks Port., seeks independent, warmhearted, educated lady with humor, and good professional status in Brazil, USA or anywhere. Write Bjorn Gunnarson PO Box 17242, Stockholm, 10462 Sweden - E-mail:bjorn_s@dataphone.se [164]
ersona ' an.sees man Brazilian bottom, 33 y/o, 5'5, 123Ibs, white skin, seeks black, young top man who wanna move to Brazil and share a whole life. Valdeck Phone 011 5571 981 1990, valdecka@ hotmail.com [163]
' On Copacabana. Apartment for rent. Furnished, security, two blocks from beach, one bedroom, cozy. $65 per day. Call owner Maria (323) 6624667 [180] Historical Santa Teresa. Beautiful 2 bedrooms, all furnished, big balcony with view to the city. Close to sambodromo (where the Carnaval parades happen), to the Christ statue and close to all beaches. For Carnaval or for months. Owner lives in Los Angeles. Rent for only $50 per day. Call 310-450-7501 [179] Vital, Reveilion, Carnaval - Vitoria ES. Alugo case, proximo Praia da Costa. Ligar (027) 340 1777 Brasil ou email terezavieira@aol.com [177]
ran a on is erp. Dialog° Translates from and to Brazilian Portuguese: http://www.brazilstudy.com [155]
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usiness as Usual "They made me kneel in front of a pile of cow dung that had just been defecated and they made me eat about a half-kilo (one pound) of manure. After they took me to the police vehicle where the others who had been arrested were being held."
The Global Justice Center (Centro de Justica Global), the Pastoral Land Commission (Comissao Pastoral da Terra) and the Movement of Landless Rural. Laborers (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra, MST) have prepared this report for submission to Her Excellency the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs. Mary Robinson, on the occasion of her landmark visit to Brazil in May 2000. This report seeks to summarize the most recent trends in the struggle to achieve land reform in Brazil. It begins with an overview of the historic inequality of land distribution in Brazil and the current status of increasing concentration of ownership of productive lands. The report analyzes the failure of the administration of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso to implement meaningful land reform policies and analyzes the measures implemented in recent weeks. Among these measures are ones limiting lands which may be used for land reform and others restricting access to land and credit for those involved in the organized struggle for change. Even more worrisome in the context of civil and political rights are the repressive police measures implemented by the Administration to attack the landless movement, including revival of methods and legislation from the military dictatorship. The report includes a summary of instances of extreme violence, in many cases orchestrated by the state, against landless rural poor, including torture, death threats, killings, beatings and arrest. It highlights abuses in the state of Parana in Brazil's more developed south (frequently believed less susceptible to severe rights abuse) where the state govern-
BRAZZIL -JANUARY 2001
ment has led a campaign of repression against the landless movement. Finally, the report summarizes the latest developments in the 1996 massacre in which police killed 19 landless workers. The death toll from that incident now stands at 21 (two of those injured have now died); the report analyzes the failure and bias of the state justice system, which has yet to prosecute those responsible. In sum, the report seeks to set the record straight regarding agrarian reform—or better stated, the lack thereof—and the campaign of violence and repression that the Brazilian government has unleashed on the landless, appealing to both domestic public opinion and the international community. Rio de Janeiro, So Paulo and Curitiba, Brazil, May 2000 THE CONTEXT: BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON RURAL BRAZIL
context, wome and children are the most vulnerable. The greater part of ral women work double shifts, in agricultural and house wor . Many women and children that labor in rural areas do not reeeive any compensation. A study based on a 1995 report demonstrated that nearly four million rural children between he ages of five and fourteen work in the countryside in the southern, southeast and northeastern regions of Brazil representing some 11 percent of the population group. On 4 29 percent of working children receive any monetary corn ensation. Among children between the ages of five and nin years, only 7 percent receive compensation. A very large nu b-er of rural children have no access to school and, among ad Its, the level of illiteracy in some regions reaches 70 per ent. According o the 1996 Agricultural and Cattle Raising Census perfo i ed by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (I stituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatistica, IBGE), there h been an increase in the concentration of land tenure in the pa 't two decades. In 1970, estates of less than one hundred hectar s represented 90.8 percent of rural properties and constituted 3 percent of the total area. In 1996, this figure fell to 89.3 percent of estates and 20 percent of total area. In contrast, in 1970, estates with areas greater than 1,000 hectares represented 0.7 percent of the total number of properties and accounted for 39.5 percent of the total area. In 1996, these estates accounted for 1 percent of the number of properties and 45 percent f the total area. Between 1985 and 1996, the number of rural properties fell from 5,801,809 to 4,859,865, a reduction of 94 1,944. This decrease is equal to 61 percent of the total area cf lands producing grain in the 1997-1998 harvest. Betwee 1994 and 1998, 400,000 small farmers lost their lands and $00,000 rural laborers lost their jobs. At present, gricultural properties with declarations as to their extent ma be divided in the following manner: 4.3 million ith areas less than 100 hectares 470,000 wit areas from 100 to 1,000 hectares 47,000 with areas from 1,000 to 10,000 hectares 2,200 with reas greater than 10,000 hectares According t the 1996 Census, production level may be divided in the fi 'lowing manner: properties ith areas smaller than 100 hectares account for 47 percent • f the total value of agricultural and cattle raising producti • n; properties ith areas between 100 and 1,000 hectares account for 32 percent of agricultural and cattle raising production properties w th areas between 1,000 and 10,000 hectares account for 17 • ercent of this production estates with eas greater than 10,000 hectares account for 4 percent of thi total production With regard o the distribution of laborers, one finds: properties w th areas smaller than 100 hectares account for 40.7 percent of laborers properties ith areas between 100 and 1,000 hectares account for 39. • percent of laborers properties with areas greater than 1,000 hectares account for 4.2 percent of laborers The figures above demonstrate that a process of agrarian reform is of fun amental importance to address serious economic and socia problems facing Brazil.
The concentration of land tenure in Brazil is among the highest in the world. Fewer than 50,000 rural landowners possess estates greater than one thousand hectares and thus control more than 50 percent of registered land. Close to 1 percent of rural landowners hold roughly 46 percent of all land. Of the 400 million hectares registered as private property, only sixty million hectares are used for planting crops. The remaining 340 million hectares are used for pecuc'zria (cattle raising). According to figures from the Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Institut° de Colonizaeao e Reforma Agraria, INCRA), there are nearly one hundred million hectares of unused land in Brazil. According to the 1995 Census, there are nearly 4.8 million rural "landless" families, in other words, persons who live as renters, sharecroppers, or squatters or who hold rural properties smaller than five hectares. The Brazilian Constitution requires that lands that do not fulfill a social function must be expropriated for use in agrarian reform. Social function of land is determined according to the level of productivity, in addition to criteria that include respect for labor rights and the environmental protection. Brazil produces just seventy-five million tons of grain per year. This number is one fourth the average level of other countries with similar, or inferior, climates and soil quality. According to the Agricultural and Cattle Raising Census, between 1985 and 1996, the number of acres with permanent crop growth fell by two million hectares while the number of acres with temporary crop growth fell by 8.3 million hectares. From 1980 to 1996, the area of lands cultivated fell by 2 percent while the population increased by 34 percent. In the 1980s, the Bank of Brazil (Banco do Brasil) invested roughly 19 billion dollars in agriculture. Between 1994 and 1998, the average income of farmers fell by 49 percent. The best lands in Brazil are employed in the cultivation of single crops for exportation: sugar cane, coffee, cotton, soy and oranges. At the same time, 32 million people experience hunger regularly in the country and 65 million are malnourished. Of these 32 million, one half live in rural areas. According to official statistics, close to 30 million people migrated from the countryside to urban areas in the period 1970-1990. The overall contingent of rural laborers fell by 23 percent from 1985 to 1996. Today, more than 77 percent of the Brazilian population live in cities. According to the 1995 Census, there are 23 million workers in rural Brazil, yet only five million are classified as rural THE(CURRENT AGRARIAN REFORM salaried workers (either permanent or temporary). Close to 65 POLICIES F THE BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT percent of salaried rural workers do not have formal labor contracts (carteira assinada in Brazilian terminology) and The Braziliai Government has failed to implement Aronly 40 percent of these workers have year-round jobs. Many ticle 11(2) (a) of the International Covenant on Economic, of these laborers toil as much as 14 hours per day. In this Social and Cultural Rights, which requires states-parties:
BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
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To improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by making full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition and by developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way to achieve the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources. In response to recent political pressure created by rural laborers and subsistence farmers throughout the country, the , federal government announced, on May 4, 2000, a package of measures related to agrarian reform. To demonstrate the importance attached to these measures, the presidential palace itself (Palacio do Planalto) released the package in a press conference attended by the Secretary General of the Presidency and the Ministers of Justice and Agrarian Development. On May 5, 2000, organizations of rural laborers, gathered principally by the Landless Workers Movement (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais , Sem Terra, MST), the Unitary Workers' Central (Central Unica dos Trabalhadores), Contag (the Movement of Small Farmers, MPA), the Pastoral Land Commission (Comissao Pastoral da Terra, CPT), the Movement of Persons Affected by Dams (Movimento dos Atingidos pelas Barragens, MAB), the Southern Front for Family Agriculture (Frente Sul da Agricultura Familiar) and the Movement for the Liberation of the Landless (Movimento de Libertacao dos Sem Terra) released a note regarding the governmental measures. That note criticized the manipulative nature of the Government's agrarian reform. These groups demanded an effective policy of agrarian reform in Brazil, in combination with a new agricultural policy directed towards the nation's interests and the democratization of such policies. Missing among these measures was any increase in funding for agrarian reform. Below, we report the annual budgetary allocations for the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform (Instituto Nacional de Colonizacdo e Reforma Agraria, INCRA) during the government of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso: 1995: 1.3 billion Brazilian reais 1996: 1.4 billion Brazilian reais 1997: 2.0 billion Brazilian reais 1998: 2.2 billion Brazilian reais 1999: 1.3 billion Brazilian reais 2000: 1.3 billion Brazilian reais The announced measures include the criminalization of laborers who engage in occupations of rural properties and public buildings with threats to their possible receipt of land title, as well as the criminalization of the leaders of the landless movement by the use of the National Security Law (Lei de Seguranca Nacional), t remnant from the military dictatorship. The leadership of the Workers' Part} (Partido dos Trabalhadores) in the Chamber of Deputies (the federal lower house) re leased its analysis of these measures: I . Through the 38th edition of the Provisional Measure No. 2.027 of May 4, the Administration has added to existing agrarian legislation the following measures: By means of the first article of the Provisional Measure which alters Decree-Law No. 3.365/41, the Administration decided that there will be no compensatory interest when a property subject to expropriation possess a measure of land use and efficiency of use equal to zero. The incidence of compensatory interest on expropriated properties for agrarian reform constitutes an extreme immo-
rality. To eliminate this possibility only in the case of proper ties deemed totally unproductive represents an artifice de signed to support the Administration's deceptive public opin ion campaign. Paragraph (1) of Article (1) of the previou versions of the Provisional Measure, even when they manipu lated the basis of compensatory interest, associated with th( counterpart ceasing profit, required that these monies hr designed to compensate the loss of income produced by th, property. Thus, the novelty of the announcement was alread:, contemplated in the prior versions of the Provisional Mea sures due to the fact that when there would be no income fron properties with no production. In practice, the Provisional Measure will have no effec since a given landowner will need only cultivate a handful o' lettuce plants to justify compensatory interest payments. Th( uselessness of this measure is explained by the ongoiru process of substitution of expropriation with land purchas and sale mechanisms in the context of so-called marke' agrarian reform undertaken by the Administration. In itsecond article, the Provisional Measure adds article 95-A t, the Land Statute (Estatuto da Terra), instituting the runn leasing program, in the context of agrarian reform. In fact, this article institutes yet another instrument of the "new agrarian reform" under the control of large landowners. Leasing is not a novelty. Since the Land Statute, leasing has been practiced in such a fashion have led to the exploitatio and misery of rural workers. The novelty introduced by the Administration comes in paragraph included in the article that prohibits expropriation of properties involved in the leasing program as long as thL properties are leased. Until this change, article 30 of Decren Law 59.566 of November 14, 1966 provided only that in th, case of partial expropriation of a leased property, the lessen would be guaranteed the right to a proportional reduction rent or to rescind the lease. Thus, the generals of the militar:, dictatorship were not as daring as our current civilian Presi dent. The Provisional Measure, in addition to clearly violatin the Constitution, by increasing by means of a provision-, measure cases of "insusceptibility" to expropriation estab lished by Article 185 of the Constitution (small, medium an( unproductive properties), expresses the anti-agrarian reforn nature of the package of measures and reinforces the pro landowner bias of agrarian legislation. Now, a landowne needs only register his property with the rural leasing progran to guarantee that his lands will never be expropriated. Article 4 of the Provisional Measure in serted text (paragraphs 6, 7, 8 and 9) to th, Agrarian Law (Law No. 8.629/93). Throng} the first two paragraphs the Administration determined that "the rural property subjec to occupation or unmotivated invasion dut to agrarian or land conflict will not be in spected [for agrarian reform purposes] fo two years following the termination of th, invasion." In the case of reoccupation c such a property, this period is doubled. This is a recycled measure in that Artie], 4 of Decree No. 2.250/97 establishes that a "property that i the subject of occupation will not be inspected [for agrariai reform purposes] until the occupation has terminated." As ii, the previous example, in addition to an attempt to intimidatt the struggle for agrarian reform, this article clearly violates the Constitution, given that without inspection, there may be no expropriation. As we saw above, the Constitution does not permit this possibility of immunity to expropriation of rural properties.
Paragraphs 8 and 9 establish that the entity, organization, corporate body, social movement or society (a significant juridical effort to include the MST) that directly or indirectly assists, collaborates, creates incentives for, incites, induces or participates in invasions of rural properties or public properties either in rural or land conflicts, in a collective nature, shall not receive, by any means, public funds. Should such funds already have been disbursed, authorities shall have the prerogative of retaining such moneys or rescinding the relevant contract, agreement or similar instrument. One sees an effort to include in these repressive measures the struggles of rural laborers, whose means of pressure, such as the occupations of unproductive properties, have been recognized to be legitimate by the federal Superior Court of Justice (Superior Tribunal de Justica, STJ). One sees as well that the Administration has extended a measure of exception (the Provisional Measure) to the entire public sector, in other words, including public, state and municipal powers. The restrictions on access to public funding for workers' organizations have the clear and "heinous" goal of suffocating economically these groups as a strategy to impose on them control by the government. Indeed, more than these organizations, the victims of these policies are the families of rural laborers settled in agrarian reform projects. Included in Article 2-A in the Agrarian Law, disposition that, in the case of fraud or simulation of occupation or invasion by the landowner or legitimate occupant of a property, an administrative sanction of 50,000 UFIRs (approximately US$ 30,000) and the cancellation of the rural property in the National System de Rural Registry. The fact of this addition is that it is just now that the Administration has decided to take steps to create disincentives to the widespread and notorious fraudulent practices by large landowners. As part of the process of "decentralization" (euphemism for the effort to de-federalize agrarian reform) the Administration has promised to send to Congress a bill to provide states with authority to execute agrarian reform, parallel to federal measures in this regard. The text of the bill has not been made available to us. Among the promised measures is redistribution of Agrarian Reform Titles (Titulos da Divida Agraria, TDA) to the states. The LandsStatute (1964) provided legal instruments for states and municipalities to complement federal efforts through agreements to implement agrarian reform. In fact, the Administration seeks to implement its strategy of rendering agrarian reform non-obligatory, transferring financial and political costs to states and municipalities. The Administration announced that, through a Provisional Measure, it will extend the period of receipt of TDAs for up to 50 years. Mere window dressing. Only by means of constitutional amendment may the actual limit of up to 20 years be modified in compliance with Article 184 of the Constitution. The Administration will send to Congress a bill transferring services (read administrative costs) and the collection of the Rural Territorial Tax (Imposto Territorial Rural, ITR) to the states that must create funds to finance agrarian reform. With this measure, the Administration tends toward the creation of rural anarchy in the country. Symptomatically, the Administration disregards the environmental and land-related dimensions of the ITR and seeks to value the financial dimension of the tax. This financial element, however, is unlikely to have even a remote effect in practice given the greater power exercised by the large land estates and their
BRAZZIL - JANUARY 2001
owners in the p wer structure of the states. H. Measure in "Defense of Public Order" The Ministry of Justice will take strong measures to prevent, through the deployment of the Federal Police, disorder and eviction actions in all properties of the federal government, without prejudice to actions that may be taken by the States. The Administration announced the creation of the Division of Agrarian and Land Conflicts within the Federal Police in Brasilia and within the states; police inquiries already in course and new inquiries will be thoroughly investigated. The police have reinstituted the use of the Law of National Security (Lei de SegurancaNacional, LSN), a remnant from the military dic atorship. On May 16, 2000, for example, police authoritie in Paranรก state charged nine landless laborers under the LS whose provisions include a sentence of up to three years or the vague offense of -threatening the established orde "These measures constitute, in our opinion, the thrust of the eatment dispensed by the Administration to grass-roots mov ments, based on intimidation. These steps odify the Administration's intervention in the agrarian co ext. The Cardoso Administration seeks to free itself by tran ferring responsibilities to states and municipal ities as the me sures commented above demonstrate. However, the Admin stration decided to maintain within the federal sphere, repr ssion of those who fight for agrarian reform. In this regard, th Administration is motivated as much by its need to demons rate to conservative sectors its continued authority as by it failure to obtain the uniform support of the state governmen s for its repressive and authoritarian convictions. Strictly spea ing, when the government authorizes anticipatory action of he Federal Police to prevent threatened and actual occupati s s of public buildings, it announces the intervention oft e federal government in the public security systems of the s ates. Specifically, with the creation of the Division of Agr ian Conflicts within the Federal Police, the Administration a pears to be signaling the creation of a new Department of S icial and Political Order (Departamento de Ordem Politica Social, DOPS,) a political police division created during th dictatorship (1964- 1985). In addition, the resumption and i tensification of police inquiries of actions by rural laborer seek to intimidate by criminalizing the leaders of social ovements in the country. HUMAN RI I HTS 'VIOLATIONS IN RURAL BRAZIL In Brazil, so ial inequality may be traced back to the development and maintenance of semi-feudal agrarian structures created in th period of colonization. The contemporary consequences of his legacy are serious social conflicts and violations of hu an rights. In the past 12 years, 1,167 rural laborers have bee killed. Of these homicides, only 86 have resulted in trials and in only seven were those who ordered the crimes convicted In its 1998 an ual report, the Pastoral Land Commission registered an incr ase in the number of conflicts in rural areas and of the use of iolence against rural laborers. The number of conflicts rose te 1,100 from 736 in 1997. These conflicts involved some 1,1 25,116 people throughout the country as opposed to 506,03 in 1997. The northeast region presented the greatest numb r of conflicts (542) and persons involved in
55
conflicts (678,593). Next comes the southeast region with 195 conflicts, followed by the center-west region, with 133 conflicts, the southern region with 130 and the north region with 100. The north region ranks second in the number of persons involved with 146,953 followed by the center-west with 122,297, the southern region 109,048 and the southeast region with 68,225. In 1998, 47 rural laborers were killed during rural land conflicts. The north region presents the greatest number of such cases, 17 (11 of these in the state of Para alone). Next, one finds the northeast region with 11 cases, the south region with nine and the southeast region with six and the centerwest region with four. The number of laborers killed increased by 56.67 percent—in 1997, 30 laborers were killed. In this same year, 46 rural laborers survived homicide attempts. Eighty-eight received death threats, 35 were tortured, 164 were physically assaulted and battered, 466 were arrested and 207 suffered injuries. Agrarian reform continues to be an important subject for millions of Brazilians. In 1998 alone, there were 125 demonstrations on land issues, agricultural and drought policy, involving 90,580 people in 23 states. The table below demonstrates the number of rural workers killed in recent years. Year 1995 1996C 1997 1998 1999
Number of killings 41 54 30 47 42
In 1998, 252 rural laborers were subjected to arbitrary detentions. In 1999, this number rose to 450. VIOLENCE IN PARANA STATE Parana has been one of the Brazilian states with the greatest incidence of violations committed against rural laborers. On May 2, 2000, close to 1,500 rural landless laborers on their way to the state capital, Curitiba, suffered violent repression at the hands of the police. The landless were on 50 buses at a distance of five kilometers (three miles) from the city when military police prevented their passage on highway BR-277. The police forced the landless to leave the buses and lie on the side of road, aiming their weapons at them. At this point, many of the landless were beaten by police officers. Those that tried to flee or to defend themselves were hit by tear gas from canisters thrown by police and by rubber and lead bullets. Police fired tear gas canisters into buses, targeting the women and children that remained inside. Police chased after one group of thirty landless for two kilometers (more than one mile). The landless believed that the police used lead bullets during the chase at the same time that they fired gas canisters and followed the fleeing men with helicopters. During the incident, one young man was shot in the head and another in the abdomen. Both these men are still disappeared. Close to 180 landless were injured during the police operation. Some of those injured received death threats from the military police while at the hospital. During the operation, rural laborer Antonio Tavares Pereira was shot in the abdomen and killed. The government of Parana state responded immediately to the death of Tavares Pereira, concentrating its efforts to convince public opinion
56
that, first, Tavares Pereira was not a member of the MST. The official version, defended by the Secretary of Public Security of Parana, asserted that Tavares Pereira had been found on highway BR-116 and not BR-277 where the conflict had occurred. The Secretary assured the media that conflict began at 10:40 a.m. and that Tavares Pereira had arrived at the hospital at 9:09 a.m. This version was contested by the police district chief (delegado) Fauze Hussain of the Homicides Division in Curitiba who confirmed the MST version that the conflict had begun at 8:15 a.m.. Even after it became clear that he had been wrong about the time of the incident, the Secretary insisted that Tavares Pereira was not related to the MST. Shortly afterwards, the district chief who had contested the official version was removed from the investigation into the case. This episode is part of a repressive policy towards landless rural laborers, which has become more intense in the past year. In May 1999, the Secretariat of Public Security in Parana initiated a series of forced eviction of landless settlements. On these occasions, the state government has employed elite elements of the Military Police, such as the Anti-Kidnapping Squad, the Eagle Group, and special operations divisions (Grupo de Operacties Especiais, GOE and the COPE) that occupied and cut off access to areas where there were occupations by landless families. These elements of the Military Police equip themselves with helicopters, squad cars, and trained dogs to attack crowds, undercover police officers, persons with hoods and/or without any identification, ambulances, rifles, shotguns, semi- automatic weapons, tear-gas launchers, and still and video cameras. On May 5, 1999, the Parana state government began a large-scale police operation to forcibly evict landless families in the Querencia do Norte region in the northwest part of the state. In this region alone, the police carried out 14 evictions in which cases of physical and psychological torture, and serious bodily injuries to adults and children were registered. During these evictions, 41 laborers were arrested; many were beaten and some were tortured. After the evictions, the police burned the belongings, makeshift shelters and food belonging to the landless and destroyed their crops. Many others were threatened, have had warrants issued for their arrest, and have been hunted like criminals. The Military Police continued in the city of Querencia and in other municipalities, stopping people on the streets, threatening them, seizing caps and T-shirts with references to agrarian reform. By use of a list of names, persons considered "suspicious" were interrogated and frequently taken into custody for further investigation. In this same region, MST settlements have achieved high levels of agricultural production. The 1998-1999 harvest registered the following: 155,000 sacks of corn; 70,000 tons of manioc root (mandioca) , 150,000 sacks of rice, and 4.2 million liters of milk, generating 1.5 million Brazilian reais (or roughly US$ 800,000). These numbers repeat themselves throughout the state of Parana and reveal the viability of agrarian reform. Despite this, the totals for the year 1999 as calculated by the Pastoral Land Commission (Comissao Pastoral da Terra, CPT) indicate high levels of violence against rural laborers in the state: Thirty-five forced evictions of rural properties, some of which were carried out without judicial order, others during the night in operations by special police forces or private
•
BRAZZIL- JANUARY 2001
militia. (NOTE: Brazilian law only permits evictions to be effectuated during daylight hours). At least eight areas involved rural properties in which expropriation procedures were already in course. These operations were filmed by the Military Police's secret service. The police officer who released the tapes of these films is under protection of the Federal Witness Protection Program. One-hundred-and-seventy-three laborers arrested, most without arrest warrants. Two laborers were murdered; two others survived attempts on their lives. In none of these cases has the police inquiry identified those responsible although in the regions in which these crimes were committed, the names of those ordering these killings and attempts is public knowledge. Twenty cases of death threats. Six rural laborers arrested and tortured by police officers. Although the law requires that torture is a crime for which bail may not be posted, until the date of this report, no one has been arrested. More than 50 laborers injured in eviction operations. The offices of the MST and of rural laborers' cooperatives have been subjected to wire-tapping. The Police Internal Affairs Division recognized that this wire-tapping was illegal and publicly condemned it. The Military Police's Secret Service continues to target the MST in violation of the Constitution, which prohibits the use of this institution against social movements. Political persecution and arrest of CPT attorney Darcy Frigo. Frigo has received death threats and is receiving police protection. Only 880 families, of the government goal of 3,000 families, were settled during the year. There are 80 encampments in the state with more than 9,000 families. The following declaration taken by the National Network of Autonomous Grass-Roots Attorneys (Rede Nacional Autonoma de Advogados Populares, RENAAP) illustrates the abuses described above: "I, Geraldo Jose dos Santos, Brazilian, married, born on July 20, 1914, today 84 years of age, subsistence farmer since the age of seven. I do not know how to read or write. My wife, Maria Rosa Muniz, 77 years of age. We have nine adult children. Some of them were camped with us in the Cobrinco property in Monte Castelo, an area that belongs to the Bradesco Group and which already has an official determination of non-productivity issued by INCRA. We do not have enough money even to buy the medication that we need and we have a debt at the pharmacy. My wife suffers from nerve problems, heart problems and rheumatism. "We were forcibly evicted—my family and 40 others in the pre-dawn hours on Friday at about 1:30 a.m. We were sleeping when we woke up with all those police officers, hooded, at the entrance. There were about ten men that were not wearing uniforms or hoods. After participating in the whole operation, they helped to destroy our shelters. They jumped over the entrance gate firing guns and throwing [tear gas] bombs and attacked us. Right away I was kicked by a police office in the ribs. Once on the ground, I was kicked again. They forced the men and boys to remain on the cold ground, face down, handcuffed, until 7:00 a.m. They demolished our shelters. They stole money from the landless and they made fun of us. "They beat several of us and others were burned by the bombs. A lot of people are afraid to speak up because of the police. One of my sons, who is more than 50-years-old and has a heart problem, was lost in the brush for almost two days
BRAZZIL -JANUARY 2001
from the moment he fled to avoid being beaten by the police. Another son oWns an old tractor and has worked with it for more than ten years. Everyone knows that. But the police said that it was stolen and they won't return it. I borrowed R$162 [about US 135] with interest to plant beans. We had 120 hectares but a lolt of that has been fenced in by the landowner. "I am in the Monte Castelo Hospital with a broken rib and I am urinating blood. I feel a lot of pain when I move." Statement given to Cristiane de Lima Martins, Bar Member No. 9.755 Another statement describes the violence against rural laborers in the encampment on the Santa Maria estate in the Ortigueira region : 'WJ On April 26, 1999, we occupied the Santa Maria [estate] with about 30 families. Three days later, a group of 30 heavily armed olice arrived there, accompanied by two judicial officers. The police forced us to sit on the ground and they threatened our families to get information about the leaders of the M T. The most sought-after was Adnilson, but he was not at the a ccupation at that time. The police took one landless away d disappeared with him. After 30 minutes, another police o icer came back to look for Lourival. "An hour late ,the commander of the operation, Edmauro AssuncAo, arriv d looking for me. A soldier from the P2 [undercover poli e division] took me behind the estate house while they brought Lourival without my being able to see him. Afterwards I fou d out that he had been tortured. Then they took me to the c w pasture area. There they had big water tanks that the ca le used to drink water. "They made e kneel so that I would tell them who were the leaders that o ganized the MST in the region and where was the silver-c bored Volkswagen bug, a car used by the MST. When I sai that! was a day- laborer and that! had just arrived at the pro erty and that I didn't know anything, they began to torture e. They tortured me for two and a half hours, from 11:00 a.m. ntil 1:30 p.m. I was handcuffed—my arms are still full of sca s from the handcuffs. The torture was neardrowning, near-hanging, beating, stepping on my stomach, they took off my clothes and threatened to rape me with a branch [from a sukar cane plant]. After they made me run so that they could ki I me—I didn't run. "They made me kneel in front of a pile of cow dung that had just been defecated and they made me eat about a half-kilo (one pound) of manure. After they took me to the police vehicle where the others who had been arrested were being held. There were ree who were tortured: me, Lourival and Aristides. Those ho tortured us were the Special Operations Group (Grupo de OperacOes Especiais, GOE) and the P2 (Military Police ecret Service). We arrived at the police district in Ortigu ira at 3:00 p.m., almost paralyzed. The district chief (del gada) appeared to support us and reprimanded the Milit Police. After they called the judge so that we could report th torture. She asked us to identify the police officers but the G 1E and the P2 had already left. "So the judge a dered the police at the district to complete the arrest report [fa us]. But that's a mistake because the GOE arrested us but the olice in the district wrote the arrest report. Then they reinfor ed the security at the district until they transferred us. On he day of the transfer, the same police that had tortured us we e there to take us. That's when we realized that our lives were in danger. We called the district chief and explained that we ould not leave the jail with the same police
57
that had tortured us. Even the district chief was apprehensive. "He got another car, a Santana Quantum. We asked for a judicial officer and a civil police officer to accompany us. There were eight of us in the car from Ortigueira to Ponta Grossa. We're prisoners in the jail in Ponta Grossa, which is overcrowded. It's horrible here. This isn't for human beings. We're afraid that the GOE will come into the jail and kill us. There are six of us from the encampment imprisoned here. Valdecir Bordignon Member of the State Committee of the MST THE MASSACRE OF ELDORADO DOS CARAJAS On April 17, 1996, at about 3:00 p.m., several buses arrived at the encampment of 1,500 rural laborers at the "Scurve" between Eldorado dos Caraj.as and Maraba in Para state. Under the command of Maj. Jose Pereira de Oliveira, commander of the Tenth CIPM and the First CIPMOA, two buses and a truck arriving from the city of Paraupebas, brought 68 men, armed with two shotguns, four machine guns, 50 rifles and revolvers. On the opposite side of the road, three buses arrived. Under the command of Cel. Mario Colares Pantoja, commander of the Fourth Battalion of the Military Police, 200 men equipped with machine guns and revolvers arrived. None of the police were identified. They had left their required Velcro tags in the barracks. The Maraba Battalion, under the command of Cel. Mario Colares Pantoja arrived firing gas canisters. At the beginning, the laborers resisted the attack, throwing rocks and sticks. However, when they heard the first shots, they retreated. The massacre lasted roughly an hour. Nineteen laborers were killed and 69 were injured. The following laborers were killed: I. ALTAMIRO RICARDO DA SILVA, 42 2. ANTONIO COSTA DIAS, 27 3. RAIMUNDO LOPES PEREIRA, 20 4. LEONARDO BATISTA DE ALMEIDA, 46 5. GRACIANO OLiMPIO DE SOUZA, 46 6. JOSE RIBAMAR ALVES DE SOUZA, 22 7. OZIEL ALVES PEREIRA, 17 8. MANOEL GOMES DE SOUZA, 49 9. LOURIVAL DA COSTA SANTANA, 26 10. ANTONIO ALVES DA CRUZ, 59 11. ABiLIO ALVES RABELO, 57 12. JOAQ CARNEIRO DA SILVA 13. ANTONIO ( known as "IRMAO") 14. JOSE ALVES DA SILVA, 65 15. ROB SON ViTOR SOBRINHO, 25 16. AMANCIO DOS SANTOS SILVA, 42 17. VALDEMIR FERREIRA DA SILVA 18. JOAQUIM PEREIRA VERAS,,32 19. JOAO RODRIGUES DE ARAUJO Since that time, two other laborers have died as a result of injuries sustained during the massacre, Francisco Divino da Silva and Joao Batista Penha. Those with more serious injuries were transferred to the Servidores Hospital in the state capital Belem. These were: Jose Carlos Moreira dos Santos, 16, shot in the left side of the head and with possible brain damage: Rubenita Justiano da Silva, shot in the mouth,
58
fractured left maxilar. Others include: Elyomar Pereira da Silva, Domingos dos Reis da Conceicao, Marcos Pereira da Silva, Jose daNatividade, Nilson Pereirade Souza and Michael Jackson Barbosa, were all operated on due to fractured bones in their legs or feet. The attorneys and social workers who sought to speak with those injured were prohibited access by order of the Secretary of Public Security which decreed that only family members could visit persons injured in the incident. When, finally, access was permitted, it could be seen that the injured were accompanied by police and were being treated like criminals. The first phase of the trial of the 150 police charged with involvement in the massacre took place in August 1999, when three commissioned officers who commanded the operation were acquitted. Attorneys for the MST filed a writ to remove presiding judge Ronaldo Valle from the case and another appeal to annul the decision of the trial. In April 2000, Judge Ronaldo Valle submitted a request to be removed from the case to the Chief Justice (President) of the State Supreme Court (Tribunal de Justica). On April 11, 2000 the State Supreme Court decided to annul the decision acquitting the three officers. On April 24, 2000. the State Supreme Court named a new judge to preside over the case. The new judge is Jose Maria Teixeira do Rosario. This judge has already decided several cases involving rural landless laborers, all of his decisions have been contrary to the MST. There is a legal error with the naming of this judge to the case. Shortly after Teixeira do Rosario expressed his interest in presiding over the case, the Supreme Court assigned him to the case. This method of indication violates the principle of "natural judge" embodied in the Constitution. This method also violates article 8 (1) of the American Convention on Human Rights which states, -Every person has the right to a hearing, with due guarantees and within a reasonable time, by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal, previously established by law... The judge here. Jose Maria Teixeira do Rosario, manifested interest in presiding over the trial before being assigned by the State Supreme Court. His expression of interest casts doubt on his impartiality, thus placing at risk the guarantees of a fair trial. Another matter which must be considered is the fact that all the jurors who will decide the case are residents of Belem. The Military Police is charged with providing security for all those who live in the State of Para including the jurors and the presiding judge. Any police officer may encounter a given juror on the street, at work or out of work and may pressure that juror to acquit his fellow officers. Should one of the jurors request security, he or she may be pressured to acquit the other officers. The 150 officers charged with involvement in the incident continue active on the police force which allows them to create undue pressure. This document known as National Report on the Situation of Human Rights and Agrarian Reform in Brazil was presented on the occasion of the visit of Her Excellency Mrs. Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to Sao Paulo, Brazil, on May 17, 2000.
BRAZZIL-JANUARY 2001
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