Hi Steven,
In many things you are right. However Collor was not impeached for corruption. He was impeached because of political pressure over the Senators. Don't get me wrong, I'm not siding with the bloke, after all he is a politician and I'm sure not one is pure as the driven snow.
An interesting point is that he is now a senator.
I agree that the difference between the rich and poor in Brazil is immense, I think I mentioned that in my post. This problem unfortunately cannot be resolved overnight as this would create raging inflation just to pay reajusted wages. It could also bring out other social imbalances in the process, so it is being sorted out slowly.
Who took place of Collor was in fact Itamar Franco. Cardoso was the first elected president after Collor.
Lula is media champion here in Brazil. Café com o Presidente is his radio show and over here the media is mainly large groups like Globo that control TV, newspapers, radio and magazines, a sort of like a local Rupert Murdoch. There is Bandeirantes, Abril and other regional media conglomerates, for example in the city of João Pessoa in Paraíba there is a company that controls one of the newspapers, one of the TV channels, two of the radio stations and the internet provider of that city. As you can imagine, the media will ALWAYS support who is paying their wages in advertising - local government.
But with all said and done, I'm not criticizing, I'm only seeing that there is a great similarity between what has happened here in Brazil over the last eight years and what I'm beginning to see happening in the US.
Yes I tend to agree that with you that there is a tendency for Venezuela, Equador, Argentina and some others that could blend together politically. There already is the Mercosur in place and Brazil is already trading with Argentina with their own currencies.
Look how socialist Canada and Mexico are..... is there going to be a thingy going to happen in North America. Surely most need to be on the same page.
Best regards,
Steve
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven
Hi Steve. I see your point but here is my thoughts about it. I was in Brazil from 1994 to 1998 and Collor had just gone from empeachment. Collor was so corrupted and totally aligned with the rich brazilian oligarchy and latifundarios. The poeple just couldn't let him go with it, it was way too much for the rich and way too less for the poors.
The country had known a military dictationship for 20 years, until 1985. And Lula was one who courageously stood against this tyranny. Creating the first union illegally. Then after the dictatorship he created the ''workers party'', social democratic from the begining to oppose this strong right wing force who took place after the military dictatorship. In fact, while the dictatorship was in power, behind it the real power in command was the brazilian oligarchy and latifundarios.
Henrique Cardoso took place after Collor winning against Lula twice. Cardoso presented himself as a social democratic defender center aligned, but in the facts, it was still behind a control of the richs who controlled the lands, the medias, the industries and even the church placed a right wing conservatory archbishop at the head of the concil of bishops. It is important to mention it because the church is BIG in Brazil.
So, now we have Lula winning twice sequentially. It is in my eyes very logical to see Lula applying exactly what he preached for the last 30 years. The first thing he did when he first entered in power was the cancelation of the renewal of many jet fighters for the airforce. Saying he can not build an airforce when millions of brazilian children lacks food, health and education. Of course, he encountered a tremendous opposing force and had to put some water in his wine cup.
In other words, it is the return of the pendulum... It might happen in the U.S. and also in many countries around the globe. Look at most of the political power in place all over america latina, it is all social democrate, Venezuela and Equador being the most opposed to the old oligarchic power traditionnally sustained by the U.S. and the old famillies.
Namaste, Steven
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