brazil Archives - Toward Freedom

“The emergency exits are always blocked. We have over 100 pallets stacked the whole length of the warehouse—blocking all the fire exits. If there was a fire, we would not all be able to get out.” -Sersie Cobb Jr, Ryder System worker in South Carolina / credit: Union of Southern Service Workers / Twitter

News Dispatches from the Americas: Argentina & Brazil Rejoin UNASUR, Beating Inflation and U.S. Worker Injuries

Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service April 12, 2023 Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service

Argentina and Brazil have re-joined the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), a regional integration organization founded in May 2008. Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) hosted a virtual summit for Latin American and Caribbean countries to discuss a solution to inflation across the region. The Union of Southern Service Workers held a one-day strike across Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina to protest U.S. southern workers being disproportionately injured on the job. Dispatches by Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service.

Indigenous chiefs took part in Festival do Futuro (Future Festival) on January 1. They made the gesture with their hands that represents support for President Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva / credit: Antonio Cascio

Lula Returns to Power, Welcoming an Indigenous Vision of Governance in Brazil

Natalia Torres Garzon January 30, 2023 Natalia Torres Garzon

For the first time in Brazilian history, representatives from Indigenous communities have been placed in positions of power. They told Natalia Torres Garzon respecting Indigenous territory is essential to protecting the environment. This comes after thousands of acres of Indigenous lands were seized during the term of former President Jair Bolsonaro.

Thousands of extreme right-wing Brazilians gathered January 8 in Three Powers Square in Brasilia in a violent protest against Brazilian President Luiz Ignácio "Lula" da Silva and to call for Bolsonaro’s return to power. The Bolsonaristas arrived in the capital from different parts of the country in organized buses. The government has been investigating who financed the transport of these groups, as well as the role played by the military and the police force. The Supreme Court also has authorized the investigation of Bolsonaro for his alleged participation in the attack / credit: Antonio Cascio

Photo Essay: How the Right-Wing Attack in Brazil Looked on the Ground

Natalia Torres Garzon January 16, 2023 Natalia Torres Garzon

Antonio Cascio's photos show the extent to which former President Jair Bolsonaro's supporters went to express their call for Bolsonaro to return to office in Brazil, days after Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva was inaugurated as the new president.

Protesters on December 18 in Lima, Perú / credit: Mayimbú / Wikipedia

Peru Coup, Argentina Arrest and Attacks on “Pink Tide” Highlight Importance of People’s Movements: Q&A with James Early

Sean Blackmon and Jacqueline Luqman January 2, 2023 Sean Blackmon and Jacqueline Luqman

What brought about the parliamentary coup against Peruvian President Pedro Castillo? James Early, former director of Cultural Heritage Policy at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian Institution and board member of the Institute for Policy Studies, breaks it down. He explains what it means for Latin America's Pink Tide in an interview with Jacqueline Luqman and Sean Blackmon on Radio Sputnik's afternoon program, "By Any Means Necessary."

Sonia Guajajara, an Indigenous rights campaigner who was elected this autumn to be a federal lawmaker from the Brazilian state of São Paolo, marched in September with a feminist bloc at a left-wing rally the day after a Bolsonaro supporter threatened two other candidates with a gun / credit: Richard Matoušek

After Bolsonaro, Can Brazil Move Beyond Neoliberalism and Toward Greater Global Cooperation?

Richard Matousek November 18, 2022 Richard Matousek

Almost three weeks after the second-round Brazilian presidential election, President Jair Bolsonaro still has not explicitly conceded. The chances Bolsonaro could stage a successful coup have diminished rapidly. Now what's next for Brazil as Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva transitions into office? Richard Matoušek reports from Recife.

Workers' Party (PT) presidential candidate Luiz Inácio "Lula" da Silva with Fernando Haddad and Geraldo Alckmin, PT candidates for São Paolo governor and vice president, respectively / credit: Richard Matoušek

Bolsonaro and Lula Head to Second-Round Election Amid Brazil’s Contradictions

Richard Matousek October 10, 2022 Richard Matousek

Some Brazilians’ desire to climb class rungs has helped win votes for incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro and his Liberal Party (PL) colleagues at the local and legislative levels of government. This, despite an appetite for progressive politics after four years of the “underpinnings and trappings of fascist rule” as well as hundreds of thousands of avoidable COVID-19 deaths. Richard Matoušek reports from São Paolo on what's next as the second-round presidential election looms in Brazil.