From: jb00@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (JOSE ANTONIO BASTO)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.brazil
Subject: O Brasil visto de fora ...
Date: 26 Aug 92 02:44:39 GMT
Organization: Lehigh University

Caros "irma~os" brasileiros:

`A ja' uns meses, durante as minhas visitas ao grupo
"misc.activism.progressive" por causa do problema de Timor-Leste, deparei com
este artigo sobre o Brasil, que da' uma vista "de fora" sobre o vosso
maravilhoso pai's...

Numa altura difi'cil como agora para o Brasil, e' preciso mesmo que as
instituic,o~es democra'ticas funcionem, e na~o comec,ar a po^r em causa a
qualidade dos votos de cada um dos cidado~es como te^m circulado neste grupo
(esses argumentos ja' foram muito usados tambe'm em Portugal, durante 48 anos
de facismo B-(

Forc,a nisso, e talvez valha a pena darem uma vista de olhos ao grupo acima
referido (m.a.p.), te^m la' um "posting" sobre o assassi'nio de uma das
testemunhas do caso...

Em Portugal, a democracia esta' bem so'lida e tudo esta' muito melhor depois  da
revoluc,a~o de 25 de Abril de 1974. Para o Brasil, esta e' a oportunidade para
limparem a casa e interromper o ciclo que espartilha o Brasil na pobreza.

Boa sorte, Brasil

Ze' Anto'nio ("exilado" pelos "States", mas do Porto, Portugal)

PS: O "New York Times" (920825) tra's os resultados do relato'rio
na primeira pa'gina! Referem no interior as dificuldades legais em concretizar
o "impeachement", devido `a falta de antecedentes legais, as manobras
desesperadas de aliciar o 1/3 dos deputados necessa'rios a evitar a aprovac,a~o
(`a custa do dinheiro do estado, e eliminando qualquer re'stia de credebilidade
`a poli'tica econo'mica brasileira B-( ...

A ver vamos...

+++++++++ MENSAGEM ORIGINAL   ++++++++++++++++++++


From: harelb@MATH.CORNELL.EDU (Harel Barzilai)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.misc,alt.activism,alt.news-media,alt.censorship
Subject: Supressed info re BRAZIL: U.S./Capitalist "Victory" in Cold War
Date: 15 May 92 22:50:33 GMT
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB


 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    "For three-quarters of the population of this cornucopia, the
    conditions of Eastern Europe are dreams beyond reach, another
    triumph of the Free World."
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Brazilian Health Ministry estimates that 840,000 children aged 1-4
and 420,000 newborns will die of hunger this year.
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
   -->  [Send the 1-line message GET CHOMSKY VICTORS2 ACTIV-L to ]
        [LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET for a copy of this file.         ]
   -->  [Send GET ACTIV-L ARCHIVE ACTIV-L to above address for a ]
        [listing with brief descriptions of other files available]
        [Try using GET also with CHOMSKY TAPES, among other files]

                    =============================
                    T H E   V I C T O R S :   I I
                    =============================
                    B Y   N O A M   C H O M S K Y
                    =============================
       __________________________________________________
      | Footnotes to this article are available from    |
      | Noam Chomsky, MIT Linguistics Dept.,            |
      | Cambridge, MA 02139. Please include $2 to       |
      | cover reproduction and postal costs.            |
       --------------------------------------------------
[For more comparisons of East Europe and Central America, see Julio
Godoy's _Return to Guatemala: Unlike East Europe, Fear Without Hope_
available with the GET command (see above or see bottom) on the file
E-EUROPE C-AMERIC    See also the Victors parts I and III which we
were able to recieve in disk-form via our contact and hence alredy
include he footnotes --Harel]

##################################################################


[...]

Brazil is another country with rich resources and potential, long
subject to European influence, then U.S. intervention, primarily since
the Kennedy years.  We cannot, however, simply speak of "Brazil."
There are two very different Brazils. In a major scholarly study of
the Brazilian economy, Peter Evans writes that "the fundamental
conflict in Brazil is between the 1, or perhaps 5, percent of the
population that comprises the elite and the 80 percent that has been
left out of the 'Brazilian model' of development." The Brazilian
journal _Veja_ reports on these two Brazils, the first modern and
westernized, the second sunk in the deepest misery. Seventy percent of
the population consumes fewer calories than Iranians, Mexicans, or
Paraguayans. Over half the population have family incomes below the
minimum wage. For 40 percent of the population, the median annual
salary is $287, while inflation skyrockets and necessities are beyond
reach. A World Bank report on the Brazilian educational system
compares it unfavorably to Ethiopia and Pakistan, with a dropout rate
of 80 percent in primary school, growing illiteracy, and falling
budgets. The Ministry of Education reports that the government spends
over a third of the education budget on school meals, because most of
the students will either eat at school or not at all.

The journal South, which describes itself as "The Business Magazine of
the Developing World," reports on Brazil under the heading "The
Underside of Paradise." A country with enormous wealth, no security
concerns, a relatively homogeneous population, and a favorable
climate, Brazil nevertheless has problems: "The problem is that this
cornucopia is inhabited by a population enduring social conditions
among the worst in the world. Two-thirds do not get enough to eat.
Brazil has a higher infant mortality rate than Sri Lanka, a higher
illiteracy rate than Paraguay, and worse social indicators than many
far poorer African countries.  Fewer children finish first-grade
school than in Ethiopia, fewer are vaccinated than in Tanzania and
Botswana.  Thirty-two percent of the population lives below the
poverty line.  Seven million abandoned children beg, steal and sniff
glue on the streets. For scores of millions, home is a shack in a
slum, a room in the inner city, or increasingly, a patch of ground
under a bridge."

The share of the poorer classes in the national income is "steadily
falling, giving Brazil probably the highest concentration of income in
the world." It has no progressive income tax or capital gains tax, but
it does have galloping inflation and a huge foreign debt, while
participating in a "Marshall Plan in reverse," in the words of former
President Jose Samey, referring to debt payments.

For three-quarters of the population of this cornucopia, the
conditions of Eastern Europe are dreams beyond reach, another triumph
of the Free World.

A UN "Report on Human Development" ranks Brazil, with the world's
eighth-largest economy, in 80th place in general welfare (as measured
by education, health, and hygiene), near Albania, Paraguay, and
Thailand. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced on
October 18 that more than 40 percent of the population (almost 53
million people) are hungry. The Brazilian Health Ministry estimates
that 840,000 children aged 1-4 and 420,000 newborns will die of hunger
this year.

Here too it is widely alleged that babies are sacrificed for organ
banks, a belief that can hardly be true but that reveals much about
the conditions under which it can take root.  The Honduran press
reported that Brazilian babies had been rescued from a gang that
"intended to sacrifice them to organ banks in the United States,
according to a charge in the courts." Brazil's Justice Ministry
ordered federal police to investigate allegations that adopted
children are being used for organ transplants in Europe, a practice
"known to exist in Mexico and Thailand," the London Guardian reports,
adding that "handicapped children are said to be preferred for
transplant operations" and reviewing the process by which children in
Brazil are kidnapped, "disappeared," or given up by impoverished
mothers, then adopted or used for transplants.

It would only be fair to add that the authorities are concerned with
the mounting problem of homeless and starving children and are trying
to reduce their numbers. Amnesty International reports that death
squads, often run by the police, are killing street children at a rate
of about one a day, while "many more children, forced onto the streets
to support their families, are being beaten and tortured by the
police" (Reuters, citing AI). "Poor children in Brazil are treated
with contempt by the authorities, risking their lives simply by being
on the streets," AI alleges. Most of the torture takes place under
police custody or in state institutions. There are few complaints by
victims or witnesses because of fear of the police, and the few cases
that are investigated judicially result in light sentences.

        [Use the GET command as above with LAT-AMER HMNRTS90 ]
        [for fully details of these Amnesty reports          ]

        [Use Get with AMNESTY CATALG90 for a copy of this]

Recall that these are the conditions that hold on the 25th anniversary
of "the single most decisive victory of freedom in the mid-twentieth
century" (Kennedy Ambassador Lincoln Gordon), that is, the overthrow
of parliamentary democracy by Brazilian generals backed by the United
States, which then praised the "economic miracle" produced by the
neo-Nazi national security state they established. In the months
before the generals' coup, Washington assured its traditional military
allies of its support and provided them with aid, because the military
was essential to "the strategy for restraining left-wing excesses" of
the elected Goulart government, Gordon cabled the State Department.
The U.S. actively supported the coup, preparing to intervene directly
if its help was needed for what Gordon described as the "democratic
rebellion" of the generals. This "de facto ouster" of the elected
president was "a great victory for the free world," Gordon reported
with joy, adding that it should "create a greatly improved climate for
private investment."  U.S. labor leaders also demanded their proper
share of the credit for the overthrow of the parliamentary regime, as
the new government placed in power by the generals proceeded to smash
the labor movement and subordinate poor and working people to the
overriding needs of business interests, primarily foreign. Secretary
of State Dean Rusk justified U.S. recognition for the obviously
illegal regime on the grounds that "the succession there occurred as
foreseen by the [Brazilian] Constitution," which had just been
blatantly violated. The U.S. proceeded to provide ample aid as torture
and repression mounted, the relics of constitutional Government faded
away, and the climate for investors improved under the rule of what
Washington hailed as the "democratic forces."

These events in Latin America's most powerful state initiated a domino
effect throughout the continent, leading to an unprecedented plague of
repression under the National Security doctrines crafted by the
military and political leaders of the hemisphere and their U.S.
advisers.

The circumstances of the poor in Brazil continue to regress as
austerity measures are imposed on the standard International Monetary
Fund formula in an effort to deal somehow with this catastrophe of
capitalism. The austerity measures initiated by President Collor de
Mello were initially described as "populist," harmful mostly to the
wealthy. Predictably, reality took a different course. Ken Silverstein
reports that half a year after the measures were inaugurated, "the
rich are reassured." The IMF measures primarily harmed the poor, while
wealthy individuals and large companies were able to find ways to
enrich themselves by exploiting measures that in theory were devised
to impose the main burden on them. A study by the J. Walter Thompson
agency concluded that "Collor's policies are not a threat to the
wealthy... The rich are now leading absolutely normal lives" (agency
vice-president Celia Chiavolle). Businessmen, bankers, and the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce express their pleasure in the course of policy,
while "the working class has been pushed to the wall," Silverstein
adds, with hundreds of thousands fired and purchasing power reduced to
a historic low, well below minimal needs for about half the
population.

The situation is similar in Argentina, where [...]

##################################################################

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-- 
Jose'Barros BASTO; Adress:11,Duh Drv Apt 222; BETHLEHEM, PA 18015-3732
Phone :(215)758-1846; Office:(215)758-4640;  FAX:(215) 758-4886  U.S.A.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.brazil