Postado em
Summary
Memory - One hundred years ago, Alberto Santos-Dumont made, in Paris, his historical flight with the 14-Bis, which he had designed. At first, the aviation pioneer made several attempts with balloons, before reaching the heavier-than-air-craft model that would immortalize him. The primacy of his feat, however, was disputed by the North-American Wright brothers, who claimed to have achieved a similar result at a desert beach in North Carolina, and thus lacking the public character of the Brazilian’s demonstration.
State-owned companies - After an intense privatization process, between 1987 and 2002, the number of state-owned companies in Brazil rose again. For critics of State intervention in the economy this is a setback. Yet, those who defend it argue that the proceeds of the privatization auctions did not benefit the population, while the country’s assets vanished into thin air.
Industry - Somewhat tardily, the Brazilian Northeast undergoes an accelerated and intensive industrialization process. Although compelled to offer tax holiday incentive programs and many other advantages to attract companies, the region now boasts the outstanding rank of the country’s third industrial center.
Indian question - It is hard to tell how many Indians there are in Brazil. Official statistics are conflicting for the very same agency responsible for the census, Funai, counts only those individuals who are in the villages, ignoring those living in the cities, who are even denied their ethnic identity cards.
Citizenship - A federal law grants people the right to free access to the beach and the sea along the extended Brazilian coast. However, in several states of the country there are hotels, housing developments, and for sale lots that do not comply with the law and obstruct the passage to the beach. Repression against this illegal practice has not been effective.
Sexual violence - Child and teenage sexual abuse and exploitation is an issue hardly discussed by society. A rather frequent crime, according to estimates of specialists in the area, there is, however, no reliable data on the number of cases since most occur inside the victim’s own family, making police reporting, and the ensuing punishment of those responsible, difficult.
Health - Until 1969 in Brazil, those afflicted by now curable Hansen’s disease had, by law, to be isolated in hospitals known as leprosaria, a measure still in effect in the early 1980s. Today, a majority of the old patients still live in isolation hospitals, owing to difficult social reintegration, motivated by the disease’s sequelae and the stigma it draws.
Research - Scientists from several Brazilian states set up, with Latin-American colleagues, a collaborative network to study the sponge species found off the coast of the Southern Cone countries. The project’s goal is to investigate these organisms’ potential to provide substances used in pharmacology and in other cutting edge industries, such as the production of optic fibers and computer chips.
Cooperatives - A small district of the city of Cabaceiras, in the interior of Paraíba, found a solution to combat poverty. The region depends on raising goats, which provide leather, meat, and milk. The highlight is the use of leather, which the creation of a cooperative transformed into a source of income for a group of families formed by producers, hide tanners, and craftspeople.
Interview - At the age of 81, Aziz Nacib Ab’Sáber, one of the most renowned Brazilian geographers and environmentalists, is still in activity. The author of award-winning works and papers which made important contributions to the scientific development of the country, he speaks about his education and colleagues from his generation who influenced him.
Literature - Thirty years ago, in a period marred by the military dictatorship in Brazil, the publication of the book "26 Poetas Hoje" convened exponents of the marginal poetry, a term that identified a group of artists who had no access to big publishing companies.
Thematic panel
• Philosopher Gilberto de Mello Kujawski, at a talk at the Federação do Comércio do Estado de São Paulo’s Council of Economy, Sociology and Politics, spoke on the national identity, a theme he deems slippery and complex. "We’ve lost ourselves and don’t know who we are", he stated. The country needs to discover its national conscience, which in Brazil is intermittent and manifests itself only on certain occasions, as in the world soccer cups.
• At another meeting of the same Council, engineer Gilberto Dupas lectured on the economic and political situation of the country, focusing on its growth prospects. Brazil, according to him, must define its global positioning strategy, which could be via agribusiness, provided it defines a realistic project.
