Author Archives: Ryan Farrell

From Janitor to Chief Justice: Could Joaquim Barbosa be Brazil’s Next President?

Joaquim Barbosa made history in 2003 when he became the first black Supreme Court Justice. He is a man who came from nothing and fights for the poor and and focusses on stopping the corruption that happens within the Brazilian government. He is a surprise candidate for presidency as he announced that he was running very late. In the first poll conducted on April 15 he was put at 10% of the vote. This was surprising as he has done very little campaigning as well as his lack of notoriety amongst voters. Barbosa being the wild card of the election is taking part of an election that in considered to be one of the most unpredictable in Brazil since the mid 1980s. The man who leads in the polls is Jair Bolsonaro. This is extremely controversial as he was recently charged with inciting racism and discrimination against blacks. This is everything that Barbosa is against. Barbosa is an advocate for the poor and colored community while Bolsonaro fights for the common person.

 

Barbosa was raised in the poor city a Paracatu in the Minds Gerais State. His father worked as a brick layer and worked for a short time as a janitor in the courtroom of Brasília. He was also the only black student in his law school class at the University of Brazília. While he looks like a candidate that can speak for the common person as well as all the minorities in Brazil people fear that if he is elected the state of Brazil may be unstable. The support for Bolsonaro comes from this fear as people are afraid of crime. Miguel Oliveira a 47 year old maintenance worker had this to say about Barbosa: “He at least knows what it means to be poor in a country where politicians are stealing all of the money.” While his values are something that many people would want his lack of experience in politics and very little connections within the government make it a stretch that he would get the support for presidency.

Brazil is once again pictured as a broken country that deals with problems of race, corruption, and a lack of support for the poor community. While you see Barbosa making steps in the government as a back man it is still very evident that he will need more people to be open to the idea that he is running. They are however portrayed as showing that they are making progress and want to make change. This will all be up in the air however as the election comes up this October. This election can help bring Brazil further or take more steps backwards in the wrong direction.

This fits into the class scheme as this race has a lot to do with race issues within Brazil as well as corrupted politicians. The leader of the initial poll has had many issues with the law including racism and corruption yet he still leads the polls due to the fear and stability of Brazils government. If Brazil wants to take a step towards a corruption free government and help bring a voice to the minorities and local people Barbosa seems like a candidate that should pick up traction. While he lacks experience and connections his values and blunt attitude towards these issues should be enough to make him a real candidate.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/20/world/americas/joaquim-barbosa-brazil.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Famericas&action=click&contentCollection=americas&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=17&pgtype=sectionfront

Class Notes 4/17

Todays class was started by two book presentations. The first of which was by Danny which discussed the impact of the Olympics and what the damage of having all the abandoned stadiums. The impact and money spent on the olympics and the stadiums was massive and now these stadiums are not being used. This causes a lot of issues in Brazil. The second book presentation was Woo. This went more into the football aspect of the sport. Talking about the issues of race in football as well as what makes Brazilian football so special. The style of play is unique to brazil as well as having an international impact as many Brazilian players don’t actually play in the Brazilian League. Both of these presentations went well with both of the readings. Going into depth about the slums of Brazil and the idea of sandlot football where you see poor Brazilians play football. This is where the style of Brazilian football comes into play. Because of their playing conditions you see this flashy play as they literally grew up playing on the streets of Brazil. The game continues to be this way as all Brazilian talent goes and plays overseas. This has been an issue for Brazil but as long as the pay does not change in the Brazilian league you will continue to see this.

Key Terms

Mestizo- Term for Brazilians with African American Heritage. This was prevalent today as this was a common term used in the reading as well as in our discussion.

Neymar- Most famous Brazilian Footballer who plays abroad at PSG

Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/09/sports/soccer/brazilian-soccer-pursues-a-remake-by-returning-to-its-past-.html

Explaining where Brazilian soccer will go from this point on.

https://nacla.org/article/beautiful-game-race-and-class-brazilian-soccer

Goes into Brazils past and shows the beginning of football.

https://mic.com/articles/93814/7-big-problems-the-world-cup-left-behind-in-brazil#.Xoo8aJW2p

Shows the issues with hosting the Olympics and what Brazil is doing now to solve the problem.

Indigenous Peoples of Brazil Critique

The article “Indigenous Peoples of Brazil” is what appears to be an in depth article with lots of information including specific dates and facts. While the article holds lots of information it was clear that whoever wrote the article made sure to keep her opinions out of it. While this is standard for wikipedia for this to happen I do feel as if the article was slightly harder to read because of this. I thought that all of the article was on topic and did go with the headline of “Indigenous Peoples of Brazil.” While the article was on topic I do feel as if the writer could have had more information on some of the subjects.

While this article did have a ton of facts and pieces there needs to be a better job on citations. There were clear instances in the article where more citations were needed. There were several instances where this occurred including the entire rubber section. While we could have used more information on this section instead we are left with a short paragraph and no citations. Not only was the rubber section inadequate but much of the article was cited poorly. When you click on several of the links they lead to articles that don’t exist or are clearly not a reputable source. The talk section on this article is also filled with people saying that there is poor citations as well as information that is wrong.

While this article lacked information in some spots as well as poor citations, this article had lots of information in some spots as well as facts that would keep in engaged. While I did mention that at times this was hard to read I thought that the majority of it was interesting as well as educational. Other articles that we have read make it more interesting as there is a stance taken. That being said it is not wikipedias job to develop a take but more so to deliver information to the general public. This article needs more citations and more information but I thought that the majority of the article did a okay job.