Brazzil
April 2003

LETTERS

On Bush's Behalf

If I were George Bush, I probably would not waste my time preparing an answer. But, if I were George Bush and I did waste my time, this is what I would say to Paulo Coelho's "Than You, George, Thank You" - www.brazzil.com/p116apr03.htm:

Thank you, great leader George W. Bush.

You are welcome.

Thank you for showing everyone what a danger Saddam Hussein represents. Many of us might otherwise have forgotten that he had used chemical weapons against his own people, against the Kurds and against the Iranians. Hussein is a bloodthirsty dictator and one of the clearest expressions of evil in today's world.

Exactly, too bad that you did not take the time and/or make the effort to advise Brazil's President Lula of this. How sad that you stood by and said nothing when Brazil's President Lula defended Saddam, a man that not only did all the things that you noted above, but a man leading a country with a per capita income several times that of Brazil. Saddam, a man that up until three weeks ago lead a government that starved his own people. How ironic that you would stand by and say nothing while President Lula, known the world over as a man bent on feeding the poor sadly chose to throw his name behind the likes of Saddam Hussein.

But, this is not my only reason for thanking you. During the first months of 2003, you have shown the world a great many other important things and, therefore, deserve my gratitude. So, remembering a poem I learned as a child, I want to say thank you. Thank you for showing everyone that the Turkish people and their Parliament are not for sale, not even for 26 billion dollars.

Where do you get your information? It was the Turkish Parliament that felt that 26 billion was to low a price to sell out. Actually, the 26 billion and more was already theirs, but they became greedy. Oh, they were poised to sell out, but for much more. When my administration decided not to be blackmailed, we said "No!" Of course, when the Coalition troops showed up at Baghdad's door, the Turkish government did a turn around, allowing their airspace to be used in the cause against Saddam Hussein, thus finally supporting the freedom loving Iraqi people.

Thank you for revealing to the world the gulf that exists between the decisions made by those in power and the wishes of the people. Thank you for making it clear that neither José Maréa Aznar nor Tony Blair give the slightest weight to or show the slightest respect for the votes they received. Aznar is perfectly capable of ignoring the fact that 90 percent of Spaniards are against the war, and Blair is unmoved by the largest public demonstration to take place in England in the last 30 years.

All I can say is that if Brazil is so unfortunate to have a leader such as Saddam or Adolph, I hope that José María Aznar and Tony Blair have the courage to lead their people instead of being led by them. It is too bad that Chamberlain did not do the same when he was sucking up to Adolph Hitler, all of course on behalf of Britain's people who of course knew what was best for them.

Thank you for making it necessary for Tony Blair to go to the British Parliament with a fabricated dossier written by a student ten years ago, and present this as 'damning evidence collected by the British Secret Service.'

Damn! So that is where he got it. All along I thought it was the work of 007. Really, how do you get away writing such nonsense? Trust me, like Churchill, Blair will rise to British Knighthood. If he doesn't, I'll give him Hillary Clinton's Senate seat

Thank you for allowing Colin Powell to make a complete fool of himself by showing the UN Security Council photos which, one week later, were publicly challenged by Hans Blix, the Inspector responsible for disarming Iraq.

Shows what little you know: Hans Blix was responsible for inspecting Iraq's so called compliance with twelve plus UN mandates whereby Saddam Hussein's Iraq was to disarm. It was never Hans Blix or any UN inspector's job to disarm Iraq. It was always Iraq's job to disarm Iraq! Hans Blix could not disarm his own mother, anymore than he could interpret photo recon work. But, he is a nice fellow and should receive a UN commendation for having earned the most frequent flyer miles.

Thank you for adopting your current position and thus ensuring that, at the plenary session, the French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin's anti- war speech was greeted with applause—something, as far as I know, that has only happened once before in the history of the UN, following a speech by Nelson Mandela.

The UN delegates are so poised in favor of collecting frequent flyer miles, they would applaud anyone that would delay due process. Hell, they don't care a centavo for the poor Iraqi or Kurdish folks being tortured on a daily basis. As for the French Government, can you explain to me how two or three times a year they are able to send French soldiers to Africa in support of some corrupt machine running one or more of their old colonies, all without UN sanction?

Thank you too, because, after all your efforts to promote war, the normally divided Arab nations, at their meeting in Cairo during the last week in February, were, for the first time, unanimous in their condemnation of any invasion.

Unanimous? Not by my count. You better check again and see where Kuwait voted on this matter. Now I remember, Kuwait, and Qatar were not invited to attend. Difficult to call this a meeting of the Arab nations, don't you think?

Thank you for your rhetoric stating that "the UN now has a chance to demonstrate its relevance", a statement which made even the most reluctant countries take up a position opposing any attack on Iraq.

News to me, I counted over a hundred that were smart enough to realize that without action, Saddam Hussein would remain in power for only God knows how long. Of course France and Russia were owed money, that now they won't get. Times up, I still cannot find a "most reluctant country that opposed the Coalition's attack based on my challenge to the UN to finally do something more relevant than lead the world in the collection of frequent flyer miles.

Thank you for your foreign policy which provoked the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, into declaring that in the 21st century, "a war can have a moral justification", thus causing him to lose all credibility.

Let me see, well, uh.....I just can't find the credibility rating webpage. Apparently, you have the secret address. Today, Jack seems credible to the majority, wouldn't you say? Or, is it more credible to dress your army up as civilians, base your command and control centers in hospitals, surrender and then shoot the corpsman offering you assistance? I think in time of war, Jack would honor the Geneva Convention.

Thank you for trying to divide a Europe that is currently struggling for unification; this was a warning that will not go unheeded.

Apparently, you do not hear well. I was trying to unite east and west against a guy that marched into Kuwait without UN sanction, a guy that cheered September 11th. A guy that would destroy your right to publish! A simple "yes" vote would have united everyone. No one body, more than the US Government has done more to unify Europe. Your apparent hate for us, leads you to forget history. I could be more arrogant, but I'll spare you in hope that you will, someday, unify with reality.

Thank you for having achieved something that very few have so far managed to do in this century: the bringing together of millions of people on all continents to fight for the same idea, even though that idea is opposed to yours. Thank you for making us feel once more that though our words may not be heard, they are at least spoken—this will make us stronger in the future.

Whose us? You? Nah....you'll never learn!

Thank you for ignoring us, for marginalizing all those who oppose your decision, because the future of the Earth belongs to the excluded.

Well, I might call you irrelevant, but never excluded. That is, whoever "you" are?

Thank you, because, without you, we would not have realized our own ability to mobilize. It may serve no purpose this time, but it will doubtless be useful later on.

OK, mobilize......and, I'll blow your ass away too!

Now that there seems no way of silencing the drums of war, I would like to say, as an ancient European king said to an invader: "May your morning be a beautiful one, may the sun shine on your soldiers' armor, for in the afternoon, I will defeat you." Thank you for allowing us—an army of anonymous people filling the streets in an attempt to stop a process that is already underway—to know what it feels like to be powerless and to learn to grapple with that feeling and transform it. So, enjoy your morning and whatever glory it may yet bring you. Thank you for not listening to us and not taking us seriously, but know that we are listening to you and that we will not forget your words. Thank you, great leader George W. Bush. Thank you very much.

Well, my guys are in Baghdad. I don't have a time line. From the beginning I have said that "this will take as long as it takes." If I imagined a time line, we'd be ahead of schedule! The Kurds up north in Iraq have joined us. Two divisions of Saddam's elite are now all gone. Oh, the oil wells that now will belong to the people of Iraq were all secured one week into the invasion.

I think I already said this: You are welcome!

Abraços.

Fritz {:-)
Via Internet

Took the Words from My Mouth

Mr. Fitzpatrick. I found your article "I'll Miss You, Fernando" - www.brazzil.com/p106jan03.htm  - in the Magazine Brazzil while browsing the net and could not contain my urge to write you about it. Your point of view on the Brazilian people is sure to be controversial if you are to share it with Brazilians, because like most people, one is always likely to try and defend his own country from similar negative comments.

I could not stop reading the article because it is a representation of everything that I have felt and observed in my life in Brazil. Your descriptions about the lateness without apologies when conducting business might be excused as a colorful characteristic of Latin Americans, but I think it is about time people call it like it is: irresponsibility, which you came close to doing.

"The Brazilian, therefore, avoids confrontation and by doing so sweeps the dirt under the carpet and avoids reality." There is not a better description about what Carnaval and "Copa do Mundo" does to Brazil. What is the point of being the best in soccer in the world when most of your children are uneducated and have poor future prospects.

It is enlightening to see someone who is finally able to recognize why Brazil will never be a world power, neither politically nor economically. Unfortunately, the Brazilian National Anthem seems to capture a sad reality with its "Deitado eternamente em berço esplêndido." It seems like this sleeping giant will be hard to wake on its own.

I just wanted to thank you for pointing out to other Brazilians like me that we are not the only one dissatisfied with the prospects of this culture of apathy and irresponsibility.

Gustavo Araújo
Via Internet

Show Your Pride!

Philip, I happened to run into your "insights" in Brazzil _ "War: Brazil, I Beg to Differ" - www.brazzil.com/p126apr03.htm - and found myself dropjawed at your opinion of the US flag on Saddam's face incident. Your statement of "That young Marine should have restrained himself because failing to do so was disrespectful" in my book puts you right on the same level as Baghdad Paula Zahn. Did you see her interview with the US soldier who was involved? She actually tried to humiliate him on live TV.

If you really were a Marine you'd know that once a country unleashes the dogs they're going to howl. Come on man, you know that most of the people of that region of the world want to see all US citizens dead! Given the opportunity they'd do it themselves. Why? Because they're ignorant of all except what they want to believe and no hypersensitive concern of US image is going to change their opinions.

That US soldier did what came natural in war and as far as I'm concerned he did what's RIGHT. He deserved it and it made me proud to see it. Show some pride, dude.

Dan
Via Internet

The author responds:

Dan,

Thank you for your feedback.

I served in Vietnam in a helicopter squadron during the Easter Offensive, which was second only to the famous Tet Offensive of 1968. My outfit arrived just after the North Vietnamese came out with hand held heat seeking missiles. I lost good friends in action. My outfit participated in the mining of Haiphong Harbor in North Vietnam, a perilous task to be sure. I have three Vietnam Campaign medals, a Republic of Vietnam Cross of Valor, a Republic of Vietnam medal for Civic Action and, of course, the Vietnam Service Medal.

I also received a Philippine Presidential Unit Citation for participating in post typhoon flood relief and served on staff at Fleet Marine Force Atlantic HQ in Norfolk, VA under General Axtell. I probably don't need to remind you that serving in Vietnam in the US armed forces was a more-or-less thankless chapter in any young American's life at that time. But lessons were learned and, for that, I am thankful. One of those lessons had to do with assuring that service to the nation should not diminish the image of our nation around the globe.

There was a term at that time, "the ugly American", to define the tarnishment of that image and many of us dedicated ourselves to overcoming it. I have many good friends from "that part of the world", as you refer to the Middle East, and helped one of them secure refugee status for his family when they fled the war in Afghanistan following Soviet invasion.

You're entitled to your opinion. You even have the right to refer to me as "dude", although I believe I've earned the right to more consideration. I've certainly earned the right to my own opinion.

Philip

The Best Anti-Americanism

Mr. Amaral's article (The Art of Deception - www.brazzil.com/p119apr03.htm ) is the epitome of Brazilian solipsism. He believes Americans don't know what is going on in America while he instead knows everything and perhaps something more. Well, the problem is that almost EVERY Brazilian of my acquaintance, no matter how illiterate, believes exactly the same. According to these people, Americans are duped by their government-controlled media, while we Brazilians learn directly from the only reliable sources in this world: Brazilian babbling, Cuba's "Granma", Noam Chomsky and Iraq's Ministry of Information...

PS - I have been examining http://www.newamericancentury.org/ . Mr. Amaral saw in it a "plan for the United States to conquer the world". Please everybody: go there and see with your own eyes: Mr. Amaral is unable to distinguish between world domination and world leadership. His interpretation of Mr. Kristol's project is anti-American communist disinformation at its best.

Olavo de Carvalho
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Enough Bashing

I cannot understand why every time I come to read news online thru your web page, that all everyone seems to be doing is putting each other down in your articles! I assume that you really do not know how the American people, the true ones not the rich and so powerful ones are! Let me give you the 411 on that. I have had one of your own Brazilian students that came here to America to learn in our schools, I have adopted him into my heart and family. Hello, Vitor, my dear adopted brother.

I welcomed him into my family with open arms and the love along with protection of his well-being! I enjoyed learning from him and in fact to this day we remain in close contact between each other via the Internet. He and I are together discussing ways to find ways to make improvements in each of our countries. I believe that it is time that all adults grow up and stop the nonsense of bashing each other along with waging war on each others countries. I just want to know why it is that there is still many out there that have to keep the ignorance going?

I believe that if all of us try a little bit harder each day we together can make a world that is peaceful to live in with helping each other out vs. the bashing and fighting! We need to have this world peace so that our children can grow up in a world free from the violence. This will take time to accomplish, however, it can be done!

Only time will tell the true sense of the human heart. May I remind all of you that we are all made the same, we have the same insides, the same blood running thru us. God is the one who put all of us on this land so that we all can live in a world of peace! God created us, God can take it away as fast as he put us all on this earth!

Don't you think it is time we all put our hearts together and stop all this hatred? I think we should! Let's all NOT put an end to our lives just to see who can be the strongest!

Colleen
U.S.A.
Somewhere on a mountain, loving life still.

Poet Major

Congratulations. The article on Manoel de Barros - www.brazzil.com/p43sep99.htm  - is very interesting and complete. In my opinion Manoel de Barros is really one of the greatest poets of all times in the world. Personally the poets of Portuguese language I like the most are Fernando Pessoa and Manoel de Barros. Thanks.

Sérgio Nunes de Morais (artist)
Via Internet

You Prove!

Re: Thaddeus Blanchette's article "Are Brazilians Corrupt? Prove It." - www.brazzil.com/p111apr03.htm. In defense of Anglo-American gringos, I rarely hear from those who have chosen Brazil to be their home, that this country is mortally corrupt.

I don't know why the author has concocted this idea and specifically targeted Anglo-American ex-pats. It is erroneous to posit that "all Brazilians are corrupt", it is equally fraudulent to say that all Anglo-Americans believe this. I certainly don't subscribe to either of these blatantly ignorant stereotypes.

Granted, corruption is a hot topic around water-coolers, and in local bars, not just with foreigners, but with Brazilians too. Corruption is a reality in Brazil (and elsewhere in the world), and one of the myriad obstacles that the country is trying to overcome.

The subject is ripe for discussion because the issue is widely reported in the media and felt at many levels. You can't dismiss that there is a problem with corruption in Brazil. Will the country crash and burn because of this? Of course not. Does it mean that every Gringo who sets foot in Brazil rants on at lengths about corruption?

Surely, you'll always find one or two ignorant idiots in the mix, but please don't let their views reflect on the rest of us. The author is doing to us, exactly what the author doesn't like these idiots doing to Brazilians: jumping to ridiculous child-like conclusions.

Prior to his historic victory, one of Lula's many platforms was to combat corruption and when questioned by a journalist regarding the level of corruption Lula responded "embora não tenha provas, tem certeza de que ela está em todos os níveis do poder público." (25/09/2002 - 19h25 Lula compara Brasil a carro "com parafusos soltos" EDUARDO CUCOLO from Folha Online)

During Lula's inaugural address he boasted: "The central and permanent goals of my administration will be to combat corruption and the defense of ethics in the administration of public funds... We will not let corruption, tax evasion, and waste continue to deprive the population of resources that belong to it and that could be so useful in its fight for survival."

So if the author wants proof that there's concern over corruption in Brazil, I think we can safely look to Lula for confirmation (or just pick up a newspaper periodically). I doubt Lula would embark on a nonexistent battle. If the author wants proof that all Brazilians are corrupt, it would be easier to prove that the sun is made of ice, and that Elvis is the president of Iraq. It's just not true - so why even ask.

If the author believes that all Anglo-Americans believe that all Brazilians are corrupt, I'll throw the question back to him: PROVE IT! However, I think it would suffice if he simply gives his head a shake and finds a new crowd in which to mingle.

RM
Via Internet

What a Trip!

Race shouldn't be our definition of self, but you can't get outside that shit in the States. I mean at home, with friends, I'm comfortably mixed, the fullness of me is not contained by checkbox categories, by some nondescript nonidentity "other".

I realize I bring together Puerto Rican & Haitian/Dominicanness, but out in society I'm black and I'm proud, although many can't wait to classify me. Folks in the States think I'm anywhere from Italian, Brazilian, to black and white. I tell you I represent for the struggles of Black America which I have been born into, well, obviously this is a whole conversation.

Mark, I just finished reading your article "Down in Black Bahia"! - www.brazzil.com/blajun01.htm. What an amazing article. I felt as though I took the journey along side of you. Have you been back recently? I plan to visit this summer, just me!

I've met a few Brazilians through the Internet already. This trip is the next phase of my life and I can't wait. I tell you I've been obsessed with visiting Brazil ever since I was ten years old. At my Army Base elementary school in Germany, this Mexican classmate of mine told me once, "You're such a white girl, look at the way you speak, what are you Brazilian and why is your hair so curly, it looks like an afro…ha you don't even know what you are…your skin is like you speak white and your hair is like black people," I was mortified. I didn't know how to answer, being as sensitive I was, and still am, raised by a strict E-7 ranking member in the army, before I knew it I was crying.

Growing up in various parts of the world I thought I was culturally diverse. Being called "white" especially at ten was very unfamiliar to me. After that episode all I heard from my family was "you are a white Hispanic, be proud of your race"

How ignorant that statement is and how much I felt that I was black. So I researched my heritage, my culture and found out that I'm part Haitian/Dominican from my mother's side.

How many times I debated with my mother about race, and so many times I came the so-called loser, the wimp, and "Jessica, you don't know who you are," but I do, my culture is Latin (Puerto Rican/Dominican/Haitian), my ethnic background is Hispanic & African (Puerto Rican/Dominican/Haitian), and my race is black (Negroid).

I embrace my African heritage while holding hands with my European ancestry. Although my family and many of the Latin population would actually consider themselves "white" (even if their skin color is darker than mine) in their respective countries. The idea being that interracial mixing has occurred for so long in South America and across the Caribbean like Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil and so on... that being white just means "being light skinned".

Here in the States "light skin" means black and such Latinos are not accepted as "white" by other white people. So they become confused and try to make sense of racial classification, classifying themselves from an ethnic view as being Latin or Hispanic, ignoring their African heritage.

There are many language barriers between cultures and ethnicities that confuse our people into believing false information. Puerto Rican is not a race; they are mixed with African Taino Indian and Spanish, a mixed heritage that adopted the Spanish language. Here in the States a mixture of black with any other race is considered black. Black being the dominant gene.

I'm proud of my ancestry for both negative and positive factors. Society seems to predict the end of distinction based on ethnicities, racial appearance or ancestry. One reason why I want to visit Brazil is because in Brazil racial mixing is acceptable and celebrated, although privilege and status is still based on lighter skin. However the former governor of Rio is dark skinned, born into poverty in the slums.

I have never really felt like I was able to fit in with "Latinos" whenever I am around my Latino peers. I feel like I am too Americanized for most and not "Latina enough." Around my African peers I seem to fit in as light skinned or mixed. It's some strange dynamics in black America that make lighter skinned folk feel ousted, somehow not black enough.

All this is to say that I need an outlet to feel effective against suffering "out there" and writing is not the most direct of outlets, though I have wanted it to be and while I've had such lofty goals, I've stumbled along the way by getting caught up in dealing with suffering "in here" I will not equate my own sensitivities with the suffering of poor and marginalized people.

So first and foremost I have to grow up and get over myself; said another way, I have to accept myself as I am. I have to get past needing acceptance by black America or Latin America closed minds. Black or white or Latino will never get the point. Then there's my dreads which began with the sense that I don't want to be "fixing" my hair all the time. Then somewhere along the way they became an image and sort of a way to "prove" my blackness. You could say the purity of my dreads was tainted. So what should I do? Should I cut them, start over, be that awkward little girl that I was, that no one wanted to know?

Tchau

Jessica
Via Internet

Ah, Brazil!

Thank you. I absolutely adored the chance to thoroughly reminisce. I moved to Brazil at 20 and I stayed and grew immensely about life for the following five years. I was completely alone in the sense of homeliness. I left with Brazil in my heart. It was the happiest, simplest, generous, and most natural way of life that I will ever know. I will return to Brazil one day to build my future of success and plant my roots. Se Deus Quiser!

Via Internet

Rooting Against the US

I read your article about how Brazil is watching and waiting for the outcome of the war - "Iraq - Brazil Watches and Waits" - www.brazzil.com/p104apr03.htm. I noticed that O Globo ran a story online which practically bragged about the fact that some of the missiles fired by Iraq are Brazilian-made. I also would say that anti-Bush feelings amongst my Brazilian friends have pushed them to cheer against the US and Britain. It seems like many Brazilians are far from neutral. They want to see the US lose and go home totally embarrassed! They are tired of the US always winning! And guess what else? The Brazilian press is far from neutral. They write the stories to sell... They could care less how the US feels about their reporting. And yes sometimes they do write stories that are anti-Iraq...whatever sells gets printed I suppose!

Brian
Via Internet

Pathetic, Asinine

Re: "A Trap for Blacks" - www.brazzil.com/p107apr03.htm. It never ceases to amaze me the energies whites invest in avoiding responsibilities for their historical crimes. While this generation may not have enslaved anyone, they are the direct beneficiaries of the actions of their antecedents. First, I'm always amused when I hear white Brazilians deny the existence of racism. "We don't have that peculiar American problem, we are a true melting pot". Yet when one visits Brazil, the social, political and economic hierarchy is always, exclusively whites (of course, excluding the football players). Are we to believe that only whites have demonstrated merit and that their preponderance of power have nothing to do with hundreds of years of "White Affirmative Action". People of color, regardless of their nomenclature have been subjugated in Brazil, as they have been in the U.S, Africa, Caribbean etc...

Secondly, attempting to abdicate yourself from the responsibilities of slavery by assigning blame to the African tribes is ridiculous. Those who sold their ethnic brethren are certainly culpable, but if the Europeans had no market or demand, there would have been no supply. Citing historical precedents to justify your crimes is pathetic and asinine. If the African tribes jumped off a bridge, would you jump as well?

White Europeans descendents in Brazil, the U.S., the Caribbean etc… have for hundreds of years instituted legally-sanctioned subjugation of people of color. During these times they shamelessly sequestered all educational, political, and economic opportunities to themselves. (That certainly sounds like affirmative action to me).

After giving themselves a four hundred years advance, while prohibiting the educational and economical mobility of African descendents they criticize the subjugated ones for being unable to compete. Now you have the temerity to label an attempt to redress some of these historical inequities as racist. UNBELIEVABLE!

You further exacerbate your whining by stigmatizing any African descendent that benefits from this affirmative action as being automatically inept or meritless. How racist!

Lastly, how dare you talk about the salvages of Africa. Trust me, as horrible as the crimes committed by Africans against other Africans were, they pale in comparison to the things Europeans have done both in Africa and in Europe. Europeans have pillaged and plundered the entire continent of Africa of practically all her nature resources, murdered millions (see Belgian Congo etc..), robbed the indigenous peoples of their lands. You barbarically committed ethnic genocide throughout your history (See Religious Crusades, Hitler, Milosevic etc...) against your own people and yet still, we are required to study your history. What is clear sir, and I use that term generously, is that you are plain and simple a racist and you are motivated by your supremacist ideology.

American of African Descent
Via Internet

And You Invoke the Bible

Good day, Dr. Cristaldo. I have recently read your comments in the article entitled "A Trap for Blacks" that appeared in the Brazzil magazine. I should mention from the outset, that in replying to you, I am not a black Brazilian, nor do I have any affiliation with Brazil beyond that of visiting a few old Alumni friends from my alma-mater in Canada. However, I am a citizen of the Bahamas, a country that also can claim to be primarily of African slave descendants as is Brazil. I believe this, along with my limited experiences being toured by fellow scholars throughout Brazil (particularly Bahia) entitles me to address your article.

I often read articles on Brazil and other South American countries, but never have I been more motivated to reply to the author of any article. Your article inspired a lot of thoughts and questions, but I shall mention only a few as I am not sure if you will even reply to this email....'but here goes nothing' so to speak.

Firstly you seemed very liberal in presenting information on the unjust conditions that blacks were subjected to by other blacks in the past and the present, as almost a justification for not having this history presented in Brazilian schools. You even made some quotes invoking biblical precedent on slavery which gives the impression you're down playing its effects. Well I'm not a biblical scholar, but these historical records in my opinion, were designed to show the reader as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 8:9 "that man has dominated man to his own injury". This statement is universal, does not apply to ANY GIVEN RACE, BUT ALL RACES! And it seems to me that to invoke the Bible without pointing out that fact is intellectually irresponsible, and diminishes your point.

May I ask you if just because French Catholics have "dominated" other Christian minorities, oppressed and savagely burned many chained with their bibles to a stake is this an indicator that French history is not worth learning? Isn't such a sweeping conclusion ridiculous? That is a history of Frenchman killing his own fellowman,....today we would view such actions as savage, barbaric, and uncivilized, but nonetheless, there is much educational value in learning it. Not to mention there are many inspiring highlights of the good that the French have done, but should we ignore learning it, because of the oppression, and savagery that existed, and in some ways still exists today? The same can be said for what most recognize as the cradle of man's history itself: AFRICA!

It seems to me that we should not be focusing on whether we should learn European history, African history, Asian history, Indian history or any other in isolation. But children of Brazil should know Brazilian history first. And the fact is that Brazilian history includes all the histories of these races. If Mr. Lula has determined that African history, as one of the many parts of the more encompassing Brazilian history was omitted from the collective that makes Brazil, then without question it should be included. Any other would be intellectually deficient.

I can say a lot more about your article, but there is one other point I think I will leave with you. If I stole candy from a baby could I justify myself by saying; "well the baby didn't put up a good defense to protect his possessions" or "I only did it because his mother wasn't around to protect him"? Most certainly such logic is devoid of morality, is it not? So how could anyone justify that some blacks took part, and are still taking part in slavery as a reason to diminish the responsibility of those who benefited the most: their European Slave owners? In fact if anything, that makes this one more despicable than the one who sold his land and fellowman for a cheap piece of tobacco or gun! Even more so because that one claims to be higher in moral standing, claims to be "civilized" and "Christian", but by his very action revealed his duplicity, and hypocrisy. I have European descent also, but I can not diminish the act of slavery conducted on blacks because some blacks aided my ancestors in such morally inexcusable acts of covetousness!

I have studied European, Indian, African, and generally speaking world history in Bahamian schools. All had terrible dark sides, but I do not choose to ignore them because of that. To the contrary, it inspires me to do what I can to avoid ever becoming personally responsible for such things! In many western countries slavery has resulted in a group of people two-steps behind their counterparts (socially and economically), but what do we do? Do we continue to rely on the systems use for the last 100 years that keep people two steps behind? Or do we try to increase our assistance to bring everyone to a common level so that one day we will never have to specially consider anyone black or white? It seems to me the answer is blatantly clear. And at that I will say no more.

PS: For your information, I find it interesting that after the abolition of slavery in Bahamas, and the government taking proactive steps to elevate blacks who after slavery were mostly illiterate, today we find in the schools and colleges of the Bahamas, that as a percentage of the overall population, more blacks go off to university than whites. More blacks take up occupations as teachers than white Bahamians.

Although those of us that claim European descent are in the minority, but are still in the financial majority, it is interesting that black Bahamians as a percentage of their total numbers take up more advanced professional careers than their white counterparts. This, without being an expert in education, allows me to say with some confidence that the Bahamas serves as an excellent example, of how one race can be brought "up to par", so to speak, and in today's Bahamas no one, black or white is given educational preference, nor do they need to any longer. Just food for thought.

Sherlin Lance Brown
Website: www.lilly.com

Just a Paper Champion

Janer, I found your racist article to be so typical of a defeated person back peddling in defeat. It is like the boxer who has run out of energy in the middle rounds. He has been hurt maybe even staggered. He can't stop the blows from coming in and knows the end of his reign is near. He only has a few more attempts at a lucky or perhaps calculated punch....hoping that it may back off his opponent to give him time to recover. But the outcome is inevitable. The false or paper champion's days are numbered. What makes the defeat more tragic is the reality that the fighter wasn't really a champion at all. He was placed there out of ignorance and maintained there out of arrogance. It is a pitiful sight but the end is near.

Your article "A Trap for Blacks" does nothing to curb the reality that your days as a sole supremacist is nearly over. Had you worked more towards truth instead of insulting those whom you have lied to about for so long, you would find your demise or decline not one of a calamity but something to look forward. You would not see yourself in such danger to make you proclaim (falsely I might add) that "The history of Africa is the history of tribal warfare and slavery, stoning to death for adulterers, etc......". Your strike at various historical experiences and even contemporary realities does nothing to further your cause or demise. It is like a feathery jab against the jaw of the juggernaut of truth, justice, righteousness, and equality.

Anybody with half a brain knows that Africa has never been nor will ever be a utopia. No African scholars (worth their merit ) will give you that story. But it is equally true that Europe and her descendants did nothing to aid Africa...instead, she has left Africa in far worse shape than when she entered 600 years go. To the contrary, most European scholars will agree that had it not been for Africa and her descendants (whether some of them are called Moors, Negroes, Nubians, Egyptians, etc), there would not be anything resembling the Europe that we know today. Europe borrowed heavily from Africa. The sages of Europe themselves say so, even if contemporary descendants such as yourself still want to believe otherwise.

The disease of racism is a European invention (unlike slavery, which you accurately pointed out is the weakness of mankind). You cannot infect a person with a disease and not expect you too get sick. You article shows the sickness that you still have.

It is not necessary to point out all of the atrocities and barbarity of Europeans and their descendants. The reality is that Europeans occupy the lands and dominate the resources of other people. If you are so superior, pack up your bags and leave the Americas, Asia, the South Pacific (including Australia) and Africa......go and make your way in your own land and let's see how you fare amongst yourselves and with your own resources.......or did you try that and it did not work!

Yes, race is poison and often times the remedy seems hypocritical. It takes dialogue, patience, honesty, and some pain to bring to life a better way for humans to interact on the planet with one another. A paper champion who has been given the title by default and protected by only going up against poorly trained opponents can never know this. His ego is inflated and he begins to believe that he is really "a champion". But when he gets his face smashed with that left hook of truth, the overhand right of justice, and the upper cut of reparations, he knows the end is near. All that is left is for him to be counted out.

Mr. Cristaldo, the referee is counting. Whether you are knocked out cold or if it is called a technical knockout, your time as paper champion is over. The only question is whether Africans from South America, Central America, The South Pacific, Africa along with the remnants of the Indigenous peoples and Asians are prepared to be masters of their own destiny and can usher in a new and better world...one based on equality and truth. The first step in that process is knowledge of self.....a better insight on who they are....we are and what we can in turn be.

Oh, Mr. Cristaldo, the time is coming. Article such as this cannot deter us any longer. You will either join us as part of the imperfect human family striving for a better world or you will be knocked out. If this article is any indication of your stand, it seems you will be knocked out.....here the referee counting....

1...2...3...4...5...6...7.....8.....9......10......YOU ARE OUT!!!

Julani Ghana
Via Internet

An Invitation

My name is Jonese Armstrong, Producer, XM Satellite Radio, Make It Plain, I am interested in scheduling you as a guest to discuss "A Trap for Blacks," Brazil now has quotas for blacks and a law requiring the teaching of Afro-Brazilian History in school. The date for the interview is today, March 25, 2003 at 6:30pm - 7:00pm EST.

Jonese Armstrong
XM Satellite Radio, Producer
Lanham, Maryland
www.xmradio.com

Top Claptrap

I just read your article. I find it absolutely amazing that someone who is a lawyer, author, journalist or however many titles you want to claim (which is usually a sign of self esteem problems) can write some of the most ignorant drivel if ever read.

You have the nerve to say :

"The history of Africa is the history of tribal warfare and slavery, stoning to death for adulterers, physical mutilation as punishment and sexual mutilation as custom. Democracy, human rights, freedom of the press and female emancipation are unknown institutions in that continent. Six thousand girls have their clitoris extirpated every day in twenty countries, in the Middle East and Africa. This is done by local barbers or midwives, with instruments that are not sterilized."

It's obvious that you haven't studied any African history whatsoever, have you? If you had, you would have known that great civilizations existed from Egypt in the North Africa to the Songhay empire in the South.

You would have known that great universities existed and societies existed when the Europeans were still in caves.

I could go on and on, but you get my point.

Do the reading world a favor: Grab an African History book sit in a corner and read it from cover to cover, and don't rely on just the negatives and stereotypes you hear about Africa. Actually think about what you have read. You are a philosopher and lawyer, aren't you?

Another thing: No one is impressed with all of your titles. It doesn't lend credence to your ignorant ranting.

Via Internet

DNA of Greatness

Cristaldo, I'm not going to get in to a big diatribe explaining why you are misinformed on your position as far as history helping the children with their self-esteem. So I'm going to make this short and sweet.

I myself , among many others I know, have benefited from learning black history. The reason is simple. In America, we are taught that our history starts with the slaves coming to America. Furthermore, European and American revisionist fail to mention the contributions that Africans and Native Americans made to Europeans in the areas of science and farming just to mention a few upon their arrival in America.

To make a long story short, once I found out that Africans made significant contributions in the areas of mathematics (Egypt), science, art and architecture it gave me the self-esteem to know that my very DNA is comprised of greatness. Therefore, I have a legacy to uphold. Why? Because this is where I come from.

And once you gain a knowledge of yourself, one tends to respect your heritage and your history a little better. And once non-Africans understand our contributions, you tend to respect us a little better. So it benefits everybody.

Let me leave you with this. According to European scientists (Dr. Leakey among many others), black Africans were the first people on earth. In effect, we people of African descent are YOUR mothers and YOUR fathers. And as the bible says, honor your mother and honor your father, that your days will be long.

It's good to know the truth. The truth will set you free.

Have a great day. And keep the debate going.

Monty Burks
Via Internet

A Little Education Would Do

Mr. Cristaldo, you seem very uneducated about the entire history of Africa. You could have benefited from learning about the vast contributions of Africa to art culture and religion. Greece, Rome and the Middle Eastern culture have made great contributions to society but also had barbaric practices (feeding Christians to lions as sport and human sacrifices to gods). It is precisely your racist view of all of Africa and its history that this policy looks to eradicate.

Aisha Karefa-Smart
Via Internet

Shut Your Lying Mouth!

Have you lost your sick racist mind? Africa's history begins in Central Africa and its first civilization was Ancient Kash. One may call it Kush. That civilization moved up to so-called Egypt was called by the Blacks who lived there, KMT - Kemet Land of the Blacks and they called themselves the Kemetou.

Who do you think you are to interpret our history you fool. Brazilians will benefit from learning the glorious history of Africa. From Rulers Menes, Tahaqa to Amil Cabral and the Moroons in Palmares.

Don't you know truth crushed to the ground will rise! The black man and woman all over the Diaspora is rising from their self-hate and Eurocentric lies!

Whether Brazilians are mixed or not. Let the ones who call themselves Black know the truth and shut you filthy lying mouth!

Via Internet

Looting Europeans

What an appalling assertion! It seems to me that you are looking for all excuses possible in the book to oppose the social and economic remedy compounded upon blacks from your forbearers, from a systemic deprivation of access to social necessities, over centuries.

Granted that some economic and social conditions in Africa continue to be dire. You have failed to address the consequences of depriving a continent of its young and able for 300 years of European intrusion. If my memory serves well, didn't one of your classical economists, Adam Smith, indicate that "labor builds wealth", in his book, Wealth of a Nation? This principle has been proved over and over. From this prism, if African youths, young and very able had been continuously taken for 300 years, from their African homeland, by your forefathers, then it will be difficult to have this displaced labor, benefit Africa, while they were tilling and cultivating European prosperity all around their colonies. Wouldn't it?

If only your forefathers were content from the loots of slavery, maybe Africa may have the chance for recovery, but no, they were not. They had to come back for seconds in form of colonization. This time, the objective was not slavery, but siphoning and draining of precious metals, technology metals, agricultural products, and introduction of your mind-numbing religions, with your missionaries.

Sir, true, Africa is currently underperforming. It is a dysfunctional by-product of your intrusion, pillaging, partition, divide and conquer policy. All these are temporary ills that social reform and education can cure, but something tells me your toxic perceptive and venomous mind is permanent. If your race can survive the Dark Ages, of cannibalism, bubonic plague, starvation, wars and destruction, in Europe, Africa can be transformed. So wipe that smirk and gloating off your face. Come what may, economic and social prosperity is imminent among blacks across the Diaspora. Afro-Brasileiros are part of this group.

Some Africans might have colluded with your forbearers in trading of fellow blacks. They were traded for work, not for abuse inflicted by your forbearers. Padlocking of lips was not part of the bargain. Raping of the women, was not stipulated. Can you show me where lynching of blacks was authorized by African traders? Is order for whipping and murder of blacks, authorized by the African merchants? I think not! My good friend, apart from the slave trade, the abuse of the sons and daughters of Africa is one of the most egregious crimes in the history of humanity. The other mentionable deeply offensive acts were the killing of Indians in your country, and U.S. aboriginals in Australia. They were all committed, in the name of repatriation of the indigenous wealth back to Europe. Also devious, was slavery by your "partners in crime" the Arabs. The list goes on and on.

All in all, you appear to be very consummate ingrate, like most of your kins around the globe in U.K., U.S., France, Germany, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, who are descendants of Europeans, who schemed and wrongfully owe their economic history and survival to people of dark skin around the globe. Without black people who built wealth for your forbearers to built infrastructures, i.e. schools, roads, hospitals, organized farming, equity capital institutions, your life would be like that of any African child in Congo, because you would have lacked the access to basic essentials, necessary for your early development. I guess Sorbonne would not have accepted your enrollment, or maybe there may not have been a Sorbonne, built from wealth taken from the Francophone African Countries.

I guess your Sorbonne has less credibility than I thought, for teaching so much junk!

Via Internet

The Place to Be

Mr. Madarasz, I read your article titled "Brazil, a nation at peace" - www.brazzil.com/p103apr03.htm - and I am very impressed. As a Brazilian, I enjoyed reading about a point of view that resembles mine as well as Lula's, regarding the war with Iraq, the economy, and other issues. As a Brazilian studying in the US, looking forward to returning to Brazil, I was happy to see in your article the optimism shared by all Brazilians regarding Brazil's future.

It says that you live in Rio. How do you like it there? How is Brazil? I am from Belo Horizonte, in Minas Gerais. I can't wait to return to Brazil, I feel that life, in its truest sense is there. I especially believe that now after living here in the US, even though America does have its good points, Brazil is still the better one. I would like to stay in contact with you, especially regarding topics of the economy, markets, politics, social issues etc...in regards to Brazil, but also the world. Once again, great article! Congragulations! Um abraço,

Gustavo
Via Internet

Wishful Thinking

Dear Norman, Re: "Brazil, a Nation at Peace" I live in Rio Grande do Sul, and I must say that you are living in a vacuum if you really believe that the Arab world contains much room to absorb additional export of Brazilian goods. This is your first error. Your second: you need to read what more informed writers are saying.

Via Internet

Cheers for Lula

Dear Prof. Norman Madarasz, I have read your article entitled "Brazil, a Nation at Peace" with great anticipation. In fact, Prof. Norman, there is nothing wrong with Mr. Lula policy of going against this latest war in Iraq. For the benefit of the world population, this war was simply meaningless and actually illegal. I have read few articles from Brazzil and I simply feel that there is nothing wrong at all if Mr. Lula decided to write his personal opinion about the Iraqi war in the magazine.

As a matter of fact, he could even have proposed to the Security Council a stop of this bloody war. I personally believe that the United Nation should think of a new strategy on how to ask Mr. Bush to quit the fights. The US president and the British Prime Minister should be worried because their popularity would go down and of course they could be categorized as war criminals, just like Mr. Ariel Sharon, Mr. Pinochet, Mr. Milosevic and others.

In this most unpopular war the superpower of the world, which champions human rights actually breaks the rule of conduct and simply champions unilateralism all in the name of absolute imperialism. The "might is right" policy simply leads this war towards total destruction for the rest of the world, not only Iraq. Mr. Jacques Chirac of France and his allies realize how harmful this war on Iraq could have been. Not only it destroys the world economy, but also inflicts great devastation and loss of innocent life.

I personally greet the cooperation between Mr. Chirac and Mr. Lula. Dr. Mahathir, Malaysia's Prime Minister could also join this peace and freedom club. The more world leaders who wish to join them the better the prospect to stop this illegal war on Iraq.

Lina
Malaysia

The World Is on Our Side

In reference to your article in Brazzil, I wanted to thank you for highlighting another example in a long list of French ineptness. Let's see, I believe Napoleon was also involved in selling Louisiana for $.06 per acre. Your article just cemented my belief that the U.S. is doing the right thing in Iraq. I also believe the majority of the world is behind us, it is always the dyed in the wool doves that make the most noise.

Kaare Sanness
USA, Via Internet

Lula Is Failure Bound

Dear Norman,

Lula and Chavez are both slated for elimination. First on the list is Chavez (who the good liberal intellectuals abandoned long ago), next comes Brazil. Where will you stand if and when a fascist coup takes place and the "establishment' starts tiring of Lula. Lula's project will fail if it does not become radicalized. This is too much for the cheering academics happy to praise Lula as long as their maids keep cleaning on the cheap.

Are you a revolutionary, a pragmatist, or a liberal? Someday soon you may have to decide. Hopefully, you can put away your hypocritical Canadian naïveté long enough to consider the options carefully. Again, I think the Lula phenomenon will end in an abysmal failure unless the project becomes radicalized. I do not think that Lula has the will to embark on such a journey if it means parting company from the ruling class and their perceived "needs". We'll see soon enough, anyway.

Steven Hunt
Via Internet

The author responds:

Steve,

Your prejudice against Canadian perspicuity notwithstanding, I appreciate your comment. The only problem is I find your attitude toward two Latin American political movements contemptible, and all the more so since it comes from someone I assume to be American.

Your revolutionary fervor is well-placed, but it's not only the "ruling class" which is at risk in the PT government's attempt to implement reform in Brazil. The ruling class, in all but the rarest of revolutionary contexts, has always found ways to get out intact, especially as we climb to the highest tiers of that class. On the other hand, the middle class is systematically penalized in power and stripped of its wealth when a revolution threatens or takes place.

Before launching into a typically postmodern cum aesthetic tirade against the middle class, from which you also most likely come, you should be aware that the growth of a solid middle class in Brazil is no mere accomplishment. Ask the Argentines what they think of a society rid of its middle.

Brazil has literally no true allies in its currently 'liberal critical' turn, and it stands to have even less if it goes the mile and implements change at the cost of social and financial stability. This vulnerability is not what the country needs, or much less wants. Two-thirds of the population live under the poverty line. Risking more than that by head-on confrontation is a sign of irresponsibility or demagogy.

Sure enough, the previous government ran a self-declared neoliberal program with privatizations, open capital and money markets and an individualist conviction in the virtues of the consumerism. And indeed, the current government has not reversed those advances. But at one point Cardoso's policies made growth of a middle class possible by introducing a currency strong enough to buy expensive imports and electronic goods, and conjuring away inflation.

The problem is that the Real was artificially pegged, which led to its devaluation and, as induced by the IMF, to complete elimination of capital controls. Without those imports, there can be no industry from which to build the wealth that, under political reform, will be aimed for distribution to a larger portion of the population on more of an equitable basis, and far more of one if the program is courageous.

Your concern over the political will to carry out reform or revolution is right on. Yet one would be hard set to find any mention of economics in your admittedly brief note. The risk facing Brazil now is not of dictatorship, nor American invasion. The risk is that of a combination of defaulting on its huge public debt, a massive withdrawal of short and also long-term capital, breaking of the federal government's private contracts and the collapsing of its financial system. These risks are to be measured and dealt with neither through hysteria nor hubris.

Speaking in a revolutionary tone from within the US is doing so from a comfortable position. I've written a number of articles on the challenges facing the PT and Brazilians as a whole as they strive to implement revolutionary change. We gringos have all to learn from their real attempts and the risks they incur while our progressives have only handed over our countries, the US and Canada, to hardcore neo-liberals applauded by our middle classes. In the meantime the worth of our labor has not ceased sliding since the sixties, and the wealth of our own upper classes has become the most concentrated in our relatively short histories.

At this point, I can only point out that the naïveté of how to bring about change is in your court. Without economic analyses of the globalized economy as seen from emerging markets, we only contribute to making the Northern elite's interventions more salutary. The symptom of your naïveté is that progressives in Brazil simply don't care what the judgment is of American progressives as to the rate and success of their program, so long as the record of the political and economic accomplishments of American progressives remains so poor. They have no power at home; they should ease off on the compromise baiting for those living abroad, working without any international allies apart from those reaping the benefits from their attempts.

In agreement with your last point: just as the wind blows, we'll see soon enough what'll happen.

Abraço,

Norman

No Xuxa or Sasha Here

Re: "Can't Xuxa Act Her Age?" - www.brazzil.com/p109apr03.htm. You found one kid in this country and she does not know who is Sasha, my daughter. God willing, she'll grow up without knowing and consume any Xuxa's product.

Lucia
Brazil, Via Internet

Come to Africa!

Dear Janer, saw your article on a link from Blackelectorate.com. You write "The history of Africa is the history of tribal warfare and slavery, stoning to death for adulterers, physical mutilation as punishment and sexual mutilation as custom. Democracy, human rights, freedom of the press and female emancipation are unknown institutions in that continent. Six thousand girls have their clitoris extirpated every day in twenty countries, in the Middle East and Africa. This is done by local barbers or midwives, with instruments that are not sterilized. Africa, to this day, tends more to Idi Amin Dada than to Mozart. More towards Bokassa than towards Einstein. To study its history, past or present, helps no child with no self-esteem. "

Janer,

Je vois que tu as étudié en France, je t'écris donc en français.

Je pense que l'histoire de l'Afrique ne consiste pas qu'en ces phénomènes négatifs que tu mentionne. As-tu lu Check Anta Diop ? Connais-tu l'histoire de nos coutumes traditionnelles de partage du pouvoir politique qui ont été abandonnées au profit des valeurs occidentales qui ont aussi leurs imperfections ? As-tu lu Maryse Condé ?

En Afrique, Mozart n'est ni une référence ni une valeur universelle et Einstein encore moins. Il faut venir ici, vivre avec nous et apprendre ce qui reste de notre histoire avant d'en faire un compte-rendu aussi lapidaire que celui que j'ai vu dans ton article. La position d'Abdoulaye Wade n'engage que lui. L'histoire de l'Afrique, si on ne se contente pas d'en montrer les côtés négatifs peut être l'occasion pour la jeunesse de couleur au Brésil de se réconcilier avec son héritage africain. Mais cela, bien sûr, dans un pays comme le Brésil, marqué par une forme très sévère d'apartheid social par la couleur, cela, donc, risque de prendre du temps.

Frankly, Janer, your article hinted at the difficulty of making the difference between black and mulatto and even white. Why do you guys, in Brazil, still make a difference between black and mulattos if not for racism? I agree with you the racism issue in the USA and France, France being even more racist in some ways, is very true and far worse than what you would encounter in many part of your country, but I find strange that no black people apart from a certain soccer player ever made it in Brazilian politics, not even a mulatto. I have a friend from Romania who was teaching in Rio and told me because he was white and looked like a white Brazilian it was very easy for him in the Brazilian society. Black people are too much far back in your society not to peak of strong words like apartheid.

I have to tell you too that it is estimated that 8 to 9 percent of the French population is black even though you never see them portrayed as French citizen in the news because of French racism. From your 5.4 percent number of Black people in Brazil I would have to conclude that there are more blacks in France than in Brazil! Please check your number.

When I speak of Mozart I mean we have our music here and it is not for us a sign of progress to move on to classical Austrian music. When I refer to Einstein, I mean that scientific truth is not the only way to look at things, and this guy got the Nobel prize, yes, but he helped build a nuclear bomb too, right! I mean, there is not only the European route for a human society, some of us as African have understood that now and try to better organize our respective societies to fight against poverty of means and souls. We need to be respected and not always misunderstood and undermined.

Regards

Mamadou M'Baye
Dakar, Sénégal

More of You

Dear Cristaldo, I don't know if I should condemn your shallow acceptance of slavery while I applaud your critique of the legislators. Your concept of Africa being more "primitive" than renaissance is appalling. Your article is very interesting. I would like to read more of your writings.

Anonymous
Via Internet

The Original, Please

Prezado Dr. Janer Cristaldo,

Recebi de um conhecido meu, por e-mail, a versão em língua inglesa de seu artigo sobre cotas para negros e sobre a legislação que torna obrigatório o ensino da história da África nos currículos escolares, texto que muito me interessou.

Gostaria de conhecer o texto em português, e peço-lhe a gentileza de enviá-lo pelo e-mail.

Elizabeth L. Nascimento
Via Internet

The Entire Picture

Cristaldo,

It's not about accepting the barbaric practices of Greece and Rome, but acknowledging that all civilizations have their good and their bad.

Black students in Brazil will not gain self esteem from learning about Africa, but they will get more of a complete picture of world history and the many contributions of various civilizations.

For some reason people tend to glorify European contributions, and demonize or completely omit African ones and there are many. It's about being fair and moving beyond Europe vs. Africa and approaching history from a human perspective. Not one that seeks to elevate one race over another.

My uncle the late James Baldwin made as much of a contribution to American literature as did Ernest Hemingway, but it was the French who honored him with the Legion of Honor. I will read your reply on Brazzil.

Thanks

Aisha
Via Internet

Civilization Started in Africa

Dear Professor,

At least read before you spout such garbage. Any modern anthropologist would tell you that the middle passage and Blacks' sojourn in the west as chattel were fundamentally different from the slavery practiced in ancient Africa.

In addition, the ancient civilizations of Egypt (yes, black, check the facts), Zimbabwe, Mali, Ghana, Kush, Ethiopia could hardly be called tribalist, barbaric or murderous.

Black Moors (Black-A-Moors, in old English) civilized Spain, the first country to become civilized in Europe (before France and Portugal). In addition, life and civilization began in Africa. Brazil is mostly of African descent. The same aspects that you denigrate, slaves brought with them to give Brazil most of its culture and identity. The Portuguese slavers did not give culture to these... They learned it from them.

The recent and current shape of Africa are results of 500 years of slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism (of the sort that's being reinforced in Iraq at this very moment). Don't be afraid of your origins. They may well save you from the mess Europeans have made of the world.

Glenn Rucker
Via Internet

Africa Made Brazil

I would like to challenge you on the notion of African History in Brazil and Africa since your Eurocentric mouth don't know a thing about African people!

First off, it was the African's labor that made Brazil what it is and don't you forget that! Who helped liberate Brazil if it was not for African people and your comments on Africa was appalling and racist at best ….to quote you below !

(" The history of Africa is the history of tribal warfare and slavery, stoning to death for adulterers, physical mutilation as punishment and sexual mutilation as custom. Democracy, human rights, freedom of the press and female emancipation are unknown institutions in that continent. Six thousand girls have their clitoris extirpated every day in twenty countries, in the Middle East and Africa. This is done by local barbers or midwives, with instruments that are not sterilized.

Africa, to this day, tends more to Idi Amin Dada than to Mozart. More towards Bokassa than towards Einstein. To study its history, past or present, helps no child with no self-esteem " )

You failed to mention that Africa was the birthplace of civilization. The Nile Valley to West Africa from 4500 BCE to today many Great people have come from African descent!

First Civilization African = Egypt and Nubia

First Medicine practice African : Imhotep Inventor and Builder of first Pyramid. All Physicians take an oath to Imhotep today…

First writing in Africa

First Calendar invented in Africa 4000 BCE

First Metal Builders African and use of Medals was in Africa

First schools of Knowledge in Africa. Don't forget all the Greeks got there education in the Nile Valley

First Monarchs African !

I could go on and on but you get the picture of this email and you should be the first one to Take African History because you know nothing about African People and her struggles ……

Will debate you any time and any place with documentation and facts anywhere on the Globe and will forward your article to many Afro Thinkers around the Globe !

Averylove77@hotmail.com

Unheard Of Drivel

I recently read an article in which you postulated that the history of Africa is one of slavery, female mutilation and a host of ills. You criticize the Africans of Brazil in their efforts to bring the history of Africa to the fore of Brazilian academia.

You obviously have not heard of the white chapel, the scholars of Timbuktu, the miracles of the Dogon or the political sophistication of many African societies before the coming of the European.

Herodotus, the father of European history wrote that the ancients did not consider themselves educated until they had studied in Africa. To write such a one sided article is an indice of intellectual poverty. Even an idiot could find positive contributions to world culture made by the continent of Africa and its children. I am an African who lives in the United States and let me tell you, the most powerful white man in this country would never utter such drivel I read in your article.

We Africans of North America will unite with our brothers in Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica and wherever our brothers are found in Latin America and completely refute your point of view and place our history and our legacy in a positive light. I see my brothers in Brazil are well on their way in completing this task and they are welcome with open arms in this country.

As for you, you fancy yourself as an intellectual and historian, well, study the social history of the United States between Africans and our European antagonist and you will see we (the Africans of north and south America) are well on our way to defeating your historically refuted racist ideology. You are aware that you would be considered an ignorant racist not worthy of academic tenure or position in any institution of higher learning in America. I challenge you to apply, you will know Black Power in this country when you are denied on the basis of intellectual inadequacy. Did you purchase your academic credential? Africans are well on their way in transforming Brazilian society, except you won't get a Colin Powell but a President named Zumbi.

Duma Shange
Via Internet

The Lion's Story

I shall......and I am hopeful that you will be more like a champion of the new world....a world that all of us can play a role in helping to build......not one of the old conquistadors....one that gives immense advantages to those who call themselves or are called or even close to being Europeans......not even a world that gives an advantage to those who are Africans, Indigenous, Asians, or anything in between...

If we can build pyramids, skyscrapers, cities in the Nevada desert, sports stadiums, and amusement parks....we can also build dams, create clean water systems, take advantage or the solar sun rays of the heavens, feed the hungry, provide shelter for the homeless, and be better human beings than we are today......but first one has to know that it is "not his nature" to be an alcohol abuser, drug runner, primitive, savage, liar, or nobody......for too long, the contemporary writers of World history have penned the African and all non-Europeans as heathens, pagans, cannibals, bushmen, adulterers, etc......they have used the so-called Holy Books to back up their claim and with such ferocity through their weapons of mass deception.

Millions of our unsuspecting and unborn white brothers and sisters learn to accept this nonsense...this chosen people, manifest destiny and now operation liberate Iraq madness....But what is even more tragic is that this deception has infected the people whose lands and resources are no longer their own. They have internalized the lies and tricknology. They have even built contemporary histories based on the most unfair and absurd distortions in the flaws of their historical experiences.

One can only imagine what Europeans would be like if for the past 600 years, the majority population of Black, Brown, Red, and Yellow peoples produced the same information about the backwardness of these same Europeans.....but then again, it is not like the information is not available. We now know today that thousands of unsuspecting European scholars wrote mounds of books about what they saw in the civilizations of those they conquered and compared it to the lives of Europeans at the time.

The writers of Brazilian and South American history despite the destruction of millions of Indigenous books can still piece together this information. Even writers of the deceitful 18th and 19th century who really are responsible for the sickness of racial colorization knew what they wrote......and we have their records...Volney, De Las Casas, Hume, Higgins, Massey, etc....the Greeks and Romans themselves...the counts and countesses of England, Germany, Russia, France, Spain, and Portugal.....

Let us be truthful and provide balance...let us also understand perspective.....some may see Columbus as a discoverer. Others know that others were there before Columbus. In America, they see the colonials as revolutionaries and freedom fighters. To the British, they were guerillas, suicide bombers, and rioters.....Some perhaps see Zumbi as a liberator and man of justice...others see him as slaver, trouble maker, and bringer of chaos.....whose perspective shall reign supreme. The truth will come out.....one way or another....

"When the lion gets the chance to tell the story of the hunt, he tells of a different story than the hunter".......African proverb....

Via Internet

Such Ignoramus

I am sure Cristaldo has been hit on the head with all kinds of baguettes, so no need to waste time hitting a man with ad hominems while he's down.

Some facts about African history: the ignoramus does not know that there are huge volumes published by UNESCO and Cambridge University Press on African history. The fool was in Paris and never even bothered to read the books written by Cheikh Anta Diop (from Senegal) who spent many years in Paris writing on African history.

Here are some facts that the ignoramus never thought about:

1) Humankind began in Africa about 150,000 years ago and stayed there until about 50, 000 years ago. Firemaking, toolmaking etc were all African inventions.

2) The world's first civilization (writing, mathematics, medicine, engineering, etc.) all began in Africa, in the Egypto-Nubian complex. The people who founded this civilization were blacks (see Aristotle [Physiognomonics] and Herodotus who described the people they met in Egypt as "black and woolly haired".

3) African Moors (blacks mainly) were instrumental in setting up the Moorish Civilization in Spain (and Portugal). The civilization served as a conveyer belt for the classical knowledge of the Greeks and Egyptians.

4) The medieval African kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, Songhay and Axum are well known in African History; similarly that of Nok and Benin. And I am sure Black Brazilians would be interested in the history of Zimbabwe with its important architecture (stone). I can go on for pages, but hopefully Critaldo's dense brain could get the picture.

5) Cristaldo parrots the usual racist nonsense about "genital mutilation" and "tribal warfare". Well Genital mutilation takes place legally in Europe, Brazil and America and elsewhere. What else is chopping off an important portion of a young male infant's genitals" It's MALE GENITAL MUTILATION sanctioned in Brazil and elsewhere. And why are girls different from boys in this regard. Africans abhor abortion but white practice this gruesome sacrifice with impunity. How would asking any girl which she would prefer—having a tiny portion of her body cut off or being killed by vacuum pressure in her mother's womb.

And of course the whites have been the champions worldwide when it comes to tribal slaughter. All those wars between Saxon and Pict, Gaul and Visigoth, Vandal and Viking. Then we had the massive slaughters of WWI and WWII. And the massive extermination of WWII involving Jews, Catholics and Gypsies. How horrific!

And slavery? The Europeans have been the most enslaved people in the world—all the modern words for "slave" come from Europe: servus (Latin), Slav (the Slavs were the slaves of the Middle Ages along with others). And serfdom lasted more than 1,000 years in Europe. If historians speak of "freeing the serfs" doesn't that imply that the serfs were also slaves.

And Cristaldo should know that contemporary art and music in the whole world today springs from Africans sources. Ask Picasso and Mondrian. And with music—just forget it. It's an African thing through and through.

Black Brazilians would learn a lot about their ancestors by being taught African history. They would know who the Hausa, Yoruba, Ashanti, Malinke, Fulani, Amhara, etc. are in the continent where humankind began and flourished for 80,000 years before some people migrated to what we now call other continents.

Alassan Kamara
Via Internet

Let's Stop the Denial

I am a black South African living and working in Switzerland. I come from Africa, and am African. I come from a land where human dignity has never been respected, and still is, by our European neighbors. I come from a former apartheid state- South Africa. I come from a vast continent that does not have much to show to the world, but abject poverty and diseases. Being poor is our middle name as is Maria to the Spanish as well as Abdul to the Muslims. We pride ourselves of being the richest continent in mineral and other natural resources, but never enjoy any benefits from these. Half or so of our land is 'foreign'. There is none or little that belong meaningfully to Africans.

Our continent has been ravaged by all sorts of scavengers. We have been our heritage and history. I do not know African history. I wish I knew it before a white man came to Africa, I'd say something or two. My family is Africa, some in America and some in Latin America: but I can not tell you what their names are and they do not know me. I am African. At least I can say that. My family is African. I have not lost hope; I'll find myself and spirit. Rise and shine Africa, Africa is our home. We love her.

I start my response to Janer's well researched and highly constipated insults this way to show that we still think that there is a chance for Africa and her people in this modern world.

This person reminds me of my fellow white South Africans, he is full of denial. He knows as much as I do that the world owes Africans an apology. As a white himself, he can not dissociate himself from the problems that face people of African descent in Brazil. This funny character says repeatedly that Brazil has/ had no institutionalized racism. I think that is true and fair.

The fact of the matter racism exists in Brazil. I do not care in what forms it follows, but it exists. Most white Brazilians that I have met deny existence of any form of racism in that country. Being Black (African) in Brazil is almost equivalent to poverty and starvation same as in South Africa or United States. My question to Cristaldo is: why is it impossible to distinguish the socio-economic conditions of Blacks (or mestizos) in Brazil from those in other countries that had legalized racism against Blacks? For me, whether racism is institutionalized or not, it remains just that and the results are the same.

Black Brazilians have been denied opportunities. I find it puzzling that an 'educated' person like Cristaldo does not see it as a problem that Blacks in his country are not presented sufficiently in government or business. In his narrow minded approach to this whole topic, he says any efforts of addressing this imbalance are "…many laws manufacturing racism" and affirmative action a "wretched idea".

This illusion and assertion that there is no racism in Brazil is hogwash! As a result, many Brazilians (black) do not find it 'necessary' to engage with other Africans, be it in Africa or in Diaspora. And most of them are almost removed from the motherland. Their participation in African dialogues would assist them to realize that they live with dangerous people like you.

Cristaldo, I am not responding to your article because I am Black but because I think you are quite illiterate on the subject Human Rights. I come from a country that does not have institutionalized racism any more, but I can draw parallel similarities between us (South Africa) and Brazil: one of them being poverty among Blacks. We have Mandela, you have Pelé ,The Great. Both are Black and ultra famous, though your forefathers tried very hard to deny them opportunities.

South Africa today is almost similar to Brazil, the only difference is that Blacks are in power and are managing the country very well. Thanks to processes like affirmative action, otherwise this would have been so successful. But the Black government still has to deal with the consequences of apartheid. We do not deny, but we deal with problems. Most racists, almost like you, have left the country and we are grateful.

The only Blacks that a big country like Brazil can showcase are just footballers? Come on, something needs to be done. Stop denying!

Siyabonga Hadebe
Switzerland, Via Internet

Racism Compendium

Mark,

I'm writing in response to your article "How is Brazil Racist? Let me Count the Ways" - http://www.brazzil.com/p133apr03.htm  I'm writing to say that it is one of the finest articles I've read on the issue owing to it's completeness in terms of your having addressed so many aspects of racism - in and out of Brazil -, historical perspectives, recent examples and socio-cultural considerations.

I am an Irish-Prussian American, if that matters to you, married to a typically mixed blood Brazilian woman with European, native and African ancestry. I've spent more time in Bahia than anywhere else in Brazil, although I've traveled extensively throughout the country. I could find little in your article to take issue with, which is amazing given the length and breadth of your coverage. I was piqued by the following remark "If a black man and a white man both start off in the same socio-economic position and both go to college and improve their lives, the white man will forever be able to disassociate himself (or even forget) from his poor beginnings because his skin color will give people the idea that he was always successful".

That remark is that it is true in terms of being able to project another image, and, of course I realize that was your intention. I wish it were so easy to address the issue internally - no criticism toward your remark, only acknowledging something that crossed my mind as I read it ... just thinking out loud.

Discussions of the United States and democracy always interest me; especially when the "ideal" is espoused by politicians. The United States is technically, and truly, not a democracy. Pointing that out is a personal issue for me so please don't be offended, but we're actually a representative Republic. Note that even the pledge of allegiance concedes that. We elect people to represent our interests rather than voting on everything that is to be considered. Clearly though, the degree of representation varies based on the makeup of constituencies in terms of the influence that they wield, and I believe that is the point you were making.

Finally, I much appreciated your discussion of DNA and Egyptian mummies. It's bothered me for decades that Jesus isn't more properly represented as being of Semitic origin, which, if I understand it correctly, is the most plausible case.

On balance, I think you composed a remarkable article and I applaud you for it. You've made a real, and constructive, contribution to help readers in the U.S., and not just a few Brazilians, better understand the issue of race in Brazil. I myself have authored more than 20 articles for Brazzil Magazine. I'd like to point to two of them that may be of interest to you:

Black Bond from October of 2001

Sugar and Slavery in Brazil from April of 2002

I also invite you to visit my web site at http://www.iei.net/~pwagner/brazilhome.htm. The aforementioned, and other, articles may be selected there for viewing from the selectbar in the left frame.

By the way: I live in Indianapolis, which has an extraordinary history of contributions from African-Americans from Madame C. J. Walker in enterprise to Wes Montgomery in music and Oscar Robertson in sports. Each year it hosts the largest and most well attended African American cultural event in the U.S. - Indiana Black Expo draws more than half a million visitors each year. Let me know if you ever visit the area.

Phillip Wagner
pwagner@iei.net 

An Absolutist Tone

The following text was an e-mail I sent to Mr Mark Wells in reply to his issue on Brazil's racial prejudices named "How Is Brazil Racist? Let Me Count the Ways." - www.brazzil.com/p133apr03.htm 

Before anything else I want to congratulate you for your research on the racial prejudice against black people in Brazil and your zeal trying to combat it. I agree deeply with what you said about racism, concerning Brazil and other countries. Racism is a barbaric crime that was and is committed against the peoples all around the world. It is not always very clear and neither for that same reason less true that racism has been manifested in several ways and epochs in the western civilizations, being now necessary and just to combat it in all its forms so that the serious ethnic offenses, more than avoided, be repaired properly and that be reestablished the black people's rights, from peoples that migrated in a voluntary or involuntary way and were later denied to participate as common citizens in the societies where they were inserted.

Even so, I also want to speak to you about another prejudice that runs in the international circles, and that is becoming a growing domination weapon to subjugate weaker people: the prejudice that some nations don't have capacity to solve their own problems, and that they need the intervention of "said to be" democratic countries, that possess leaders that use to show off an image of paternalism and "saviors of the world" just to interfere in the sovereignty of another people.

What I want to speak to you now is about something that got my attention in your text: the tone of absolutism, the passionate and eloquent way with which you composed your speech. In times when the president of the USA comes in public to call his people for a war against other people, with reasons almost bordering those ones of old crusades, it should be feared and avoided the inflamed speeches, where an only point of view is appreciated. That the blacks in the USA and in Brazil suffered and suffer with racist practices, nobody can deny. The researches are there to prove that in fact exists not only a veiled, but many times an extremely opened prejudice against the blacks. For that purpose the researches are valid.

But we cannot lose view of their function, which is not that of invalidate other truths that often are excluded from the researches, as for instance, that in Brazil the blacks many times live perfectly well together with other ethnic groups, be the Caucasians, Asians, Indians or even other Africans peoples. There are countless cases that show an integration that, if still needs lots of improvements, does not constitute the whole piece only a tragedy, as it is pointed out in the researches that just show the cases where there is racism.

That is to say, it is again the problem of linear and global visions that don't complement themselves, but before exclude each other. Of course, to prove something, many times one reach the extreme point of an analysis, in an attempt of sensitizing those that one wants to see understanding one's point of view.

The prejudice contained in your speech, is based on the old form as the western culture tends to generalize the cultures of all peoples, trying to transform them in just one and vast civilization, what is a mistake and, in another analysis, a form of ideological dominance. It was the same philosophy applied by the Jesuits in Brazil, what decimated the Indians and their cultures, for a total scorn for their religions and ways of life. People still today raise against the infanticide made by some Indians tribes in Brazil, always analyzing from the western point of view, and applying Christian concepts to the acts practiced since millennia for those people.

That is an insult to the diversity of the world, and that was exactly why the blacks were enslaved, because they had a culture different from the Christians and westerns, because they had a color skin different from the Caucasian ones. It is for that same reason that forests of great biodiversity are destroyed and in their place are planted pine trees and eucalyptuses, for those trees grow quickly and, seen from above, they are all the same. After all aren't they all green? The capitalism, and still more recently the globalization, made many people lose the sense of territorialism and of difference among the cultures, losing in this way the respect for the house of another.

Other people's land became the back yard for strangers and some countries feel themselves in the right of invading others on behalf of an assumed liberation. Recently a European youth was murdered in Amazonas River margins, and his boat was stolen. That seems an absurdity before the concept of freedom to go and come, before the spirit of civility that rounds the world today. But that young man nor at least wanted to know if people lived there, if he transgressed some norm of that people.

The USA make the same thing now with Iraq, assuming a false paternalist image and despising the potential of evolution of that people, that is a natural thing; because nobody lives eternally under the subjection of someone stronger. Do you remember the Roman empire? Didn't it have its peak and later it crumbled down? What about the USA? Will they always be the nation that will command militaristically the world? We don't know.

We know that yesterday the problem was Iraq, today is Syria and tomorrow it can be Brazil, with such absurd pretexts to invade as the ones of saving the Iraqi people of a dictator's hands. If pressures should have so that a regime falls, they should come from within. Because if, wanting to end with the infanticide practiced in a tribe, you exterminate the tribe, then what good have you done?

We have to take care in saying what is right and wrong when we are discussing subjects belonging to other cultures. It is a fact that for some people of other countries, and even for some people inside Brazil, Brazil is just and only a western country. But this vast country doesn't possess just a great and only Brazilian culture. There are here inside so many cultures as there are groups that were being isolated from each other and in 500 years of history they could form their own languages (here since long ago we don't speak Portuguese language anymore), their own manners and their own Collective Unconscious.

So that for we can understand their habits and points of views we will have to live in their realities, to pass a lot of our lives together with these peoples. It's not enough only 2 or 3 years, that is only the period of time to have just a superficial and many times distorted vision of reality. After breathing the same air that they breath and to have condition of calling them fellow citizens, then you can emit your proposals for an improvement, and not just judgments that generalize an entire people, as the ones that frequently some "first world" citizens emit, when referring to Brazilians as "Latins", or corrupts, be it about our politicians, industrial managers and common citizens. Always with a stereotyped vision and full of prejudice.

The sentence that you used: "Clean your own house before you start judging someone else's" can be applied so many times as one wants, in both directions, and that is what I say now to you: "Clean your own house before", and that is what you will probably say for me again in return, until we notice that we should have, before anything else, respect for the culture, problems and sovereignty of each nation.

Marcelo Massari
São Paulo, Brazil

Ah, These Communists

Dear Norman: I recently read one of your anti-American articles in Brazzil magazine. It was filled with lies and misinformation. You know very little about my country and its president. Are you a communist? It amazes me how many of you are still peddling your wares...

I hope you don't live in the United States—much as I wish the small percentage of Americans who would agree with you didn't live here. This nation will not decline like all the other great nations of the world. People like me simply will not allow that to happen, no matter how much people like you work toward that end. And we vastly outnumber you.

J. E.
Via Internet

The author responds:

Dear Sir,

There is absolutely no element of anti-Americanism to my article(s), although they are fervently anti-Bush, anti-administration, anti-Republican and anti-born-again-Christian-fundamentalist. Since when does the USA come down to one-party rule? Since when does a democracy equate with having to be a millionaire or billionaire—to run for office? Since when does the principle of accountable government lead to indebting its people for generations to come, while forsaking their health, environment and international welfare, and fraudulently ripping-off their pensioners in the same stroke?

If you would address these questions, Sir, perhaps you'd be spared the platitudes, and get to the nitty-gritty details of your disagreement with my arguments.

Regards,

Norman Madarasz, Ph.D.

Stop Making Sense

Hello, John Fitzgerald, I am an American living in Vitória and learning Portuguese slowly. Any links to sites that may be beneficial would be greatly appreciated. I enjoyed your article about Xuxa. She must have just fallen into an unexplainable notch in time. Anyways, making sense out of life is a waste of time, it just takes all the fun out of it. We must share that in common if we are both in Brazil.

G. F.
Via Internet

East Timor and Brazil

Dear John, I read your article about the samba and the fado - http://www.brazzil.com/p132feb03.htm - with mixed feelings. I find the idea that Brazilians only speak Portuguese by default bizarre, although had history been different, maybe the US would have German or Dutch as an official language. I'm sure that Brazilians regard Portuguese as Brazilian as Americans regard their version of English as American.

As Homer Simpson said 'What do I wanna study English for? I don't wanna go to England.' I suppose there are Brazilian Lusophobes just as there are American Anglophobes. I can't comment on the survival of indigenous languages in Brazil, but the track record of Portuguese as a 'killer' language is nothing compared to that of English.

I too am amused by Brazil's sudden interest in East Timor, a place of which few Brazilians indeed had heard or cared. I should point out that the adoption of Portuguese as an official language is not as absurd or as impractical as you may think. Tetum, the national language, is heavily influenced by Portuguese, far more than Konkani in Goa or Cantonese in Macau. Most East Timorese I know are proficient in English, Indonesian, and Portuguese, as well as their native Tetum or Fataluku.

Australia is indeed English speaking, but East Timor's leaders have no desire to become a cultural vassal like Papua New Guinea, or be Anglo-Americanized like the Philippines. As it happens, Australia has a sizeable Portuguese community of its own, there are Portuguese language newspapers, and pay TV viewers can watch three channels in Portuguese, including TV Globo. (Just like the 250 000 dekasegui in Japan, who still speak Portuguese.)

There is of course, a great deal of condescension and scorn towards the Portuguese in Australia, because like the Italians, Greeks or Maltese they are 'wogs', and alien to Aussies of Anglo-Celtic stock. However, not all Australians take that attitude—some of them even speak languages other than English! http://www.ocs.mq.edu.au/~leccles/easttimor.html  As it happens, there already is a Lusophone equivalent of the Commonwealth, the CPLP - www.cplp.org. Yes, it may be a talking shop, but no more fatuous or meaningless than the Non-Aligned Movement, which makes the Commonwealth look serious. The Commonwealth, incidentally, is not particularly important in political or economic terms either. The British monarch's role as its head is far from guaranteed, while republicanism in Australia is certainly not off the agenda.

As a UK citizen I see my country's future in Europe, just as I think Australians and New Zealanders should see their future as being in the Asia Pacific. The Commonwealth is an increasingly meaningless anachronism. Yes, I suppose Brazil would have been different it had been British or Dutch, just as I suppose Gibraltar, the Falklands would be different (and much better treated) if they had been French.

Portugal's treatment of East Timor in 1975 was despicable, but the gutless way that the UK behaved towards Gibraltar (and the Falklands prior to 1982) is not something to be proud of either. I'd rather be a French citizen in New Caledonia or Mayotte with the same political rights and economic privileges as people in the metropolis, than a British colonial subject in St Helena living in isolation and poverty, or from Diego Garcia, kicked out from that island to make way for a US military base.

There is a great deal of goodwill towards Portugal in East Timor, not least as benign neglect under Portuguese rule was far more preferable than the rape, torture, murder, sterilization, and discrimination that went on for 24 years under Jakarta's colonial regime. In 1943, leaflets were dropped in East Timor with the words 'Os vossos amigos não vos esquecem' by the Australians, who promptly forgot about East Timor for the next thirty years, after which they sucked up to Jakarta's barbaric occupation, with a view to exploiting East Timor's oil and gas.

So, rest assured, the Portuguese don't have a monopoly on betrayal. Com um abraço

Ken Westmoreland
Via Internet

Just a Fan

Dear John, hehe, this is like the "Dear John" bye-bye letter, will you please be kind and tell me one thing! I'm a Croat who lived in New York City (presently is Salvador), author, ex-journalist & public enemy # 1 in that little country of Croatia (they tried to kill me couple of times and now I hold the political asylum in the USA; http://www.cdsp.neu.edu/info/students/marko/novi/novi3.html) and am fan of brazzil.com. Is this your site?

Roman Latkovic
Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

US, the Real Terrorist

Mr. Fitzpatrick,

As is with standard Euro/Anglo propaganda coming out of Latin America your article about Colombia pressuring Brazil to label the FARC as terrorist does much to distort the situation. Your bias is definitely in line with the US effort in the region.

The US and the region's rightwing are responsible for the lion's share of the terror—however, it is never called "terrorist". That is a propaganda term bestowed on "the bad guys", those that would oppose US and ruling elite hegemony in the region.

For the record, the FARC, during the 1970s, laid down its arms and entered the political arena in a peaceful manner. However, the political party of the left, Partidad Patriotica, were demolished with a program of terror instigated on the part of the Colombian elite (with the covert support of the US). Thousands of politicians were murdered; the FARC again headed for the hills.

No side in this dispute has its hands clean, but one fact is scrupulously distorted or shunted aside: the paramilitaries (which work to a large degree with the elite, business, the military, and support the Uribe government) are responsible for two thirds of the civilian death in Colombia.

The US and Latin American elites should be called what they are: purveyors of terrorism who use innocent civilians as fodder as they engage a dehumanizing economic and fascistic political strategy.

Calling the FARC a terrorist organization without calling other players terrorist is sheer propaganda that functions strategically to prop up undemocratic powers in the region.

Tony Blair, whenever his lips are not glued to GW Bush's penis, is given to such facile propaganda as well—one would hope that journalists from British colonies could see reality and think critically.

Perhaps this is too much to ask a bunch of tea sippers that buy the notion that one class, the royalty, is genetically and socially superior to all others. Willing slaves that fail to think and bomb the "darkies" with impunity.

If you want to see a terrorist, or a supporter of terror, John, then all you have to do is look in your nearest mirror.

Steven Hunt
Via Internet

You're Dangerous

Hello Norman,

Just read your bedtime article for Bush - For Bush to Read in Bed - www.brazzil.com/p150mar03.htm. You put a lot of thought into what you say, but most of it is complete nonsense. You are so blinded with your ideology on things that even when the US does discover weapons of mass destruction you will pawn it off as just another lie so that you can keep making a fool of yourself. You, my friend, are the kind of people who are dangerous in this world. For you fail to see things for what they are.

Can you give me a shred of evidence that Bush is lying to his people? I don't think so. Yet you automatically assume he is a liar with nothing legitimate to back your claim. Mr. Norman, why don't you focus on your own country's social problems rather than try to undermine another?

It only took three years of living in Brazil to see for myself that it is a country with a small percentage of elitist who make things almost impossible for the little guy. Your country's land is owned by a small percentage of people and so only a select few will benefit from the exports even if free trade does open up.

Children are shot in the streets and are badly beaten so that the rich can go on their merry way. I watched shelters under bridges burned because rich people didn't want to be bothered by the image of poverty on their way to work. Let us not forget the children gunned down on the street by Brazil's own police force.

You know damn well that if life got better for the extreme poor then you fools could not have your maids and servants (slaves) to cater to your every need. Tell your government to quit abusing the aid that it does get from the US and it may receive more. I think it's quite convenient for your government to constantly point the finger at the US when in reality they themselves are corrupt inside and out and keep pocketing the majority of the money. Lula is just another front or puppet for the people who are really in charge of your country.

Blaine Dinsmore
Via Internet

The author responds:

Ms. Dinsmore,

As a person of Canadian, French and Brazilian nationalities, I have no difficulty spotting inequality and injustice in any of my countries. In fact, that's why I write so much about them (for Canadian and French questions, see: www.CounterPunch.com).

Just to correct matters, Brazil receives no "aid" from the US. It receives loans that are spiked with above market interest rates, spruced with demands on restrictive social spending with free sway given to banks on how they "invest" the money. This is an odd way of cutting down on the risks of "elitist" mismanagement and corruption to which you point.

Economists such as Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, formerly of the World Bank, have condemned IMF policies for stifling the emergence of local infrastructure in countries that have been awarded loans. If the current PT government has its hands cuffed, that's largely because it has no desire to see the US breathing down its back in case the "investors" from above deem its reforms to be too "communist", which, based on countless attacks on Brazil in the US Congress due to its being a powerhouse of an exporter, would only better get the message home: Brazil's well-being is a risk for US world economic dominance.

I find your attack on me disturbing. Once again, an American takes well-deserved criticism of their government's FOREIGN POLICY, i.e. what affects everyone BUT US people, as criticism of its internal policies.

That's for you, not for us, to deal with, Ms Dinsmore. The weight and suffering your nation is placing on the world, and the pariah your government has made of all US citizens, is scandalous.

As for accepting "facts" or not. Here are some recent figures from

London's The Independent to ponder over.

Regards,

Norman

Info: http://www.independent.co.uk/  The toll of a war that has taken Allies to the gates of Baghdad

05 April 2003

130,000 British and American troops are in action in Iraq from a total force of 250,000 in the Gulf. The Allies have launched 725 Tomahawk cruise missiles, flown 18,000 sorties, dropped 50 cluster bombs and discharged 12,000 precision-guided munitions. There have been an estimated 1,252 Iraqi civilian deaths, 57 Kurdish deaths and 5,103 civilian injuries. 88 Allied troops have been killed in the conflict, 27 of whom are British. At least 12 Allied soldiers are missing, 34 Allied soldiers have been killed in 'friendly fire' incidents or battlefield accidents. 9 journalists have been killed or are unaccounted for. There have been 2 suicide attacks on US troops, killing 7 soldiers. 8,023 Iraqi combatants have been taken prisoner of war.

So far, 0 weapons of mass destruction have been found.

1,500,000 people in southern Iraq have no access to clean water.

200,000 children in southern Iraq are at risk of death from diarrhoea.

17,000,000 Iraqis are reliant on food aid, which has now been stopped.

600 oil wells and refineries are now under British and American control.

80bn dollars has been set aside by US Congress to meet the cost of war.

A capital city of 5,000,000 people now stands between the Allied forces and their 1

objective: the removal of Saddam Hussein

Double Standard

Initial self-serving statements about the author's background and family situation do not necessarily make Adhemar Altieri an objective (or disinterested) observer. ("Blindfolded" - www.brazzil.com/polmar01.htm). Mutual ignorance is not unique to the Brazil-Canada relationship (at whatever level you may look at it). It certainly is no excuse. It even exists between Canada and the U.S. (who are our closest neighbors)! Don't you think? In South America there is the language barrier also. Are you aware that the official language of Brazil is Portuguese? and that culturally and ethnically Brazil is quite different from the Spanish-, English- and French-speaking republics south of Canada's US border, or from Quebec? It's a big and diverse world out there, mister.

The size of Canada's (or Brazil's?) GDP is not the key variable. Brains and intelligence are important. So is personal integrity. What does come across your condescending and unfortunate piece of drivel is that you are an accomplished practitioner of the "double standard". As you correctly admit:

"This detail actually highlights a cultural clash: while the matter of the unreturned forms would be "no big deal" to a Brazilian government official—they routinely blow deadlines and misplace forms and important documents, as any Brazilian taxpayer or entrepreneur can attest to—it would be almost unpardonable behavior to a Canadian official. The two governments definitely function by different standards, and surely, in this exchange, both sides lacked a better knowledge of how the other does business."

Don't Canadian bureaucrats "routinely" blow deadlines and misplace forms and important documents too? Ever heard of Walkerton, Ontario? Best regards.

Alvaro Herran
Via Internet

I Want to Answer

Re: Paulo Coelho's "Thank You, George, Thank You"- www.brazzil.com/p116apr03.htm:

Thank you for showing everyone what a danger Saddam Hussein represents. Many of us might otherwise have forgotten that he had used chemical weapons against his own people, against the Kurds and against the Iranians.

Hussein is a bloodthirsty dictator and one of the clearest expressions of evil in today's world. Having Joseph Stalin as a model taught him how to murder his own people. But then, of course, a lot of intellectualists like you still have nostalgic feelings for communism.

Thank you for showing everyone that the Turkish people and their Parliament are not for sale, not even for 26 billion dollars.

No, they may be not for sale, but then is not everybody in the world (including Brazil) getting monetary aid from the US?

Thank you for revealing to the world the gulf that exists between the decisions made by those in power and the wishes of the people. Thank you for making it clear that neither José María Aznar nor Tony Blair give the slightest weight to or show the slightest respect for the votes they received. Aznar is perfectly capable of ignoring the fact that 90 percent of Spaniards are against the war, and Blair is unmoved by the largest public demonstration to take place in England in the last 30 years.

Always look for the money. Who sponsored those "grass root" demonstrations? In 1968, the "student movement" in Europe—and I lived there—was financed by the Soviet Union.

Thank you for making it necessary for Tony Blair to go to the British Parliament with a fabricated dossier written by a student ten years ago, and present this as 'damning evidence collected by the British Secret Service'.

Oh, please. I would expect a better argument from a writer.

Thank you for allowing Colin Powell to make a complete fool of himself by showing the UN Security Council photos which, one week later, were publicly challenged by Hans Blix, the Inspector responsible for disarming Iraq.

How come that Hans Blix credibility is not in question, but Colin Powell's is? Blix is a professional politician and a lawyer - does this make his integrity higher than Powell's?

Thank you for adopting your current position and thus ensuring that, at the plenary session, the French Foreign Minister, Dominique de Villepin's anti-war speech was greeted with applause—something, as far as I know, that has only happened once before in the history of the UN, following a speech by Nelson Mandela.

And who applauded? Sudan? Libya? Russia? All those other countries that hate US for being a superpower and try to assert that that's what they would like to be? Come to think of it, isn't this your country's fondest wish as well?

Thank you too, because, after all your efforts to promote war, the normally divided Arab nations, at their meeting in Cairo during the last week in February, were, for the first time, unanimous in their condemnation of any invasion.

Arab condemnations are not worth the air they use when uttering them. If you knew anything about the Arab culture, you would understand that words carry a lot of weight among them, but the words are not necessarily followed by actions. In Arab culture, it is the might and power that are admired, not weakness.

Thank you for your rhetoric stating that "the UN now has a chance to demonstrate its relevance", a statement which made even the most reluctant countries take up a position opposing any attack on Iraq.

UN lost its relevance during the Cold War, when they became the puppets of the Soviet regime.

Thank you for your foreign policy which provoked the British Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, into declaring that in the 21st century, "a war can have a moral justification", thus causing him to lose all credibility.

He was right. If more politicians in 1939 had a backbone of President Bush, perhaps Hitler would have been thwarted. Or perhaps the deaths of millions is not important enough for you?

Thank you for trying to divide a Europe that is currently struggling for unification; this was a warning that will not go unheeded.

Since I come from Europe, I can tell you that the unification of Europe under the aegis of France and Germany was not a real unification. Have you heard what your favorite M Chirac said about countries like Lithuania, Hungary, or Poland? His utter disdain did not speak well of the future "unified" Europe.

Thank you for having achieved something that very few have so far managed to do in this century: the bringing together of millions of people on all continents to fight for the same idea, even though that idea is opposed to yours.

Again, look for the money trail.....

Thank you for making us feel once more that though our words may not be heard, they are at least spoken—this will make us stronger in the future.

"Us" means whom? It is easy to speak in plural.

Thank you for ignoring us, for marginalizing all those who oppose your decision, because the future of the Earth belongs to the excluded.

"Us" means whom? It is easy to speak in plural. Earth? Belongs to the excluded? What are you babbling about?

Thank you, because, without you, we would not have realized our own ability to mobilize. It may serve no purpose this time, but it will doubtless be useful later on.

"Us" means whom? It is easy to speak in plural.

Now that there seems no way of silencing the drums of war, I would like to say, as an ancient European king said to an invader: "May your morning be a beautiful one, may the sun shine on your soldiers' armor, for in the afternoon, I will defeat you."

Wishful thinking by the marginal groups and insignificant countries to be like the US.

Thank you for allowing us—an army of anonymous people filling the streets in an attempt to stop a process that is already underway—to know what it feels like to be powerless and to learn to grapple with that feeling and transform it. So, enjoy your morning and whatever glory it may yet bring you.

"Us" means whom? It is easy to speak in plural.

Thank you for not listening to us and not taking us seriously, but know that we are listening to you and that we will not forget your words.

"Us" means whom? Are you going to vote in the next US elections?

Not a bestselling author, but a person with a clear thinking.

Teresa Adelson
Via Internet

The Fall of Baghdad

I am a great fan of Brazzil magazine. Sincerely speaking, the fall of Baghdad marks the new era of colonization. I am not too sure how on earth the superpower of the world today will handle the mess it had just endorsed in the most bloodiest battle over Iraq. However, let us not forget to remind Mr. Bush Jr. and his allies that they have caused the total destruction in Iraq, so make sure that compensation will be made promptly as promised. No more playing hide and seek when it comes to real mess fixing.

Iraq is not an employee of American government when the termination of contract can easily being signed and terminated whenever required or expired. Mr. Bush Jr. and the rest of his gang should not pin-pointing fingers to Mr. Lula, Dr. M, Jacques Chirac, Vladimir Putin and other world leaders to fix the bloody mess that Mr. George Bush Jr. invented under his highest command.

I got one idea that I wish to share with Brazzil Magazine, why not ask other world leaders such as Mr. Lula of Brazil, Dr. M of Malaysia, Mr. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Mr. Jacques Chirac of France, Mr. Vladimir Putin of Russia, and Mr. Schmidt of Germany along with others who oppose this bloody war over Iraq, begin the first rehabilitation mission by starting to oppress our dearest Mr. George Bush Jr. to start building back Iraq, from scratch.

If he refuses to do so, use the United Nations to gain the majority support of the world leaders to put extreme pressure upon the US government and his allies to implement democracy as promised and start rebuilding the infrastructure, sewage systems ,bridges etc..... for the future liberation of Iraqis people as promised by the American government.

Lina
Malaysia

Thank God for Soaps

Just to say that I found your website very interesting. My sister and I often talk of the 'good old days' when she used to rush home from school and I used to rush home from my first job (at age 19)! to watch an excellent Brazilian soap called 'Dancing Days'. I have no idea what the Portuguese title was, but it starred Sonia Braga as a character called Julia. There were also characters called Berto, Carlos, Yolanda and Marisa. Could you possibly tell me what the soap opera was entitled in Portuguese? I would like to see whether there is anything about it on the web. My sister and I also remember 'The slave girl Isaura.' We loved this soap too! We have just been looking at some of the images on the web and reliving the memories of what we were doing at the time. I think these soaps were both screened on Channel 4 in the summer of 1986 when my sister and I were 14 and 19 years of age. Thank God for Brazilian soaps!!!

Via Internet

We Are Not Coming Your Way

Ok it didn't take a week to crush this ill equipped Iraqi army but two weeks ain't bad and they had home front advantage. Your article "The Art of Deception and the Iraq War" - www.brazzil.com/p119apr03.htm - sounds like it was written by a nervous old lady. Take a chill-pill and relax...America is not coming to your country to take it over. By the way the Russians were in Afghanistan for years and got spanked badly...we went in there and controlled most of the country except for a few caves within weeks. And if there are other contenders for role of superpower who are they?

Mike
Southern California

Cardoso? He's History

Good day, Mr. Goertzel,

It seems that you favor Ex- President. Cardoso ("Cardoso Was Right After All - www.brazzil.com/p120apr03.htm). I probably would too, if he had paid well for writing his biography. If Cardoso was so great, why is it that the country still in such disarray. Crime in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and surrounding states, corruption, auditors with Swiss bank accounts, poverty at its max, unequal representation of black Brazilians, modern day slavery, child labor, a corridor of drugs from Colombia and other countries via Brazil to USA and Europe. Meanwhile, doping all the young poor population on its stop over in the shanty towns. The list goes on.

Cardoso should of retired in France instead of returning to Brazil after his Paris vacation. Let's face it, he is history. As a previous president from the great U.S.A. "read my lips, no new taxes " has been.

Can ordinary working citizens really believe what politicians say? I don't think so and I know many who don't. Here in the U.S.A.

If you have so many great ideas for Brazil as I've read in your article(s), maybe you could and should volunteer a few to the present government anonymously. Why let so many innocent children suffer?

Chile, please give me a break! Why not Canada?

The people of Brazil voted for President Lula da Silva because he has been where most of them are today, dirt poor. He is not a white collar PhD individual whom studied abroad with the elite and stayed in his air-conditioned classroom and/or office. Give it (Lula) a chance, as you claimed. How worse can it get? I believe much worse, I lived it.

Caio Valladares
Via Internet

Do They Still Have Blacklists?

Caro Sr. Rose,

I just read Silencing Women with a Shot, in Brazil. Excellent article, well written. In reading it another issue came to mind and I wondered if I might address it with you. I've heard rumors about "blacklists" that are said to exist yet today, containing the names of former university students who - in their exuberant youth - had been members of the communist party in the 1970s and 1980s, possibly even the early 1990s. I noticed your writing credit relative to G. Vargas and was wondering if you might know anything about the subject.

My reason for asking is that I see North American perceptions of Lula as being based on ignorant preconceptions that evolved from an earlier time. I have friends who have been advocates for social change that would alleviate the suffering of landless peasants in the countryside and favelados in the cities. They're hardly more than what we would call neo-radical liberals in the U.S. today, but the mother of one of them is concerned about this notion of her child being on a blacklist. I can believe it was once the case, but now ... ? Well, I would like to know if you have any thoughts about it.

P. W.
Via Internet

Not That Farfetched

Dear John Roscoe,

Reading your article a year later ("This Land Is Their Land" - www.brazzil.com/p27mar02.htm) throws a completely different light into the subject. I'd be curious to hear you expert opinion about Brazil... how well we invent excuses for our misfortunes.

Americans know everything about inventing excuses. I would have said we learnt it from our "bully neighbor of the north" were we not with some reason on our complaining. Unlike the Americans.

You are right about the forgery on that school book...but that's

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO believable!!!!!!

So, do you still think is so outrageous to believe in that forgery? Or do you think we really mastered the art of inventing excuses with our big bullshit brother?

Bruno Vieira Feitosa
Via Internet

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