Recent Brazilian Social Movements

Posted by tdc2114

The 2013-2014 protests in Brazil are ongoing public demonstrations in several Brazilian cities in response to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and other social issues. The World Cup went really well, but there still a lot of social demands from Brazilians. It is not clear at all what are the demands for specifically, because they are really asking for lot of improvements in social policies. There are demands such as:

Reduction in the prices of public transport (Metro, Train and Bus)
Destination of petroleum royalties to education (75%) and Health (25%)
The end of Secret vote in Congress for forfeiture of office
National Pact to improve education, health, public transport
Implementation of federal plebiscite to politic reform in the country
National Pact for fiscal responsibility and control of inflation
Destination of 10% of the Brazilian GDP to education

To explore more about the impact of this specific social movement in Brazil, there is not clear which demand people are fighting for. Some of these claims are being studying or even implemented by the Brazilian Government. For example, one of the demands is “Destination of 10% of the Brazilian GDP to Education”. Government just approved this demand as a way to fit people demand in order to respond to the social tensions. But, this approval will not necessary improve Education. A lot of specialists are pointing out that the increase in the money for Education will never make it down to schools. Moreover, there are more money and consequently, more space for corruption. Furthermore, Brazil needs more management in Education and not more money.

In a nutshell, social movements cannot considered good at all. There can be bad results in the short term and the long term. There is a difference between a politic decision and a policy decision made by the Federal Government. Probably, this decision will not make a difference in the Education. Actually, it can even have negative impacts in the Brazilian Education System.

Click to see some of the 2013 protests in Brazil or 2014 protests in Brazil .

Brazilian Artist critics the Race Problem

Posted by tdc2114

There is probably the most famous Brazilian artist alive called Adriana Varejão. Uou can also see a Wall Street Journal link about her recent work. (I don’t necessarily agree!)

Some of the Adriana Varejão work:

Education Systems in Pursuit of Equity

Posted by tdc2114

Equity. Why we pursue equity in Education if we are so diverse individuals? Differen demands and needs. Different race, color, age. Different backgroud. Different stories and experiences. Different DNA combinations. Different dreams. Different perspectives. All different. That’s the only equity between us.

Talking about equality in Brazil in really hard. We are all mixed, not only culturally, but also the country was born as a mix of different races: indians, Portugueses, Holands, Italians, Africans, Germans, Asians… Brazil is so unequal, but I prefer the word diverse.

As the tendency of income inequality is reducing, it is still considered high. In 2009 Brazil scored 0.557 in the Gini Index, which placed it as the world’s tenth most unequal nation. In 2012, the Gini coefficient for Brazil was 0.519, according to the CIA World Factbook.

Because of the Bolsa Familia, Brazil have been working in reducing this unequality for 10 years now. It was not only a policy to alleviate poverty, but also a policy to encourage kids to go to school and also keep the public health good. Parents who cannot send their children to school or fail to vaccinated them, are penalised with reduced payment.

And, actually, we did great. But the unequality is still high and there are a lot of work to do. This year, we will have Presidential Elections.

Brazil has an Educational System with public and private schools. Usually, the family who has enough money to pay a private school will make an effort to do that. Public schools are seen as bad quality places where families don’t want to send their kids. Bu sometimes, these schools are the only options.

Read the article below from Global Post to understand better the Brazilian situation. Even though you can feel hopeless, I’m really optimistic to help change my country.