BRAZIL: Order and Progress

Tor Guimaraes, a Brazilian who teaches in a US university, comments on the posting explaining the idealism expressed in the Brazilian flag: "The words on the flag, ORDER AND PROGRESS, are a sad irony of the socio/economic situation in Brazil. All my family lives there, rich and poor, in small and large cities. I go to visit when social duty calls. If you close your eyes and only go to the right places it is still a fun country. To me it is very depressing to look around. The striking thing is the misery of the people. It looks more and more like India, with homeless naked little kids learning to be criminals at a very early age, 10 year old girls working in prostitution houses, homeless families, etc, etc. You don't see the military presence in the streets as you didbefore. The military have learned to control (or follow orders) more unobtrusively, as it is done in the US"

RH: Roderick Barman, who has just returned from Brazil, says that, while Brasília has become an attractive city, Rio, Brazil's showcase, has declined sadly. The national government had left, and with it the principal source of income. I wonder what has happened to all the other institutions, such as the Brazilian Academy, which were there? In any case, this is the Brazil which President Lula da Silva has to contend with. A man with little education, he is like Khruschev of Russia, who had only a fourth-grade education. Like Lula, he was a metal worker. His qualities allowed him to climb to the top of the ladder, but then he was pushed off. His lack of education was partly responsible. What will happen to Lula?

Ronald Hilton - 4/30/03