Week 10 - Brazil 3 and Conclusions

PART I – Brazil’s Current Crisis

Readings

Cleuci de Oliveira, “Brazil grapples with lynch mob epidemic: ‘A good criminal is a dead criminal’,” The Guardian (2016)

Brian Winters, “Brazil’s Authoritarian Side Makes a Comeback,” Americas Quarterly, November 3, 2016

Benjamin Cowan, “Holy Ghosts of Brazil’s Past,” NACLA 48(4), pp. 346-352 (2016)

Tuesday readings describe Brazil’s current socio-political moment—the moment surrounding the August 2016 impeachment of Workers Party president Dilma Rousseff. After the impeachment, Rousseff’s vice president, a center-right businessman named Michel Temer became president. As of this writing (July 2017), the leading contenders for Brazil’s next presidential election (October 2018) are none other than Lula (!) and a conservative, Evangelical congressman named Jair Bolsonaro. A controversial figure in Brazil, he has been known for advocating in favor of far-right political views. In a 2017 opinion poll conducted, Bolsonaro ranked third in two of three election scenarios presented and fourth in the other; in a prompt in which no candidate option is given, Bolsonaro comes in second place after former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Watch this clip to get a sense of the man who could be Brazil’s next president. Lula, meanwhile, has just been convicted on corruption charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison (see this short New York Times article).

PART II – Looking Forward

Readings

Bryan Pitts et al., “21st Century Golpismo: A NACLA Roundtable,” NACLA 48(4), pp. 334-345 (2016)

Barry Cannon, “Inside the Mind of Latin America’s New Right,” NACLA 48(4), pp. 328-333 (2016)

For an introduction to the recent trend toward right-leaning governments across Latin America, watch this clip. Frequently, these political transformations take place through what critics call a “legislative coup” (“golpe” means coup in Spanish and Portuguese). You can find examples of these with Paraguay (watch this clip) and of course in Brazil (watch this clip from last August). With Paraguay, Lugo was a Catholic bishop with strong ties to peasant organizations and NGOS. He was elected in 2008, ending 60 years of rule by Colorado Party, but then, in 2012, Paraguay’s Chamber of Deputies voted to impeach Lugo, ostensibly in response to the socialist president’s failure to prevent bloodshed at a confrontation between police and farmers.

For recent commentary on Latin America’s “post-pink” moment, watch this short interview with MIT linguist Noam Chomsky.

Finally, as we reach the end of the course, a plug for Latin American studies. Why consider LAS as a major or minor?

1.     Because the region’s literature, art, music and film are extraordinary;

2.     Because we can learn something from their experimentations with democracy;

3.     Because they elect female presidents;

4.     Because the African diaspora in the Americas has given rise to an incredible mosaic of culture, identity and political resistance;

5.     Because there are presently 54 million Latinos living US – 17%, and the figure will likely double in the next couple of decades—and the cultural and political importance of Latino/as in the United States continues to grow;

6.     Because the Pope is from Argentina;

7.     Because nearly 20% of our students at New Paltz – one out of every six – are Latino/a.

Week 9 - Brazil 2

PART 1. Urban Realities: Favelas and Mega-Sporting Events in the Marvelous City

Associated Readings

1. Kees Koonings, “Violence, Crime, and Insecurity since 2000: Local Dynamics and the Limitations of Federal Response,” pp. 150–75
2. Erika Larkins, selections from The Spectacular Favela, pp. 109-13
3. Dave Zirin, “Target-Favelas,” pp. 173-20
   4. Brian Mier, “Rio’s Olympic Hangover,” NACLA 48(4), pp. 311-314 (2016)  

Associated Films

“City of God” (2002, 130 minutes; sources: STL, Netflix/DVD, Blockbuster, Amazon.com)

With the FIFA Soccer World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and the Summer Olympics in August 2016, the city of Rio de Janeiro has been getting a lot of attention these days. Known as "the marvelous city" (a cidade maravilhosa), Rio has long functioned in the imagination of outsiders as a symbol for Brazil itself--or rather, for outsiders' fantasies of Brazil. On the one had, Rio evokes images of beautiful beaches populated by scant-clad women and men. On the other hand, Rio increasingly triggers associations with urban violence, kidnapping, and flying bullets. You can see the full range of these associations and stereotypes in the following 10-minutes clip from The Simpsons --> http://youtu.be/os9BbZ_MGdwd.  (Enjoy!)


Comedic value aside, this Simpsons episode serves as a reminder about something important: that stereotypes utterly pervade our understandings of Rio (and of Brazil more generally). The reading by Erika Larkins will take you deep into the favelas of Rio, giving powerful and troubling accounts of how ordinary favela residents position themselves in different ways in relation to the drug trade, to gangs, and to tourists. The amazing film, "City of God" (for this week's film forum) presents the violent, intersecting trajectories of a group of boys growing up in one of Rio's largest favelas.

For more recent updates on the megasporting events described by Zirin and Mier (brace yourself, the Mier piece isn't a happy story), please check out the slides I've saved on Blackboard, especially the various update clips within them.

Week 8 - Brazil 1

PART 1. Introduction to Brazil; MST
Associated Readings

1. Peter Winn, “Capital Sins,” from Americas, pp. 165-199 (2006)
2. Kees Koonings, “Introduction: Brazil under the Workers’ Party,” pp. 1–9

NOTE:  If you find yourself getting interested in Brazil, be aware that SUNY-New Paltz has an excellent study-abroad program in Rio, situated at a world-class university. Check out the details here. 

I. Introducing Brazil (Draws from World Scholar/Latin America & the Caribbean, 2011)

Introduction
Brazil, the largest country in South America, contains twenty-six states and the federal district of Brasília (the nation's capital). Mostly tropical or semitropical in climate, the nation encompasses dense forests, including the Amazon Basin, as well a semiarid region in the northeast, mountains and plains in the southwest, midwestern savannahs, a long Atlantic coastline, and a vast wetland area.

Inhabited by numerous Amerindian groups, Brazil was first visited by the Portuguese in April 1500. Colonization efforts began in earnest in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with the arrival of European immigrants and the importation of enslaved Africans. Sugarcane (and later cotton and coffee), gold, and diamonds were the major commodities, and by 1807 the colony was both prosperous and ethnically diverse.

With Napoleon's invasion of Portugal in 1807, the prince regent fled to the colony, set up his government there, and expanded trade. Independence was declared in 1822, and after decades of monarchical rule, in 1889 Brazil became a republic. Troubled in its early years by economic and political crises, the nation continued to struggle throughout the twentieth century with questions of national identity and the quashing of freedoms by military dictatorships. A transition to democracy began in 1979 and culminated in popular elections in 1988. Former metalworker and union organizer Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva--usually known simply as "Lula"--was elected president in 2002 and reelected in 2006.  Lula completed his second term in 2010. His chief of staff, a former Marxist rebel named Dilma Rousseff, launched a successful campaign and from  January 2011 until August of last year (2016), a woman presided over Latin America's largest country and economy...Alas, Rousseff was impeached and replaced by her vice president, Michel Temer, who has just (June 2016) himself been charged with corruption.

 
Michel Temer

First watch the following short narrated slide show by yours truly (25 minutes): http://youtu.be/hCPqFpkv_f0. It is slightly outdated (so much has happened in Brazil in the past couple years), but the information is accurate and will give you a good grounding as we push off into more specific issues.

Watch the following "60 Minutes" episode (14 minutes) to get familiar with Lula, with Dilma, and with Brazil's emergence as a force to be reckoned with in the 21st century.



Please now watch the following clip about President Dilma Rousseff, from lefty journalist Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now" video podcast (9 minutes).



For an early update on Dilma -- how the first 100 days of her presidency went -- please read this short article. Then, for a jarring more recent update, read this  article and watch this short clip. Brace yourself, as Brazil is in the midst of a devastating political and economic crisis--and the worst is probably yet to come.

PART 2. Latin America’s Largest Social Movement: The Landless Workers’ Movement (MST)
Associated Readings

1. Tim Padgett, “Brazil’s landless rebels,” Time, January 19 (1998)
2. John Hammond, “Law and disorder: The Brazilian landless farmworkers’ movement,” pp. 469-489 (1999)

Associated Films

1. "Raiz Forte" (“Strong Roots”) (2001, 41 minutes) 

To learn about the MST, read the introductory articles by Padgett and Hammond. Then, consider the questions, What motivates people to join this movement? Then, watch the amazing film, "Raiz Forte" (Strong Roots) to see what the MST actually looks like "on the ground."

Week 7 - Argentina

Week 7 - Argentina
PART 1. Economic Crisis, Clientelism, and the Legacies of Juan and Eva Perón
Associated Readings

1. Peter Winn, “Perón! Perón!” pp. 133-160 (2006)
2. Peter Calvert, “Argentina: Decline and revival,” from Latin America, Its Problems and Its Promise, pp. 524-537 (2011) 

 Handouts ("Course Documents" on Bb)

1. Handout 5 - Argentina and Perón

Associated Films

1. “Memoria del Saqueo" (2004, 113 minutes; Source: http://youtu.be/0CzS6eHqtnQ) 

I. Introducing Argentina (Draws from World Scholar/Latin America & the Caribbean, 2011)
Argentina, the second-largest country in South America, shares borders with Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Chile. Have a look at the map below to appreciate Argentina's hugeness:

Predominantly temperate in climate, the country varies in terrain from highlands in the north, to the tropical forest in the northeast, fertile pampas or plains throughout the central portion, the isolated Patagonia region to the south, and the Andes Mountains to the west.
Argentina's capital is Buenos Aires.  With a population of around 13 million, Buenos Aires is South America's third largest city (after Brazil's São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro).  It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent. Strongly influenced by European culture, Buenos Aires is sometimes referred to as the "Paris of South America."  Architecturally, it is an extraordinary place, with a dizzying array of styles and traditions.  Here are a handful of photos I took a couple years back:

Buenos Aires' expansive Avenida 9 de julio crossing the Washington Monument-like Obelisk

Apartment Buildings

 

The city's Department of Water and Power (Not bad, right?)

Buenos Aires is the site of the Teatro Colón, an internationally rated opera house, and several symphony orchestras. The city has numerous museums related to history, fine arts, modern arts, decorative arts, popular arts, sacred art, arts and crafts, theatre and popular music. The city is home to hundreds of bookstores, public libraries and cultural associations (it is sometimes called "the city of books"), as well as the largest concentration of active theaters in Latin America.  Truly, there are bookstores, some tiny and some large like the photos below, everywhere.

It has a world-famous zoo and Botanical Garden, a large number of landscaped parks and squares, as well as churches and places of worship of many denominations.  Buenos Aires is also known for its European-style cafes, long and narrow and serving up some of the best café and sweets imaginable.

A random factoid:  Buenos Aires has more practicing psychoanalysts than any other country in Latin America.  Appropriately enough, most of them work in a neighborhood called "Villa Freud."

Buenos Aires is also, as you might know, internationally known for its vibrant tango scene.  Here's a short clip of a tango band playing on the streets of one of B.A.'s oldest colonial neighborhoods, San Telmo:



Spanish settlement of Argentina began in the 1530s, and colonizing projects continued despite sharp Indian resistance. The region supplied agricultural products and livestock to silver mining communities in Bolivia. Beginning in the 1750s, Buenos Aires became a major port and the home of an elite class of merchants. In 1810, a junta claimed control of Buenos Aires, and in 1816 the independence of Argentina proper was achieved, ending Spanish control over the area.

In the late nineteenth century (1800s), thriving agriculture, foreign investment, and continued European immigration helped make Argentina an economic powerhouse. However, economic problems and political struggles followed in the twentieth century, with military regimes alternating with democratically elected civilian governments through the 1980s.  In 1982, Argentina suffered a humiliating military defeat by Great Britain in the Falkland Islands War.

Since the colonial period, Argentina's political leaders have often been what are referred to as caudillos, that is, charismatic, populist leaders of authoritarian regimes.  Make a mental note of this term, as we will revisit it when we arrive to Juan Perón.

From 1976 to 1983, Argentina was controlled by a brutal military junta.  Known as the "Dirty War," this time period is remembered by today's Argentines with horror for state-sponsored violence and the "disappearing" of more than 9,000 citizens.  Please now watch the first 15-20 minutes of the following short documentary about the Dirty War.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqbiz8tA52U

Democratic civilian rule returned to Argentina in 1983, but its economic woes continued. 

II. Juan and Eva Perón

The following section closely follows Handout 5 ("Argentina and Perón," available on Bb; please review this handout as you move through the corresponding blog sections)

In this week's reading by Peter Winn, you will learn about the most important last name in 20th-century Argentinian history:  Perón (pronounced like "pear-own").  Juan Domingo Perón, elected to the presidency three times, first came to power in the mid-1940s.  A military man by training (he had been a colonel in the army), Perón was a populist who rejected identifying as liberal or conservative.


"Ni izquierda ni derecha" ("neither left nor right"), he famous declared in his '46 campaign, and indeed his brand of politics drew was inspired by both capitalist conservatism and pro-communist, worker-oriented communism.  Before his bid to the presidency, Perón had been head of the federal Department of Labor, where he had successfully defended the rights of workers.  This priority carried into his presidency, as he created strong unions, increased the minimum wage, and instituted an eight-hour workday as well as paid vacation time.  He became, in short, a hero and champion of the working class (colloquially referred to as "los descamisados," that is, "the shirtless").  He also had a deeply troubling fascination with Nazism and fascism, but this is a story for another occasion.

Matching and perhaps even eclipsing the massive popular appeal of Juan Perón was the love and devotion Argentina developed for Perón's wife, Maria Eva Duarte -- known more commonly in the affectionate diminuitive as "Evita", and immortalized in the Broadway musical of the same name, as well as the 1996 film with Madonna.   Indeed, Eva was crucial to her husband's popularity among workers and, for her successful fight for female suffrage, among women as well.  If you have some extra time and like musicals, consider watching the feature-length Madonna film - Hollywood trappings aside, it gives a good account of Eva's rise from a poor girl in the countryside to the influential woman in her country's history.

Also have a look at this short clip I shot of Evita's tomb in Buenos Aires:




III. Peronism and Clientelism
Among Perón’s major legacies have been the party he created, the Partido Justicialista (Justice Party) and the political movement he founded, commonly known as Peronism, and of which he remains the central symbol to this day.  Since its creation in 1945, Peronist candidates have won eight out of ten presidential elections, and Perón himself remains the only Argentine to be elected president three times.  Argentina’s former president, Cristina Kirchner, is a Peronist to the core.  As a political ideology, Peronism is defined as an “authoritarian populism” rooted in the masses, emphasizing a strong centralized government and autonomy from foreign influences.

Here I'd like to introduce a new term -- "clientelism" -- used by political scientists to describe a particular kind of relationship between politicians and ordinary citizens (known as "patrons" and "clients," respectively).  Simply put, clientelism refers to an exchange between politicians and voters of material private goods for votes.

Some important characteristics of clientelism:

1. It is based in personal relationships that link patrons and clients together in a system in which jobs, favors, and protection are exchanged for labor, support, and loyalty.
2. It concentrates power in the hands of the individual politician, who decides personally how to distribute resources according to personal preferences.
3. Its relationships (between patron and client) are personalized, ongoing and reciprocal. 

One of Peronism's major legacies is that it relies heavily on clientelism at the grassroots.  That means that in cities like Buenos Aires, grassroots community leaders often spend a lot of their time distributing goods that their "patron" has provided them with and in exchange for which they must guarantee a strong vote the next time elections come around.  In Javier Auyero's reading about the 2001 riots in Buenos Aires, we'll see what this looks like on the ground.
Typically in political science, clientelism is presented in negative terms.  (No one says, "I'm a clientelist and proud of it!")  The primary critiques of clientelism are:

1. It is not (genuinely) democratic.
   It often involves the exploitation of the poor.
   It discourages unbiased provision of public goods.
2. It is often associated with political monopolies.
3. It stifles efficiency of the market.

One problem with much of the scholarship on clientelism in Argentina and elsewhere in Latin America is that it typically treats this form of political practice as a "traditional" form of corruption--a vestige from the pre-democratic past when Latin Americans hadn't yet learned how to organize society in a "modern" democratic manner.  So, what's wrong with this understanding of clientelism?  

PART 2. Crisis, Renewal, and ... ???
Associated Readings

1. Maria Casullo, “Argentina Turns Right, Again,” NACLA 48(4), pp. 361-366 (2016)
2. Sian Lazar, “‘The Happiness Revolution’: Argentina and the End of Post-Neoliberalism?” (2015)

I. Argentina Economic Crisis of 2001 (selections drawn from http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/sap/Argentina_crisis.php)
In order to fully understand the events of the past few years in Argentina, you must first grasp the backdrop for Argentina's 2001 economic crisis.  During the 1990's Argentina was heralded as a successful developing its economy:  Foreign investors poured billions of dollars into the country, inflation rates were lower than those in the U.S. at the same time, and the economy was one of fastest-growing economies in Latin America.  Argentina was the darling of international financial lending, strictly adhering to the IMF advice.

But in 2001 the Argentine economy reached its breaking point. The government announced that its foreign debt could not be paid back and billions of dollars in government spending would be cut. This translated to government employees receiving a salary reduction of 13% (Pastor and Wise 2001).  While at the same time unemployment skyrocketed to nearly 20% (Stiglitz 2002).  In one year Buenos Aires fell from being the most expensive city in Latin America to the cheapest city (Latin Trade 2003).
 
How did an A-plus student fail?
The exact cause of Argentina' economic melt down is contested.  Some argue that it was due to the poor policy advice from the IMF (Stiglitz 2002) and others, the IMF among them, blame the irresponsibility and corruption of the Argentine government (Krueger 2002).  Central to all the arguments, however, is the failure Argentina's fixed exchange rate policy.
 
During the 1980s and early 1990's, on the advice from the IMF, the government opted to fix the Argentine peso's exchange rate to the U.S. dollar (1 dollar = 1 peso). The fixed exchange rate was intended to be a stabilizing force for the economy after a period of hyperinflation (up to 200%).  This policy essentially made the peso and dollar interchangeable.  Both currencies circulated through the economy, ATMs dispensed dollars and pesos and bank loans could be made in either currency.
 
The problem with Argentine fixed exchange rate was it caused the peso to increase in value at the same rate as the dollar during the economic boom of the 1990's.  A rising currency value caused Argentina's exports to become more expensive relative to the country's imports.  Since Argentina's largest trading partners are Brazil and the European Union, whose currencies were valued much lower than the peso, the Argentine export market was stalled limiting the growth of the economy.


Who was affected?
Argentina's economic crisis affected every level of Argentine society and created an air of uncertainty for the future of Argentina.  To quell the crisis the IMF recommended that the government dramatically cut spending.  These cuts led to reduced public-sector wages and pensions and a delay in pension benefits for over 1.4 million retirees and their families (Lewis 2002).  In addition, as the unemployment rate grew, more people sought unemployment insurance and other social services, the very services being cut.  Many people were forced to find jobs in the informal sector that paid very little and offered almost no security for the future (see Jeter 2003).

Argentine workers began to withdraw their savings in pesos from banks in exchange for U.S. dollars for fear that rising prices would leave their savings worthless.  To curb this cash flight the Argentine government limited cash withdraws to $250 per month and freezing bank assets all together for short periods (Krauss 2001).  Additionally, for those who took out loans in dollars were faced with repayments that nearly doubled due to the rising interest rates (Lewis 2002).  This left people squeezed between rising prices, job uncertainty and limited access to money.
 
Stunned by their nation's economic unraveling Argentines took to the streets in Buenos Aires in a protest that turned violent.  The protest was described as a spontaneous demonstration of citizens outraged by the lack of leadership their government exhibited (Evans 2003).  The magnitude of the protests and the level of public dissatisfaction with the government's handling of the economy lead to the resignation of the President of Argentina, Fernando de la Rua and the nation's Economic Minister, Domingo Cavallo.

If you haven't yet viewed the film, "Memoria del Saqueo" (which tells the story of the 2001 crisis), please view it now.

To get an inspiring update on how porteños (residents of Buenos Aires) have been fairing in the aftermath of the economic crisis, watch at least the first 10-15 minutes of "Argentina: Turning Around" ("videos" tab on Bb or http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/media_that_matters_8_argentina_turning_around/).

The articles by Casullo and Lazar provide important updates on what Argentina’s “post-pink” period.