Banana Pundits

Daniel Gallas: After months of suspense and substantial losses in opinion polls, the Brazil’s social-democrats have finally agreed on who will be the anti-Lula in the October election. Although São Paulo’s mayor José Serra – ex-president Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s choice – fared better in the polls, he gave up on his candidacy. His decision was announced this week, after a long battle against São Paulo state governor Geraldo Alckmin, who surprisingly one the nomination. It is now Mr. Alckmin’s responsibility to unite his party and bring the PSDB back to power.

Before his tenacious victory against Mr. Serra, Mr. Alckmin was mocked by many due to his discretion and uncharismatic nature. Revista Veja, Brazil’s leading weekly magazine, nicknamed him “the chayote popsicle”, saying that his ideas and his appeal to the electorate are as tasteless as the popular Brazilian vegetable. Journalist José Paulo Kupfer gives us a taste of the economic flavor of the Chayote Popsicle, in a review published by the Brazilian website No Mínimo.

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Daniel Gallas: While the nation is getting ready for the sizzling carnival season, beginning next week, and a gigantic Rolling Stones concert (more than 1.5 million fans are expected in the sands of Copacabana beach), politicians are laying down the blueprint for October’s elections.

Up until now, Mr. Lula’s chances of reelection were a national conundrum. His party has been damaged by an unprecedented corruption scandal. His approval rates hit rock bottom last November. However, a new poll announced today, indicates that Mr. Lula is back in the lead. The unexpected results shift all pressure from president Lula’s shoulder to the opposition party, that has to pick a contestant between São Paulo’s mayor José Serra and São Paulo state governor Geraldo Alckmin.

Josias de Souza, one of Brazil’s leading political journalists, analyzes the numbers and the new scenario in his blog.

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So, we face a new drought in posts. It’s sort of inevitable, though. Cisco has never been able to help much with the blog, and I haven’t had much success in finding others to contribute translations. For my part, I have 13 days to write a 50-plus pages monograph in order to graduate. Add to that a job and the fact it takes me about 1-2 hours to translate a piece, and you may understand why bloggin should be light at least ’till the end of the month.

On a happier note, though, Google’s Brazilian office in Belo Horizonte has finally delivered its first project, and was I glad to know we finally have a version of Google News. It should help me broaden this blog’s sources (which mainly revolves around Folha de S. Paulo and NoMínimo, only because those are the ones which RSS feeds I sign) and posting smaller, to-the-point hard news.

So, for the eventual reader who checks in on this blog every once in a while, please don’t cross us off your bookmarks yet. By December it should be back in somewhat “full” motion, and I might also be able, then, to start researching the idea of hosting it on a dedicated server, as well.

Cisco Costa: A Brazilian environmentalist made quite a scene at a protest this weekend. I am wholly ignorant of the merits of his cause, but I have to point out that this is a rare occurrence in Brazil. This sort of self-sacrifice for protest is, as far as I know, unheard of. Most likely, the man was imitating the famous Vietnamese Buddhist protests of the sixties.

Environmentalist who set himself on fire in Mato Grosso do Sul dies

The environmentalist who set himself on fire in protest yesterday at downtown Campo Grande died this morning. Francisco Anselmo Barros, president of Fuconams (Mato Grosso do Sul Nature Conservation Foundation) was hospitalized at Campo Grande’s Santa Casa and had burns on 100% of his body.

He was part of a protest against a state government project which proposes the installation of alcohol processing plants at the High Paraguai Basin, which is part of Pantanal. Amidst musical and artistic performances, Barros set two mattresses on the floor, wrapped himself around them, doused them in gasoline and set them on fire.

The environmentalist had first, second and third degree burns. He was hospitalized at the Intensive Care Center and was breathing with the aid of machines.

Francelmo’s gesture (as the environmentalist was called by his friends) surprised people next to him. Jorge Gonda, who was also at the protest, said Barros was participating regularly in the act and then handed him a briefcase and told him he would be right back.

Soon there were flames on the sidewalk drawing everybody’s attention. There was a long time before people realized there was a person inside the fire. There was panic and people used a fire extinguisher and clothes and blankets from nearby stores to try to stop the fire.

Environmentalist left letters to friends and family

Douglas Ramos, Fuconams’s juridical director, helped the man without knowing it was his friend, so bad were the wounds. Inside the briefcase he gave Gonda, the environmentalist left a series of letters to friends, family members and the press, where he spoke of giving his life for the Pantanal. In the letter to the press he left criticism against state power.

Another letter had recommendations for his wake. He asked that it happened at the May 13th Street chapel, in downtown Campo Grande. It is expected his body will be released before 3PM today and the service will happen at dusk.

The environmentalist, who was also a journalist, had positions at the Municipal Counsel for Environmental Control, was a member of the Brazilian Association of Tourism Journalists, of the War School Graduates Association, executive director of Saber publishing house, executive director of the Association for the Promotion and Support of Art and Culture in General. He was also affiliated with the Brazilian NGO Forum, to the Brazilian NGO Association and a participant of the Living Rivers Network, the Pantanal Network, the Aguapé Environmental Education Network, the Cerrado Network, the Socio-Environmental Institute, the World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International and SOS Rainforest and a coordinator of the Mato Grosso do Sul Environment and Development Forum and the Pantanal Defense Forum.

Solon Brochado: Last week, the CPI that was set to investigate charges of bribe in the country’s Postal Service, and eventually led to the mensalão scandal, reached its expiration date. Being as it were nowhere near finished, the opposition launched a campaign to extend its life expectancy. The president then decided to play his cards at the Congress, promising funds for projects of congressmen who refused to sign the form asking for the CPIs extension.

With that, 66 representatives who were backing the proposition, changed their mind and withdrew their signatures. Unfortunately for the president, it wasn’t enough, and the opposition gathered all the needed signatures from congressmen. The result, according to Ricardo Noblat, the country’s most widely read political blogger, is death upon the administration.

There’s a body stretched on the ground

The balance after seven days of political crisis: one dead, 66 wounded and one diseased who sees his health deteriorating little by little. The dead is minister Antonio Palocci. His body is stretched out in the Esplanada dos Ministérios’ grass waiting for the rabecão [car used for the transportation of corpses]. It may not come. But not even then will Palocci rise from the horizontal position.

The 66 wounded are the representatives who signed the request to extend the expiration of the Postal Service’s CPI - and who, pressured by the government, withdrew their signatures in exchange for promises. They lost prestige and shame. They’ll lose votes. They’re furious and condemned to further thicken the line of those who sacrificed themselves in vain for the government’s sake.

The diseased is Lula. He maneuvered to detain the inquiry of frauds after saying he would never mess with the CPIs, and stimulated Brazilians to denounce irregularities. The maneuver was a resounding fiasco - one of the more astonishing ones ever since he’s been at the number one chair of the Republic.

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Solon Brochado: As if he didn’t have his hands full, Lula now has to deal with dissent in his own ranks. It seems to be only another episode in the historical divide between left-leaning petistas and moderate ones. Those on the left side of the party, commonly referred to as shiites, have never been very pleased with the economical orthodoxy of Treasury minister Antonio Palocci, but have never been able to touch him due to the country’s most solid numbers in decades.

But now, Palocci has been weakened by evidences of corruption during his term as mayor of Ribeirão Preto, that were raised in the CPIs. It was the opportunity shiites were looking for. Dilma Roussef, the Chief of Staff, has been very critical of the minister of late, never missing a chance to state her opinions in newspapers or during political meetings. Palocci, while apparently ready to step down if the president deems necessary, is also using the media to defend himself.

The situation has come to a point when Lula had to call both ministers and tell them to, basically, shut up and help the party and the government get out of the current crisis, instead of giving fodder to the opposition, which has been more than happy to help undermine Palocci’s stand. It is amazing that, after all this time, petistas still approach the government from a student politics standpoint.

Below, an op-ed by Kennedy Alencar, Folha de S. Paulo’s special reporter in Brasília, and their main political commentator.

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Solon Brochado: It’s a good thing this blog doesn’t have that many readers, for I’ll present my proverbial stupidity for all to see. As promised on the last couple of posts, this would be the time where I’d post the translation of a piece by Villas-Bôas Corrêa on Lula’s Roda Viva interview. It turns out that NoMínimo, who publishes Corrêa’s work, uses dynamic links for their content. So, the link for Corrêa’s articles will always lead you to his latest column. To read past works, you have to use a drop down menu on the right.

Unfortunately, I only realized that when I was two paragraphs short of translating his latest op-ed (and now I realize this link will lead to a different article next week), dealing with Lula’s alleged condemnation of reelections. I thought of waiting to put it aside, and only post it after some more things regarding the president’s interview. But translating Corrêa’s prose is not such an easy task, and to postpone posting it would seem like the time I spent translating was wasted. So, I decided to post it and let you all know what an idiot I am. But I promise I’ll go back to the interview in upcoming posts.

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Solon Brochado: To start our doubleheader on the president’s interview last monday, I have translated Guilherme Fiuza’s op-ed, that says the president was adamant in denying what everyone knows is the truth. And in doing that, he continued to not talk to the press, just repeating tired lines as if he was making a public adress.

The return of the demi-God

The mensalão doesn’t exist. End of story. It was president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who said that, during his interview to the “Roda Viva” show. And Lula’s truths, possibly due to some divine gift, have the power to hover over facts, intact, indisputable. You can’t, therefore, argue with such a guy. Lula has won.

It doesn’t matter that an account from Marcos Valério’s SMP&B agency at the Banco Rural has supplied politicians from several parties, including the PT, with withdrawals throughout various months in a sum that totals over 20 million reais, all verified, even leading to some congressmen’s resignations, inclunding PT’s former leader Paulo Rocha, and the opening of some others’ impeachment processes, including former president of the Chamber, João Paulo Cunha, also from the PT. Lula has the mysterious gift of keeping at large from confronting the facts. If he speaks, it is said and done. The mensalão doesn’t exist, end of story.

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Solon Brochado: President Lula is a man of few words, at least in regards to the press. He spent almost all of his first year as president without giving interviews, whether exclusive or not. On the other hand, if released from having to answer reporters’ questions, he can be a very eloquent man: the president adresses the population on a daily basis, through pronunciations at innaugurations, festivals, rallies and such.

So it was with much anticipation that every one turned their attention to the show Roda Viva, at TV Cultura (the public TV network), this monday. It would be the president’s first interview after the beggining of the whole political crisis, way back when an aide to then chief-of-staff José Dirceu was charged with negotiating public tenders with bicheiros [those involved with the jogo do bicho - or “animal game”, an illegal form of lottery], in exchange of bribes and contribution to electoral campaigns, which eventually led to the CPI [Parliamentary Inquiry Comission] dos Bingos.

Roda Viva is a one hour long live interview show, where about 15 reporters and pundits from different backgrounds sit on two round benches, surrounding the interviewee, who sits on a rotating chair. Questions tend to come in waves, which is usually bad news for someone trying to make some story up on the fly, since they’ll most often than not be caught in contradiction. Being literally surrounded with people asking questions, above you, also doesn’t seem to help those interviewed.

It seemed unusual then that the president, so wary of journalists and interviews, would decide to break his silence at such an inhospitable environment. But it turned out things were not so inhospitable after all. First, the president wasn’t interviewed in the usual set, but at the Palácio do Planalto [the federal government’s office]. He didn’t have to sit in an uncomfortable rotating chair, surrounded by journalists, but rather could feel like he was heading a reunion with supporters. Also, there were less interviewers, and they all seemed a little intimidated by the situation, or at least were less agressive than usual.

So, the next couple of posts will be translations of two articles, written by Guilherme Fiuza and Villas-Bôas Corrêa, both from NoMínimo, discussing how the interview went. I’ll also try to post some of the interview’s repercussion in political blogs, like Ricardo Noblat’s and even [Roda Viva’s director and host] Paulo Markun’s.

Solon Brochado: Sorry for the lack of posts this last couple of days, but other commitments didn’t leave me with enough time to translate anything. We’ve had two events of some importance, though: president Bush’s visit to Brazil; and president Lula’s interview for the Roda Viva show, this sunday. We’ll try and post content related to thatt. Before we resume work, though, I’ll like to make two notes: