2018 Election
Brazilians seem to be looking over their shoulders more than they did in the past. And the country is not only losing faith in its institutions, but citizens have also become less confident in one another. That’s what a series of surveys carried out since 2009 by Ibope Inteligência, a polling institute, shows us. Nearly… Read More »
Brazil has historically done a poor job monitoring violence rates. To date, the federal government has little idea of exactly how many murders happen in the country – as it still doesn’t have a consolidated database to monitor violence rates. The best indicator is a study published annually by the Brazilian Forum of Public Security… Read More »
Chapter 8 of the Brazilian Constitution is exclusively dedicated to the country’s native populations. It recognizes their right to preserve their way of life, habits, beliefs, traditions, and languages. Specific schooling programs, crafted following those guidelines, are also set by Brazil’s body of fundamental principles. However, much like most issues related to Brazilian indigenous peoples,… Read More »
Brazil has for years presented itself as a “racial democracy” – a land of harmonious racial relations and free of racism. This image has many times been questioned, while the murder in April 2018 of social justice campaigner Marielle Franco shed new light on the violence many of the country’s black women face. And today, a particular form… Read More »
When the young naturalist Alfred R. Wallace left England to explore the New World in 1848, one of his key observations in the Amazon region was that large rivers were unsurpassable barriers for some species of animals, particularly primates and birds. Even more interesting, he noticed that closely related species often occupied forests on opposite sides of… Read More »
Under federal intervention since March 2018, Rio de Janeiro has been riddled with violence and organized crime. According to the NGO Public Safety Institute, the state of Rio de Janeiro registered 40 violent deaths for every 100,000 inhabitants in 2017 – a hike of 7.4 percent from 2016. In the state capital, 70 percent of… Read More »
Two and a half months ago, Brazil watched as neighbors Argentina passed a law to decriminalize abortions, still pending a Senate vote. Latin America’s biggest country could soon follow the same path, as on August 3 the Supreme Court begins a series of debates on whether or not abortions should be made legal within the… Read More »
It was in 1957 that famous Brazilian fashion photographer Otto Stupakoff turned to his friend Sergio Rodrigues, then a 30-year-old architect, for a “mission.” He wanted a comfortable armchair on which he could relax after a long day’s work. That request ended up propelling Rodrigues to international fame, as it pushed him into creating one… Read More »
Brazil’s population, which today stands at 208 million people, will continue to grow over the next 30 years, when it will peak in 2047 at 233.2 million. From that point on, however, the country will see a gradual decline of its population until 2060, when it will have 228.3 million. The projections were published by… Read More »
For Brazilians, computers belong in the past. For the first time ever, smartphones have become the preferred device to access the internet in Latin America’s biggest country. Almost half of all internet users (49 percent, to be exact) only access the web on their phones, according to a recent survey by the Regional Center for… Read More »