Since the beginning of October, the Brazilian press is noticing the possible changes in the law that today permits that non-authorized biographies be taken out of the market by those whose lives are being portrayed in the books. A judgment about the constitutionality of the current law on Brazil’s superior court is scheduled to the end of November and could put an end to a law that has impeded several biographies of entering the Brazilian market. Examples of this are the history of Roberto Carlos a famous romantic singer, that removed his biography from the market in april 2007, and the biography of Lilly Safra, a billionaire that had four marriages, two of which ended with the tragically death of her husbands, which biography called “Gilded Lilly”, is available only in the English version, since 2010.
What called attention of the press was a statement published by a group of artists called “Procure saber” (“Look to know”, in a free translation) saying they were against any changes in the status quo. Among the artists that supported the statement were Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, famous for their leftist political opinions. The reaction of the public to the statement was negative and articles claiming for freedom of speech started appearing in the newspapers by the first week of October. Elio Gaspari wrote a beautiful article in Folha de S. Paulo showing the examples of embargoed biographies (that is the source for my examples above).
On Sunday, Roberto Carlos himself told “Fantástico” -- the premium news and entertainment program of Globo Television -- that he supported changes in the law, as long as there were some adjustments. He didn’t specified which adjustments he thought would be necessary, but he certainly backed from his former position after considering the repercussion of the public. The subject should be still on the news radar as long as the law stay under discussion and the judgment from the superior court isn’t over.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Oil and beagles
As predicted, the pre-salt oil auction had just one proposal, from a group headed by Petrobras. The other companies are the Chinese CNPC and Cnook, the anglo-dutch Shell and the French company Total. As Folha de S. Paulo revealed today the major companies ended up all together in the same group and that inhibited other competitors.Despite lack of bids in the auction, president Dilma celebrated the result and rebuffed the critic to the model that puts a lot of responsibility on Petrobras (that is currently with a constrained budget). According to the president, the model has the merit of guaranteeing that 85% of the revenue from Libra oilfield will remain with the Brazilian state (which has 51% of Petrobras voting shares). The government also announced it will be with watching closely the oil exploration in the pre-salt, after O Globo denounced the subject was not covered by the auction summon.
Beagles
Enough with oil. I would like to comment a piece of news that is trending in the social media among Brazilian users. It’s the invasion of a research laboratory last Friday by a group of animal rights activists. They removed 178 beagles from the institution at dawn on Friday, saying they were victims of maltreatment.
Immediately after the news broke, on the weekend, hundreds of animal lovers shared their thoughts on the cruelty with animals. The scientific community responded saying there are few alternatives for research in some cases and condemned the invasion. Today O Globo says the federal deputy Ricardo Tripoli is holding a couple of beagles in his house and is advising the other 15 to 20 members of the group on legal matters. They will be indicted for the invasion of the laboratory. The police is also investigating the complaint of animal maltreatment.
Folha de S. Paulo, on the other hand is reporting that a beagle dog breeder in São Paulo, that the activists think is the provider of the laboratory’s dogs is in constant fear of having his own property invaded. He has already hired private security to prevent possible protests.
The subject is trending in social networks and generating heated discussions in each post favorable or contrary to the activists. In my point of view, invading a private property is not the way to deal with the subject. The activists themselves told they had inside information about the abuses. The best way then would be to proceed with the formal criminal complaints.
Even though I’m obviously contrary to animal maltreatment I also support experiments in animals, when there are no other alternatives. I mean, if that is what it takes to develop medicine that will save human lives, than it’s all right with me. Humankind has been killing and using animals for survival purposes since ancient times, and that is not likely to change soon.
Immediately after the news broke, on the weekend, hundreds of animal lovers shared their thoughts on the cruelty with animals. The scientific community responded saying there are few alternatives for research in some cases and condemned the invasion. Today O Globo says the federal deputy Ricardo Tripoli is holding a couple of beagles in his house and is advising the other 15 to 20 members of the group on legal matters. They will be indicted for the invasion of the laboratory. The police is also investigating the complaint of animal maltreatment.
Folha de S. Paulo, on the other hand is reporting that a beagle dog breeder in São Paulo, that the activists think is the provider of the laboratory’s dogs is in constant fear of having his own property invaded. He has already hired private security to prevent possible protests.
The subject is trending in social networks and generating heated discussions in each post favorable or contrary to the activists. In my point of view, invading a private property is not the way to deal with the subject. The activists themselves told they had inside information about the abuses. The best way then would be to proceed with the formal criminal complaints.
Even though I’m obviously contrary to animal maltreatment I also support experiments in animals, when there are no other alternatives. I mean, if that is what it takes to develop medicine that will save human lives, than it’s all right with me. Humankind has been killing and using animals for survival purposes since ancient times, and that is not likely to change soon.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Economic stability as a big issue on next year's presidential elections
The pre-salt auction has again gained the main pages of Brazilian newspapers today, but I’ll leave the subject for tomorrow’s post. For now, it’s suffice to say that there are occurring some protests and that according to Folha de S. Paulo and Valor Econômico, this probably could be the first and last auction in which Petrobras will be obliged to participate with at least 30% of participation in each area. As mentioned in a previous post in this blog, the state controlled oil company is short on cash, crippled by the government’s policy.
What I would like to call attention to is the interview of Eduardo Giannetti, economic advisor of Marina Silva to Folha, saying that she would stand for a lower state presence in the economy. It does not mean that she will take the liberal path, but probably that she would be more market friendly.
The interview is also another way of saying that the economy is going to be a big topic in next year presidential election. Giannetti praised the last term of Fernando Henrique Cardoso as a president (1999-2002) and the first term of Lula (2003-2006). After that the macroeconomic tripod (fiscal responsibility, inflation control and floating currency) was somewhat abandoned, he said.
What I would like to call attention to is the interview of Eduardo Giannetti, economic advisor of Marina Silva to Folha, saying that she would stand for a lower state presence in the economy. It does not mean that she will take the liberal path, but probably that she would be more market friendly.
The interview is also another way of saying that the economy is going to be a big topic in next year presidential election. Giannetti praised the last term of Fernando Henrique Cardoso as a president (1999-2002) and the first term of Lula (2003-2006). After that the macroeconomic tripod (fiscal responsibility, inflation control and floating currency) was somewhat abandoned, he said.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Petrobras and the inflation
Expected to be one of the biggest players on the Libra oilfield auction that will take place on Monday, Petrobras is in a difficult position. The state controlled company has been crippled by the government interventions in its management -- from having to invest in areas that are not of its core interest, as ethanol, for example, to being impeded to raise gasoline prices because of the authorities fear of inflation.
Petrobras is also in a tough position because of the new rules for oil exploration in the pre-salt area. The company is legally obliged to have a minimum share of 30% in all the fields. Since there are a lot of commitments still to be made, analists thing this will slow down the investment on future fields.
For this reason the government is cooking a new legislation to give some fiscal relief to Petrobras, according to Folha de S. Paulo. The company will probably not be taxed for the profits obtained from its foreign subsidiaries in the rent for equipment destined to the oil development in Brazil. There has been also some talk about another gasoline price increase to be allowed this year, but this is stil to be confirmed.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Introductions
For eight years, I worked at some of the most important Brazilian newspapers, writing business stories. Now, because of a scholarship from Instituto Ling to study a Master in Communication Course in IE School of Communication, in Madrid, I went back to being solely a reader of Brazil’s media.
Since I never liked to read the news without discussing, I decided to open up this blog, sharing some comments on what is on the main news in Brazil. I invite all visitors to join the conversation, post their comments and suggest themes for discussion on this page.
In this brief introduction, I would like to suggest some basic readings to understand Brazil in some depth. There are four classic books that explain the political, cultural and economic history of Brazil that I think give some basics about the country.
The first one of them would be "Roots of Brazil", from Sergio Buarque de Holanda, a Brazilian historian that happens to be the father of the famous Brazilian singer Chico Buarque de Holanda. Here you’ll find some important insights about the difference of the Portuguese and Spanish colonization in America, crucial to understand the differences in the region and also why Brazil has remained an united country while Spanish colonies divided into multiple countries. One of the reasons being the Portuguese directive of miscegenation, since the men were encouraged to marry Indians and their sons were recognized as Portuguese.
The other precious book to give some ground on Brazil is from Caio Prado Junior, called “Formation of contemporary Brazil”, with some more geographical analysis. The author explains, among other things, the difficulty of building ports on Brazil’s shallow shore and the determination of the gaucho culture on the south because of the wild cattle that started to appear there after the colonization, this book is crucial for those who are more interested in economic history.
From one of the most prominent Marxist authors in Brazil, Celso Furtado, we have the book called “The economic growth of Brazil”, another book with a big economic basis that has a great analysis of the importance of coffee production in the beginning of the 20th century. Finally, for those that would like to have some cultural background there is “The Brazilian People” from anthropologist, and a famous defender of the Indian population, Darcy Ribeiro.
Since I never liked to read the news without discussing, I decided to open up this blog, sharing some comments on what is on the main news in Brazil. I invite all visitors to join the conversation, post their comments and suggest themes for discussion on this page.
In this brief introduction, I would like to suggest some basic readings to understand Brazil in some depth. There are four classic books that explain the political, cultural and economic history of Brazil that I think give some basics about the country.
The first one of them would be "Roots of Brazil", from Sergio Buarque de Holanda, a Brazilian historian that happens to be the father of the famous Brazilian singer Chico Buarque de Holanda. Here you’ll find some important insights about the difference of the Portuguese and Spanish colonization in America, crucial to understand the differences in the region and also why Brazil has remained an united country while Spanish colonies divided into multiple countries. One of the reasons being the Portuguese directive of miscegenation, since the men were encouraged to marry Indians and their sons were recognized as Portuguese.
The other precious book to give some ground on Brazil is from Caio Prado Junior, called “Formation of contemporary Brazil”, with some more geographical analysis. The author explains, among other things, the difficulty of building ports on Brazil’s shallow shore and the determination of the gaucho culture on the south because of the wild cattle that started to appear there after the colonization, this book is crucial for those who are more interested in economic history.
From one of the most prominent Marxist authors in Brazil, Celso Furtado, we have the book called “The economic growth of Brazil”, another book with a big economic basis that has a great analysis of the importance of coffee production in the beginning of the 20th century. Finally, for those that would like to have some cultural background there is “The Brazilian People” from anthropologist, and a famous defender of the Indian population, Darcy Ribeiro.
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