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Brazil's government enacted one of the most sweeping affirmative action laws. This is just one example of the sort of democratic, humanitarian charge that Brazil is leading in South America. On one end of the spectrum we see Chavez's authoritarian-ruled Venezuela, with state-controlled sectors still on the rise. On the other end we see Brazil, enacting humanitarian changes such as this affirmative action law. Increasingly, we have seen Latin American countries follow the lead set by Brazil, with a shift away from the state-controlled policy championed by Venezuela. Economically, we also see that Brazil is in much better shape than Venezuela, regardless of the fact that Venezuela is oil-rich. This law just offers one example of the changes set in motion by Brazil that stand at odds with the state-controlled ideals that were previously indicative of Latin American politics.

Fascinating article -- this is a huge social engineering step, with 50% of university slots set aside for poor and minority students! While there is debate about the step, only one senator voted against it.... Since our focus here in the class and the diigo articles is science and technology, I'm wondering if anyone here is willing to venture any guesses about how this policy might affect science, technology, and medicine in Brazil. Would most of these students from poorer social worlds opt for sci/tech/med training? If so, how might this change society itself? Do the wealthier students now attending college select different sorts of majors? It would be interesting to do some digging... Of course, the influx of students from different backgrounds could affect the wealthier students' worldviews, also -- if they stay in the public university system, however, which might not happen...From the article: Dozens of other Brazilian universities, both public and private, have also adopted their own affirmative action policies in recent years, trying to curb the dominance of such institutions by middle- and upper-middle-class students who were educated at private elementary and secondary schools. Public universities in Brazil are largely free of charge and generally of better quality, with some exceptions, than private universities. Still, some education experts are already predicting a shift to the better private universities among some students. "With these quotas, these rich Brazilians who took up their spots will not be abandoned," argued Frei David Santos, 60, a Franciscan friar in São Paulo who directs Educafro, an organization preparing black and low-income students for university entrance exams. "Their parents who had money saved will spend it" on elite private universities.

This article explains how poor educational standards in Brazil are holding the country back even while its economy is quickly growing. Because the education system is not capable of producing enough skilled professionals to meet the demands of the work force, Brazil is relying on immigrants to fill skilled labor positions. If Brazil is to sustain its growth, it clearly needs to improve the education system quickly.

See Michael Ray's article up above about affirmative action and Brazilian universities -- these two articles seem connected --

According to a government report, deforestation of the Amazon by Brazil as decreased by twenty seven percent in the last year. This is a big improvement for a country who's economy has previously relied very much upon the industries that accompany deforestation. Unfortunately, even with a twenty seven percent decrease in deforestation, deforestation is still occurring at an alarming rate. Also worrisome is the fact that Brazil seems to have recently loosened some of it's environmental protection laws.

This article is fascinating. It discusses the drug violence in Brazil, and what could be done to combat it. The police are working to recover slums in order to prepare for the 2016 Olympics and the World Cup. Here, it is questioned what will happen to the drug stricken areas.

It's interesting to think that drug violence or youth culture could be impacted in such a way. However, I wonder if this is a phenomena unique to Brazil, or if it could be applicable to countries like the United States.

This article shows how technology, in the form of novelas in this case, becomes an integral part of culture. The particular novela that this article is about is called Avenida Brasil, and is significant because it is the first massively popular novela to star the middle class. This shift in the focus of media shows that the middle class is becoming increasingly important in Brazil as their economy rises to prominence.

This article continues analysis of Latin America's potential as an economic and technological powerhouse of the future. Christopher Johnson writes, " As Europe attempts to cope with its financial crisis and Asia braces for the looming slowdown of China's economy, Latin America - in America's backyard - is witnessing an unprecedented expansion of its indigenous technology economy." Of course, the region is not without its problems: violence in Northern Mexico, lack of Brazilian infrastructure, and the attempts of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela to kindle anti-US sentiment, to name a few. However, the result of the diligence of a number of independent technological startups in countries such as Peru, Brazil, and Argentina give many hope that Latin America will become a significant player in the global marketplace sometime in the near future.

This article analyzes claims by Sebastian Pinera, president of Chili in his article for the Economist. Economic potential in Latin America seems quite high recently, with the earnings of top bankers in Brazil moving past those in New York or London. If these claims are true, the influx of business capital in the Latin American region should be a harbinger of an information revolution, as Latin America tries to keep up with the US, Europe, and Asia in this increasingly wired world.

As Brazil prepares to host both the World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, gang violence and police murders overshadow the progress the cities Sao Paulo and Rio De Janiero are making. This year, 95 officers have been murdered in the Sao Paulo area alone, mostly by members of the PCC retaliating against the police. The situation in Rio is being somewhat improved in Rio as the police attempt to regain control of the cities many favelas.

Bigger cities are always going to have higher homicide rates. I do wonder if it will die down for the world cup. I imagine the world cup would be captivating enough to a Brazilian city to stop violence for a few weeks.

I don't think the issue is that the world cup is not a big enough event to stop the violence. The homicide rate in Sao Paulo is so high because the police to not have control of much of the city. The extremely poverty stricken areas (favelas) are run by criminal gangs. Corruption and economic disparity keep the gangs in power. In fact, in some areas the police's attempts to "clean up" the city have further angered the gangs which is why police officers are being targeted more than ever. The situation is unfortunately complicated and severe.

This article is short but very interesting as well. Argentina recently lowered their voting age to 16 from 18. The current Argentinian President, Cristina Fernandez, polls well among the youth and needs legislative support in order to amend the constitution so that she may run for President again in 2015. The article also notes that Ecuador and Brazil have already made laws allowing people as young as 16 to vote in their respective countries.

This article shows the power of education to change the lives of kids living in favelas. In this case, music gives the children a way out of a life that would otherwise involve crime or some type of participation in the informal economy. This article reminds me of the successful afro reggae programs also started in favelas. I think the most important thing to take from this article is that the situation in favelas, although very difficult, is far from hopeless. I hope that the Brazilian government might someday sponsor programs such as this one instead of viewing favela communities as inevitably crime ridden and not worth helping

I found this article especially interesting after reading seasick. It is another example of how humans are impacting the ocean and these impacts are negative. In summary, due to pollution and waste from fishing shark attacks are becoming a serious problem in Brazil's coastal waters.

This is a good article examining Latin America and its place within the foreign policy of the United States. Specifically it questions the reasons why Latin America did not come up in the final presidential debate on foreign policy.

This is a really good article. The United States often just doesn't seem to take Latin America seriously, and we have a somewhat tainted history of involvement in that area. This needs to change.

This article is about violence between a gang, PCC, and the police force in Sao Paulo. The article focuses on the most troubling aspect of this violence which is civilian deaths caused by the police. This is not the first time a police force has taken out their rage against a gang on poor civilians. As dangerous as gangs such as the PCC are, the Brazilian government clearly need to better monitor actions on the part of the police