MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Relief for Temer: Brazilian economy grew 1% in first quarter of the year
Brazil's economy grew by one percent in the first quarter of 2017, ending eight consecutive quarters of shrinkage in the country's worst recession in history, the state statistics office said Thursday. While not definitively ending the recession, the spike in growth offers another glimmer of light for Latin America's biggest economy -- and could throw a lifeline to President Michel Temer as he tries to fend off a huge corruption scandal. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesREF: “Brazilian economy grew”: SO WHAT? : https://www.noticiasaominuto.com.br/politica/396213/lava-jato-reforcou-a-visao-de-quetodos-os-politicos-sao-corruptos
Jun 02nd, 2017 - 12:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Parlasul has put in the agenda for the next meeting the exclusion of all non-Iberian language media from the Mercosur internet.
Jun 02nd, 2017 - 04:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0What do non-Ibero-Americans think about it?
@Brazileiro
Jun 02nd, 2017 - 05:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Paraguay is in Mercosur, surely they'd object to Guarani being banned? Sounds like discrimination to me.
Dem** Tree
Jun 02nd, 2017 - 06:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0We can not forget our specificities.
Parlasul is just “another” organization within the Mercosul, which meets to discuss regional problems and integration....formed by a load of useless politicians for the 5 Mercosul countries, they can't even decide when to kick VZ out...so they don't appear to be very effective, plus the fact that their joint declarations have no binding power, at best the matters are referred to each country's Congress, which then is expected to decide something (??)
Jun 03rd, 2017 - 10:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0So, the Brasshole's brainless comments don't carry much weight.
Are you afraid of demons, Brasileiro?
Jun 04th, 2017 - 10:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@JB
All the Brazil articles have expired at once. To reply to a few of your points:
“Seems you’re thinking that perhaps something between a ‘light’ version of Bolivarianism, like in VZ , and Cuban-style communism, would be acceptable ?”
Not really, I was saying Soviet style communism was certainly not inevitable in the 60s. You could have ended up with something like Lula's presidency, which I know you are not a fan of, but most people would easily rate it higher than the military government. And even if it was more like Bolivarianism, you're still comparing to a dictatorship that tortured and murdered it's own citizens rather than putting them on trial.
I wasn't calling you a fascist anyway, I can see why you might prefer the military government to communism, I just don't think that was as much of a threat as it maybe appeared at the time.
About the protests, I had to look up 'blac-blocs', apparently they started in Germany so they do exist elsewhere. Seems dumb to me for any protesters to tolerate them, but who knows what they are thinking or if they just can't get rid of them.
Temer's party appears to have moved to the right recently, with all the cuts and austerity, but most countries in Latin America seem to have parties that are more towards the left side of the spectrum. It's the opposite of the USA where even the Democrats are more to the right of centre and the Republicans seem similar to our UKIP. Maybe it's the effect of having lots of poor people?
“teachers should have total authority in the classroom…to get rid of the trouble-makers.”
My teacher friends would agree with you! One of them had to find a new job because a pupil assaulted him and the school didn't take it seriously. Teachers are not allowed to lay a finger on the children either.
And you are right you don't always agree with customs from your own culture, so it shouldn't be a problem for immigrants, but I wonder now if it is.
@DT,
Jun 05th, 2017 - 09:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Back then there was only one type of communism…Soviet-style…no ‘light’ versions, and why would it be any different to Cuba’s ? as to murdering its own citizens, you say it as if the military went on killing sprees of innocent people….quite the opposite, they hunted down the few hundred who were openly against the government and that took the law into their own hands….some called it a ‘war’, but it was very specific and very contained.
I know you aren’t calling me a fascist, and I agree everyone has the right to their opinion about the communist threat in the 60’s…I have mine, and my parents thought it was serious enough for us to live on perpetual standby, ready to get the hell out at short notice if necessary.
The ‘blac-blocs’ weren’t in the public-eye in the first pro-PT demonstrations, (called to counteract those against Dilma), but eventually, due to the mindset of most of the PT supporters (usually a chip on their shoulder and hatred of well-to-do business owners, or the ‘elite’, as they were generically labelled), perhaps they thought they needed to give the elie a 'lesson', so they resorted to breaking store windows and looting, right up the blac-bloc’s street.
Temer has not shifted anywhere, ideologically, he has just taken it upon himself to try to sort out the mess after 14 years of “lulopetismo”. And austerity is a word the politicians and the freeloaders loathe. Without a doubt, the poor people (largely ignorant) are what makes it possible for 32 parties to exist…anyone in their right mind knows that the political spectrum cannot be divided into so many distinct positions.
As to poorer immigrants agreeing with, or willing to accept a new culture, we’ve seen how well that has worked out in Europe…even 2nd and 3rd generations hole up in their own closed communities, and are unwilling to accept western culture. In the old days, most immigrants were really striving for a second chance, and were grateful to get it, but today ?
@JB
Jun 06th, 2017 - 09:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0AFAIK not too many of the left-wing campaigners around at the time wanted to go for actual communism, but were in favour of a limited set of reforms. However, I suspect the US government shared your belief since they helped arrange the coups across Latin America and trained the new dictatorships in torture and other techniques for repression. And you say the military didn't go after innocent people, but they sure as hell weren't giving the people they arrested a fair trial. Who's to say how many were actually guilty or were guilty of anything more than criticising the regime?
Were there any pro-PT demonstrations before the impeachment? I suppose there was not much need while they were in power but there could have been some around the elections?
Mercopress describes Temer as right-wing, and his planned reforms agree with that. Did he always support these policies, even when he was standing for VP with Rousseff?
About immigrants, my theory is that there are two factors in how well they integrate: how similar the immigrant's culture and religion are to their new country, and whether they look visibly different to the majority of the population.
So in the USA the Catholic Irish, Poles and Italians had a little more trouble integrating than the Protestant German and Scandinavian immigrants, but immigrants from East Asia had a much harder time, partly due to cultural differences and partly due to looking different, which still affects even the grandchildren of the original immigrants.
I don't think the wealth or poverty of the immigrant necessarily makes a big difference. Some are able to succeed despite being poor and push their children to get a good education and a well-paying job, others not so much.
I assume your family were not striving for a second chance though. Did they just prefer Brazil over the UK or was there some other reason for moving out there permanently?
@DT
Jun 10th, 2017 - 03:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0left-wing ‘campaigners’ ? nice euphemism…hardly applicable to those who tried to impose their views thru force…and their left-wing philosophy was Cuban style, or plain communism.
Sure JFK supported our military…he didn’t want a communist state in his backyard. As for the ‘supposedly’ innocent who got screwed, there’s a very appropriate saying here, which freely translated is “if you go out in the rain, you can expect to get wet”...or, if you want to stick your neck out, be prepared for the consequences.
In June 2014, there were a few protests against the (PT) government, and most thought they were no more than some fleeting popular reaction, but they soon realized it was a more durable manifestation of frustration and latent anger against all the lies and the first signs of recession. Govt (& Congress) carried on, deaf to the voices in the street.
The MDB (Movimento Democrático Brasileiro) from which the PMDB (and Temer) originated, opposed the ruling party (Arena – Aliança Renovador Nacional), so I don’t think Temer, or his party are anywhere near right-wing…but, if people are confusing ‘austerity’ with right-wing, because the left-wing needs someone to blame (to save their own faces) and a common cause around which to agglutinate, it is understandable that some try to label him right-wing.
Temer, before being VP, never stood out for any particular ideology, just another influential politician within his party (the largest in and out of Congress)
Immigrants from western cultures obviously, despite small differences, will usually find it easier to integrate than those from significantly different cultures (from the middle and far-east)…that is easily seen in Europe and the US, where many of the latter still live in relatively closed communities.
You're right, my father wasn't after a new chance…that’s the difference I meant by 'poorer immigrants'. He accepted the challenge of a promotion abroad, and when the contract ended, he decided to stay on
@JB
Jun 11th, 2017 - 09:10 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The President at the time was presumably not planning to impose his views by force, and shouldn't have needed to. There was no attempt at revolution before the military took over, and if there had been the country might have been able to deal with it without abandoning democracy and using such draconian measures. I am glad I live in a country where you can risk sticking your neck out without dire consequences. It is better for society that all opinions can be heard and people are not too afraid to criticise the government.
I guess your father must have liked Brazil a lot since he decided to stay, and you are still there despite all the corruption and crime, so what are the good things?
Speaking of far-east, I have heard that Japan is hard for immigrants, maybe it's because of the different culture or because they are quite insular. What do you think?
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