Essential Afro-Latino/ Caribbean Current Events

JahFocus CS

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Why use the term Hispanic and Latino for "all non-American Western Blacks"?

The PR is not an Afro-Latino Carribean country. It has a small Afro-Latino population but the country itself is not Afro-Latino per se. Cuba is a Carribean country, but more of a mixed Hispanic one. The DR counts as a Afro-Latino Carribean country I guess.

Sure, but why should this fact mean Carribean blacks are lumped in with Latin people?

I wouldn't say the majority of PR is Afro-Latino, but a large percentage of the population has Afrikan descent. Same with Cuba.

What is your criteria for "Afro-Latino" then? Just (close to full) Black people who speak Spanish? :leostare:

If you want to say that a country like Jamaica or Dominica shouldn't be grouped with Spanish-speaking countries, okay... but that is a little arbitrary because aside from the different colonial experience (English colonization vs. Spanish colonization), Caribbean countries still share a whole region and have interlinked histories. And even defining the Caribbean can be tricky - Spanish-speaking regions/countries like Yucatan in Mexico, the Central American countries, and the northern parts of South America can be considered Caribbean, or at least connected to the region... :yeshrug:
 

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KAREN CIVIL DONATES $41K TO HAITI
Posted By: B.Dot November 8, 2014 @ 11:20 AM EST General
karencivil-haiti-630x421.jpg

Playtime.

Karen Civil celebrated her birthday today in Haiti by donating $41,000 to erect a playground. Collaborating with Sow A Seed and Project PlayWorld, the Live Civil Playground will be constructed with environmentally sound and recycled materials. The area will also be used to house plays and lectures. Says Karen:

“I believe in the power of play. Unfortunately, Haiti does not have many safe environments for children to play and express themselves. Coming from a Haitian-American home, I thought it was necessary to give back to the country in which my parents were raised. That is why I believe in Project PlayWorld’s efforts to to provide secure playing spaces for the children of Haiti with the Live Civil Playground.”

 

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http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/Guyana-headed-for-dictatorship_17927375

Guyana headed for dictatorship


Wednesday, November 12, 2014 30 Comments





Guyana-flag.jpg




Guyana is a country where democracy has traditionally been weak; indeed, for long periods political manipulation has just barely masked some form of dictatorship.

The history of Guyana shows a consistent unwillingness to accept the will of the people as expressed in free and fair elections. The root cause of the undemocratic tendency is the unabated tension between the two ethnic groups, the Afro-Guyanese and the Indo-Guyanese. This persistent, pandemic and virulent racism has become even more perverted and vicious because both tribes see control of the state as a means of distributing scarce benefits in a very poor country.

This practice of racial exclusion from the scarce benefits derivable from the state spawns social and political polarisation.

Guyana has a National Assembly which is a unicameral legislature of 65 members of which 25 members are elected from 10 constituencies by proportional representation and 40 members are chosen also on the basis of proportional representation from national lists named by the political parties.

The president is elected for a five-year term on the basis of parliamentary elections which were last held on November 28, 2011. The president is not directly elected. At the time of elections each party presenting a slate of candidates for the assembly must designate a leader who will become president if that party receives the largest number of votes.

The current situation is that the Indo-Guyanese-controlled People's Progressive Party won 32 seats in the 2011 election and has formed the Government under Mr Donald Ramotar. A coalition of opposition groups, including the People's National Congress dominated by Afro-Guyanese, and the Alliance for Change, controls the majority of 33 seats in parliament.

The opposition coalition on August 7, 2014 delivered to the clerk of the National Assembly a motion of "no confidence" against the Government of Mr Ramotar, who knows that this will succeed and new elections will be necessary.

Since the announcement of the intention to have a vote of "no confidence" he has refused to convene a sitting of parliament. Now in a move which undermines the democratic process, Mr Ramotar has prorogued parliament for six months, a move some suggest can be repeated until elections are constitutionally due. This would certainly provoke a constitutional crisis.

His specious justification for this undemocratic act is a transparent farce, claiming that proroguing Parliament was his "sole recourse" to preserving the life of the current Parliament and to bring an end to the opposition's "political gamesmanship".

Mr Ramotar also gave the "assurance" that the six months' prorogation would be used to engage the parliamentary opposition in "constructive ways". He further stated that if no agreement for "normalcy" was reached, then he would have no choice but to hold early general elections.

All this is clearly intended to maintain himself in power and delay elections as long as possible.

Meanwhile, he has done his country considerable reputational damage. To deliberately create a situation in which the executive is exercising power without a functioning parliament is a subversion of democracy. It is tantamount to the conversion of an elected president into a de facto dictator.
 

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http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/The-long--stubborn-search-for-oil_18032752

The long, stubborn search for oil
‘If we find it, Jamaica will be debt-free, able to pay its bills’


Sunday, November 30, 2014 102 Comments





Writing-on-the-wall.jpg








Chairman of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) Christopher Cargill inks his signature on the signing board erected to mark the resumption of oil and gas exploration in Jamaica. PCJ’s Group General Manager Winston Watson (right) and Ian Dunleavy, commercial manager, Americas and Asia for Tullow Oil, also signed the board.




THERE was a dream of a prosperous Jamaica, free of debt and able to pay its bills. One could merely whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it could vanish, so fragile was it. But it was the dream of a few stubborn men who could not be convinced that there was no oil or gas on or offshore Jamaica. And still the dream lives on.

On the fifth floor of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) building at Trafalgar Road, Kingston, a small team of men and women is feverishly working at realising the dream of one of those stubborn men, Dr Raymond Wright, the late group managing director of the PCJ and the powerhouse behind the conceptualisation and founding of the PCJ in 1979.

Wright built an illustrious career as a geologist, having attained, at the young age of 33, the position of commissioner of mines at the Geological Survey Department. His significant achievements in field mapping, well logging and karst hydrogeology, as well as the provision of geological services, regulation of petroleum and mining activities, geological mapping and mineral exploration, made him a virtual household name in Jamaica. He died in July 2011.

It's a small team at today's PCJ but one fired up by Dr Wright's big idea that Jamaica has oil and gas.

"There is oil and gas in our territory in commercial quantities," insisted current PCJ Chairman Christopher Cargill. "I know it," he told the Jamaica Observer with a straight face. "And I am convinced that it can be a game-changer for our country. Raymond Wright was decades ahead of his time."

Cargill, like Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell, was infected by Wright's enthusiasm and belief that Jamaica has oil and he has the support of two other equally firm believers -- Winston Watson, group general manager, and Brian Richardson, manager, oil and gas.

Cynicism has always followed the various attempts at finding oil. But PCJ quieted many doubters by managing to bring aboard no less than the United Kingdom's leading independent oil and gas exploration firm, Tullow Oil plc, and to get them to bankroll what is the fifth campaign in the long, dogged search for the precious commodities.

It began for Jamaica in the 1950s. Two wells were drilled in Negril, Westmoreland. The seismic work was done using soundwaves to image the subsurface to determine if there were geological structures and hydrocarbons which contain crude oil. From that there were clear hydrocarbon indications, said Richardson, who is now the man on the bridge.

More indications of oil and gas


The data culled from that first campaign fuelled greater optimism and formed the basis for the second and third -- between the 1960s and 70s. This time, five companies from the United States and Canada prospected across Jamaica, drilling eight additional wells -- seven onshore and one offshore -- in St Ann, the Cockpit Country, Content, Santa Cruz, Clarendon, and the Pedro Banks. Again, there were indications of oil and gas but it was not determined if it was in commercial quantity. The companies packed up their equipment and left.

Richardson believed that the prospectors "did not fully understand the data and made misjudgements, because they were using an approach based on the US methods".

In the 1980s, with Dr Wright at the helm of the PCJ, Jamaica persisted with the search. Two wells were drilled at the Pedro Banks, one by the PCJ and a second by an American company. More indications of the presence of oil and gas were confirmed but still not yet in commercial quantity.

Up to that point, Richardson explained, there was no deep water exploration. All wells were sunk less than 100 feet in depth. In this latter case, one rig drifted three miles off its intended drill target and when the prospectors did not find what they were looking for, they, too, packed up and left, having spent an estimated US$2 million.

Following a lull, PCJ revived its oil and gas exploration programme in 2005 and attracted two small companies -- Sagres Energy from Australia and Finder Exploration from Canada. The lack of modern technology that held back progress had, by now, improved by leaps and bounds, thanks to Brazil. And working with the rising data bank from the previous exploration campaigns, they carried out additional seismic and geological work. Potential resources were identified on the Pedro Banks.

Estimated three billion barrels of oil at Pedro Banks


But the companies did not have the funds to drill further and abandoned the effort after failing to find partners willing to share the risks. However, all was not lost. The new seismic data had revealed even clearer hydrocarbon indications and at last the potential for commercial production.

Sagres estimated the Pedro Banks had a reservoir of three billion barrels of oil and Finder Exploration put it more conservatively at 800 million barrels.

Wright and the PCJ team were now even more convinced that they were on the right track, and while fending off the cynics, they longed for the day when they could announce to Jamaica that 'we have found oil'.

In 2012, the company shook off the disappointment of the last campaign and re-engaged with the market. PCJ made two key moves. It appointed an engineer and a geologist with considerable experience to spearhead the oil and gas campaign. The two are Watson, an insider, and Richardson. With the support of Minister Pauwell and Chairman Cargill, they were mandated to find oil.

Watson has more than 16 years of experience in senior management, having held positions at firms in Barbados, Canada and Jamaica covering general management and technical/operations management. He was appointed general manager of Petrojam Limited in 2000 and then promoted to the group general manager for the PCJ group of companies, Petrojam's parent company, in 2014.

He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from the University of the West Indies; as well as a Master's in Applied Science in Engineering from the University of Waterloo. He is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario, Canada and a past member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the Barbados Association of Professional Engineers.

Richardson, in his capacity as manager, oil and gas, is responsible for developing and managing all activities related to the exploration of oil and gas within the jurisdiction of Jamaica. He is a geologist by profession and has worked extensively in the geological sciences, collaborating with industrial clients on several large projects across the globe.

He has more than 18 years of experience in several areas of the discipline, including environmental geology, engineering geology, hydrogeology and petroleum geology.

Prior to joining the PCJ, he was employed to Jacobs Engineering in the UK where he worked on water-related development projects and examined the environmental impacts of the energy industry there and across the globe. He holds a BSc in Geology from the University of the West Indies, an MSc in Hydrogeology from the University of Birmingham in the UK and a post-graduate certificate in GIS and Water Resources Modelling from Purdue University in the US.

He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London and a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists among other professional societies. He has also served as council member for the Geological Society of Jamaica.

Tullow remained at the negotiating table


The second key move by the PCJ was to send a team led by Richardson to make presentations at major oil and gas exploration fairs; for example, in Houston, Texas and Colombia, to drive interest back to Jamaica. Backed by the island's considerable archive, Richardson was able to attract Tullow Oil plc which, remarkably, remained at the negotiating table until a deal was struck, taken as a sign of great confidence in the project. Remarkable also is the fact that the company is doing all the spending.

Tullow Oil describes itself as: "A leading independent oil and gas exploration and production group, quoted on the London, Irish and Ghanaian stock exchanges and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The group has interests in over 140 exploration and production licences across 21 countries which are managed as three regional business units: West and North Africa; South and East Africa and Europe, South America and Asia."

Website information also shows that in 2007 Tullow hit it big with its largest ever discovery -- the Jubilee field offshore Ghana. It claimed a 100 per cent exploration success rate in Uganda, moving this project closer to the commercial threshold for development. Overall, the group had a 56 per cent exploration success rate with nine discoveries out of 16 wells.

It generated "record production, sales revenue, operating cash flow and growth in reserves and resources". Financial results, however, were impacted by lower UK gas prices, increased exploration write-offs and higher depreciation and interest charges.

On November 1, 2014, PCJ and Tullow Jamaica Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tullow Oil plc, inked a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) to explore offshore Jamaica in the Walton Basin and the Morant Basin. Exploration will cover 10 of Jamaica's 31 blocks located south of the island or 32,065 kilometres.

'Oil exploration is a marathon, not a sprint'


Fighting strenuously to manage expectations, Paulwell said "if our oil and gas exploration programme is successful, it can be a game-changer for our country".

Using the more conservative figure of 800 million barrels, the value of the Pedro Banks reservoir would be US$8 billion or J$800 billion.

But Tullow Oil's exploration director, Angus McCoss, immediately cautioned patience: "This is a long-term project and a great deal of geological and other essential work is required before any drilling can take place." Interpreted, that means that exploration could last up to 7.5 years before commercial quantity is found, then the production phase would begin and that "can last between 17.5 and 19.5 years".

Supporting McCoss, Watson added: "Oil and gas exploration is a marathon and not a sprint."

Under the 25-year Production Sharing Agreement, Jamaica and Tullow will share the proceeds and Jamaica stands to develop a modern oil and gas industry that will necessitate training of Jamaicans. However, immediate jobs could come in custom brokerage, vessel support during seismic studies and the use of local facilities and services.

Asked to describe what impact an oil find could have on Jamaica, Richardson said: "As a country we would be given the opportunity to develop our resources. Jamaica needs this game-changer. The biggest impact is that it would allow us to change our debt profile. People would see us in a different light. We would be able to pay our bills. And our heavy dependence on imported oil for energy would be considerably reduced."
 

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http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/The-long--stubborn-search-for-oil_18032752

The long, stubborn search for oil
‘If we find it, Jamaica will be debt-free, able to pay its bills’


Sunday, November 30, 2014 102 Comments






Writing-on-the-wall.jpg








Chairman of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) Christopher Cargill inks his signature on the signing board erected to mark the resumption of oil and gas exploration in Jamaica. PCJ’s Group General Manager Winston Watson (right) and Ian Dunleavy, commercial manager, Americas and Asia for Tullow Oil, also signed the board.




THERE was a dream of a prosperous Jamaica, free of debt and able to pay its bills. One could merely whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it could vanish, so fragile was it. But it was the dream of a few stubborn men who could not be convinced that there was no oil or gas on or offshore Jamaica. And still the dream lives on.

On the fifth floor of the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) building at Trafalgar Road, Kingston, a small team of men and women is feverishly working at realising the dream of one of those stubborn men, Dr Raymond Wright, the late group managing director of the PCJ and the powerhouse behind the conceptualisation and founding of the PCJ in 1979.

Wright built an illustrious career as a geologist, having attained, at the young age of 33, the position of commissioner of mines at the Geological Survey Department. His significant achievements in field mapping, well logging and karst hydrogeology, as well as the provision of geological services, regulation of petroleum and mining activities, geological mapping and mineral exploration, made him a virtual household name in Jamaica. He died in July 2011.

It's a small team at today's PCJ but one fired up by Dr Wright's big idea that Jamaica has oil and gas.

"There is oil and gas in our territory in commercial quantities," insisted current PCJ Chairman Christopher Cargill. "I know it," he told the Jamaica Observer with a straight face. "And I am convinced that it can be a game-changer for our country. Raymond Wright was decades ahead of his time."

Cargill, like Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell, was infected by Wright's enthusiasm and belief that Jamaica has oil and he has the support of two other equally firm believers -- Winston Watson, group general manager, and Brian Richardson, manager, oil and gas.

Cynicism has always followed the various attempts at finding oil. But PCJ quieted many doubters by managing to bring aboard no less than the United Kingdom's leading independent oil and gas exploration firm, Tullow Oil plc, and to get them to bankroll what is the fifth campaign in the long, dogged search for the precious commodities.

It began for Jamaica in the 1950s. Two wells were drilled in Negril, Westmoreland. The seismic work was done using soundwaves to image the subsurface to determine if there were geological structures and hydrocarbons which contain crude oil. From that there were clear hydrocarbon indications, said Richardson, who is now the man on the bridge.

More indications of oil and gas


The data culled from that first campaign fuelled greater optimism and formed the basis for the second and third -- between the 1960s and 70s. This time, five companies from the United States and Canada prospected across Jamaica, drilling eight additional wells -- seven onshore and one offshore -- in St Ann, the Cockpit Country, Content, Santa Cruz, Clarendon, and the Pedro Banks. Again, there were indications of oil and gas but it was not determined if it was in commercial quantity. The companies packed up their equipment and left.

Richardson believed that the prospectors "did not fully understand the data and made misjudgements, because they were using an approach based on the US methods".

In the 1980s, with Dr Wright at the helm of the PCJ, Jamaica persisted with the search. Two wells were drilled at the Pedro Banks, one by the PCJ and a second by an American company. More indications of the presence of oil and gas were confirmed but still not yet in commercial quantity.

Up to that point, Richardson explained, there was no deep water exploration. All wells were sunk less than 100 feet in depth. In this latter case, one rig drifted three miles off its intended drill target and when the prospectors did not find what they were looking for, they, too, packed up and left, having spent an estimated US$2 million.

Following a lull, PCJ revived its oil and gas exploration programme in 2005 and attracted two small companies -- Sagres Energy from Australia and Finder Exploration from Canada. The lack of modern technology that held back progress had, by now, improved by leaps and bounds, thanks to Brazil. And working with the rising data bank from the previous exploration campaigns, they carried out additional seismic and geological work. Potential resources were identified on the Pedro Banks.

Estimated three billion barrels of oil at Pedro Banks


But the companies did not have the funds to drill further and abandoned the effort after failing to find partners willing to share the risks. However, all was not lost. The new seismic data had revealed even clearer hydrocarbon indications and at last the potential for commercial production.

Sagres estimated the Pedro Banks had a reservoir of three billion barrels of oil and Finder Exploration put it more conservatively at 800 million barrels.

Wright and the PCJ team were now even more convinced that they were on the right track, and while fending off the cynics, they longed for the day when they could announce to Jamaica that 'we have found oil'.

In 2012, the company shook off the disappointment of the last campaign and re-engaged with the market. PCJ made two key moves. It appointed an engineer and a geologist with considerable experience to spearhead the oil and gas campaign. The two are Watson, an insider, and Richardson. With the support of Minister Pauwell and Chairman Cargill, they were mandated to find oil.

Watson has more than 16 years of experience in senior management, having held positions at firms in Barbados, Canada and Jamaica covering general management and technical/operations management. He was appointed general manager of Petrojam Limited in 2000 and then promoted to the group general manager for the PCJ group of companies, Petrojam's parent company, in 2014.

He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from the University of the West Indies; as well as a Master's in Applied Science in Engineering from the University of Waterloo. He is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario, Canada and a past member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers and the Barbados Association of Professional Engineers.

Richardson, in his capacity as manager, oil and gas, is responsible for developing and managing all activities related to the exploration of oil and gas within the jurisdiction of Jamaica. He is a geologist by profession and has worked extensively in the geological sciences, collaborating with industrial clients on several large projects across the globe.

He has more than 18 years of experience in several areas of the discipline, including environmental geology, engineering geology, hydrogeology and petroleum geology.

Prior to joining the PCJ, he was employed to Jacobs Engineering in the UK where he worked on water-related development projects and examined the environmental impacts of the energy industry there and across the globe. He holds a BSc in Geology from the University of the West Indies, an MSc in Hydrogeology from the University of Birmingham in the UK and a post-graduate certificate in GIS and Water Resources Modelling from Purdue University in the US.

He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London and a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists among other professional societies. He has also served as council member for the Geological Society of Jamaica.

Tullow remained at the negotiating table


The second key move by the PCJ was to send a team led by Richardson to make presentations at major oil and gas exploration fairs; for example, in Houston, Texas and Colombia, to drive interest back to Jamaica. Backed by the island's considerable archive, Richardson was able to attract Tullow Oil plc which, remarkably, remained at the negotiating table until a deal was struck, taken as a sign of great confidence in the project. Remarkable also is the fact that the company is doing all the spending.

Tullow Oil describes itself as: "A leading independent oil and gas exploration and production group, quoted on the London, Irish and Ghanaian stock exchanges and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The group has interests in over 140 exploration and production licences across 21 countries which are managed as three regional business units: West and North Africa; South and East Africa and Europe, South America and Asia."

Website information also shows that in 2007 Tullow hit it big with its largest ever discovery -- the Jubilee field offshore Ghana. It claimed a 100 per cent exploration success rate in Uganda, moving this project closer to the commercial threshold for development. Overall, the group had a 56 per cent exploration success rate with nine discoveries out of 16 wells.

It generated "record production, sales revenue, operating cash flow and growth in reserves and resources". Financial results, however, were impacted by lower UK gas prices, increased exploration write-offs and higher depreciation and interest charges.

On November 1, 2014, PCJ and Tullow Jamaica Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tullow Oil plc, inked a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) to explore offshore Jamaica in the Walton Basin and the Morant Basin. Exploration will cover 10 of Jamaica's 31 blocks located south of the island or 32,065 kilometres.

'Oil exploration is a marathon, not a sprint'


Fighting strenuously to manage expectations, Paulwell said "if our oil and gas exploration programme is successful, it can be a game-changer for our country".

Using the more conservative figure of 800 million barrels, the value of the Pedro Banks reservoir would be US$8 billion or J$800 billion.

But Tullow Oil's exploration director, Angus McCoss, immediately cautioned patience: "This is a long-term project and a great deal of geological and other essential work is required before any drilling can take place." Interpreted, that means that exploration could last up to 7.5 years before commercial quantity is found, then the production phase would begin and that "can last between 17.5 and 19.5 years".

Supporting McCoss, Watson added: "Oil and gas exploration is a marathon and not a sprint."

Under the 25-year Production Sharing Agreement, Jamaica and Tullow will share the proceeds and Jamaica stands to develop a modern oil and gas industry that will necessitate training of Jamaicans. However, immediate jobs could come in custom brokerage, vessel support during seismic studies and the use of local facilities and services.

Asked to describe what impact an oil find could have on Jamaica, Richardson said: "As a country we would be given the opportunity to develop our resources. Jamaica needs this game-changer. The biggest impact is that it would allow us to change our debt profile. People would see us in a different light. We would be able to pay our bills. And our heavy dependence on imported oil for energy would be considerably reduced."
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Why are Brazilians indifferent to the death of blacks, unlike in the US?




Protesters in Rio de Janeiro in February 2013 and in New York December 2014 protest police violence

Note from BW of Brazil: The title of this article has been a question that has been asked for some time since the murders of unarmed black men in New York and Ferguson, lack of police accountability and subsequent protests. Denise Ferreira da Silva, for example, asks, ‘Why is no one counting the thousands of deaths of black youth in Brazil resulting from police actions?’ while PRI suggests that ‘police violence in the US could help spark racial justice in Brazil’. And it‘s not like there isn’t a need for racial justice. Parents of victims in heavily Afro-Brazilian state of Bahia can attest to this.

The title is for the most part a fair question, but still a little misleading. In reality, protests over black deaths DO take place throughout Brazil, the difference that I perceive is that protesters in the US often keep protests going for longer periods of time, often enduring weeks of organized resistance while protesters in Brazil take to the streets for a day or two and then the energy seems to dry up. In August, for example, thousands across Brazil took to the streets in a day of activism against police violence in Brazil that, considering the numbers, is far more lethal than in the US. But again, one day of action and then the streets were empty again.


Protesters in Ferguson, Missouri occupy streets in protest to the murder of Mike Brown

The media has exposed Brazilians have to scenes from Ferguson and New York over the past several weeks so surely the question of the different reactions have crossed people’s minds. A black friend of mine in São Paulo basically summed it up this way: police have been killing Afro-Brazilians for decades and as such, when another brown-skinned victim (usually male) is added to already alarming statistics, there’s almost a numbing, “there goes another one” sort of feeling. So the questions remain, 1) what will it take to sustain street protests in Brazil? and 2) when will the media bring attention to the fact that the situation in Brazil is much worse than that in the US?

Why are Brazilians indifferent to the death of blacks, unlike in the US?

Courtesy of the PSOL site:


Sign: “93% of youth killed in (state of ) Espírito Santo are black”

The small town of Ferguson, with about 21,000 inhabitants in the suburb of St. Louis, state of Missouri, in the US, became a big stage of the racial struggle since the death of the young black man Michael Brown, 18, on August 9th. He was struck down by six bullets fired by white police officer Darren Wilson, 28, in broad daylight.

The case has sparked outrage, shock and popular mobilization. Outrage over Brown’s death took the streets of Ferguson and then expanded to another 170 cities in 37 states in the United States and has had major international repercussions.

When it seemed that things would calm down, in the last week the case gained new contours with the court decision not to indict the white policeman who killed an unarmed black youth, reactivating popular protests.

This scenario is revealing how much the center of capitalism is unable to resolve their problems, still having racism as a great engine of the deep inequalities of the country where the black population is subjected to higher rates of unemployment, police violence, incarceration, etc.

So it makes perfect sense these popular mobilizations that refer to the so-called civil rights movement that, between 1955 and 1968, guaranteed achievements for the US black population and deserves all of our solidarity and support.

What does this have to do with Brazil?

Recent data evidenced by the Mapa da Violência (Map of Violence) shows that Brazil, in absolute numbers, it is the country with the highest murder rate in the world. Only in 2012 there were 56,000 people, among them 30,000 young people between 15 and 29 years of age, and of these, 77% were young black men.

What is curious in our country is that these deaths don’t move (anyone), they are naturalized and most of all have institutional mechanisms that legitimize them as “autos de resistência” (acts of resistance) or “resistência seguida de morte” (resistance followed by death), where law enforcement officials claim to be in confrontation with the murdered people and investigations are not carried forward.

A fruit of pressure of the social movements, especially the Movimento Negro (black movement), is to be voted on in the Congresso Nacional o Projeto de Lei (National Congress Bill) 4471/2012 that establishes more rigorous investigations of the crimes committed by state agents and buries the acts of resistance. Its approval depends largely on popular pressure, considering the conservative composition of the Brazilian Parliament.

How can this situation be changed given black death doesn’t move (people)?

The denouncement of the extermination of black youths practiced by the police is not new. In 1978 one of the fuses of the mobilizations that brought about the Movimento Negro Unificado Contra a Discriminação Racial (MNUCDR or Unified Black Movement Against Racial Discrimination), on the steps of the Teatro Municipal, was the death of Robson Silveira da Luz in a police station in Guaianazes, in the east zone of São Paulo.

In the 90s, a period of the deepening of neo-liberalism, rising unemployment, increases in the so-called belts of misery, produced an increase in violence in the peripheral areas, practiced by the police very well reported by the Hip Hop movement and its Rap music.

In Brazil, when a young black man is murdered, one soon imagines that he was involved with something wrong. Ideas from past centuries, such as scientific racism that established a standard phenotype for criminals, are still widely used by police in our country establishing the young black as a standard suspect.

Reversing this situation is only possible with structural changes in the Brazilian State.

In this sense, important articulations occurred in the last period that have come forth with major political agendas, such as networks of relatives of victims of violence, the Comitê Contra o Genocídio de São Paulo (Committee Against Genocide of São Paulo),Campanha Reaja (React Campaign) in Bahia, Fonajunes in the state of Espírito Santo, the Marcha Contra o Genocídio (March Against Genocide) and more recently the Amnesty International campaign, among many other initiatives.

The strong polarization of the second round of the 2014 elections, the expansion of the conservative seats and signals to the right in next federal government point to a difficult scenario for progressive agendas, which will require a great capacity for action in struggle fronts and social mobilization to prevent setbacks and advance real achievements for the people.

May the streets of Ferguson inspire the black Brazilian people to stand up against racismin defense of a more just, humane, fraternal and egalitarian society.

Source: Diário do Centro do Mundo
 
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