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Summary
Agribusiness - Last April, the World Trade Organization (WTO) ruled European Union sugar exports - whose competitiveness was based on governmental subsidies - illegal. Brazilian sugar mills celebrated a decision that is expected to boost their foreign sales even though the local sugar and alcohol industry is currently stepping up the production of fuel alcohol, as it proves to be a promising alternative to gasoline. Yet if the future seems to hold excellent prospects for producers, the same cannot be said in relation to workers, who continue to be exploited and to face hazardous conditions in the cutting of sugarcane.
Domestic market - A number of factors such as the inflation rate, which has been declining since May, an exchange devaluation, rising employment and household average incomes, and an expansion of credit have all favored Brazil’s domestic sales in 2005. Growth in consumption was leveraged by a range of goods from food to household appliances and more expensive articles, such as plasma television sets and automobiles.
Assembly companies - In the first half of the 20th century, cars came to Brazil in parts. Manufacturing began in the 50s and, shortly afterward, a strong sector had flourished. Today Brazil produces 29 brands, with 400 light vehicle models, plus trucks, buses, and tractors, representing 4.5% of the country’s GDP. Notwithstanding a growth in sales in 2005, entrepreneurs complain about the domestic market’s performance, blaming high taxes, high interest rates, and the population’s low purchasing power for the results.
Environment - Since the Kyoto Protocol came into effect last February, the commerce of carbon credit occupies growing space on the companies’ agendas. Aiming at reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was adopted to permit trades of "pollution allowances" between developed and developing countries.
Development - The Federação do Comércio do Estado de São Paulo (Fecomercio) created the Strategic Planning Council with the purpose of stimulating civil society to discuss new roads for the country toward sustainable development. In the opening ceremony, participants advocated the idea that only managerial shock therapy, in several areas, will allow the country to establish guidelines for a promising future.
Security - Considered by the United Nations, in 1996, as the planet’s most violent region, the Jardim Ângela district, in the southern outskirts of the city of São Paulo, has now reason to rejoice. Between 2000 and 2004, the homicide rate for every 100,000 inhabitants dropped by more than 45%. All entities, private and public, engaged in fighting the region’s violence agree that the main cause for such accomplishment was the community’s mobilization.
Brazil - According to some historians, corruption arrived in Brazil aboard some of the caravels of the discoverers. Based on documented cases throughout its history, the practice of keeping unaccounted funds has always been part of the country’s social tissue. Changes in the political system and in the government were not enough to eliminate an evil that erodes national finances.
Racial issue - A research study conducted by the government - "Health in the Black Population: Contributions to the Promotion of Equity" - demonstrates that blacks face specific health-related problems, which call for solutions on the part of the government. According to the specialists involved in the study, racism and differences in living conditions when compared to the white population account for the outbreak or worsening of several illnesses among the black population.
Health - There is no more doubt that environmental damage is responsible for the appearance of several serious diseases, many of which became epidemics that marked the history of humankind. The influenza virus, for instance, which is in constant mutation, has caused millions of deaths. Now scientists are bracing themselves for a new outbreak of avian flu, a highly lethal disease that originated in China.
Entertainment - As a rule, circuses in Brazil strive to keep afloat as they are confronted with falling audiences, exhibition licenses ever more difficult to obtain and mounting pressure from wildlife conservationists, who make every effort to keep animals away from the shows. For that reason, circus stakeholders are anxiously looking forward to the enactment of the Circus Bill, presently under discussion in Congress, to be able to carry on with the "greatest show on Earth".
Literature - Twenty-five years ago today, the Brazilian theater lost one of its main authors: Nelson Rodrigues. From his own life, replete with drama and tragedy, he extracted the substance that his extraordinary talent would mold into plays that would provoke all sorts of reactions from both public and critics, granting him a polemic status. With his contradictory and obsessive personality, he was able to recreate humankind’s greatest archetypes on the stage.
Thematic panel - Brazil’s first actual participation in the international scene occurred during the Second World War, when it provided an army division and allowed air force bases to be set up in the northeast. In the second half of the 20th century, it attracted capital for the industrialization and, seeking to flee US influence, attempted to approach Third World countries. Yet successive economic crises affected the country’s international relation, and today it struggles to widen its participation in global trade (around 1%). This part of history is told by economist Josué Mussalém in a talk held at the Federação do Comércio do Estado de São Paulo’s Council of Economy, Sociology and Politics.
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