As I was writing this report about unrest and possible civil war in East Timor, I found myself in a war with the spell-checker in my word processor which insists that the word LUSOPHONE does not exist. Read on to see what might be embedded in a single word.

Seven years after the end of Indonesian rule — becoming the newest world nation in May 2002 — and having gone through what was viewed as a successful nation building and independence process led by the UN, East Timor is once again facing deep unrest. The last weeks since the reported clashes of April 28th have shown escalating violence and by now the Lusophone blogosphere is starting to speculate about the real forces behind the recent events.

“It was almost one o’clock. I turned on the radio, increased the volume and prepared myself for the bad news of the day. I was listening to the last music before the news and I stopped the car in front of the beach… I was prepared… Here they come! Timor, clashes between police and army, dead people, cries for help… Australia was already arriving (thanks to the oil exploration contracts)… Portugal is on the way … ENI is also there, entering through GALP. I can’t help thinking that the oil is the real trouble maker, even if this is not the exact case here. That’s what I think.”
News - A day after…

GALP is the Portuguese oil company which last week lost the oil-gas contract with the government of East Timor. The contract was awarded instead to the Italian ENI as Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri announced the country’s first move to explore the oil-and-gas rich off-shore reserves in the Timor Sea. Strange as it is, ENI and GALP are partners, the former owning the majority share of the later, which makes the Portuguese complain about their country being ‘gamed as usual’ on the bid. It was also last week that José Ramos Horta, the foreign affairs minister, requested help from Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and Malaysia to quell the violence.

“Timor is going through a delicate moment while signing big and important oil exploration international contracts. There are neglected groups and GALP between them. Are we sure those groups are not influencing the present unrest? Australia, who took years to recognize Timor ’s oil extraction rights, spent just a few hours to land its troops at Dili airport: “Candid selfless help”!
Civil War in Timor? - The time that will come

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One week has passed since the city of Sao Paulo was paralyzed by gang attacks and the blogosphere in Brazil is wildly spinning the many aspects of this unprecedented confrontation. Here, we will present an overview of the various narratives generated from the multifold and multicolored currents flowing through the ever more popular and impassioned personal journaling of Brazilians.

“Sao Paulo, with a population of 17 million and a land mass which spreads over 3,00 square miles is the world’s third largest city and the largest metropolis in South America. This most modern cosmopolitan city in Brazil, has often been compared to New York because of its attraction, which lies in ethic minority communities, upthrusting skyscrapers, and the outstanding cuisines that the city offers. Apart from the outstanding qualities that this city portrays, it is also considered a home to organized crime groups. The vile and evitable drama, which has really turned ugly, sparked up when around 700 members of the PCC [First Command of the Capital] crime gang were moved from a low to a maximum-security prison to minimize the influence they have had over the years on other inmates. The PCC was formed years ago as a gang within the prison walls to protect the rights of prisoners. Today, they have spread immensely outside the prison system and formed organized crime gangs which deal in drugs, kidnapping and armed robbery in most crucial and economically vibrant Brazilian cities.”
São Paulo, Brazil on Fire - Negritu.de - Blog

“I believe I imagine civilization as a circle because I’ve grown up in Sao Paulo. In Rio de Janeiro, for example, there is a close contact between privilege and poverty which does not happen here. From an historical perspective, what differentiates São Paulo is its urban expansion model, which left the poor crowds on the margins of the city. It created a central privileged zone kept orderly by the control of public authorities and a periphery that was invisible. INVISIBLE… Until now!!!! The PCC attacks present a new reality, tearing down the illusion that Sao Paulo was different from other cities. The expansion of the privileged center grew to the poverty zones, crossing to the world beyond the bridge… Sao Paulo is exactly the same as the rest of the country, built upon a brutal inequality which concentrates and does not distribute wealth.” PCC attack’s (II) - Jaw of 1984

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Bruna Little Surfer is how she is now known. Rachel Pacheco, the Brazilian blogger, became a celebrity while posting details about her job as a call girl in her online diary which was then published in book form as, “The Scorpion’s Sweet Poison” (PDF available in Portuguese). Recently, Larry Rohter reported in the NY Times that her writing is responsible for “upending convention and setting off a vigorous debate about sexual values and practices, revealing a country that is not always as uninhibited as the world often assumes.” This may be true, and it has been echoed by some of the blogs around. But it only touches across the surface and misses the deeper meaning of the conversations that are being stimulated in Brazil.

“Bear in mind, of course, that Brazil is itself a land of contradictions: an environment filled with religiosity and Catholic iconography, offset by promiscuity, rampant prostitution and an ‘anything goes’ lifestyle among the young. Expect Bruna’s tale to generate widespread interest, both critical and supportive. She may be Brazil’s latest symbol of empowerment, shame and recognition. That stuff is great copy!”
The Real Deal Sells: The Scorpion’s Sweet Poison - Lawyers and Business Executives in the News™

“It’s sad that the New York Times, the most respected newspaper in the world (until then), announced Bruna Surfistinha as a Brazilian ‘cultural phenomenon’. Her merit would be of waking up the country to a debate about sexual practices, which also revealed a society not as liberal as is shown during the carnival. They went to the point of calling her a ’sexual guru’! No pseudo-moralist speeches, please. This whole thing has gone too far.”
Brazilian program for export - Infoblog - Ana Maria Brambilla - Ibest

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Bolivian president Evo Morales has put president Lula in a difficult position. In a move to fulfill his campaign promise of nationalizing oil and gas in Bolivia, Morales published a decree that directly affected Petrobras, the Brazilian state-owned oil company. Even though it was an expected decision, it was implemented in a sensational way by placing Bolivian troops in charge of the company’s plants and by the prominent role played by Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez in the process. This has put Lula under another fierce crossfire as he faces an already turbulent electoral year. His administration’s foreign policies are now also under attack.

“Last week we helplessly watched the Bolivian army, under the command of president Evo Morales, invading Petrobras’ plants in Bolivia. Everything was done by armed soldiers. I believe this situation represents a great defeat for Brazilians, especially for president Lula and the minister of foreign affairs, Celso Amorim.”
Brasil X Bolívia = Lula 0, Evo Morales 10, Hugo Chávez 100 - Daniel Yang Blog

“We were still under the influence of the announcement of Brazilian oil self-sufficiency when president Evo Morales declared his intention of expropriating EBX iron company. On May 1st he went ahead and edited the Supreme Decree nationalizing all gas and oil operations in Bolivia, a hard hit on Petrobras. Not happy with that, he ordered an ostentatious and unnecessary occupation of 53 gas and oil installations controlled by foreign companies. Under the decree (n. 28.701), Petrobras and other companies have been reduced to mere operators of oil and gas production in Bolivia, receiving only 18% for their services from Yacimientos Petrolíferos Federales de Bolívia (YPFB).
The oil is theirs - Total Alert - Blog

As regularly happens in recent times, the mainstream media are thrilled by the opportunities for sensationalism. They consistently manage to set facts in hot frames and throw more fuel on the political fire. Those moves are critically considered by the blogosphere in minutes. Read the rest of this entry »

When we talk about TV in Brazil, we mean something big, really big. Television has ultra high penetration and influence in this country — 98% of the population watches it at least once in the week (anatel). And soon this household electronic unit will be the central icon in the national mobilization of attention to the World Cup games in Germany. As the Brazilian soccer team fights in the German fields in June to maintain global sovereignty most of the population will be glued to the TV. This is the context in which the debate about the digital TV implementation is arriving and the open network is again holding the most productive exchange of ideas and arguments on the issue.

In Brazil, the premier soccer country, when one wants to be clear and direct, it is common to use sports metaphors and analogies. That’s why Mr. Helio Costa, Brazil’s Minister for Communications, in a public appearance in the Chamber of Representatives in late January, “kicked off” the governmental decision process on the transition to digital TV using the best verbal resources at hand:

“I placed the ball on the penalty mark for the President. He can kick the ball strongly and score a ‘plate goal’ (a goal that deserves a memorial plate), or he can shoot softly and still score, or he can shoot out and miss the goal.”
Min. Hélio Costa - Digital TV audience in the Camara dos Deputados - in Pênalti Digital - Blog Silepse

The minister, who was previously a famous TV reporter of a big broadcast network, was very pedagogical in laying out the available choices. To implement digital TV we have to choose between the three available standards: the Japanese (ISDB), the European (DVB) and the American (ATSC). It seemed necessary that decisions on the digital TV transition be quickly taken because 2006 is not only the year of the World Cup but also the year of the Brazilian presidential election where TV plays a huge role.

“With an eye on his own immediate political support, President Lula da Silva is being directly pressed by the Globo Organizations (Brazil’s largest mainstream network) to immediately choose the business model and the technological specifications that will define the ‘Brazilian’ radio and TV digital system to be adopted in the country.”
The interests, and the political, economic and technological dilemmas of digital radio and tv in Brazil - Total Alert - Blog

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