Eco Rama » Blogs http://eco-rama.net Wed, 08 Dec 2010 16:41:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 #culturadigitalbr: An Open Way to Build Public Policy http://eco-rama.net/culturadigitalbr-an-open-way-to-build-public-policy/ http://eco-rama.net/culturadigitalbr-an-open-way-to-build-public-policy/#comments Tue, 07 Dec 2010 22:47:50 +0000 Jackie Shroff Public PolicyIve been away from this blog, and from about everything else, because of the huge effort to put up the Brazilian Digital Culture Forum culturadigital.br. I will come back later to better explain whats going on, but for now I will reblog a nice description of what we are doing by Gilberto Jr., a Brazilian [...]]]> Ive been away from this blog, and from about everything else, because of the huge effort to put up the Brazilian Digital Culture Forum culturadigital.br. I will come back later to better explain whats going on, but for now I will reblog a nice description of what we are doing by Gilberto Jr., a Brazilian blogger who was able to follow the many steps of the Forums process until now. [See also the Global Voices report]

Public Policy

Public Policy
Public Policy

The proposition of the Brazilian Digital Culture Forum: open and participatory

The Brazilian Digital Culture Forum has a social network for collaborative production of public policy for contemporary Brazil. This is a web platform that supports a broad spectrum of cultural programs based on the ideas and initiative generated by citizens, which includes face-to-face events and is expected to wrap up in November.

The Brazilian Digital Culture Forum was launched by the Minister of Culture in partnership with the National Network of Education and Research. The object of the Forum is, through these events, to encourage debate about digital culture with activists, business representatives, government institutions and non-governmental organizations. Its in this context that the social network can work to both accelerate discussion and unify ideas.

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]]> http://eco-rama.net/culturadigitalbr-an-open-way-to-build-public-policy/feed/ 0 Battisti: The Italo-Brazilian Imbroglio over Shadows of the Past http://eco-rama.net/battisti-the-italo-brazilian-imbroglio-over-shadows-of-the-past/ http://eco-rama.net/battisti-the-italo-brazilian-imbroglio-over-shadows-of-the-past/#comments Tue, 07 Dec 2010 22:07:40 +0000 Vijay Kant European ParliamentEuropean Parliament European Parliament Brazil and Italy will meet in a football game next Tuesday. The friendly match is far from having the importance of other disputes in the past, world cup decisions included, but the mood built around the game has set the national blogospheres on fire see Global Voices. After weeks of cross-Atlantic [...]]]> European Parliament

European Parliament
European Parliament

Brazil and Italy will meet in a football game next Tuesday. The friendly match is far from having the importance of other disputes in the past, world cup decisions included, but the mood built around the game has set the national blogospheres on fire see Global Voices.

After weeks of cross-Atlantic brouhaha, some bloggers are starting to wonder how and why the case has gone so far. Is the Brazilian Governments decision to grant political refugee status to Italian felon Cesare Battisti really worth of such attention?

What elements could be at play to bring forth those remarkable outcomes, such as the minute of silence from the Ministers of European Parliament in a session last week in honor of Battistis alleged victims from 30 years ago, or the farewell of an Italian-born media icon in Brazil over the heated national debate on the case, and also Italys recall of their Ambassador in Brasilia? The Italian government went as far as threatening to call off the friendly game scheduled to be held on February 10 in London, leading Brazilians to sense a blow out of proportion. Berlusconi is the one to blame.

Gratuitous altercation the one created by the Battisti case and the attitude of the buffoon government headed by Silvio Berlusconi. At least I took the time to study the subject before I ventured to write a few lines about it. Most analysts are open about the passion on their analysis and transformed the event into a partisan dispute, or worse, a football match.Brasil vs Itlia Disolving in the Air

Italy, today, is going through the government of histrionic Berlusconi. He owns the huge Italian TV network, owns newspapers, owns football teams. That is, he is the owner of Italy. And he is clearly fascist, xenophobic, racist.Berlusconi Hystery and the Brazilian Sovereignity Blog de Lus Antnio Castagna Maia

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]]> http://eco-rama.net/battisti-the-italo-brazilian-imbroglio-over-shadows-of-the-past/feed/ 0 Brazil: Visible and Invisible Indians and Scoops http://eco-rama.net/brazil-visible-and-invisible-indians-and-scoops/ http://eco-rama.net/brazil-visible-and-invisible-indians-and-scoops/#comments Sat, 06 Nov 2010 02:35:44 +0000 admin Mainstream MediaBrazilian Indians were in the spotlight of world media this week and the local blogosphere has much to say about it. From the images of an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon, which were leaked first in a blog that is now claiming attribution rights for its scoop, to the enraged protest caught on camera against [...]]]> Brazilian Indians were in the spotlight of world media this week and the local blogosphere has much to say about it. From the images of an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon, which were leaked first in a blog that is now claiming attribution rights for its scoop, to the enraged protest caught on camera against the building of dams along the Xingu River in the Amazon basin where an official of Brazils national electric company got slashed by traditional machetes and clubs. Bloggers had different takes from the dominant mainstream media narratives.

Mainstream Media

Mainstream Media
Mainstream Media

Here is the Brazilian GLOBO video of the engineers encounter with the Indians.

Since the gathering in Altamira, the Brazilian media have focused mostly on the issue of violence. GLOBO included a special report in its extremely popular weekend TV magazine FANTASTICO and heres the text (computer) translated into rough English. As you can see, the focus is on the engineer and the Indians associated with the confrontation and there is very little about the many consequences of building the dam. While the Brazilian mainstream media are preoccupied with the hot story, various blogs and NGOs have been struggling to deliver the deeper messages. Encontro Xingu 08 provides great coverage of the whole event with in-depth analysis by David Cunningham and lots of wonderful photos by Sue Cunningham. The Xingu Encounter was also reported by International Rivers along with English translations of the declarations of the Xingu Peoples. And heres the (computer) translated final statement of the broad coalition of Brazilian grassroots organizations that are opposing building of th,e Belo Monte dam.Violence Vision Share

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]]> http://eco-rama.net/brazil-visible-and-invisible-indians-and-scoops/feed/ 0 Lost Brazilian ballooning priest carried into the blogosphere http://eco-rama.net/lost-brazilian-ballooning-priest-carried-into-the-blogosphere/ http://eco-rama.net/lost-brazilian-ballooning-priest-carried-into-the-blogosphere/#comments Fri, 05 Nov 2010 04:51:45 +0000 Rallapalli Unusual PlaceBrazil is an unusual place. The country is full of unconventional people, capable of performing extraordinary feats, which nowadays can get reported in peculiar ways by an ever-growing crowd of unique bloggers. This time the story is rather sad, but the blogosphere is exploding with humorous takes on the tragedy of a Brazilian Roman Catholic [...]]]> Brazil is an unusual place. The country is full of unconventional people, capable of performing extraordinary feats, which nowadays can get reported in peculiar ways by an ever-growing crowd of unique bloggers. This time the story is rather sad, but the blogosphere is exploding with humorous takes on the tragedy of a Brazilian Roman Catholic priest who is missing after drifting out to sea while trying to set a record for a flight using helium-filled party balloons.

Unusual Place

Unusual Place
Unusual Place

The goal of Father Adelir Antonio de Carli was to break the 19-hour record for remaining aloft using only party balloons, in order to raise funds for the rest stop for truckers in Paranagua, Brazils second-largest port for agricultural products. Brazilian truckers often spend days waiting to unload in the port, especially during the busy soy export season now under way.

Planes, helicopters and boats from Brazilian rescue forces have been out along the coast of Santa Catarina state looking for the balloon-flying priest all week. Surely, a religious person gone missing during a charity stunt deserves the highest respect, but the lack of elementary safety features in Father de Carlis plan to accomplish his endeavor has unleashed an unstoppable stream of humorous lines, although not without some guilty thoughts about them.

Would it be comic if it were not tragic? I say that it can be tragic and comic. Here we have the tragi-comedies that wont let me lie. Please, agree with me before I go on! IT IS COMIC! (so here is a bold and gratuitous appeal to share the heavy weight in my consciousness for having seen so much comedy in all this).Peter Pan Priest Fossas do Ofcio

So, the amount of jokes over this priest who decided to fly tied to balloons filled with helium is not contained in the sacred scriptures. Moreover, the flying priests last feat was the topic-of-the-day in a debate I had with a friend who studies journalism and lives in Rio. The fathers imprudence, from being so bizarre, ends up as risible. How does someone wanting to fly with party balloons in completely unfavorable weather, without knowing at least how to operate a gps really folks?How to use a gps?Como usar um gps? de tudo um pouco

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]]> http://eco-rama.net/lost-brazilian-ballooning-priest-carried-into-the-blogosphere/feed/ 0 B-razi-loggers Rage and Roll Against ISO Approval of Microsoft Standard http://eco-rama.net/b-razi-loggers-rage-and-roll-against-iso-approval-of-microsoft-standard/ http://eco-rama.net/b-razi-loggers-rage-and-roll-against-iso-approval-of-microsoft-standard/#comments Thu, 04 Nov 2010 22:12:18 +0000 Jackie Shroff April Fools DayApril fools day this year has brought a bitter taste to the Brazilian open source community. The announcement of the approval of Microsofts Open XML Format (OOXML) as an ISO/IEC International Standard was, at first, seen as some kind of joke. After all, OOXML had lost a vote on its adoption at ISO in September [...]]]> April fools day this year has brought a bitter taste to the Brazilian open source community. The announcement of the approval of Microsofts Open XML Format (OOXML) as an ISO/IEC International Standard was, at first, seen as some kind of joke. After all, OOXML had lost a vote on its adoption at ISO in September 2007. The voting members had requested hundreds of adjustments to the standard however it is widely known that today the majority have remained unimplemented. But lets check out why such a drab debate over technical standards has caught the attention of so many bloggers in Brazil.

April Fools Day

April Fools Day
April Fools Day

The open source movement in Brazil, with all its successes and failures, has somehow turned into a cultural trend. In this context, Microsofts Office suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.) and its proprietary files format became the very symbol of the monopolistic obstacle against the freedom pursued by free software activists, and also the main target of government agencies official substitution policies. Where the Linux operating system was still not ready to reign, at least OpenOffice with its ISO approved ODF file format standard could help breaking Microsofts cultural hegemony. And it worked!

In fact, it seems that the strategy has worked too well. Microsoft started to see its multi-billion dollar Office business model menaced by the rising trend of governments giving preference to open standards in their decisions on software acquisition. The tactical reaction of Microsoft in defense of their monopoly position was to blitz for the sanction of their incompatible alternative format Open XML as a second ISO standard. Bloggers decried that the strategy used to carry OOXML through the ISO fast-track process has damaged the standards credibility and created serious consequences for the whole concept of open standards. Indeed, Microsoft tactics can bring forth an intense rage among those Brazilians who have worked so long and so hard for open standards, and it is not surprising to see MS portrayed not merely as a monopolist but as a monster.

Although having (barely) followed the procedural norms, ISO has lost (or at least damaged) its credibility by being involved in a process that was corrupted behind the scenes by a series of suspicions, irregularities, lobbies and so forth. If the approval had been reached by agreement, be it through Fast-Track or not, ISO would have maintained its credibility. But by passively conceding to Redmonds pressure, and not checking the decision-making procedures of the various countries, ISO has damaged its credibility in a permanent way and somehow thwarted all the other ISO standards.OOXML = ISO 29500 Microsoft Wins, we all lose Linux e mais coisas

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]]> http://eco-rama.net/b-razi-loggers-rage-and-roll-against-iso-approval-of-microsoft-standard/feed/ 0 Dismissal of Brazilian Blogger: Censorship or Just Business? http://eco-rama.net/dismissal-of-brazilian-blogger-censorship-or-just-business/ http://eco-rama.net/dismissal-of-brazilian-blogger-censorship-or-just-business/#comments Thu, 04 Nov 2010 16:06:19 +0000 Ramana Reddy Lula Da SilvaThe abrupt dimissal of the journalist Paulo Henrique Amorim or PHA as he is referred too from his anchor-like position at the IG portal has fueled this weeks blogs debate. The humorous and opinionated style used by PHA in his Conversa Afiada blog to attack what he called the PIG an acronym for Portuguese words [...]]]> The abrupt dimissal of the journalist Paulo Henrique Amorim or PHA as he is referred too from his anchor-like position at the IG portal has fueled this weeks blogs debate. The humorous and opinionated style used by PHA in his Conversa Afiada blog to attack what he called the PIG an acronym for Portuguese words meaning, the party of the coup-plotting mass media was an outlet for left bloggers, and many posts were quick to denounce IGs surprising move as censorship.

Lula Da Silva

Lula Da Silva
Lula Da Silva

Luiz Carlos Azenhas website says that Paulo Henrique Amorim was dismissed from IG on Tuesday, by fax. What first calls our attention is the suddenness of the portals decision. If it was not for Azenha, we would be accessing PHAs site without reaching it, and not knowing why Its almost impossible not to speculate about possible political meddling. We wait for an explanation from IG. While waiting for it, we can speculate and worry about a media witch-hunt that may be starting, promoted by the big media companies and by the politicians who control it, the ones already known to all.PHAs Dismissal Cidadania.com

It is important to mention that IG differentiates itself from the rest of the big Internet outlets by its sympathetic approach to the government of Luiz Incio Lula da Silva. This perspective adds intrigue to the plot, as it is not so easy to identify the forces driving behind PHAs release.

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]]> http://eco-rama.net/dismissal-of-brazilian-blogger-censorship-or-just-business/feed/ 0 Brazil: While traditional media deals with lawsuits, blogs report http://eco-rama.net/brazil-while-traditional-media-deals-with-lawsuits-blogs-report/ http://eco-rama.net/brazil-while-traditional-media-deals-with-lawsuits-blogs-report/#comments Thu, 04 Nov 2010 05:26:42 +0000 Ramana Reddy Media HistoryTwo of the biggest media companies in Brazil are currently involved is court cases that similarly raise the issue of freedom of speech and press even though the media finds itself on opposite sides of the issue in the two cases. The influential newspaper Folha de SP is facing a series of lawsuits filed by [...]]]> Two of the biggest media companies in Brazil are currently involved is court cases that similarly raise the issue of freedom of speech and press even though the media finds itself on opposite sides of the issue in the two cases. The influential newspaper Folha de SP is facing a series of lawsuits filed by followers of an evangelical church, while Veja, the top weekly magazine, and some of its main editors are going after a blogger through another series of lawsuits. Taking the larger view, the Brazilian blogosphere is uniquely pointing out the similarity and contradictions revealed by the connectedness of both situations.

Media History

Media History
Media History

Folhas problems started a week ago when Elvira Lobato, a reporter who is now facing about 50 individual suits, published an article about the finances of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God IURD, and its connections with tax havens. The piece lists the TV network (2nd national audience), 23 TV and 40 radio stations, besides the other 19 companies 2 newspapers included that forms the churchs empire, but the suits actually complain about IURD being portrayed as a sect.

The issue has called RSFs attention, and the ABI [Brazilian Press Association] has released a note [pt] describing IURDs reaction as an unprecedented coercive campaign in Brazilian media history. While the suits against Folha has generated such compelling response from traditional media and its backers, a very different approach is being adopted towards the legal dispute between Veja magazine and the journalist-turned-into-blogger Luis Nassif. As expected, the blogosphere has much to say about that.

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]]> http://eco-rama.net/brazil-while-traditional-media-deals-with-lawsuits-blogs-report/feed/ 0 Ad campaign compares bloggers to monkeys http://eco-rama.net/ad-campaign-compares-bloggers-to-monkeys/ http://eco-rama.net/ad-campaign-compares-bloggers-to-monkeys/#comments Tue, 02 Nov 2010 15:27:08 +0000 admin Video PieceA traditional Brazilian newspaper launched an advertising campaign to promote its new website, and the core message of all video and visual pieces was based on a humorous approach of blogs as bad sources of information. One video piece went far enough as comparing bloggers with monkeys. As expected, the local blogosphere took it personally. [...]]]> A traditional Brazilian newspaper launched an advertising campaign to promote its new website, and the core message of all video and visual pieces was based on a humorous approach of blogs as bad sources of information. One video piece went far enough as comparing bloggers with monkeys. As expected, the local blogosphere took it personally.

Video Piece

Video Piece
Video Piece

On its website, Talent Agency explains its new campaign to advertise Estados website as follows: The campaign exposes, in a playful way, the risks of searching sites on the Internet, managing to impart the newspapers website novelties. I should say that it is a case of questionable sense of humor, to coarsely compare bloggers with monkeys.Estado against blogs? Pensar Enlouquece

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]]> http://eco-rama.net/ad-campaign-compares-bloggers-to-monkeys/feed/ 0 Brazililian blogs follow the ethanol debate as it goes global http://eco-rama.net/brazililian-blogs-follow-the-ethanol-debate-as-it-goes-global/ http://eco-rama.net/brazililian-blogs-follow-the-ethanol-debate-as-it-goes-global/#comments Tue, 02 Nov 2010 15:24:46 +0000 Ramana Reddy Lula Da SilvaEthanol has suddenly turned into a popular word among Brazilian bloggers, specially because of the foreign attention it attracts. In fact, alcohol is the word Brazilians have been using to call its sugar-cane derived biofuel since the 70s, when Proalcool started, but blogs are surely under global influence. As President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva [...]]]> Ethanol has suddenly turned into a popular word among Brazilian bloggers, specially because of the foreign attention it attracts. In fact, alcohol is the word Brazilians have been using to call its sugar-cane derived biofuel since the 70s, when Proalcool started, but blogs are surely under global influence. As President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva traveled to attend an EU-sponsored biofuel international conference last week, some blogs are tracking the global media coverage on the ethanol issue and reacting to it.

Lula Da Silva

Lula Da Silva
Lula Da Silva

An article on the Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported on Friday that the UE doesnt want Brazils dirty alcohol. The term adresses the blocks concerns over Brazilian sugar cane cultivation practices, which are seen by European leaders as potentially harmful to the environment. () Concerns over the Brazilian alcohol were manifested also by the Italian La Repubblica, who recalled the recent liberation of 1.106 workers in slave conditions in a sugar cane farm in Par state. According to the newspaper, Lula who is described as the leader with the apostle role on biofuels has not mentioned (in Brussels) the connection between the two reports. (Folha Online) ** European representative blames Lula on leading Brazil towards unsustainability. The Green Partys European representative David Hammerstein has said on Thursday that President Lula is leading Brazil through a path of unsustainability with the biofuels and that the EU should not finance the Brazilian environmental destruction. The EU should give priority to feeding and not to transportation, Hammerstein declared in a release. The representatives speech was being divulged at the same time Lula was trying to convince the European leaders that the growth on biofuel production in Brazil would not represent any social or environmental risk.
Replies to Alcoholism A Nova Corja

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]]> http://eco-rama.net/brazililian-blogs-follow-the-ethanol-debate-as-it-goes-global/feed/ 0 Brazilian and Indian Doha Round Solidarity: Is it a reason for blame or a call for leadership? http://eco-rama.net/brazilian-and-indian-doha-round-solidarity-is-it-a-reason-for-blame-or-a-call-for-leadership-2/ http://eco-rama.net/brazilian-and-indian-doha-round-solidarity-is-it-a-reason-for-blame-or-a-call-for-leadership-2/#comments Sun, 31 Oct 2010 22:16:45 +0000 Rallapalli White House SpokesmanA blame game seemed to start as soon as Brazils Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath walked out of the G4 talks with their counterparts from the US and the EU Thursday in Postdam, Germany. The meeting between these four key players in the World Trade Organization was formulated as an [...]]]> A blame game seemed to start as soon as Brazils Foreign Minister Celso Amorim and Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath walked out of the G4 talks with their counterparts from the US and the EU Thursday in Postdam, Germany. The meeting between these four key players in the World Trade Organization was formulated as an attempt to salvage global trade talks from a six year stalemate on the issues of farm subsidies and open markets. It turned into a fiasco and now charges over who or what caused the failure has become an open dispute, which is evoking interesting reactions from the media. Brazilian bloggers are trying to understand whats going on and they too are offering explanations.

White House Spokesman

White House Spokesman
White House Spokesman

In Washington on Thursday (21 June), the White House spokesman declared that President Bush was disappointed with the collapse of the talks in Postdam. The US President blamed Brazil and India for the meetings failure. The president is disappointed with some countries that are blocking an opportunity to expand global commerce, remarked the White House spokesman, Tony Fratto. Big economies as Brazil and India should not stand in the way of the progress of small nations, the poor developing countries but that seems to be what happened in Germany this week, Fratto said.
Lula culpa ricos por fracasso em Doha; Bush critica o Brasil Mercosul e CPLP

No, Mr. Bush. That was not exactly what happened in the city of Postdam, in Germany, where the G4 met. In fact, the powerful nations seem to be opposed to the growth of the less affluent countries, but this kind of relationship is not what happens between Brazil, India and the poorer countries. This pattern exists between the US, the EU and the poorer countries. The core issue seems clear to me the rich countries refuse to cut the agriculture subsidies to their farmers, and this situation cant be seen as fair commerce. End. Brazil and India properly left the talks. The Europeans said that the emerging countries were not ready to make concessions, and I should ask: what more do they want? Meantime leaders are still thinking that social policies are to be restricted to national borders, we wont have any development in the better world project. The attitude of the Lula Government in the case of the Bolivian refineries was, in my view, iconic. It would be indecent if the Brazilian president cared only for the national interests [of Brazil]. The well being of a Bolivian citizen is worth the same as mine or yours, dear reader. But this is not the line of thought of Europeans and Anglo-Americans. That is the reason why the Doha Round is dwindling. Just like Mercosur, Alca, etc.s favas com o comrcio justo Expresso Literria

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