WBO and Georgetown University hold conference on Brazil in Washington DC
WBO Press release
October 4 2023
Event brings together academics, diplomats, members of governments and civil society leaders to debate recent transformations in the Brazilian context
Registration is open and free for the 5 tables that will bring together 15 speakers over 2 days
The WBO (Washington Brazil Office) and Georgetown University will hold a conference in Washington DC on October 19th and 20th to address the main issues related to the moment Brazil is going through. The intention is to bring together some of the greatest experts in the areas of environment, democracy, public security, economy, racism, and human rights to discuss and present to the public an informed point of view about the current Brazilian reality.
The Brazil in Transition conference will be held at the Intercultural Center (ICC) at Georgetown University, in Northwest Washington. Registration to participate is free and is open at this link (shorturl.at/lsGLO), subject to capacity. The event will have simultaneous translation and will be broadcast live on the internet.
"The intention is to have a comprehensive conference from the point of view of the themes and approaches of the 15 speakers who will be meeting in Washington. We hope for a balanced, plural and informed debate regarding the changes that Brazil is going through now and also about the opportunities that these changes bring to people who follow what is going on in Brazil," says Paulo Abrão, executive director of the WBO, an independent and non-partisan think tank that specializes in promoting cooperation and knowledge about the Brazilian reality and offering support to the international work of civil society, social movements and other sectors of Brazil in Washington, in defense of democracy, human rights, the environment and freedoms.
"The current moment is ripe for this great debate, now that Brazil is beginning to reconstruct its democracy, in better ways with regard to issues of the environment and human rights, for example. The direction of this reconstruction is a subject that arouses great international interest. That's why we want to ensure that more people, here in the USA, can follow this process closely, listening to people who really follow and understand these issues", says James N. Green, president of the WBO Board of Directors.
"This is an exciting time for Brazil, but also a delicate time. It is essential for scholars and observers both in and out of Brazil to take stock and survey recent trends in areas such as economic development, race relations, environmental protection, etc. Georgetown has long been a leader in international studies. Hosting this conference, together with WBO, is a way to continue to uphold Georgetown's scholarly mission. It is an honor to host these distinguished scholars and practitioners, and to collaborate with the WBO on this rich and varied program", says Bryan McCann, head of the Department of History at Georgetown University.
First day schedule
The event begins on the afternoon of October 19th, with a panel that deals with Brazilian economic development. The proposal is to debate the challenge of achieving the fiscal targets that the government sets itself, combating inflation and ensuring sustainable economic growth, within the inflation targets. The panel includes Monica de Bolle, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics; Nelson Barbosa, director of National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES); and Marcelo Paixão from the University of Texas.
The second panel on October 19th deals with racism and human rights. The idea is to debate affirmative action and positive changes in the way blackness is viewed in the country in addition to joint initiatives between Brazil and the USA to combat racism, such as Japer - the acronym in English for the Brazil-United States Joint Action Plan for the Elimination of Ethnic-Racial Discrimination and the Reduction of Inequality. The participants are Marcia Lima, Ministry of Racial Equality; Edilza Sotero, professor of Sociology and researcher at the A Cor da Bahia Program, at UFBA (Federal University of Bahia), as well as consultant at CEERT (Center for the Study of Labor Relations and Inequalities); and Gladys Mitchell-Walthour, from North Carolina Central University.
Second day schedule
On October 20th, three panels will take place. The first deals with the environment with an emphasis on the challenges of developing Brazil and preserving the Amazon and other ecosystems in the country. Mining and agribusiness are also within the scope of the debate, in addition to Indigenous issues. The panelist are Kathryn Hochstetler, political scientist at London School of Economics and Political Science; Janes Jorge, professor at the Federal University of São Paulo; and Caetano Scannavino from Projeto Saúde e Alegria.
The second panel on October 20th addresses the challenges posed by crime and violence in Brazil, trying to debate how to reconcile these issues with respect for the rule of law and human rights. The participants are Carolina Ricardo, executive director of the Sou da Paz Institute; Douglas Belchior, founder of UNEAfro; and Fabio de Sa e Silva, professor and co-director of the Center for Brazilian Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
The last panel on October 20th is about the current challenges of democracy in Brazil, with emphasis on the two impeachment processes that took place in recent years and the existence of a political system marked by great party fragmentation and the growth of the extreme right and authoritarian. The debaters are Flavia Pellegrino from the Pact for Democracy; José Antonio Cheibub, professor of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh and Angela Alonso, professor of sociology at USP and visiting researcher at Alari (Afro Latin American Research Institute) at Harvard.
