Jul 21 2023 | Nº. 76

Editorial

This week was marked by yet another foreign trip for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Lula arrived in Brussels on Sunday for a summit bringing together some sixty countries from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU). In addition to the various topics discussed at the summit like climate change, fighting transnational crime, and sustainable development, a chief priority for Lula while in Europe was the negotiation of a framework for a trade deal between MERCOSUL, the South American trade bloc founded in 1991 and currently headed by Brazil, and the EU. Negotiations between the two blocs concluded in 2019, but the agreement stalled as a result of former president Jair Bolsonaro’s disastrous environmental record. Before returning to Brazil on Wednesday, July 19, Lula criticized the EU’s bargaining tactics: “The letter that Europe wrote to MERCOSUL was a letter that threatened punishment if we didn't comply with certain environmental requirements. And we told the European Union that two strategic partners do not discuss with threats; we discuss with proposals.” Lula added that Brazil would send a counterproposal that he believed would satisfy European concerns in the next few weeks. 

Another important component of Lula’s trip was an intimate sit-down with the presidents of France, Argentina, and Colombia, as well as representatives of the Venezuelan opposition to strongman Nicolás Maduro. Lula, Emmanuel Macron, Alberto Fernández, and Gustavo Petro jointly called for an end to U.S. sanctions against Venezuela if Maduro committed to respecting the outcome of free and fair elections. Lula was roundly criticized abroad for warmly embracing Maduro in the first few months of his administration. This represented one of the first strong signs that Lula, along with other chief executives, is applying a degree of pressure on Maduro. 

Finally, it would not be a Lula trip abroad if the issue of Ukraine went unmentioned. On Tuesday, July 18, Chilean President Gabriel Boric urged members of the CELAC-EU summit to clearly assert that what Ukraine is facing “is an unacceptable imperialist war of aggression.” The thirty-seven-year-old head of state added: “It doesn't matter whether or not we like the president of another country. The important thing is respect for international law, which has been clearly violated here by an invading party, Russia.” When asked about Boric’s harder line against Moscow, Lula implied that his younger counterpart was perhaps nervous and overly hasty as a result of inexperience. “I don't have to agree with Boric,” Lula said. “It's his opinion. Probably the lack of a habit of participating in these meetings makes a young person thirstier, more in a hurry, but that’s how things happen.” For his part, Boric insisted he was not offended by Lula’s apparent dismissal. The issue of Ukraine might be the most high-stakes point of discord among progressive Latin American leaders, but it is not the only one.

Highlights

• ALEXANDRE DE MORAES. Federal Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes and his family members were harassed by a group of Brazilians at the airport in Rome, Italy on Friday, July 14. The minister's son was allegedly hit in the face. Moraes was called a “bandit”, “communist” and “bought.” The episode happened when Moraes and his family were waiting to board a flight back to Brazil. The Supreme Court justice is at the forefront of the main lawsuits involving former President Jair Bolsonaro and his followers.

• POLICE SEARCH. Four days later, the Brazilian Federal Police carried out search warrants at the addresses of the three involved in the incident at the Rome airport. The agents seized cell phones and computers. All those investigated were interrogated by the Federal Police. The warrants were issued by Rosa Weber, another justice of the Federal Supreme Court. Moraes received statements of support and solidarity from several authorities, including President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who associated the attacks with a Bolsonarist militancy, and called them “savage”.

• EXCESSIVE POWER. The Supreme Court's reaction raised questions about the proportionality of the response. Moares supporters said that a firm reaction is needed from the judiciary and society against a Bolsonarist militancy that relies on political hatred and personal threats. Critics of the Supreme Court justice, however, fear that he is exacerbating his role and functions by directing the police against his critics. The coup acts committed by followers of Bolsonaro in Brazil have been receiving a response from an increasingly active and active judiciary.

• COUP ACTS. The Brazilian Intelligence Agency (ABIN) said in reports revealed by the press this week that transport companies that own fleets of trucks and companies suspected of involvement with illegal mining participated in the frustrated attempt at a coup d'état on January 8, 2023 in Brasília. Around 272 trucks were used in the invasion of the buildings of Congress, the Presidency and the Federal Supreme Court. Half of these vehicles were linked to miners (garimpeiros), a group that has especially benefited from measures taken by the government of President Jair Bolsonaro.

• BLACK MOVEMENTS. On Tuesday, July 18, a group of 12 organizations from the Brazilian Black movements delivered a letter to representatives of the governments of Brazil and the United States in which they called for greater participation in the implementation of a binational agreement called JAPER, the acronym in English for United States-Brazil Joint Action Plan for the Elimination of Ethnic-Racial Discrimination and the Reduction of Inequality. The letter was delivered, on the Brazilian side, to Minister of Racial Equality Anielle Franco, and on the American side, to Desirée Cormier Smith, the Special Representative for Racial Equality and Justice. The articulation of the 12 organizations involved and the interactions with the authorities to which the text was addressed relied on the participation of the Washington Brazil Office.

• THE DEMOCRACY WE WANT. The series published by Nexo Jornal in partnership with the Pact for Democracy features an article on the importance of inserting Brazilian civil society in the international scenario for the defense of democracy. Paulo Abrão and James Green, Executive Director and President of the WBO Board of Directors, respectively, discuss the importance of exchanging experiences with international political entities and actors as a mechanism for strengthening organized civil society and democracy in Brazil.

NEWS FROM SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS AND MOVEMENTS:

UNITED NATIONS. Geledés – Instituto da Mulher Negra successfully included a series of recommendations in the report that was presented by the Brazilian delegation at the United Nations Forum on Sustainability, held in New York from July 10 to 19. The recommendations reinforce the importance of policies aimed, for example, at increasing access to drinking water and basic sanitation, paying special attention to the Black population and traditional communities. At the United Nations, Geledés is a member of the Permanent Committee of the Economic and Social Council and also participates in the Committee Against Torture, the Working Group on People of African Descent, and the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.

JUNE DAYS. Artigo 19 held a meeting in São Paulo in July with the participation of nearly 40 human rights activists and researchers to discuss the so-called “June Days June”. The meeting, closed to the public, offered an opportunity for the free exchange of experiences and impressions about the events that occurred in 2013 and their impact on democracy and human rights over the last ten years.

Feature Article

by Rubia Valente e pela Rosana Heringer

The Promotion of Racial Equality in Higher Education: Challenges for Lula’s Administration

From May 30 to June 2, 2023, the United Nations held the second permanent Forum for Afro-descendants in New York. This forum aims to promote and advance the rights of the Black population; present their concerns, recommendations, challenges; and share best practices in an international assembly gathering experts from around the world. Many Brazilian representatives were in attendance, including Minister of Racial Equality Anielle Franco, who led the Brazilian delegation. Minister Franco gave a passionate speech highlighting the many challenges still faced by Afro descendants in Brazil and underscored how Brazil, the largest Black nation outside of Africa, still has an arduous path to promote the rights that its population deserves. 

The implementation of affirmative action policies in Brazil was an important step in this direction—the lack of accessibility to higher education creates an intergenerational cycle that particularly harms Afro-descendants who have been disproportionately situated at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. Although a lot of progress has been made since the implementation of racial quotas in institutions of higher education in Brazil, the previous administration worked tirelessly to dismantle academic institutions, restrict inclusion programs, reduce financial resources for federal universities and programs like the National Policy for Student Support (PNAES). This was a trend in Bolsonaro’s electoral campaign and in his administration, that deprioritized investments in academic and scientific research and in policies for promotion of racial equality, and openly criticized quota legislation.

It is reassuring that the new government is committed to providing support to institutions of higher education and to democratizing Brazil’s universities. Yet, recent studies show that there is still a need to improve, protect, and strengthen affirmative action policies aimed at combatting racism and promoting the rights of Black Brazilians. The study “Evaluation of Affirmative Action Policies in Higher Education in Brazil: Results and Future Challenges”, led by the Laboratory of Studies and Research in Higher Education of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Lepes/UFRJ) and by the organization Educational Action (Ação Educativa), highlighted some challenges that the new administration will face fighting racism in higher education. 

A key challenge is that, despite affirmative action policies, the growth in the number of university graduates has occurred with the context of the maintenance of racial inequalities. The increase in college graduates is significant for the white population, but the advances are much smaller for Blacks.  

This research also found that many universities in Brazil do not have programs to monitor the performance and trajectory of quota students—there’s a lack of pedagogical support, and not much attention given to their daily experiences. In the few cases where universities possess institutional bodies aimed at monitoring Black, Brown, and Indigenous students, there is a lack of human and financial resources to adequately support them. Concurrently, the study shows that at the institutional level, there’s little information being collected by the universities on the profile of quota students, their academic history, performance, and challenges. 

This study introduces a series of recommendations designed to strengthen affirmative action policies in Brazilian higher education. For example, one of the proposals is to articulate affirmative action policies with those that promote diversity and anti-racist, anti-discriminatory education, including full implementation of the National Curricular Guidelines (DCNs) for the education of ethnic-racial relations and for the teaching of Afro-Brazilian and African history and culture. It also suggests the implementation of “epistemic quotas,” which entails an intersectional curricular diversification in the perspective of Afro-Brazilian, African, and Indigenous matrices, among others. There is also an urgent need to increase the apport of resources for student retention and financial support, especially for quota students, to afford them the opportunity to dedicate full time to their studies.

Affirmative action policies are an important component of public policies towards racial equality in Brazil. They should integrate other important social, economic, and cultural agendas developed by the Brazilian government to address the issue of racism and race inequalities in Brazil in its different expressions.  The Lula administration has a timely opportunity to strengthen anti-racist policies at the national, regional, and global levels, and the UN Forum was an important space for discussing these policies and supporting their full implementation in Brazil. As part of the forum, the Brazilian government has recommended the expansion of data collection on race and ethnicity in administrative databases and the development of anti-violence policies particularly focused on Black urban youth. These are critical steps towards the implementation of an anti-racist agenda that will help shape a more equitable future for the Brazilian Black population. 

Rubia Valente is a Research Fellow of the Washington Brazil Office. She is assistant professor at the Marxe School of Public and International Affairs at Baruch College – City University of New York and a member of the executive committee of the Brazilian Studies Association (BRASA).

Rosana Heringer is a Research Fellow of the Washington Brazil Office. She is associate professor at the College of Education at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (FE/UFRJ) and coordinates the Laboratory of Studies and Research in Higher Education (LEPES/UFRJ).

Feature articles express the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or WBO.