Fördomar och missuppfattningar om Brasilien.

Av Zappe50
5 jan. 2008 18:44
Visningar: 2282
När jag är "hemma" i "trygga" Sverige får jag väldigt ofta frågor rörande gatubarn och kriminalitet i Brasilien !

Varför frågas det alltid om detta just när det gäller Brasilien ?

Gatubarn:
De finns, men nästan bara i slumområden i storstäder som Rio och Sao Paulo.
Ok, det är naturligtvis inte bra, men regeringen gör vad den kan för att lösa detta problem. Och "Rom byggdes inte på en dag" ,och speciellt inte i ett land så enormt stort som Brasilien. För övrigt det 5:e största i Världen !

Varför är det ingen som talar om gatubarnen i Indien,Thailand, Ryssland, Rumänien eller i flertalet Afrikanska länder ? I Indien ligger folk och dör i rännstenen inför ögonen på förbipasserande människor ! Ingen bryr sig ! Dom får tydligen skylla sig själv, eftersom dom nog har varit e sämre människa i sitt tidigare liv ? Varför pratas det inte om detta ?

Här ger ALLA en slant till behövande när man kan ! I mataffärerna finns det speciella paket med baslivsmedel att köpa som man ger till de man vet behöver ! Om någon kommer och ringer på hos oss, så får dom alltid något att äta ! INGEN svälter ihjäl i Brasilien !! Alla hjälper alla !

Kriminaliteten har jag redan behandlat i en tidigare diskussion och tänker inte beröra detta ytterligare här, om inte det kommer frågor om detta ?

Brasilien är ett UNDERBART land med fantastiskt vänliga och gästfria människor ! Avsaknaden av rasism är TOTAL ! Ljuvliga stränder, underbart klimat, utan stormar och Tzunamis ! Regnar ibland, men bara kortare skurar. Låg prisnivå och fullt av billiga och bra matställen som serverar god (nåja ?) mat . Avsaknaden av salmonella och campylobakter gör att man faktiskt inte behöver vara rädd ens för att äta rosa kycklingkött ! Ingen galna kosjuka ! Ingen fågelinfluensa !

Negativa sidor då frågar "vän av ordning" ?

Byråkratin, oändliga köer, mycket folk överallt, och bara såååå krångligt när det gäller hanteringen av dokument och kontakt med myndigheter. Avsaknaden av vissa varor är förvånande och därav höga priser på dessa "udda" varor på grund av detta ! Men det kan man ju stå ut med , när man alltid möts av ett leende och ett försök att hjälpa !

Välkommen hit och bilda dig en "egen uppfattning" !

Urmas
Av Gral
5 jan. 2008 22:24
Gatubarn:
De finns, men nästan bara i slumområden i storstäder som Rio och Sao Paulo.
Ok, det är naturligtvis inte bra, men regeringen gör vad den kan för att lösa detta problem. Och "Rom byggdes inte på en dag" ,och speciellt >inte i ett land så enormt stort som Brasilien. För övrigt det 5:e största i Världen !

Varför är det ingen som talar om gatubarnen i Indien,Thailand, Ryssland, Rumänien eller i flertalet Afrikanska länder ? I Indien ligger folk >och dör i rännstenen inför ögonen på förbipasserande människor ! Ingen bryr sig ! Dom får tydligen skylla sig själv, eftersom dom nog har >varit e sämre människa i sitt tidigare liv ? Varför pratas det inte om detta ?
Jag kan förstå att du tycker om ditt nya hemland, jag älskar också Brasilien, men varför stoppa huvudet i sanden? Brasilien har massor med problem och det gynnar ingen att förneka dem.

Att folk frågar om gatubarnen beror kanske på den (ö)kända avrättningen av 8 (eller var det 9?) sovande gatubarn i centrala Rio på 90-talet genomförd av polisen. Det fick mycket mediatid runtom i världen (även här i Sverige minns jag) och det belyste en MYCKET hemsk baksida i Brasilien med regelbundna mord på gatubarn och ungdomar genomförda av militärpolisen. Fortfarande dödas hundratals gatubarn varje år i gäng- och drogrelaterade våldsamheter! Visst finns det en anledning att fråga. Sen att det sker hemskheter i andra länder också gör väl inte saken bättre, eller?
Avsaknaden av rasism är TOTAL !
Ehh... Vet inte ens var jag ska börja. Rasism är ett jätteproblem i Brasilien! Ta en titt runt omkring dig och se vilka det är som är fattiga, bor i kåkstäder och diskrimineras på arbetsmarknaden, och vilka som är rika! Gör sen en sökning på Amazon.co.uk med orden "racism" och "Brazil" och beställ några böcker, samt läs dagstidningarna! Det PROBLEM som Brasilien länge hade var att rasismen sopades under mattan, folk har förnekade den, och det växte fram en myt om att landet saknade rasism. Men att idag (eller ens under de senaste 20 åren) hävda att "avsaknaden av rasism är total" är en ren, och väldigt naiv, lögn!

Slutligen, Brasilien är trots sina problem ett underbart land! Jag rekommenderar alla som har möjlighet att åka dit att göra det, men var medvetna om de dåliga sidorna också och se till att göra något åt dem!!!
Av Zappe50
5 jan. 2008 22:54
Touche' Gral !

Jag har inte förnekat existensen av gatubarn, men de förekommer i väldigt många andra länder också, som sagt. Men regeringen Lula gör (åtminstone enligt min uppfattning) så gott dom kan i detta väldiga land och med de resurser som finns. Glöm inte att detta är ett land under utveckling och att faktiskt viljan finns att lösa de enorma problem som kollonialisering och militärdiktatur har lämnat efter sig i arv. Ge dem en eloge i stället för et föraktande !

Det förekommer "rötägg" i alla länder och jag försvarar NATURLIGTVIS inte polisens handlande i Rio, men dom har ett rent helvete med de s.k. "trafikantes" (knarklangare) och råkar allt som oftast i panik ! Då är det lätt att det går överstyr och liknande incidenter uppstår.

OBS ! INGET FÖRSVAR ALLTSÅ FÖR DERAS OÖVERILADE HANDLANDE !

Och det där med rasism.

Jag bor inne i landet i en storstad och här finns faktiskt INGEN rasism ! Om man sedan får för sig att .ex. i Bahia som till stor del är befolkat av från Afrika härstammande befolkning och dessutom har mycket fattigdom, så, ok. Man kan då lätt tro att färgade i Brasilien är diskrminerade. Vilket jag kan intyga inte är sant. Åtminstone inte så vitt jag har upplevt under mitt dryga år i landet !

De enda som är diskriminerade i detta land, så som också i alla andra länder (utom islamska) är MÄNNEN, men det vet ju vi män redan, eller hur ?

Kommer detta påstående att starta en PROTESTSTORM bland de kvinnliga läsarna, tro ? Vi får väl se, när jag nu så tydligt och uppkäftigt sträcker ut hakan !

Att sedan säga att jag älskar detta land är inte riktigt sant ! Jag ser med mycket kritiska ögon på mitt nya hemland och jag älskar Sverige och svenskarna ÖVER ALLT ANNAT, men tyvärr (eller lyckligtvis ?) träffade jag en underbar kvinna som bor här och jag valde att flytta hit på grund av henne.

Att sedan klimatet är underbart (jag hatar svensk vinter !) gör ju inte saken sämre, eller hur ?

Landet har otroliga problem att brottas med, men VILJAN finns att lösa dessa, och var så säker att Brasilien kommer att vara ett land att räkna med i en snar framtid !

Ha det gott !
Urmas
Av Zappe50
6 jan. 2008 00:53
My name is Deborah, I am Brazilian, living in Campina Grande, a medium- sized city of Paraiba, a state in the Northeast of Brazil. I am married to a wonderful man called Urmas, which I have met in 2005, in a site in Internet, in the city of Karlstad, there in Sweden.This man is as determined as myself, and after some months of communication via net, we decided to meet. He came here in January,2006, and after that fisrt visit, we decided we wanted to live our lives together. He came to live with me in 2006, and we got married in December, 2006.This is an introduction to the words I feel the need to say, after seeing some opinions here about my country.

I am a Doctor, graduated in Medicine, with a Master S degree ib Human Development, and a professor of Federal University, at the Medical course, for many years. First of all, I would like to know which of you have been in Brazil, for a long time, and in which states or cities you have been in. This, because one cannot consider Brasil as one single thing. Brazil is as big as a continent, bigger than the whole Europe, and I can consider at least each region, North, Northeast, Centre-West, Southeast and South as a different "country", in which only the language is the same. The weather, customs,habits,food,everything else, is very, very, different. As an instance, here where I live, in the Northeast, one can find the most poor towns, with a poor index orf human development, whereas in the south, one can find an excellent index of human development, same as the best ones in Europe or USA.

This is the first step, in Brazil nothing can be generalized. Yes, we have problems, We are a country in development, although our economy is among the best in the world, The troubles started by the period of colonization... yes.. for many years, from 1500 to 1822, we were a colony of Portugal. The Portugueses came here, and "discovered" a country in which a population of Indians, healthy, pacific and beautiful, lived in peace, having a wondeful Atlantic forest as thir home, full of animals, wood, gold, silver and precious stones. They called themselves the owners of the country, tried to make Indians as slaves, and as they were very proud and wild to become slaves, they killed them in thousands, and "had" to import slaves from Africa to work in their farms. Our weather was always wonderful, and of our ground, it grew up all kinds of plants, we had sugar-cane, coffee, rice, fruits, vegetebles, during the whole year. The Portugueses, then started to "take" to Europe a lot of our richnesses: wood,(Brasil wood), gold, silver and precious stones.. till everything has almost disappeared. I have seen in washington DC, in Natural Story Museum, lots of jewels, including crowns of kings and queens in Europe, made with gems from Minas gerais, Brasil.

Well, this started everything, and Brazilian people is a mix between Europeans( mainly
Portugueses and Spanishes, and lately, Italians, Germans and Scandinavians( these most in the South), plus lots of other people, as japoneses in Sao Paulo, Chineses and so on.),Africans and Indians. There were a research made here some months ago, about DNA of brazilian people, in which is was proved tha in ALL of us, there is an amount of European, African and Indian blood, only the percentage varies. More than 80 per cent of our blood comes from Europe....but African and Indian blood is always present aswell.

So, we cannot consider in Brazil, distinguished races, but only one race: BRAZILIAN RACE. This destroys the story of racism in Brazil. The poorest people here, is olive, most of them. But I have a very poor family, my friend, with blonde-blue eyed persons... because when Dutches were here in the Northeast, fighting against Portugueses to stay in Brazil, they have left a lot of descendents behind them.And there are lots of black people, as I have many fellows, Doctors, and professors of University aswell, and commerciants, and bankers. All of them black. Indians, are the smallest group, mainly because the Europeans in the colonial time, killed almost all of them.The myth of saying that black people is the poorest group, and more discriminated, is not true. IN every group of friends in Brazil, there are all colours of skin... by the way, another research here showed more than 16 tones of skin colour living together in peace.

The trouble with the slaves, it really existed, and as in USA, after their freedom, they had more difficulty to find jobs, and this made it more difficult to them. But on the contrary of USA, we cannot consider BLACK or WHITE here, because all of us, we are olive, as the consequence of the mix. So, racism exist, the more ignorant the person is, and it can happen even here, but in isolated cases. I have never seen anyone here to be discriminated for the colour of the skin, religion, beliefs or sex., or even mobbed in school. By the way, Catholic church here accepts protestants, and jews accept musslins. They live in the same neighborhood, many times they are very good friends. Problems, we have, due to the centuries of bad administration and unequal distribution of money.

But I have seen in USA, after katrina, lots of homeless and very , very poor people, as in Sweden and Estonia, poor drunk and drug- addicted people, and read that the index of suicides in Finland and Sweden,( best index of human development in the world= as an instance) is very high, although those countries have, as I have seen, less problems than Brazil have.I have more words to tell, about the " children in the street", as you believe the problem is... but I will write again another time, not to make you tired.

I hope I can have clarified something about this enormous country, my country, which I love so much, and I am on your disposition to answer more questions, if you want to ask. Big hug from your friend,
Deborah
Av Zappe50
6 jan. 2008 01:15
ABOUT THE STREET KIDS:

You are right, the murder of those street kids happened some years ago, in Rio de Janeiro. But to understand what happens in Rio de janeiro nowadays, one has to consider that a non-declared civil war is happening in the favelas, poor neighborhoods, in a city with 13 million people, and a bad distribution of income. The favelas, because of the traffic of drugs, that, by the way, has a recent increasement in brazil, compared to other countries in Europe of USA, dominate the traffic, and trafficants many times use children as contacts

.This big amout of people involved in traffic, aswell as the insuficient number of policemen, and many times not well prepared ones, make sometimes situations of panic from both parts, and things like those happens. But you should know that all the policemen involved in that crime are arrested now, and bad policemen are not the rule. One can find here many good professionals, as in any other countries. And those conflicts happen in determined areas of big cities as Rio de janeiro and Sao paulo, with millions of inhabitants.

To say that Brazil is dangerous,is the same of saying USA is dangerous, because in any moment, a kid can invade a school and kill his fellows and professors, or Thailand is dangerous because tourists are killed and raped, or England is dangerous because of the bombs exploding in the subway, what, by the way, last time, made an innocent brazilian tourist to be shoted by ENGLISH POLICE, considered one of the best in the world.

I live in this city, with 400 000 inhabitants for 49 years, and NEVER saw one kid killed by police, neither heard about it... and there aren't kids living in the streets here. Some, maybe 10 or 12, but all of them have family and house to sleep in, although they are poor.So,that is another myth that cannot be taken as a rule in Brazil. Any other information, be free to ask!
Av Gral
6 jan. 2008 18:38
Hi Deborah,
I am a Doctor, graduated in Medicine, with a Master S degree ib Human Development, and a professor of Federal
University, at the Medical course, for many years. First of all, I would like to know which of you have been in Brazil,
for a long time, and in which states or cities you have been in. This, because one cannot consider Brasil as one
single thing. Brazil is as big as a continent, bigger than the whole Europe, and I can consider at least each region,
North, Northeast, Centre-West, Southeast and South as a different "country", in which only the >language is the
same.
I'm not really sure where you are getting at here. The only person generalising about Brazil in this thread was your husband stating "Brazil is a wonderful country and it TOTALY lacks racism". THAT is a generalisation, and it's not true. Period. I don't claim that the North-East resembles the South!? When did I do that? Brazil IS however one country and within this one big country racism and horrible conditions for street children, among other things, exist. That's all I said. I don't see anyone questioning whether Brazil is improving or not, or arguing over the historical reasons the for these issues, so why do you feel the need to lecture me on these issues?! We never disagreed on them...

As a side note: Brazils economy is fast growing (starting from a low level) and big. It's not strong on a per-capita level and as you point out, the vast differences between the few filthy rich and the masses of horrible poor is one of the main problems of Brazil, but that is a completely different story...
So, we cannot consider in Brazil, distinguished races, but only one race: BRAZILIAN RACE. This destroys the story
of racism in Brazil...
Again, I'm not really sure what to say... Brazil is one of the countries with the largest variety of races and ethnic groups in the world! IMHO, that is partly why it is such a vibrant and wonderful country. Claiming there is just one "Brazilian race" is absurd. Your own institute of geography and statistics, I believe, will give you all the figures and show how they change geographically.
...And there are lots of black people, as I have many fellows, Doctors, and professors of University aswell, and
commerciants, and bankers...
First of all, as a doctor I hope you can see the absurdity of trying to prove your point by telling me that you have Indian friends who work in the bank, and therefore there are no inequalities?!?! Last week, the only time I went for a walk in down-town Rio, I saw a dead man (shot in the head :( ) in the middle of a deserted street. So every time I have walked in down town Rio by myself I have seen a dead man in the street. That doesn't mean that ppl get shot in the head every day In Rio, does it?! You can argue that among your friends there is no racism, but that is not what we are discussing, is it?

Now, try to look at how, for example, literacy rates, salary levels for identical jobs, distribution of wealth, official representation, etc, looks for the different groups. Lula's government has, if I'm not mistaken, introduced quotation systems to sort out some of these problems of unequal representation and thereby past discrimination, but these quotation rules have also been heavily criticised by non-governmental organisations I seem to remember. Your own government hold conferences discussing how to treat the racial issues and there is even a "secretariat" to promote racial equality!!! How you can defend the notion that there is no racism in Brazil is beyond me! Unfortunately I don't have the opportunity to read your daily newspapers on a regular basis, but when I do I find constant discussions of these issues. I remember one large study some years ago in "Folha de Sao Paulo" that was widely discussed, giving statistics on how ppl perceived the presence of racism in the Brazilian society. I can't find a link to the newspaper, but here is an online article discussing it (www.brazzil.com/p16oct96.htm).

And as for the children living on the streets. Why are you bringing up bombings in London and shootings in the US? What does that have to do with anything, really? Does that makes the situation for the children living in the streets any better? No it doesn't! And nowhere did I say that it made Brazil dangerous (unless you happen to be one of those youths). I did however say that it's a horrible issue and that people should be aware of it and if possible help improving it. That's all.
Av Zappe50
6 jan. 2008 20:09
Well, dear friend, it seems you are more interested and know more about Brasil than Brazilians do. I didnt say racism doesnt exist, I said it does, EVEN here, but it is not a rule. Telling you some things about our history, it was to emphatize that we are the people in this world who SHOULD NOT have any racism, because we are ourselves, a mix of several races.There are laws in Brazil nowadays, that can send to jails the racist ones. But I can garantee that there is no segregation, and no buses in which African descendents have to ocuppy the last seats,ever existed here.. maybe because all of us are descendents of africans, aswell. Most of Brazilian people think in this way. Of course there are exceptions., and let us say in another way: although racism exits here, as an exception, it is not ACCEPTED.I see you have been in Rio de janeiro, for how long? I have lived in Brazil for 49 years, and I don§t have why to deny anything.Why would I? I am not a member of Government, or a member of any Travel Agency. I had in my life the opportunity to live in other countries, but I prefered to stay here... do you think I would risk my family, 3 children I have, staying in this country if I didnt consider it secure enough? Do this way, then: next time you come to Brasil, come to visit other states and cities, mainly the smallest ones, like mine. Be sure that you will be very welcome here, there arent children in the streets,and the index of criminality is not high.BY the way, I and a group of students of Specialization in Public Health, another course I have attended, have made a research about the indexes of human development in my city, and as an instance, the index of children mortality is equal to the ones found in cities of Europe. Have a nice time, and welcome to Brazil anytime you want to.
Av Zappe50
6 jan. 2008 20:26
I have never mentioned Indians working in a bank, although there are descendents of Indians working in all kinds of jobs.What I said, was there are only small groups of Indians now, because of the murder of thousands by Europeans in the starting of colonization, the same absurd that happened in USA, by the way. Most of them live in states as Mato Grosso, Goias and Para, keeping their own costums and language, and they are protected by law. Talking about my friends, I don§t consider myself to have only doctors as friends,,, I don*t take in consideration level of education or amount of belongings to choose my friends.I choose my friends based on character and dignity. And I have poor white,olive, black friends, and rich white, olive and black friends. Unluckly I dont have any Indian friend, because there is no one living in my city, and only a few ones living in this region.
But I would love to have them as friends aswell.
Have a good night.
Av Gral
7 jan. 2008 14:39
I see you have been in Rio de janeiro, for how long? I have lived in Brazil for 49 years, and I don§t have why to deny anything.Why would I? I
am not a member of Government, or a member of any Travel Agency. I had in my life the opportunity to live in other countries, but I prefered
to stay here... do you think I would risk my family, 3 children I have, staying in this country if I didnt consider it secure enough?
All that happened was that your husband posted a statement saying that there is no racism in Brazil what so ever (in capital letters). I simply pointed out that that is not true, and I was surprised that someone can live in Brazil and not pay attention to the fact that racism is a problem (as it is in so many other countries). The discussion should have ended there.

I haven't said Brazil is better or worse than other places, and I haven't suggested anything about Brazil being safer or more dangerous than any other country, so I don't know why you keep talking about "risking your family". Why would you risk your family?!?

It seems, however, that we now agree on the fact that it does exist. And obviously most ppl do not accept it, but some, again obviously, do accept it since it exist...
Diskussionen är stängd för nya svar