TAG: political economy

Three Cards and a Joker: Bolsonaro and the Marielle Case

by Isabela Kalil The Context On October 29, 2019, Jornal Nacional (the main Brazilian television newspaper, broadcast by Rede Globo) reported that the name of Brazil’s current president, Jair Bolsonaro, appeared in the investigation into the murder of Councilwoman Marielle Franco (PSOL). Marielle was assassinated in a drive-by execution in the city of Rio […]

Uproar and Perversity: Gender and Sexuality in the Vortex of Politics

by Sonia Corrêa A few days before completing the symbolic mark of Jair Messias Bolsonaro’s – or JMB’s – first 100 days of government, consecrated in western democracies as the first moment of fair evaluation for a beginning administration, JMB said that he was not born to be president, but rather to be a military […]

Permanent War, Decreasing Popularity: What Will Come Next?

by Fábio Grotz A continuous state of war driven by the government is what drives the speech and activities of actors engaged in the redemptive mission to “transform and purify” Brazil. The electorate, however (with exception of the faithful nucleus of supporters of the current president), seems increasingly to not believe in this revolution that […]

Sexual politics in Brazil: Almost 180 days into the JMB Administration

With great pleasure, SPW offers an assessment of sexuality and gender politics, including abortion rights, in the first (almost) six months of the Jair Messias Bolsonaro (JMB) government. The essays written by Sonia Corrêa, Fábio Grotz, Rajnia de Vito and Marco Aurélio Prado cover the troubled, cacophonic and warlike Brazilian political landscape, as well as […]

Human Rights, Gender and Sexuality: A Minister Who Does Not Play Around

by Rajnia de Vito and Marco Aurélio Prado In a political scene that is thoroughly saturated with sex and gender tropes and memes, Damares Alves, head of the new Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights, is an icon and spokesperson for the new government’s sexual politics.[i] “Terribly Christian”, as she called herself on January […]

Lena Lavinas: “We’re watching a politics of dismantling”

Lena Lavinas is an economist and full professor at the Economics Institute of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. In 2017, she published the book Takeover of Social Policy by Financialization. The Brazilian paradox, (Palgrave Macmillan). Here, in a long conversation with Fábio Grotz, she analyzes the directions and effects of the Bolsonaro government’s […]

Understanding the dismantling of the AIDS response in Brazil

Rio de Janeiro, May 27th, 2019 Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA) After the justifications given by the Ministry of Health for the establishment of the new structure of the Department responsible for the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic – among the measures is the renaming of the former Department of Surveillance, Prevention and Control […]

Sexual politics in March 2019

The Christchurch attack In Christchurch, New Zealand, a solitary white male Australian sniper killed fifty people who were praying in two mosques. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was appraised for the compassionate but firm handling of the tragedy, in particular because the policy measures immediately proposed to ban semiautomatic weapons among other actions (read more). The […]

The Personhood Movement: Where it came from and where it stands today

A pro-life license plate on a car in Montgomery, Ala. (William Widmer, special to ProPublica) 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decides Roe v. Wade, making abortion legal in all 50 states. But in his majority opinion, Justice Harry Blackmun notes, “If this suggestion of personhood is established, [Roe’s] case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to […]

Blunt pink-washing: The Trump administration wants to decriminalize homosexuality worldwide

The Trump administration is launching a global campaign to end the criminalization of homosexuality in dozens of nations where it’s still illegal to be gay. The main target is Iran (read the full article on NBC News). As soon as the announcement was made LGBTTI+ activists, organizations and scholars commented on the proposal and expressed […]

Sexual politics round-up in 2018

As 2018 reaches its end, SPW publishes a recollection of main events, trends, discoveries and challenges as we start 2019 and prepare for all the struggles we will face together. TRENDS & FACTS January In the very beginning of 2018, the #MeToo movement (originally launched in 1997 by black feminist Tanara Burke) on sexual harassment […]

The Brazilian 2018 Election: A perfect catastophre?

Read Sonia Corrêa’s article on the antecedents, outcomes and meanings of the 2018 Brazilian presidential elections.