Monthly Archives: February 2011

Brazil Marks the Spot – Two Barons of Industry

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(Baron of Mauá & Eike Batista)

Brazil has seen its share of dreams built upon dreams. Some, whether foreign or Brazilian-born, have proven too good to be true while others have found varying degrees of success (often depending on who you ask).

One of the failures that comes to mind is the prefabricated town of Fordlândia, which was to be used to generate latex, replacing Henry Ford’s dependency on Malaysian rubber. Situated near the northern city of Santarém, in Pará, it was a flop before it even begun as the land on which the rubber trees were planted was infertile and none of the Ford people had experience in equatorial agriculture.

Among the successes, one might think of the Capital city of Brasília or perhaps even the Curitiba of Jaime Lerner. Such accomplishments, though, aren’t solely feats of architectural prowess, backed by billions in investment. Sometimes, a mix of perfect timing, economic conditions and strategic positioning brew up the best opportunities. Below, you’ll learn about two men who came upon such a scenario.

Mauá Era

In the midst of the 19th century, when developed capitalist countries were experiencing the second Industrial Revolution, Brazil was having some advancements of its own as it went from a monarchy to a republic. The abolitionist process and the growth of urban activities made the monarchist regime less and less important. Coffee, Brazil’s economic saviour, on one hand preserved parts of the colonial past (masters and slaves), but on the other hand its profits stimulated the construction of railways and ports as well as helped the growth of banks and internal trade.

One of the most important business leaders of this growth period was the Baron of Mauá, who was heavily involved in the industrialization of Brazil. He built shipyards, foundries and railroads, heading 17 companies at one point. The baron also founded the Banco do Brasil, in its second incarnation (the previous one was ultimately a failure after it was sacked by the royal family on their return to Portugal), and offered lower lending rates to stimulate more national growth. Among other endeavors, he created a company whose goal was to keep the US from internationalizing the Amazon and he brought electricity to Rio de Janeiro.

The baron found good fortune in two acts of legislation of the time. The first was known as the Alves Branco tariff which increased taxes on imported materials, thereby favoring Brazilian businesses. The second was the Eusébio de Queirós law which abolished the trafficking of slaves (but not the use of them). Both acts allowed the liberal and abolitionist baron to be successful, if only for a while.

Despite all the good he did, the old guard wasn’t too happy with him seizing so much of their power and wealth and thus he encountered a barrage of obstacles at almost every turn. Most of his problems were directly or indirectly British in nature as the British were highly favored trade partners with Brazil yet were being pushed out by the baron’s businesses and their patriotic leanings. The enemies he made in the Brazilian government and with British businessmen soon led him to cave in and sell his companies at reduced prices, thus the Mauá era came to a quick end.

Eike Era

Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista, founder of grupo EBX, may just be the next ‘Baron of Mauá’. While the times have changed, the idea that Brazil needs powerful people to look after Brazilian interests is just as important as it ever was. Enter: Cidade X (X City), one of Batista’s big ideas.

The self-made magnate wants to build Cidade X in São João da Barra, a city in the north of Rio where his other project, Porto do Açu (Açu Super-port), is scheduled to be built, starting in 2012. The undertaking looks to bring a real estate boom to the city and generate 50 thousand jobs.

Eike chose the famous architect and urban planner Jaime Lerner to plan Cidade X, which will be able to house 250 thousand people, quite a bit more than São João da Barra’s current population of 30 thousand. According to Eike, the idea is to build an ecologically correct city to take advantage of the migration that should occur once the Açu Super-port is operational.

The complex where the future city will reside is one of the ventures of LLX, the logistics company within grupo EBX. The new city will help develop the pre-salt industry with suppliers setting up shop along the 19,275 acres set for construction. The super-port, said to be on par with that of Shanghai, will boost commerce with Brazil’s main trading partners, mainly China. As of last year, 66 companies signed memorandums showing interest in having a presence at the port.

Will the Eike Era be as short-lived as that of the Baron of Mauá or is he operating under more favorable conditions? Do his big ideas hold as much weight as investing in education or other initiatives that might improve Brazil’s poorest regions? The next decade will be telling and many will be watching Brazil’s progress. Of course, I’ll be watching, too, but I’ll also be looking at how progress is being defined, and according to whom.

Originally written for Street Smart Brazil.

A Juxtaposition of Traditions – Christmas in Brazil

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This post is a bit oddly placed since it’s obviously past X-mas. I guess I’ll re-reference it in 10 months!


(Daily Rio Life – photo from her post on X-mas in Brazil)

With Christmas almost upon us and the arrival of colder days already here, we might be wondering how such a famous holiday is celebrated in warmer climes. Brazil, being mostly Catholic, is a country that has celebrated Christmas since its inception and many of its traditions are the same as those in the U.S. There’s midnight mass (called “Missa do Galo“, literally “rooster mass”, in English), carols, nativity scenes, mini Christmas trees and gift-giving, among other things.

There are also a few ways in which Christmas differs, such as one Brazilian legend which says Santa comes from Greenland and wears a silk suit (due to all the heat) upon arrival. Often on the 24th and the 25th of December you will hear or see fireworks, with larger displays in larger cities. Assuming you’ll be in Brazil over the holidays, something tells me there aren’t a lack of teenagers to gladly take care of the smaller and seemingly neverending fireworks displays on a street near you.

One of the larger differences is that on Christmas Eve, just before midnight mass, everyone gathers to exchange presents and sit down for the “ceia de Natal” (Christmas dinner). In the US, of course, these events occur on the 25th. In case you might have ever wondered why the meals are so large, I can shed some light on the matter. It turns out that Christmas dinner is an old European custom in which people would leave their front doors open to receive travelers and pilgrims. While not even our neighbors to the south eat with random passers-by, Brazilians aren’t strangers to leftovers from such large meals. A typical dinner consists of plates of turkey, fish, rice, farofa, nuts, tropical salads, regional fruits, cod-fish cakes, wine and champagne. It’s also important to mention a certain sweet, the Italian fruitcake called “panetone“, which has been popular in Brazil since Italians brought it over after WWII.

Despite the dissimilarities, Christmas in Brazil is still quite “American”, at least in the sense of seeing shops carrying a wide array of trinkets and using a variety of gimmicks to get you to buy things. Both São Paulo and Rio have fake gigantic trees that light up for your viewing pleasure and can take over six weeks to set up. Brazil hasn’t always accepted the adoption of American holiday traditions, though. There was a failed attempt to “Brazilianize” the holiday back in the 1930′s. It all happened when a few “Integralists” (politicians and intellectual nationalists) tried to make Christmas more Brazilian by creating “Vovó Índio” (Indian Grandpa) to substitute Santa Claus, but it didn’t really catch on. Researchers believe it was either the writer Monteiro Lobato or politician Plínio Salgado who invented this Brazilian Santa but since most documents from the time of Integralism (inspired by Italian Fascism) were burned, the mystery remains.

Whether American or Brazilian, Christmas is fundamentally Pagan. As such, it was celebrated as a way to praise the return of the sun after it stays at its lowest point in the sky for three days, only to rise on the 25th. Lighting candles and hanging wreaths are also pagan in origin. The modern custom of erecting a Christmas tree in one’s house can be traced back to Martin Luther and his wish to oppose the Catholic Nativity scene by offering up a Protestant alternative (a tree symbolizing the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden). Even the act of giving presents is attributed to an erroneous date, as legend says it was on December 6th that Nicolau (later known as Saint Nick) would secretly leave presents in the homes of good children. It is interesting that a once historical Dutch figure of legend known as Sinterklass somehow became Saint Nick and later, the Santa Claus that we all know today (whose famous outfit and appearance, I might add, we can thank the 19th century political cartoonist Thomas Nast for creating).

When we look past the confusing amalgamation of customs, both real and invented, what’s important is to share good moments with friends and family and let the rest be the rest. As Christmas approaches, I know I should be “dreaming of a white Christmas” and all, but I’m really wishing I were on a beach with some água de coco in hand, though I somehow doubt I’m going to find that under a pine tree.

In case anyone wishes to see the “modern” Santa, have a gander at the very first depiction of him in Harper’s Weekly, 1863. Feel free to enlarge it, too. Before Nast remade the famous character, he was depicted in a robe, as a tall and thin man and without a beard.

Originally written for Street Smart Brazil.

Site News – The Pivot

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Hello Readers,

Eyes On Brazil will be doing a bit of a pivot as the time has come to focus more on work (both on maintaining what I already do and obtaining more work). What will most likely follow this post, from time to time, are my own articles…the type I write for Street Smart Brazil (SSB). Any non-SSB articles will be posted as I write them. Additionally, every time 2 months pass on my newest article at SSB (as per my contract),  I will post those here in full.

Cheers!

PS – And thank you for subscribing and/or always coming back!
PPS – The same goes for Eyes On Colombia and Eyes On Portugal.

FT launches BrazilConfidential

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It seems the mini-magazine/insert Brazil Preview that was launched last year in the US now has competition (in terms of inserts on Brazil) from the other side of the pond. The Financial Times, of all people, has created BrazilConfidential. The two magazines, however, differentiate in content and business model (the FT insert is subscription-based).

“Brazil Confidential is a new, premium subscription service from the Financial Times: a fortnightly digital report and accompanying website offering exclusive analysis and insights into one of the world’s most exciting emerging markets. Edited in London, Brazil Confidential brings together analysis and research from an extensive network of journalists, academics and other correspondents and sources.”

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US Magazines on Brazil

Link to footage of uncontacted Amazon tribe

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Deep Brazil has high-quality footage of the uncontacted Amazon tribe recently (re-)revealed to the media worldwide. It’s an interesting concept, that they must be contacted visually for them to have a chance to stay uncontacted physically. Does seeing an airplane affect their belief system or is it just a strange bird?

In 2008, the story came out about this tribe (I’m assuming it’s the same one since they appear to be the same) but it was called a fake lost tribe and dismissed in the media for the fact that it was known (big difference between ‘known’ and ‘contacted’).

Living & Learning (Portuguese)

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(some of the books I went through)

I read technology news every morning and this morning I read about why Google wanted to buy local coupon site GroupOn. The woman interviewed said, for Google, it’s much easier to buy into a market than to build up from nothing because with the former, you get a team of people who know what they’re doing and they already understand the market. In effect, paying for something saves time. It got me thinking about some of the things I wish I had not done alone and it turns out that learning Portuguese is one of those things. Sure, some people are impressed when they hear that I learned it on my own but I wonder if that is worth the fact that I probably added on a few years to my goal of reaching fluency by doing it the way I did.

I’m not a believer in the notion that one language can be easy to learn while another can be hard. Some folks even say one romance language can be learned more quickly than another. I beg to differ. All major languages require learning vocabulary and grammar rules, sounds and accents as well as formal and informal speech. On top of that, one needs to have determination, an ability to memorize and the will to be consitent. For these reasons, most of us know how hard it can be to learn Portuguese but also how satisfying every small victory feels, whether it is achieved alone or through someone who is able to give you a well-rounded learning experience.

The road I chose was lop-sided and lengthy since my teacher was myself, nudged along by a stubbornness to really be able to understand Brazil, its people and its culture. Several years ago, I didn’t want to just be a linguistic tourist in the land of the Portuguese language, I wanted to live there. Despite the fact that my first two attempts to actually reside (and more importantly, remain) in Brazil were not successful, I still will myself to live in a world of cedilhas and diphthongs, of half-eaten words and tricky verbs. Even when there’s no one to share a spare interjection with, I end up thinking it anyways.

While I fear I cannot come close to the charm of Olavo Bilac’s poetic description of Portuguese (a última flor do Lácio, inculta e bela: the last flower of Latium, wild and beautiful), I do have my own take on its allure. To me, Portuguese has always been a language of rounded words, the kind that should feel at home in the mouth of the one who speaks it. Being as sonorous and full-bodied as it is, I find myself wanting to always know more and be better.

Seven years passed before I considered myself to be fluent and for at least half of the time, I was hitting the books daily, even when I felt like I couldn’t do it anymore. Part of me would think, “I’ll do it tomorrow” but the other part replied, “No, you do it now!” Needless to say, the latter part won out and I soon found myself able to read magazines, newspapers and novels with an ever-higher degree of difficulty.

The price of admission for finally learning written Portuguese was that I had let my spoken Portuguese remain pretty much non-existent on account of not having a real teacher. I would listen in on conversations while I hung out with Brazilian expats but their unforced Portuguese sounded to me like one long word. Not being confident enough in my ability to carry on a conversation, even though the foundation was there in my head, I resigned myself to trying to pick out individual words. As the months continued, I started to be able to catch on to the moment when one word would end and another would begin, but by that time, the current conversation I was listening to was either over or on another subject.

There were times when I’d join in, ready to take a linguistic beating if need be. The results were limited but necessary. Pushing boundaries in language-learning is an important part of the process, even if you sometimes push too far. Of course, no one will ever hear me confirm this, but there may have possibly been a few forced laughs and nods of the head when in fact I didn’t get the joke or the idea at hand. Yes, there may have been an “é, né“, an “ah, tá” or a “…tendi” when perhaps I should have said I didn’t understand. It’s hard to know which choice would have been best but I just chalked it up to growing pains.

One choice I’ve always been happy with is when, around 2002, I first picked up a Portuguese-language learning book. All the time in between didn’t turn me into Euclides da Cunha because I still make small intermediate-level mistakes. There’s also more to learn on the advanced side but I’m generally satisfied with how much I’ve learned and to what degree I can navigate a conversation. The one thing that hasn’t changed in all these years is the fact that I still have the same desire for the language. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t either listen to, read, write or speak Portuguese. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.

Originally written for Street Smart Brazil.

Bad Words vs. New Words

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Starting with the bad words (I mean negative news), I give you another ‘latest news (I haven’t read)’ snapshot from Folha.

And then there’s the new words, which aren’t many. Pinga-pinga is the same as ônibus (bus), only it’s apparently the kind that always is stopping to pick up more passengers (source). Second, ‘Gre-Nal’, the nickname for matches between Grêmio and Sport Club International, both from Porto Alegre (source). Seemingly on par with a ‘Fla-Flu’ (Flamengo vs. Fluminense) match, though I’ve never been to a soccer game, so what do I know? For a second, I almost thought ‘Gre-Nal’ when spoken was grená (source), or a dark red color, but the context didn’t fit.

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