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Change Your Life! |
At 500, Brazil remains the country of the future |
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News
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April 22, 2000
RIO DE JANEIRO, APR 21 (AP) - When much of the Americas celebrated the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' 1492 discovery voyage, Brazil, the hemisphere's only Portuguese-speaking nation, paid no attention.
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Now, Brazil is holding its own 500-year fest, honoring the arrival of navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral on April 22, 1500. But nationalist pride is mixed with frustration at the country's unfulfilled potential, and for many of Brazil's have-nots the anniversary will be a day of protest.
"It's 500 years that our land has been taken away, our people killed and turned into alcoholics and prostitutes," said Leonardo Macuxi, a Macuxi Indian from the northern Amazon. "All I want is to see is our land demarcated so we can live in peace."
Leonardo is among more than 3,000 Indians from 186 tribes gathered to protest what they call "the invasion" near Porto Seguro, the seaside town 500 miles (800 kilometers) northeast of Rio where Cabral landed. They hope to forge a united front to pressure the government to protect their lands, now under siege by farmers, loggers and prospectors.
Only about 330,000 Indians survive in Brazil, down from as many as 5 million in 1500.
Landless farm workers also have seized the occasion, pledging to occupy 500 rural properties across the country this week to call attention to the need for land reform. In a country larger than the 48 continental United States, 90 percent of the land is in the hands of 20 percent of the people, while the poorest 40 percent own just 1 percent.
Black rights groups see no reason to celebrate. They say the myth of racial democracy disguises discrimination, while Afro-Brazilians on the average earn and study less than whites and rarely hold top positions in business and government.
"This is not a celebration, it's a symbolic moment for the country," said Kebengele Munanga, of the Center for African Studies at the University of Sao Paulo. "If anyone should commemorate it's the Portuguese. They discovered, colonized and plundered" Brazil.
In Rio, police battled students and labor groups who vandalized a "500 Years Clock" near Copacabana beach. Set up in 28 cities by the powerful Globo TV network, the clocks have been counting down the days to the 500th anniversary since 1997.
The protests seemed to surprise the government.
"The 500 years celebration should not be an invitation to a wake," presidential press spokesman Georges Lamaziere said.
President Fernando Henrique Cardoso shortened his planned visit to Porto Seguro and called for tighter security. On Saturday, Cardoso is to inaugurate a Discovery Museum and tourist center, welcome a fleet of wooden ships that retraced Cabral's route and attend a symphony specially composed for the occasion. Pope John Paul II is expected to telephone with congratulations.
"The 500 year festivities were conceived to raise the self-esteem of our people," explained Sports and Tourism Minister Rafael Greca, in charge of the official agenda.
The frustration springs from a sense that Brazil could have been much better off. Its potential was evident from the first.
"As far as the eye can reach, we could see only land and trees," Pero Vaz de Caminha, the scribe of the first expedition, wrote nine days after arrival. "The land itself is ... so generous that, wishing to exploit it, everything will it yield."
Today, with the world's eighth-largest economy, Brazil still takes pride in its size and promise. It has the world's biggest rain
forest, the biggest river, the biggest hydroelectric dam, the biggest soccer stadium, the most iron, the most coffee, the best carnival, and soccer phenomenon Pele.
Yet the distribution of its riches is among the most unfair anywhere. With 165 million people, nearly half of officially employed Brazilians earn 300 reals (dlrs 170) a month or less. More than a fifth of greater Rio's 10 million people live in slums.
A popular joke has it that "Brazil is the land of the future - and always will be."
"Ever since colonial times Brazil has been lauded for its size, but it disdains its people," said historian Ronaldo Vainfas. "It's a posture of the ruling elite that justified the plundering of the land and disrespect for public coffers. Even today, the business class has a colonial mentality. It doesn't invest in people."
Still, it's hard to suppress a national pride that comes naturally to Brazilians.
"The moment is traumatic, but it will pass," said best-selling author Paulo Coelho. "I'm very proud to be Brazilian. It taught me to see the world without the barrier between the magic and the real, and that helped me to grow as a writer and a human being. And because it's always in crisis, it prepared me for the battles of life."
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