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Ex-guerrilla to be Brazil's first female president

Demon of Light

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A former Marxist guerrilla who was tortured and imprisoned during Brazil's long dictatorship was elected Sunday as president of Latin America's biggest nation, a country in the midst of an economic and political rise.

A statement from the Supreme Electoral Court, which oversees elections, said governing party candidate Dilma Rousseff won the election. When she takes office Jan. 1, she will be Brazil's first female leader.

With 99 percent of the ballots counted, Rousseff had 55.6 percent compared to 44.4 percent for her centrist rival, Jose Serra, the electoral court said.

Source: MSNBC

For those who don't know Dilma is President Lula's hand-picked successor. So it seems the left-wing is still on a roll in South America.
 
Source: MSNBC

For those who don't know Dilma is President Lula's hand-picked successor. So it seems the left-wing is still on a roll in South America.

Lula was insanely popular. 80+% popularity rating I believe.

Plus in most South American countries the legacy of US meddling has driven most people to the left, making it very hard for a right winger to get elected without "help".
 
Lula was insanely popular. 80+% popularity rating I believe.

Plus in most South American countries the legacy of US meddling has driven most people to the left, making it very hard for a right winger to get elected without "help".

I don't think it's just "US meddling" that has helped drive people to the left in Latin America. The utter ruthlessness of the right wing military dictatorships when they were in power is probably a factor.
 
I don't think it's just "US meddling" that has helped drive people to the left in Latin America. The utter ruthlessness of the right wing military dictatorships when they were in power is probably a factor.

The "meddling" often took the form of training the death squads in tactics at the "School of the Americas" at Fort Benning. Most if not all the ruthless rightwing military dictators and their henchmen were alumni.
 
Lula was insanely popular. 80+% popularity rating I believe.

Plus in most South American countries the legacy of US meddling has driven most people to the left, making it very hard for a right winger to get elected without "help".

What in the world does "US meddling" have to do with left-wing or right-wing politics? :confused:

The reason that South America tends to be left-wing is very simple: the HUGE amount of wealth disparity that exists there. Especially in Brazil, where you have glamorous gated mansions just a few blocks away from terrifying favelas with open sewers and no electricity.
 
Lula's policies weren't really more than center left anyway.
 
One only has to look at the massive improvements in all of Brazilian society under Lula to see why his successor won this election. Socialism can work, and Lula has proved it.
 
One only has to look at the massive improvements in all of Brazilian society under Lula to see why his successor won this election. Socialism can work, and Lula has proved it.

Well I wouldn't say that exactly. Brazil still faces a brazillian hurdles :2razz:

They could become a world force, but the trick is they have to get control of their own recources, now I'm not talking nessecarily about nationalization, though if the people are pushed too far by corporations thats exactly where it'll go.

But rather strict government enforcement of environmental protection clauses and making sure that their recources, specifically wood, is made into a renewable cycle.

Brazil has enourmous potential, but before it can be tapped into. Education, and social upheaval must be a priority. And thankfully, I think thats the route this government seems to be taking.
 
Source: MSNBC

For those who don't know Dilma is President Lula's hand-picked successor. So it seems the left-wing is still on a roll in South America.

It should be noted that President Lula has governed Brazil quite pragmatically and, all in all, the country has enjoyed economic growth and increasing prosperity during President Lula's tenure.
 
Well I wouldn't say that exactly. Brazil still faces a brazillian hurdles :2razz:

They could become a world force, but the trick is they have to get control of their own recources, now I'm not talking nessecarily about nationalization, though if the people are pushed too far by corporations thats exactly where it'll go.

But rather strict government enforcement of environmental protection clauses and making sure that their recources, specifically wood, is made into a renewable cycle.

Brazil has enourmous potential, but before it can be tapped into. Education, and social upheaval must be a priority. And thankfully, I think thats the route this government seems to be taking.

O certainly Brazil has a long way to go and will face some very importance questions soon and in the future, but its made some damn good progress and perhaps one of the most important things its accomplished is that its people believe in the future of their country. As opposed to the US for example where many many people believe this country is headed toward hell, pessimistic attitudes aren't productive. Course I'm part of that as well to a degree.
 
O certainly Brazil has a long way to go and will face some very importance questions soon and in the future, but its made some damn good progress and perhaps one of the most important things its accomplished is that its people believe in the future of their country. As opposed to the US for example where many many people believe this country is headed toward hell, pessimistic attitudes aren't productive. Course I'm part of that as well to a degree.

When you live in **** conditions to begin with.

The only way is up.

Tis the spirit of my homeland too.
 
Brazil, the first South American country to be recorded for Street View, is notorious for its drug-related street violence and in 2007 - the most recent statistics available from the United Nations - there were 48,000 murders.

In 2010 the U.N. published a report into violent deaths in Brazil by an independent expert.

The document from Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, stated: 'When I visited the country two and a half years ago, I found that the police executed suspected criminals and innocent citizens during poorly planned and counter-productive war-style operations into favelas [shanty towns].

Google Street View captures bodies in the street of Brazil | Mail Online
 
What in the world does "US meddling" have to do with left-wing or right-wing politics? :confused:
America is a Capitalist country. If your country is abused by another country that is mainly Capitalist, you probably wont be over-eager to pick up the strategy of your former antagonist. This pushes many South American countries to the left.

The reason that South America tends to be left-wing is very simple: the HUGE amount of wealth disparity that exists there. Especially in Brazil, where you have glamorous gated mansions just a few blocks away from terrifying favelas with open sewers and no electricity.
We have a massive wealth disparity here, why are we not more left?

It's not as stark as it is in many South American countries, I grant you, but it's still a fairly large gulf.
 
America is a Capitalist country. If your country is abused by another country that is mainly Capitalist, you probably wont be over-eager to pick up the strategy of your former antagonist. This pushes many South American countries to the left.

I think most electorates are fully capable of voting on the matters that affect their country today, rather than what some foreign antagonist did 30 years ago. Not all international political debates revolve around the United States...and certainly not the United States of the Cold War era.

Hoplite said:
We have a massive wealth disparity here, why are we not more left?

It's not as stark as it is in many South American countries, I grant you, but it's still a fairly large gulf.

Because it's not as stark as it is in many South American countries. And the overall level of wealth is higher.
 
I think most electorates are fully capable of voting on the matters that affect their country today, rather than what some foreign antagonist did 30 years ago. Not all international political debates revolve around the United States...and certainly not the United States of the Cold War era.
It's not just Cold War policy, the IMF and World Bank as well as NAFTA and other similar initiatives have not been kind to many people in Latin America and elsewhere. That combined with an extremely aggressive foreign policy doesn't do well to paint America in a good light.

Besides, when foreign-backed death squads mow down half your town, you tend to remember that for a while.

Because it's not as stark as it is in many South American countries.
It's still an inescapable fact of life here.

And the overall level of wealth is higher.
Yes, but our wealth doesnt get us much more stability.
 
Lula was insanely popular. 80+% popularity rating I believe.

Plus in most South American countries the legacy of US meddling has driven most people to the left, making it very hard for a right winger to get elected without "help".

It has more to do with having so many people looking for a hand out from the government.
 
It has more to do with having so many people looking for a hand out from the government.

Not a hand out,

But actually providing education, police services and a minimal level of health care, to actually allow for people to become educated productive member of society. Something Brazil in the past has not done, but has been doing lately and is seeing good results from that program
 
Not a hand out,

But actually providing education, police services and a minimal level of health care, to actually allow for people to become educated productive member of society. Something Brazil in the past has not done, but has been doing lately and is seeing good results from that program

i.e. a hand out
 
i.e. a hand out

Well let me ask you this.

If a family, were to be bankrupted by say, an injury to their child. And that would only cost the state maybe $2000 to fix. But because you let that family become bankrupt because their incurance dropped them for an abritrary reason or they couldn't qualify in the first place. That family is not completely economically defunct. There's a chance they could get up off their feat, but dad slips into alcoholism, maybe the kid gets taken away.... whatever.

So now instead, you've just completely lost a life long, economically productive family. At $2000 you could have payed their medical bill. And over their lifetime they'd pay it back 50 fold.

Derp.
 
Well let me ask you this.

If a family, were to be bankrupted by say, an injury to their child. And that would only cost the state maybe $2000 to fix. But because you let that family become bankrupt because their incurance dropped them for an abritrary reason or they couldn't qualify in the first place. That family is not completely economically defunct. There's a chance they could get up off their feat, but dad slips into alcoholism, maybe the kid gets taken away.... whatever.

So now instead, you've just completely lost a life long, economically productive family. At $2000 you could have payed their medical bill. And over their lifetime they'd pay it back 50 fold.

Derp.

Sounds like a deadbeat dad, that will suck way more than 2 grand out of the welfare system.

Basically, you're creating a system that tells people, "don't worry, we'll reward your failures". When more and more people believe that, more and more people will find themselves living off the government, because they were too lazy, or too stupid to make it on their own, to begin with.
 
Sounds like a deadbeat dad, that will suck way more than 2 grand out of the welfare system.

Basically, you're creating a system that tells people, "don't worry, we'll reward your failures". When more and more people believe that, more and more people will find themselves living off the government, because they were too lazy, or too stupid to make it on their own, to begin with.

In an ideal world, where the insurance companies aren't corrupt and money grabbing assholes you'd be right.

But families that pay for years into insurance, who suddenly have their coverage taken away, or their premiums increased to a point they can't pay and they go bankrupt. That's where the system is ****ed...

So again. How are you "rewarding failure" If the private system doops people, exploits them, doesn't offer them the thing they payed for. And the government pays for that $300 doctors visit, that could prevent the child from getting sicker, which later on could cost the state EVEN MORE.

The idea that the insurance industry, or private industry in general is infallible is as downright niave and stupid, as those who think the Government is infallable. It's nonsense.
 
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It has more to do with having so many people looking for a hand out from the government.

Sounds like a deadbeat dad, that will suck way more than 2 grand out of the welfare system.

Basically, you're creating a system that tells people, "don't worry, we'll reward your failures". When more and more people believe that, more and more people will find themselves living off the government, because they were too lazy, or too stupid to make it on their own, to begin with.
Ok, this may come as a shock to you, but not everything in the world fits into your convenient partisan mold.
 
I don't think it's just "US meddling" that has helped drive people to the left in Latin America. The utter ruthlessness of the right wing military dictatorships when they were in power is probably a factor.

All right wing dictatorships were backed by the US, politically and economically. Hence "US meddling".
 
What in the world does "US meddling" have to do with left-wing or right-wing politics? :confused:

Has everything to do with it. Leftists politicians use the US meddling as a scare tactic.

The reason that South America tends to be left-wing is very simple: the HUGE amount of wealth disparity that exists there. Especially in Brazil, where you have glamorous gated mansions just a few blocks away from terrifying favelas with open sewers and no electricity.

Yes I agree that is a very valid co-reason. But dont under-estimate the US meddling over the last 50 years. You aint gonna see a right wing government in some countries any time soon because of it.

And for the record the wealth disparity in South America is not massively higher than that of the US. At worst we are talking 50% higher
 
Brazil will always be the country of the future....lol
 
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