Second Life 5/23/08

The Tipping Point in Brazil: When understanding became action

June R. Klein
Fielding Graduate University

The Tipping Point in Brazil: When understanding became action

Brazil in the 70’s

Statistics today

Recife’s metropolitan region is composed of 14 municipalities and is the fourth largest metropolitan region in Brazil, with a total population of more than 3.3 million inhabitants. The city has an unemployment rate of 19%, one of the highest rates in Brazil. In the Northeast Region, including Recife, are 63% of all Brazilian poor while only sharing one third of Brazil’s total population according to the IPEA and World Bank. 41% of its population living under poverty line - US$40.00 per capita, which is the largest concentration of poverty in all of the metropolitan areas of Brazil. There are some extremely wealthy areas and some extremely poor areas, accentuated by the fact that a large % of the land is owned by a limited number of families. 40% of the population that qualifies as “poor” occupy roughly 13% of land in the city, making living conditions very crowded. In addition, the poor are relegated to flood areas and extremely hilly areas prone to landslides making the rainly season a terrible experience for them every year. Only 27% of the housing units had access to sanitation and nearly 60% of them disposed their waste water inadequately (Cordaid/IHS, 2004).

Demographics: Literacy (age 15 and over can read and write) - total population: 88.6%, Ethnicity - white 53.7%, mulatto (mixed white and black) 38.5%, black 6.2%, other (includes Japanese, Arab, Amerindian) 0.9%, unspecified 0.7% (2000 census) (CIA website)

Language: Portuguese

Religion (s): Roman Catholic (nominal) 73.6%, Protestant 15.4%, Spiritualist 1.3%, Bantu/voodoo 0.3%, other 1.8%, unspecified 0.2%, none 7.4% (2000 census) (CIA website)

Form of government: Federal republic

Average income in a household: $9,700 (2007 est.) (CIA website)

Pictures of the Favelas (from Wikipedia)

Pictures of the people (from Wikipedia)

Pictures of Catholic Churches (from Wikipedia)

YouTubes about Brazil

Brazilian music (from Wikipedia)

SAMBA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulcXYjb4eBU

Map

Critical Pedagogy as it relates to education and social empowerment

What is Critical Pedagogy and Critical Consciousness

Critical pedagogy is a teaching approach where students are asked to question and challenge dominant ideas, beliefs and practices. The aim of this exercise is for students to achieve critical consciousness. Critical consciousness, or conscientizacao (Portuguese), was a theory put forth by Paulo Freire where one experiences various levels of consciousness with the goal of ultimately separating yourself from reality or your surroundings and becoming a free thinker.

The influence of Paulo Freire and Dom Helder Camera

Eloquence and simplicity combined with passion and action

Paulo Freire writes with a simplicity and eloquence that can be understood and translated to the masses. First as a scholar studying philosophy and law, and then as teacher at the Recife University, Freire practiced his understanding of how to teach the illiterate poor to read using what is now called Liberation Theology. Because of his controversial techniques, Freire was imprisoned by the military government for 70 days in 1964. After leaving Brazil, Paulo Freire wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed at the age of 47, a book that made him both famous and infamous. This book was widely read by many outside of Brazil and was considered “revolutionary”, banned in many totalitarian countries where punishment could include imprisonment and torture (Freire, 1993).

At the same time that Freire was developing his teaching methods, the Catholic Church was in the process of separating themselves from the traditional alliances with the military and the oligarchy. Starting with Pope Leo XIII, the church recognized the horrible living conditions in Europe and continuing on with Pope Pius XI with the Quadragesimo Anno in 1931, the Catholic Church lamented the inhuman condition of the poor as a responsibility of all good Christians to address as part of the church itself. That Jesus came to save people, not just souls, and that people needed to rise above their situations as part of being a member of the church was being preached in Latin America. This “preferential option for the poor” or the concern for both the physical as well as spiritual welfare of the poor was documented in Peruvian Gustavo Gutierrez’s book “A Theology of Liberation” in 1971.

Bishop Helder Camera wrote the “Spiral of Violence” in 1971 when he was 62 years old and an influential member of the Latin-American Bishops organizations. Bishop Camera called upon the youth of Brazil to create their own Abrahamic Minorities by coming together to oppose oppression around the world and create new communities that reject the propaganda in the media and instead use social communication as a change agent. He called upon the developed countries to revise their international policies governing trade to be more supportive of poorer countries like Brazil and reject war as escalating violence against humanity. Finally, Bishop Camera asked that the rich, who support “internal colonialism”, recognize their class as a form of violence against the poor, and the technologists to close the growing digital divide (Câmara, 1971).

Social empowerment, religion and culture

Liberation Theology

Linking faith, politics and community life

Liberation theology has been successful in changing the structure of life in Brazil including the way the government works and who they listen to. Participatory Budgeting, unlike our legal process of representation, evolved not at a constitutional convention, but as an outgrowth of liberation theology and the critical thinking process. Where in the US one is required to read and write in order to naturalize and in some states to vote, in Recife, all citizens above 16 years of age can participate and be elected. Sector Councils (Conselhos) were established to serve as oversight for public policies (“social watchdogs”). In 2003 there were 55 conselhos with 1,217 councillors. 54% of the the councillors are from civil society organizations, 15% from labour unions and syndicates, 5% from employers’ associations and 26% from the government sector. While the government sector councillors have degrees in higher education (79%), the civil society organization councillors are relatively poor with 34% of them earning less than US$150/year (Cordaid/IHS, 2004).

Unusual bedfellows?

The Catholic Church’s position on Liberation Theology

Comunidades eclesiales de base (CEB) are grassroots Christian communities that grew out of the desire to communicate with the Brazilian masses about social needs that were documented and discussed at the Second Vatican Council in 1965. Since there were not enough priests to successfully spread the word, the church started to encourage lay leadership in the form of CEBs. Most CEB participants are from the lower class and are primarily within rural areas and on the outskirts of cities. The participants in these communities were encouraged to develop critical thinking skills: praxis and conscientization. It was these critical thinking skills that the church warned against as a threat to the unity of the church. Pope Paul VI supported CEBs in his Evangeli Nuntiandi in 1975, but warned that CEBs should not see themselves as the only authentic way of being, and emphasized the ecclesial nature of these base communities. (Emge, 1988).

In Brazil, the interweaving of religion, class and critical thinking have changed the economic and power structures within a short amount of time. Within twenty years after the Second Vatican council in 1965, it is estimated that there are over 100,000 CEBs in Brazil alone (Emge, 1988). This is an example of where the church’s authority combined with brilliant oratory on the part of some exceptional leaders, like Freire and Camera to name two, were able to start a movement where dialogue, not the printed word, was the driving force behind change. At our last class Dr. Carlos Torres, Director of the Paulo Freire Institute at UCLA, talked about how Obama has captured the attention of our youth with a style similar to great preachers like Dr. Martin Luther King combined with high intellect. Dr. Torres also spoke about how dialogue builds on experience and is a student centered model. I believe this is a very old model that has played out in history. Brilliant orators who can touch our souls but make us think at the same time are timeless in their effect. Religious organizations have always relied on oration as their main way of reaching the populace. This tradition continues on, particularly in the underdeveloped countries like Brazil and in developed countries like the US.

References

Câmara, H. (1971). Spiral of violence. London: Sheed and Ward.

Cordaid/IHS, S. A. b. C. a. t. I. f. H. a. U. D. S.-. (2004). Process Mapping: Disclosing Actors and Citizen Participation in Recife. Rotterdam: Cordaid and the Institute for Hoursing and Urban Development Studies

Emge, D. R. (1988). Base Christian Communities: A Challenge to the Status Quo. Access ERIC: FullText. 1988-11-05.

Freire, P. (1993). Pedagogy of the oppressed (New rev. 20th-Anniversary ed.). New York: Continuum.