A child of democracy

Right now, Brasil nearing the end of the first term of the first, truly democratically elected president in the history of Brasil. There have been others but from what I can gather most of them have bought their way into office or have "commited suicide" or "died naturally" in the beginning of their terms so that, conveniently, thier military understudies can take over command. So, if you can imagine, Brasil is still undergoing it's fair share of democratic growing pains and as I have seen over the last few months, the end is nowhere in sight. Brasil is a country on the verge or either a revolution or a civil war. Many would argue that Brasil is far from being on the "verge" of civil war but has instead been involved in one for year, raging in the streets of the favelas (ghettos) where hundreds of thousands of people are murdered by police every year. Enough people here are murdered by gun fire that even the united nations has charactorized Brasil as a country initiated in low scale civil war.

As many of you may have seen in recent papers, things are getting progressively worse here. The PCC who some consider criminals and others consider a political force in the midst of birthing itself in the prisons on Sao Paulo state has taken it's fight to the streets and is in the middle of battling those forces which hold most of the poor of this country (which constitutes a VERY large percentage of population) back from ever bettering themselves economically, socially, or educationally namely the police, the banks and the capatalist establishment. And so they burn busses, blow up banks, shoot police officers and riot in the prisons, all in the name of getting thier message across. A message that some believe is political and progressive and others (mostly others) believe is "terrorism". It's in the eye of the beholder I guess but Hamas was once the same way and now they lead a country. When the establishment has stripped you of everything you have, you've got nothing to lose.

I don't know enough about the situation to make an educated decision on he valour of the PCCs actions but from what I know and understand of Brasil for the short time I've been here, is that this country is in need of a revolution. Never in my life have a been thrown head first into the kind of poverty, desperation, sadness, anger and frustration that the people of Brasil deal with on a daily basis. In a country with the capability of being self-sustaining and incredibly wealthy, the fact that people have to resort to revolution in order to put food on the table for thier families is sadning. The next election is in October and things are only going to get more violent and more desperate in the streets of sao Paulo state, because being the centre of all things business and financial in Brasil, whoever controls the streets of Sao Paulo, controls the country.

So what does this mean for me? As busses burn in the streets of my town I have to ask myself, is this where I want to spend the rest of my life? Am I willing to have to fight tooth and nail for things that should be my right? Do I want to wade through the political fires that rage in my home town and in the prison that lays only 25 minutes down the road (might I add that it's the biggest prison in Sao Paulo state and the home of numerous internal rebellions, hostage takings and riots)

The answer is pretty clear