Folks here in America don’t know what to do with the word “socialist” these days. On one hand, calling someone “socialist” is considered demeaning. On the other hand, our nation is now competing to lead the charge of socialism in the global marketplace and the move is seen as the right thing to do by many in this country.
While Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had no problems blaming White people with blue eyes for this current global economic crisis, he apparently doesn’t have a problem keeping the poor behind walls.
RIO DE JANEIRO, March 28 (Reuters) – The government of Rio de Janeiro is building concrete walls to prevent sprawling slums from spreading farther into the picturesque hills of this world-famous tourist destination, an official said on Saturday.
Construction has begun in two favelas, or shantytowns, in the southern districts of Rio de Janeiro, a government spokeswoman told Reuters. One of the two is Morro Dona Marta, which police occupied in November to control crime and violence caused mostly by rival drug gangs.
Officials say the wall is to protect the remaining native forest but critics fear the move could be seen as discriminatory and become a blemish symbolizing Brazil’s deep divisions between rich and poor.
“There is no discrimination. On the contrary, we are building houses for them elsewhere and improving their lives,” Tania Lazzoli, spokeswoman for the secretary of public works at the state government, told Reuters.
Yep. Here in America we call it “Section 8″ housing. Lovely.
Here’s another interesting note on the demographics of Rio. From Wikipedia.
The last PNAD (National Research for Sample of Domiciles) census resulted in the following numbers: 8,595,740 White people (54.5%), 5,110,128 Pardo (Brown) people (32.4%), 1,987,272 Black people (12.6%), 63,088 Asian or Amerindian people (0.4%).
People of African descent are numerous mostly in the capital city.
So darker-skinned folks combined make up about 45% of the population. I wonder who is going to be behind the wall?
On a similar note, we tell the homeless here to “beat it” every time a Democratic or Republican convention comes into town. Why? Because we do not want the visitors to see them. Yet, we use these poor souls to inflict guilt on others to get votes for our party of choice. After the elections are over, fuhgettabout ‘em until the next time “props” are needed.
