Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Roberto Francisco Daniel the 47 year old Brazilian Catholic priest has been accused of “heresy” and “schism” by the church hierarchy and excommunicated according to an article title ‘Excommunicated Brazilian priest slams ‘out of touch’ Roman Catholic Church’ published in The Free Thinker magazine by Barry Duke. Duke states “…with unseemly haste, the Roman Catholic Church this week rid itself of a Brazilian priest for, among other things, supporting gay rights. …the rogue Brazilian, Father Roberto Francisco Daniel – known to local parishioners as Padre Beto – was excommunicated before he had the chance to announce his planned resignation from an organisation he described as: A lukewarm and disengaged church that is out of touch with today’s society. In a statement released … the priest’s diocese said Daniel had: In the name of ‘freedom of expression’ betrayed the promise of fealty to the Church. It alleged that Daniel had: Injured the Church with grave statements counter to the dogma of Catholic faith and morality. His actions amounted to ‘heresy and schism’, the statement said. The rare punishment follows what Daniel’s bishop and the priest himself said were repeated rebukes he received over  the videos he had made and other public activities, such as a radio broadcast and local newspaper column, in which he challenged Church doctrine. …On Facebook and Twitter, Daniel posted a brief statement about the excommunication: I feel honored to belong to the long list of people who have been murdered and burned alive for thinking and searching for knowledge. Daniel’s excommunication, which prompted headlines across Brazil and protests in social media, illustrates the rising influence of more moderate social views in Brazil, Latin America’s biggest country, and much of the rest of the region. Progressive stances on sexuality, birth control, scientific research and other delicate topics for the Church are increasingly common in Latin America, home to 42 percent of the world’s Catholics, more than any other region worldwide.”

Inspired by Barry Duke, The Freethinker ow.ly/laBPN Image source Freethinker ow.ly/laBP5

Tiago Maranhao Alves the Brazilian a physical engineer  and CEO of CSEM Brasil an innovations-based company is the subject of an article published by Alice Marcondes on the IPS News Service titled ‘Brazilian-Made Plastic Solar Panels, a Clean Energy Breakthrough’ which states “[Maranhao Alves] While the capacity for power generation is almost the same, its small size means that it can be given uses that are almost impossible for silicon panels”.  What looks like a thin, flexible sheet of regular plastic is actually a solar panel printed with photovoltaic cells, which convert sunlight into electricity. This new material, totally unlike the heavy and costly silicon-based panels commonly used to generate solar power today, was created by scientists at CSEM Brasil, a research institute based in the southeast Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. Made by incorporating organic photovoltaic cells into common polymers, the new panels resemble transparent sheets of plastic with stripes where they have been printed with carbon-based organic polymers. …The lightweight, flexible new material can be used to power the electrical components of automobiles and in electronic devices like mobile phones and wireless computer keyboards and mice. But the Brazilian researchers are concentrating on the production of solar panels, which can be used to cover relatively large areas, like windows. “A panel with a surface area of two or three square metres could be sufficient to generate the energy needed in a house lived in by a family of four. Because of its good cost-benefit ratio, it could also be an option for bringing energy to remote areas without electric power service.” …The plastic can also be used to cover buildings and venues like airports and sports stadiums, avoiding the need to set aside an area for the installation of conventional solar panels. …”We are now going to study the best way to scale up the product.”

Inspired by Alice Marcondes, IPS News Service ow.ly/jArfG Image source LinkedIn ow.ly/jAreE

Jose Graziano da Silva the 63 year old American-born Brazilian agronomist, writer and Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has published an article on the IPS News Service titled ‘Guardians of Life and of the Earth’ stating “Around the world, but especially in the planet’s poorest regions, women represent a life force that renews itself daily, sometimes against all odds. Rural women, for instance, make up 43 percent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries. Fighting hunger is something they do every day. They are the faceless enlistees in the most devastating war of our times, one which – paradoxically – is the easiest to win: the war on hunger, that afflicts one in every eight inhabitants of our Earth, some 870 million human beings. …Putting food on a family’s table involves extending a woman’s reach beyond her maternal instincts. It means applying her energy and her life lessons to tilling the land and harvesting crops. …The double and sometimes triple burden of work in the field, at home and in the community is not always recognised, or shared by the men in the households. This frequently makes the empowerment of women more difficult. Paradoxically, everywhere in the world it is women who suffer most from restrictions on access to the legal ownership of land. This in turn limits their access to credit and to the inputs they need to maximise the utmost efforts they put into community wellbeing. Achieving those rights and that access, in order to close the gender gap in the most vulnerable countries’ farming systems, is one of the most important food security policies that governments and international cooperation agencies could ever implement. Making states aware of the core role women play in economic and social development and forging a political consensus to give them the tools and rights that their role demands will be vital steps in the fight against hunger.”

Inspired by Jose Graziano da Silva, IPS News Service ow.ly/j4tLB Image source Renato Araujo ow.ly/j4tIA

Beatriz Milhazes the 52 year old Brazilian artist known for her work juxtaposing Brazilian cultural imagery and references to western Modernist painting, has been profiled by Eileen Kinsella for Blouin Artinfo in an article titled ‘The Secrets to Brazilian Painter Beatriz Milhazes’s International Success’. Kinsella states “…They virtually explode with layer upon layer of intricate patterns and wild, rich colors. These derive from a vast variety of sources, including, in her earlier works, Baroque imagery and feminine lace or ruffle motifs that refer to 19th-century embroidery. Among continuing sources of inspiration are the rhythms of Brazilian music and the festive imagery of the Carnival, as well as the tropical flora and fauna of Brazil’s lush rain forests. Her studio in Rio de Janeiro sits next to the city’s botanical garden, and its influence on her practice — frequently studded with blooming rings of petals and elaborate floral designs — is palpable. Milhazes’s later works have less of the spiderwebby patterns and feature more mechanical-looking swirls, circles, and squares. …Milhazes described her work in a 2008 interview in the biannual art review RES as having “a healthy conflict. Many people say, ‘Wow, it’s beautiful,’” she said, “but on the other hand, it’s not a comfortable beauty.” Her meticulous process limits the number of paintings she can produce. Milhazes applies paint to plastic sheets and allows it to dry before transferring the pigment to canvas and then removing the plastic. The result is an exceptionally flat, smooth appearance. “I do not want the texture of the brushstrokes or the ‘hand’ of the painter to be visible on my canvases.” the artist explained…”

Inspired by Eileen Kinsella ow.ly/fuJi6 image source Wikipaintings ow.ly/fuJZp

Cultural divide is bigger than geographical divide (March 25th 2012)

Sueli Pini the Brazilian Judge who delivers “justice and medical care to the ‘invisible’ people of the Amazon Rainforest” has been featured in a film by Arne Birkenstock on Aljazeera. Pini for 13 years “has been travelling from the provincial capital Macapá to the remote villages on the Amazon Delta. To this day, the Brazilian state does not know exactly how many people live on the Amazon because many of them have no passport or birth certificate. To the authorities, these people who live in remote hamlets and villages are invisible: they have no access to social services, health care or the justice system. It is as if they do not even exist… With her ‘justice boat’ Pini brings a wide range of state services to the population of the North Amazon region. The steam boat houses a court with a public prosecutor, bailiffs and public defenders, a medical team, including a dentist, doctor and nurses, and a passport office with civil servants and ID card forms… “The cultural divide is even bigger than the geographical divide we have to bridge. Most of my colleagues and superiors have never been here, so they cannot appreciate how important our tours are for the locals and for the Brazilian state.”

Inspired by Aljazeera http://ow.ly/9AZ5O image source naramazonie http://ow.ly/9AZuC

Politicians support and fund these criminal acts (March 23rd 2012)

Ana Rafaela D’Amico the 27 year old youngest Brazilian National Park director has been featured in a film by Thomas Wartmann as she declares ‘war’ on drug gangs, illegal fishing, and the logging mafia in the Amazon. D’Amico is the director of ‘The Campos Amazonicos National Park’, states “Our biggest problem here in the park – and all over the Amazon – is that we don’t know who the men behind this environmental crime are. We always find the poor man hired to occupy or clear the land. But we seldom find out who is really behind it, who provides the money, or which politicians support and fund these criminal acts… Unfortunately some people don’t understand the value of nature. It’s so short-sighted. They think only of profit…. Protecting nature is not a priority for the government. The economy always comes first, along with industry and the country’s development. Nature always comes second, or third… The law applies to everyone, rich or poor. We must implement the law and do our job.”

Inspired by Aljazeera http://ow.ly/9AV4S image source http://ow.ly/9AVvp

Seriously a president has to be smart (October 21st)

Danilo Gentili Jr the 32 year old Brazilian Comedian talk show host, known for his pushing of humors boundaries has succeeded in opening the Comedy Central Apresenta (Comedy Central Presents). Gentili was chosen to host the channels stand-up night club show, receiving high ratings and reviews on its opening night. Gentili received notoriety 12 months earlier when he made a joke of the soon to be first female president of Brazil Dilma Rousseff, regarding her torture as a former Marxist guerrilla fighting against the military dictatorship. Gentili joked that “Seriously a president has to be smart. If she was caught and tortured, it’s because she was an idiot.” However Gentili acknowledges that under the military regime this type of political humor “could never have happened. Probably in the first two minutes of the show the army would have moved in”.

Inspired by Tom Phillips http://ow.ly/6SjBu image source Júnia Machado http://ow.ly/6SjO6