The Guardian reported that leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won against far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the Brazilian presidential election. As we discussed with Professor Holt, Lula was originally elected president in 2002 leading to a leftist government that pushed social programs to address long standing structural inequalities in Brazil, like Zero Hunger, but became involved in political corruption that led to his arrest. Bolsonaro is dismissive of women, the LGBTQ, Brazilians of color, and social programs. He was elected in 2018 on a promise to crack down on corruption (see Duiker page 214). This latest election was followed by support from world leaders in the U.S., Venezuela, Canada, and Mexico as well as from outside of the Americas in China, Russia, Australia and others. This support comes with the hope for democracy in Brazil, stronger trade relations, and environmental action. This is in light of economic exploitation of the Amazon River basin for farming that may threaten the ecology of the planet according to our textbook readings (see Duiker page 214). The article mentions measures being taken by Norway, who will resume subsidies for the protection of the Amazon that stopped under Bolsonaro, who may reject Lula’s victory and threaten Brazilian democracy. This highlights Brazil’s growing power as China hopes to challenge the .US. with their combined economies. Through this election we can see the fragility of Brazilian democracy and its relationships with authoritarian leaders that have plagued the nation since its independence from colonial/imperial rule.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/31/a-new-era-world-leaders-react-to-lulas-victory-over-bolsonaro-in-brazil

     In class, Monday October 3, we began our unit on East Asia with Professor Bonk. When discussing the region Professor Bonk emphasized the importance of looking at it as a zone of shared cultural and economic interactions rather than current national borders that may encompass areas outside of the interwoven history of east Asia as a region. The shared written language of Chinese for state affairs, works of philosophy, and other areas of interest often geared toward the elite/ formally educated helped to facilitate the exchange of ideas across trade routes. These included ideas of religion such as Mahayana Buddhism , governing philosophies such as Confucianism, the preparation of teas like mocha, and technologies like the dragon kiln. Japanese and Korean speakers also adapted the scripts to better suit their inflective languages in variations that became common in lower class and women’s’ literary work. While there is plenty of cultural overlap and a shared historical fate in the region, conflict as far back as the late 1500s with Hideyoshi leading Japan’s invasion of China’s subordinate state, Korea, has led to deep resentment and animosity.