When I think of Brazil and poverty, the film City of God comes to mind. Shanty towns overfilled and run by drug-lords dominate parts of Rio de Janeiro, so it will take a strong personality to cause the kind of change so desperately needed. From CNN:
(CNN) — Brazil’s new president-elect vowed to continue her predecessor’s move to fight against inequality and promote human rights and fight poverty in her victory speech Sunday night.
“My mission is to eradicate poverty,” Dilma Rousseff said after the country’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal declared her the winner in Sunday’s runoff election.
As the nation’s first woman to hold the office, Rousseff said she has a mission to fight for more gender equality in Brazil.
“I hope the fathers and mothers of little girls will look at them and say yes, women can.”
Previously a left-wing guerilla fighter, Rousseff is taking her passion (and pro-life position) to the presidential office.
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Wow, she’s pro-life? I never would have guessed it from today’s article in the Toronto Star. This was how they put it: “She had to back away from her past defence of abortion rights, a central issue during the runoff campaign that started Oct. 4, after she lost support among evangelical Christians, who form an estimated 24 per cent of the population.” There was no mention of her dramatic change of heart and I wouldn’t have known if it hadn’t been for your blog. Thank you for being a voice of truth.
I think the great news is that thus far abortion supporters are essentially unelectable in Brazil. There was huge involvement of the Catholic Church in this election with the Pope himself getting involved to say, essentially, that if Catholics vote for people who support abortion then they’re not actually Catholics, by definition. Between this and the huge population of evangelical Christians and Pentecostals in Brazil politicians cannot get elected if they support abortion. So if she had a change of heart, great. If she didn’t have a change of heart and is just trying to get elected – I’m still encouraged by what this says about the culture.
I doesn’t surprise me though that the Canadian media would seek to portray this as a political leader forced by hate filled fundamentalist Christians to go against her beliefs. So many of the tired old stereotypes of secularist discourse are at work in such an interpretation and presentation.
Rousseff pro-life? Pretty sure she’s pretty solidly pro-abortion: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/oct/10101401.html