Interesting article which some excellent points, but you’re vastly underestimating the incredible strategic and tactical help Iran has received from China and Russia! While Iran has demonstrated its capabilities beyond anyone in the West’s wildest dreams with its missile and drone technology (except for a few of us that pay attention to the world), Iit is China that has provided intelligence that has allowed Iran to hit pinpoint targets that is demoralizing to USreal. For example, Iranian military forces drone and missile attacks on individual hotel rooms to target American senior military personnel was because of Chinese advanced intelligence capabilities. Chinese intelligence officials working closely with the IRGC allowed Iran to hit high value targets in military installations such as the AWACS destroyed in Saudi Arabia. Another great example is before USreL attacked Iran was the attempted coup by the intelligence agencies of the West being directed using Starlink. It was Russia that stepped in and found all these Western operatives using their technology to track Starlink operators so they could be killed or captured. Russian intelligence to help stop the coup attempt didn’t just help defeat the coup, but saved thousands of lives in using Russian intelligence technology to bring a quick end to the coup attempt didn’t, something that wouldn’t have happened without Russia working closely with Iran to stop another Western imperialist illegal aggression!
No you didn’t I thought it was an excellent article, and while I vehemently disagree with some things China does to help the genocidal West like continuing trade with the genocidal apartheid regime Israel and not speaking up against Israel, there are many things they do positively for BRICS and the future for a multipolar world, but they don’t advertise it. The theme of your article is spot on, because until China changes its foreign policies of not interfering with other nations domestic affairs it is hindering progress for BRICS.
I support this policy so long as I am made special deputy foreign minister for interfering in other countries’ domestic affairs! It’s the job I am best suited for thanks to my ‘Murican birthright. But as I wrote elsewhere, ‘What we really need, morally and practically, is a global boycott of the U.S. (including Israel); but here the very unfavorable balance of power comes to the fore, and exposes the weakness of our hand.’
Love your comment and couldn’t agree more about a global boycott, however, in the United they don’t give a damn about anyone but themselves! I am hoping that when the full effects of the illegal war on Iran by the United States for Israel wakes the people up that Israel bankrupted you as your government is owned by Israel. Living in the United States, the most propagandist country in world and so poorly done if you have half a brain, allows one to see the absolute stupidity, lack of critical thinking, racist white supremacy, immoral selfishness of the American people! Thankfully we have the younger generation who seems to have figured it out, but I really do think if they didn’t have every avenue for success closed they’d be like every other generation, see the anti- war, equality movement during the Vietnam war!
When I read and watch some things and some counterpoints - divorced from detailed, material reality, inherently in the abstract, and usually marinated in urgency and sanctimony, I often have a recurring vision of Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny, where she was unhappy with Joe Pesci’s self-satisfied, condescension, and making her point by stomping her booted foot on a wooden porch, reminding her beau, “…My biological clock is ticking!!!”
One thing that I’ve learned about myself, is that my tolerance for ‘Do something…NOW’ messages has ebbed as I have aged. This has pointed me towards speakers and writers who share ideas and experiences that have some relevance to my own calculations about what’s urgent.
I think the American public is beyond organizing anything more complex than block parties and Civil War reenactments. BUT, there are plenty of pissed of Americans who are trained consumers, and I believe that they might jump at an option that looks possible and positive. What might that be?
I recently watched Joti Brar chatting with Jamarl Thomas, and I felt inspired by the fact that there’s a history, scant though it be, of socialism inside the imperial bubble. That happened in England, when education was a feature of imperial heft. The Americans learned a lesson: critical thinking is to be crushed in its embryonic stage.
There’s something about a platform that begins with the primacy of the people, not the individual. I heard, but I haven’t verified, that the communist party is the 2nd most popular political party in Russia.
There’s a train coming and the global economy is tethered to the train tracks. That’s the material force that no trillion dollar “defense” budget can overcome. Will the Americans go for their guns or take to the streets? Hopefully, the truth will come out of exile, and people won’t shed their humanity.
I could easily imagine Americans refusing a reformed vision of capitalism. Their government has done a first rate job of presenting the many ugly sides of the liberal capitalist system, so it shouldn’t take much to convince a majority that if they want a government that works for everyone, the state that represents the people, not the individual, must have the power to take on the hucksters. I think this is where China can be an invaluable resource. Forget selling, do away with advertising. Throw the crooked bankers in jail, and let the remainder excel and profit… to a point. Adopt a Keynesian system that is the province of the state. Funnel vast amounts into reindustrialization. Prioritize teaching and education as an essential foundation of the state and the individual. Americans would believe that they died and went to heaven, or that they woke up. Oh yeah, no tax breaks for churches and proselytizers. Come to work or get out if the way.
I think it’s time for an American communist party.
Wow, there's a lot going on in this essay. Although I won't discuss all of it as the sarcasm can be difficult to understand at times, I want to add some information about the Chinese trade with Israhell, as I am noticing some shift in the trade relations that are subtle enough that maybe people might overlook. For starters, people when they look at the trade, they look at the dollar value only, but they don't necessarily look at the composition of the trade itself. It seems that China sells Israhell mostly EVs, electronics, manufacturing components, and basically things that one would buy at Walmart. Mostly just consumer goods. The only thing of some concern is China's exports of rare earths to Israhell, which was about $4.59 million in 2024, which is very small compared to its overall trade. Now I expect everyone here to automatically condemn this, which is understandable, but I am only trying to show the material conditions. Let me try to offer some explanation of what China might be doing. I think that they are choosing what to sell and what not to sell to Israel, depending on the usefulness of the trade. China, as the world's largest exporter, needs to constantly sell its goods or it will suffer a crisis of capital, i.e. overproduction and underconsumption. So it must sell, even to enemies. But it can control what it sells, and how much of it, which is why China sells lower quality goods to Israhell, but not cutting edge technology. It sells the rare earths precisely because it has a monopoly over it. If it cuts off the monopoly, it will incentivize other countries to invest in their own domestic production instead. I think China might be selling a little bit, tightly controlling the supply so as to make other countries more dependent on Chinese supply chains. By restricting the supply instead of cutting it off completely, it makes for a better bargaining chip.
Also, China has recently revised its Foreign Trade Law in 2026 to better address this problem. Trade has shifted to "compliance first". trade involving critical infrastructure, food security, and energy. Collaborative projects, such as agricultural water-saving technologies or smart grid upgrades, now require pre-signing assessments to evaluate their impact on national supply chain security. The new regulation also specifically addresses Israeli trade, ensuring that exports of advanced manufacturing equipment to Israhell must provide documentation that penetrates to the “ultimate end-user”. And all data collected by Israhelli companies operating in China must stay in China. So there seems to be a shift going on within China's relations with Israhell, where China is ensuring that what it sends to Israhell won't be a national security risk.
Let us also not forget that the US does NOT want Israhell trading with China, asserting its influence to restrict trade and economic influence as much as possible. This means that Israel is sending less technology to China, BRI investments are restricted and limited due to US pressure on Israhell, and other canceled deals including the rejection of China Railway Construction Corporation from building a light rail system in Tel Aviv, Chinese companies being blocked from expanding the Sorek desalination plant, etc. The reason that I have found, which is another huge reason China wants relations with Israhell is that Israhell actually gives US intelligence secrets to China, including military secrets. Some of which include missile tech, cooling systems, drone tech, etc. This is actually a brilliant move, I think, for China to do. China gets US military and other tech from Israel while it gives Israhell consumer goods that are now regulated for dual-use. I think this is quite interesting as on a surface appearance, it seems like China is going against its interests, but a closer look shows a somewhat different picture altogether. Now I don't want to be one of those guys and say China should do this or that, but I just wanted to show some of the material conditions at play which might influence China's behavior regarding Israhell.
Western leftists commit the same basic act of stupidity that neoconservative warmongers do: ABC, its easy as 1, 2, 3...
Always
Blame
China.
Projecting their failures to build left movements to take power at home to halt neoliberal enabling fascism onto China is easier than blaming themselves or from doing any genuine introspection. It's psychological displacement, deflection and projection wrapped into an easily palatable defence mechanism for their own failures. China-blaming is really just unprocessed grief about western ineptitude.
They don't want to admit they've lost, that their own movements are weak even in the face of their own governments being openly genocidal on a parallel with the Islamaphobic medieval Crusades or mechanised death of the Holocaust, and their own populations being propagandised into pathetic apathy. So they scream at China instead, because it's safe, costs nothing, and requires no organising or intelligent thought.
China is playing realpolitik, as all countries do, the west is playing displacement blame-pong. One is serious geopolitics, the other requires therapy.
If China is responsible for stopping US wars, why isn't France, Fiji or Turkey? The selective outrage tells you everything: China is held to a standard no western power has ever met, including the western left's own countries.
The US "left" can't stop a genocide happening in plain sight, with US weapons, funded by US tax dollars. And that's supposed to be China's fault? People need to be serious, and understand and examine their own assumptions about China to confront their own unexamined biases, and sit down.
Lula betrayed socialism? He never said he was going to make a revolution. What he did:
Poverty reduction and income distribution
Lula’s first two administrations (2003–2010) are widely regarded as a period of substantial poverty reduction and declining income inequality.
Key factors included:
* Expansion of the conditional cash-transfer program Bolsa Família.
* Repeated increases in the minimum wage above inflation.
* Economic growth and formal job creation.
* Expansion of credit for lower-income households.
* Social inclusion policies directed at poorer regions, especially Brazil’s Northeast.
According to data from the World Bank and Brazilian research institutes, tens of millions of Brazilians experienced rising living standards, and extreme poverty fell sharply during the 2000s.
Many economists consider the reduction in inequality during Lula’s first two terms among the most significant in modern Brazilian history, although debate remains regarding the relative contribution of social programs versus favorable global commodity markets.
Hunger reduction
Brazil was removed from the United Nations hunger map in 2014, during the administration of Dilma Rousseff, following policies largely developed during Lula’s governments and continued afterward.
Programs often cited include:
* Fome Zero.
* Bolsa Família.
* School meal programs.
* Support for family agriculture.
* Food security initiatives.
The Food and Agriculture Organization identified Brazil as having reduced undernourishment below the threshold used for inclusion on the hunger map.
Housing programs
The large-scale housing initiative most associated with the Workers’ Party era is Minha Casa Minha Vida, launched in 2009.
The program financed and subsidized millions of housing units for lower-income families. Supporters view it as one of the largest social housing programs in Brazilian history.
Rural electrification
The program Luz para Todos was launched during Lula’s first administration.
Its objective was to extend electricity access to rural and remote areas that had historically been neglected. Millions of people gained access to electric power, particularly in the Northeast, Amazon region, and other rural areas.
Cuban doctors and the Mais Médicos program
The program Mais Médicos was launched during Dilma Rousseff’s administration in 2013.
It recruited Brazilian and foreign physicians, including thousands from Cuba, to work in underserved regions where physician shortages were severe.
The fact is:
* many municipalities had gone years without permanent doctors;
* Brazilian physicians generally preferred major urban centers;
* the program expanded primary healthcare access to millions.
Numerous studies found that the program significantly expanded medical coverage in remote and impoverished areas.
The program is generally considered one of the most successful infrastructure-oriented social policies of the period.
Broader social impact
* large reductions in poverty and extreme poverty;
* expansion of university access through programs such as ProUni;
* creation and expansion of federal universities;
* growth in formal employment;
* increased access to consumer goods among lower-income families;
* expansion of social protection programs;
* greater visibility and political inclusion of historically marginalized groups.
You should study Brazil better. Fernando Henrique Cardoso was a leftist in theory only. He acted as a proxy for foreign capital when in government.
His actions:
An overvalued exchange rate after the launch of the Real Plan.
* Massive inflows of foreign capital.
* High interest rates used to attract dollars.
* Dependence on external financing to sustain the value of the real.
During much of the 1990s, the real was kept relatively strong against the dollar. This helped control inflation because imported goods became cheaper, but it also reduced the competitiveness of Brazilian industry.
The country became excessively dependent on foreign capital and vulnerable to international crises, including:
* the Mexican crisis of 1994;
* the Asian financial crisis of 1997;
* the Russian crisis of 1998.
The process culminated in the currency crisis of 1999, when the government abandoned the managed exchange-rate regime and the real suffered a significant devaluation.
He sold the following national companies:
* Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (1997)
* The Telebras system (1998)
* Various electricity distribution companies
* State-owned banks
* Petrochemical and steel companies
To multinationals.
* The Spanish company Telefónica became one of Brazil’s largest telecom operators.
* Portugal Telecom participated in the sector.
* American, French, and Italian firms acquired electricity distributors and other assets.
* profitable companies were sold below their true value;
* strategic sectors passed into private or foreign control;
* Brazilian industry lost competitiveness because of the overvalued exchange rate;
* industrial employment declined in several sectors during the 1990s.
Authors often associated with this critique include Maria da Conceição Tavares, Luiz Gonzaga Belluzzo, and José Luís Fiori. Maria da Conceição Tavares, the most important and respected economist of the left, criticized his government as a neoliberal one.
For her most substantial analyses of the FHC period, the following works are particularly relevant:
* Destruição Não Criadora (Non-Creative Destruction)
* Poder e Dinheiro (Power and Money)
* Celso Furtado e o Brasil (Celso Furtado and Brazil)
* Essays collected around Auge e Declínio do Processo de Substituição de Importações (Rise and Decline of the Import Substitution Process), which, although written before FHC’s presidency, provide the theoretical foundation for her later critiques.
In these works, her criticism is not merely about specific policies. She argues that the FHC government represented a structural shift in Brazil’s development model, replacing national developmentalism with a more dependent integration into international financial markets. This is probably the most coherent and enduring theme in her interpretation of the 1990s.
Don’t speak about what you do not know.
What he really liked was the apartment of his wife at the Avenue Foch, in Paris, a city where he loved to live in later years in a lavish lifestyle.
Thanks - I added a footnote to explain that the introduction was meant to be satire. I meant to poke gentle fun at those who condemn Lula/Dilma/PT for being insufficiently socialist, without taking into account the actual distribution of power in the country. And the bit about Cardoso was sarcastic, part of setting up an imaginary world that would cause great disappointment when compared to our present real world.
Interesting article which some excellent points, but you’re vastly underestimating the incredible strategic and tactical help Iran has received from China and Russia! While Iran has demonstrated its capabilities beyond anyone in the West’s wildest dreams with its missile and drone technology (except for a few of us that pay attention to the world), Iit is China that has provided intelligence that has allowed Iran to hit pinpoint targets that is demoralizing to USreal. For example, Iranian military forces drone and missile attacks on individual hotel rooms to target American senior military personnel was because of Chinese advanced intelligence capabilities. Chinese intelligence officials working closely with the IRGC allowed Iran to hit high value targets in military installations such as the AWACS destroyed in Saudi Arabia. Another great example is before USreL attacked Iran was the attempted coup by the intelligence agencies of the West being directed using Starlink. It was Russia that stepped in and found all these Western operatives using their technology to track Starlink operators so they could be killed or captured. Russian intelligence to help stop the coup attempt didn’t just help defeat the coup, but saved thousands of lives in using Russian intelligence technology to bring a quick end to the coup attempt didn’t, something that wouldn’t have happened without Russia working closely with Iran to stop another Western imperialist illegal aggression!
Guess I missed some points in the 30-something links I inserted into that sentence!
No you didn’t I thought it was an excellent article, and while I vehemently disagree with some things China does to help the genocidal West like continuing trade with the genocidal apartheid regime Israel and not speaking up against Israel, there are many things they do positively for BRICS and the future for a multipolar world, but they don’t advertise it. The theme of your article is spot on, because until China changes its foreign policies of not interfering with other nations domestic affairs it is hindering progress for BRICS.
I support this policy so long as I am made special deputy foreign minister for interfering in other countries’ domestic affairs! It’s the job I am best suited for thanks to my ‘Murican birthright. But as I wrote elsewhere, ‘What we really need, morally and practically, is a global boycott of the U.S. (including Israel); but here the very unfavorable balance of power comes to the fore, and exposes the weakness of our hand.’
Love your comment and couldn’t agree more about a global boycott, however, in the United they don’t give a damn about anyone but themselves! I am hoping that when the full effects of the illegal war on Iran by the United States for Israel wakes the people up that Israel bankrupted you as your government is owned by Israel. Living in the United States, the most propagandist country in world and so poorly done if you have half a brain, allows one to see the absolute stupidity, lack of critical thinking, racist white supremacy, immoral selfishness of the American people! Thankfully we have the younger generation who seems to have figured it out, but I really do think if they didn’t have every avenue for success closed they’d be like every other generation, see the anti- war, equality movement during the Vietnam war!
Agreed. - Karim.
Ahh, good old comfortable moral purity.
When I read and watch some things and some counterpoints - divorced from detailed, material reality, inherently in the abstract, and usually marinated in urgency and sanctimony, I often have a recurring vision of Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny, where she was unhappy with Joe Pesci’s self-satisfied, condescension, and making her point by stomping her booted foot on a wooden porch, reminding her beau, “…My biological clock is ticking!!!”
One thing that I’ve learned about myself, is that my tolerance for ‘Do something…NOW’ messages has ebbed as I have aged. This has pointed me towards speakers and writers who share ideas and experiences that have some relevance to my own calculations about what’s urgent.
I think the American public is beyond organizing anything more complex than block parties and Civil War reenactments. BUT, there are plenty of pissed of Americans who are trained consumers, and I believe that they might jump at an option that looks possible and positive. What might that be?
I recently watched Joti Brar chatting with Jamarl Thomas, and I felt inspired by the fact that there’s a history, scant though it be, of socialism inside the imperial bubble. That happened in England, when education was a feature of imperial heft. The Americans learned a lesson: critical thinking is to be crushed in its embryonic stage.
There’s something about a platform that begins with the primacy of the people, not the individual. I heard, but I haven’t verified, that the communist party is the 2nd most popular political party in Russia.
There’s a train coming and the global economy is tethered to the train tracks. That’s the material force that no trillion dollar “defense” budget can overcome. Will the Americans go for their guns or take to the streets? Hopefully, the truth will come out of exile, and people won’t shed their humanity.
I could easily imagine Americans refusing a reformed vision of capitalism. Their government has done a first rate job of presenting the many ugly sides of the liberal capitalist system, so it shouldn’t take much to convince a majority that if they want a government that works for everyone, the state that represents the people, not the individual, must have the power to take on the hucksters. I think this is where China can be an invaluable resource. Forget selling, do away with advertising. Throw the crooked bankers in jail, and let the remainder excel and profit… to a point. Adopt a Keynesian system that is the province of the state. Funnel vast amounts into reindustrialization. Prioritize teaching and education as an essential foundation of the state and the individual. Americans would believe that they died and went to heaven, or that they woke up. Oh yeah, no tax breaks for churches and proselytizers. Come to work or get out if the way.
I think it’s time for an American communist party.
Wow, there's a lot going on in this essay. Although I won't discuss all of it as the sarcasm can be difficult to understand at times, I want to add some information about the Chinese trade with Israhell, as I am noticing some shift in the trade relations that are subtle enough that maybe people might overlook. For starters, people when they look at the trade, they look at the dollar value only, but they don't necessarily look at the composition of the trade itself. It seems that China sells Israhell mostly EVs, electronics, manufacturing components, and basically things that one would buy at Walmart. Mostly just consumer goods. The only thing of some concern is China's exports of rare earths to Israhell, which was about $4.59 million in 2024, which is very small compared to its overall trade. Now I expect everyone here to automatically condemn this, which is understandable, but I am only trying to show the material conditions. Let me try to offer some explanation of what China might be doing. I think that they are choosing what to sell and what not to sell to Israel, depending on the usefulness of the trade. China, as the world's largest exporter, needs to constantly sell its goods or it will suffer a crisis of capital, i.e. overproduction and underconsumption. So it must sell, even to enemies. But it can control what it sells, and how much of it, which is why China sells lower quality goods to Israhell, but not cutting edge technology. It sells the rare earths precisely because it has a monopoly over it. If it cuts off the monopoly, it will incentivize other countries to invest in their own domestic production instead. I think China might be selling a little bit, tightly controlling the supply so as to make other countries more dependent on Chinese supply chains. By restricting the supply instead of cutting it off completely, it makes for a better bargaining chip.
Also, China has recently revised its Foreign Trade Law in 2026 to better address this problem. Trade has shifted to "compliance first". trade involving critical infrastructure, food security, and energy. Collaborative projects, such as agricultural water-saving technologies or smart grid upgrades, now require pre-signing assessments to evaluate their impact on national supply chain security. The new regulation also specifically addresses Israeli trade, ensuring that exports of advanced manufacturing equipment to Israhell must provide documentation that penetrates to the “ultimate end-user”. And all data collected by Israhelli companies operating in China must stay in China. So there seems to be a shift going on within China's relations with Israhell, where China is ensuring that what it sends to Israhell won't be a national security risk.
Let us also not forget that the US does NOT want Israhell trading with China, asserting its influence to restrict trade and economic influence as much as possible. This means that Israel is sending less technology to China, BRI investments are restricted and limited due to US pressure on Israhell, and other canceled deals including the rejection of China Railway Construction Corporation from building a light rail system in Tel Aviv, Chinese companies being blocked from expanding the Sorek desalination plant, etc. The reason that I have found, which is another huge reason China wants relations with Israhell is that Israhell actually gives US intelligence secrets to China, including military secrets. Some of which include missile tech, cooling systems, drone tech, etc. This is actually a brilliant move, I think, for China to do. China gets US military and other tech from Israel while it gives Israhell consumer goods that are now regulated for dual-use. I think this is quite interesting as on a surface appearance, it seems like China is going against its interests, but a closer look shows a somewhat different picture altogether. Now I don't want to be one of those guys and say China should do this or that, but I just wanted to show some of the material conditions at play which might influence China's behavior regarding Israhell.
https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/alkaline-metals/reporter/isr
https://tradingeconomics.com/china/exports/israel
https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-country/chn/partner/isr
https://www.allbrightlaw.com/EN/10475/80b4eb77ee957ad9.aspx
https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2023/02/19/israeli-plan-to-join-bri-and-its-effects-on-u-s-national-security/
https://www.news18.com/news/business/israeli-and-chinese-firms-sue-israel-govt-for-rejecting-light-rail-tender-under-us-pressure-5008633.html
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/beyond-chastity-belt-and-road-us-israel-relations-age-great-power-competition
https://www.military.com/defensetech/2013/12/24/report-israel-passes-u-s-military-technology-to-china
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/israel-accused-of-selling-us-secrets-to-china-1510406.html
thank you
really struggling today and you help let me know I'm experiencing this reality with others who see
Western leftists commit the same basic act of stupidity that neoconservative warmongers do: ABC, its easy as 1, 2, 3...
Always
Blame
China.
Projecting their failures to build left movements to take power at home to halt neoliberal enabling fascism onto China is easier than blaming themselves or from doing any genuine introspection. It's psychological displacement, deflection and projection wrapped into an easily palatable defence mechanism for their own failures. China-blaming is really just unprocessed grief about western ineptitude.
They don't want to admit they've lost, that their own movements are weak even in the face of their own governments being openly genocidal on a parallel with the Islamaphobic medieval Crusades or mechanised death of the Holocaust, and their own populations being propagandised into pathetic apathy. So they scream at China instead, because it's safe, costs nothing, and requires no organising or intelligent thought.
China is playing realpolitik, as all countries do, the west is playing displacement blame-pong. One is serious geopolitics, the other requires therapy.
If China is responsible for stopping US wars, why isn't France, Fiji or Turkey? The selective outrage tells you everything: China is held to a standard no western power has ever met, including the western left's own countries.
The US "left" can't stop a genocide happening in plain sight, with US weapons, funded by US tax dollars. And that's supposed to be China's fault? People need to be serious, and understand and examine their own assumptions about China to confront their own unexamined biases, and sit down.
Lula betrayed socialism? He never said he was going to make a revolution. What he did:
Poverty reduction and income distribution
Lula’s first two administrations (2003–2010) are widely regarded as a period of substantial poverty reduction and declining income inequality.
Key factors included:
* Expansion of the conditional cash-transfer program Bolsa Família.
* Repeated increases in the minimum wage above inflation.
* Economic growth and formal job creation.
* Expansion of credit for lower-income households.
* Social inclusion policies directed at poorer regions, especially Brazil’s Northeast.
According to data from the World Bank and Brazilian research institutes, tens of millions of Brazilians experienced rising living standards, and extreme poverty fell sharply during the 2000s.
Many economists consider the reduction in inequality during Lula’s first two terms among the most significant in modern Brazilian history, although debate remains regarding the relative contribution of social programs versus favorable global commodity markets.
Hunger reduction
Brazil was removed from the United Nations hunger map in 2014, during the administration of Dilma Rousseff, following policies largely developed during Lula’s governments and continued afterward.
Programs often cited include:
* Fome Zero.
* Bolsa Família.
* School meal programs.
* Support for family agriculture.
* Food security initiatives.
The Food and Agriculture Organization identified Brazil as having reduced undernourishment below the threshold used for inclusion on the hunger map.
Housing programs
The large-scale housing initiative most associated with the Workers’ Party era is Minha Casa Minha Vida, launched in 2009.
The program financed and subsidized millions of housing units for lower-income families. Supporters view it as one of the largest social housing programs in Brazilian history.
Rural electrification
The program Luz para Todos was launched during Lula’s first administration.
Its objective was to extend electricity access to rural and remote areas that had historically been neglected. Millions of people gained access to electric power, particularly in the Northeast, Amazon region, and other rural areas.
Cuban doctors and the Mais Médicos program
The program Mais Médicos was launched during Dilma Rousseff’s administration in 2013.
It recruited Brazilian and foreign physicians, including thousands from Cuba, to work in underserved regions where physician shortages were severe.
The fact is:
* many municipalities had gone years without permanent doctors;
* Brazilian physicians generally preferred major urban centers;
* the program expanded primary healthcare access to millions.
Numerous studies found that the program significantly expanded medical coverage in remote and impoverished areas.
The program is generally considered one of the most successful infrastructure-oriented social policies of the period.
Broader social impact
* large reductions in poverty and extreme poverty;
* expansion of university access through programs such as ProUni;
* creation and expansion of federal universities;
* growth in formal employment;
* increased access to consumer goods among lower-income families;
* expansion of social protection programs;
* greater visibility and political inclusion of historically marginalized groups.
You should study Brazil better. Fernando Henrique Cardoso was a leftist in theory only. He acted as a proxy for foreign capital when in government.
His actions:
An overvalued exchange rate after the launch of the Real Plan.
* Massive inflows of foreign capital.
* High interest rates used to attract dollars.
* Dependence on external financing to sustain the value of the real.
During much of the 1990s, the real was kept relatively strong against the dollar. This helped control inflation because imported goods became cheaper, but it also reduced the competitiveness of Brazilian industry.
The country became excessively dependent on foreign capital and vulnerable to international crises, including:
* the Mexican crisis of 1994;
* the Asian financial crisis of 1997;
* the Russian crisis of 1998.
The process culminated in the currency crisis of 1999, when the government abandoned the managed exchange-rate regime and the real suffered a significant devaluation.
He sold the following national companies:
* Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (1997)
* The Telebras system (1998)
* Various electricity distribution companies
* State-owned banks
* Petrochemical and steel companies
To multinationals.
* The Spanish company Telefónica became one of Brazil’s largest telecom operators.
* Portugal Telecom participated in the sector.
* American, French, and Italian firms acquired electricity distributors and other assets.
* profitable companies were sold below their true value;
* strategic sectors passed into private or foreign control;
* Brazilian industry lost competitiveness because of the overvalued exchange rate;
* financial liberalization increased external vulnerability;
* industrial employment declined in several sectors during the 1990s.
Authors often associated with this critique include Maria da Conceição Tavares, Luiz Gonzaga Belluzzo, and José Luís Fiori. Maria da Conceição Tavares, the most important and respected economist of the left, criticized his government as a neoliberal one.
For her most substantial analyses of the FHC period, the following works are particularly relevant:
* Destruição Não Criadora (Non-Creative Destruction)
* Poder e Dinheiro (Power and Money)
* Celso Furtado e o Brasil (Celso Furtado and Brazil)
* Essays collected around Auge e Declínio do Processo de Substituição de Importações (Rise and Decline of the Import Substitution Process), which, although written before FHC’s presidency, provide the theoretical foundation for her later critiques.
In these works, her criticism is not merely about specific policies. She argues that the FHC government represented a structural shift in Brazil’s development model, replacing national developmentalism with a more dependent integration into international financial markets. This is probably the most coherent and enduring theme in her interpretation of the 1990s.
Don’t speak about what you do not know.
What he really liked was the apartment of his wife at the Avenue Foch, in Paris, a city where he loved to live in later years in a lavish lifestyle.
Thanks - I added a footnote to explain that the introduction was meant to be satire. I meant to poke gentle fun at those who condemn Lula/Dilma/PT for being insufficiently socialist, without taking into account the actual distribution of power in the country. And the bit about Cardoso was sarcastic, part of setting up an imaginary world that would cause great disappointment when compared to our present real world.
Oh, then by all means forgive me! I should have suspected that you were not going to commit such errors. I stand corrected. Um abraço!
E um abraço pra você também!
It’s ok. You are a nice fellow, that’s what counts. ;)
You actually speak portuguese! Never could guess.
I wish… i could speak a bit a decade ago, since then Portuguese has been overwritten in my brain by Spanish and Chinese 🤦♂️