Answers: 200 Years of Brazil’s Independence
Brazil celebrated 200 years of independence from Portugal on September 7. As part of the occasion, the preserved heart of Dom Pedro I, the monarch who declared independence in 1822 was temporarily in Brazil.
Right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro will face off against left-wing former leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in a runoff vote on October 30. Bolstered by evangelical support, Bolsonaro outperformed opinion polls in the first round, though he trailed behind Lula. Once described by Barack Obama as “the most popular politician on Earth”, Lula is seeking a political revival after spending time in jail on corruption charges he describes as politically motivated.
October 31 update: Lula has defeated Bolsonaro in a close runoff vote to return to the presidency.
Answers
1) This acclaimed sociologist was an influential figure in ‘dependency theory’, which posited that poor countries could not develop as long as they were dependent on rich countries and their multinational giants. He co-authored Dependencia y Dessarrollo en America Latinia (Dependency and Development in Latin America), a seminal work on the theme. He was a university professor in Brazil but was forced into exile for opposing the military dictatorship. He became a senator in the 1980s as Brazil transitioned to a democracy. Who? (Hint: he’s had a bitter rivalry with Lula)
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, President of Brazil from 1995 to 2002. More here and here. Lula lost twice to Cardoso before winning the 2002 elections. Cardoso and Lula have been bitter rivals, but the ex-president has called for a “pro-democracy” vote in the latest election, in what’s seen as a rebuke of Bolsonaro.
October 31 update: After Lula’s victory, Cardoso tweeted that “Democracy has won, Brazil has won!”
2) He was a city councillor and helped set up the PT or the Workers' Party in Brazil’s Acre state in 1980. He became a symbol of the global environmental movement for his efforts to protect the Amazon rainforest as head of the rubber tappers’ union. His efforts convinced international lenders to stay away from funding cattle projects in the Amazon. He was shot dead by a rancher in 1988. He was declared a national hero during the presidency of the Workers' Party’s Lula da Silva. Who?
Chico Mendes. More here, here, here and here.
3) This city in Brazil has the largest population of Japanese-origin people outside Japan. Name the city.
São Paulo. More here, here and here. A large chunk of the early immigrants were from the southern island of Okinawa that was annexed by Japan in 1879. While Okinawa’s indigenous languages are struggling for survival in Japan, Okinawan is thriving in São Paulo.
Immigration from Japan has impacted Brazilian football especially through the elastico dribble that was devised by Japanese-Brazilian player Sérgio Echigo in the 1960s. It was later perfected by Echigo’s Corinthians club teammate and 1970 World Cup winner Rivellino and more recently by Ronaldinho. When the J. League was formed as a professional football league in the 1990s ageing Brazilian stars like Zico and Careca were the star attractions. Several Brazilians, both Japanese-origin and others were part of the J. League. Some took up Japanese citizenship and represented their new country in the World Cup. More here and here.
4) This project was designed by Oscar Niemeyer, Luis Costa and Roberto Burle Marx and inaugurated in 1960. It was declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage site in 1987. What?
The capital city of Brasilia. More here, here, here. The new capital project was initiated by then president Juscelino Kubitschek. An appraisal of Brasilia by the New Yorker in 1960 here.
5) Between 1970 and 1994 when Brazil did not win a football world cup, it produced three world champions in another sport. The last of the world champions died tragically in May 1994, just two months before Brazil’s fourth world cup win . Which sport?
Formula One. The first F1 world champion from Brazil was Emerson Fittipaldi in 1972 and 1974. Nelson Piquet won the title in 1981, 1983 and 1987. Then there was Ayrton Senna, world champion in 1988, 1990 and 1991 who died in a crash during the San Marino Grand Prix in 1994. Brazil’s football World Cup winning team that year dedicated their triumph to Senna.
6) This Brazilian has been FIFA World Player of the Year six times and is the country’s top goalscorer in international football as well as the World Cup. Who?
Marta Vieira da Silva, known as Marta. More here and here.
7) This Brazilian company was at the centre of what’s been described as Latin America's biggest corruption scandal. The allegations drew in Lula and Dilma Rousseff in Brazil as well as politicians from across Latin America. In one country, four ex-presidents and an opposition leader were caught up in the scandal. One of the ex-presidents died after shooting himself as police arrived to arrest him. Name the company and the country.
Construction giant Odebrecht, now known as Novonor. More about the corruption scandal here and here. Four ex-presidents were caught up in the scandal in Peru and Alan Garcia committed suicide. The revelations about Odebrecht emerged from the Lava Jato (Car Wash) investigation in Brazil that was launched in 2014 over allegations that executives at state oil firm Petrobras had been bribed by construction firms. More here and here. The Lava Jato scandal played a role in the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff in 2016, though she was not personally implicated. Her political mentor and former president Lula da Silva was convicted and jailed. That prevented Lula from running for president in 2018, one of the factors along with the corruption scandal that led to Jair Bolsonaro’s victory. Brazil’s Supreme Court freed Lula in 2019. More here and here.
8) The site of Valongo Wharf in Rio De Janeiro was uncovered in 2011 amid construction work in connection with the 2016 Olympics. It was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017. What is the historical significance of Valongo Wharf for the Americas?
This site witnessed the largest number of enslaved Africans arriving in the Americas than anywhere else. More here and here.
9) He represented Brazil in swimming at the 1936 Munich Olympics and water polo at the 1952 Helsinki Games. He outmanoeuvred Britain's Sir Stanley Rous to become the first from outside Europe to head a particular global sports organisation in 1974. He expanded opportunities for countries from Asia and Africa and spearheaded a commercial transformation. He helped bring the Olympics to Rio but faced corruption allegations. Who and which organisation did he lead?
Joao Havelange. President of FIFA from 1974 to 1998. More here, here and here.
10) This Brazilian company is the third-largest manufacturer of commercial planes in the world. It is the global market leader in regional jets, which fly shorter distances and have up to 120 seats. Name the company that’s hailed as the crown jewel of Brazilian industry.
11) This genre of music was born in Rio in the late 1950s. It was popularised by writer-composer Antônio Carlos Jobim and singer-guitarist João Gilberto. The genre gained a big following in the U.S. in the 1960s. By 1965 Joao Gilberto had won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Which music genre?
Bossa nova. More here, here and here. The song ‘The Girl from Ipanema’ from Gilberto’s Grammy-winning album was a massive global hit.
12) Musicians Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil were among the founders of a cultural movement in the 1960s that opposed the military dictatorship that seized power during the decade. Veloso and Gil were jailed in 1968 and then expelled into exile in London. Gil was named minister of culture by President Lula in 2003 (the ministry was abolished by Bolsonaro in 2019). What was the movement founded by Veloso and Gil known as?
Tropicalia. More here, here and here.
13) This American tycoon wanted his own supply of rubber and bought millions of acres of land in the Amazon forest in the late 1920s. He tried to create an American factory town along with a plantation. But the project failed and the Americans left, Who?
Henry Ford. More on the failed Fordlandia project here, here and here.
An Al Jazeera report from 2009 below.
14) This notorious doctor drowned in 1979 while swimming in Bertioga, Brazil. He was buried under the name Wolfgang Gerhard. In 1985 his remains were exhumed and he was identified. In 1992, DNA evidence confirmed his identity. Who?
Josef Mengele, the Nazi doctor notorious for his role in the Auschwitz concentration camp. More here, here, here and here. Ira Levin’s bestselling thriller The Boys from Brazil about a fictional plot to create a ‘Fourth Reich’ was published in 1976 and the film version released in 1978 when the real-life Mengele was alive.
15) Another doctor now. He was a prominent figure in the Corinthians Democracy movement (Democracia Corinthiana) that started in 1981 at the Corinthians football club, an effort to give players a voice in managing the club. The players extended their movement to push for democratic rights during the military dictatorship, donning shirts with the words ‘Dia 15 Vote’, ahead of the first congressional elections since the 1964 coup on November 15, 1982. Who?
Socrates, who captained Brazil in the 1982 World Cup. More here, here, here, here and here. Brazil’s famous yellow football jersey, once a symbol of unity, has now become politicised and increasingly associated with Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters. More here and here. More on the growing role of evangelical beliefs in the football team here.
16) The town of Prudentópolis in southern Brazil was formed in the late 19th century and named after a Brazilian president. It was largely settled by immigrants from a particular part of Europe, who succeeded in preserving their language in a new country. A group of refugees moved in to the town this year. Where did they emigrate from?
Ukraine. More here, here, here and here.
Monica Yanakiew’s report for Al Jazeera below
17) What was significant about the elevation of Brazilian Leonardo Ulrich Steiner as a cardinal by Pope Francis last month?
The first cardinal from Brazil’s Amazon region. More here and here. Brazil has the largest Catholic population in the world but Pope Francis’ concerns about the environment, deforestation and indigenous peoples are coming into conflict with the country’s rapidly growing evangelical movement. Evangelicals are key to Jair Bolsonaro’s political fortunes and are largely aligned with agribusiness interests.
18) What are Candomblé and Umbanda?
Afro-Brazilian religions. Afro-Brazilian religious practices in recent years have been facing hostility from evangelical churches. More here and here
Al Jazeera report from Monica Yanakiew on rising intolerance faced by followers of Afro-Brazilian religions below