06 November 2010

BRASIL: Analysis: How Lula Changed "Belindia" To A Democracy.

GUARDIAN/ ANALYSIS and OPINION / Rodrigo Nunes:
       "In the 1970s, economist Edmar Bacha popularised the term "Belindia" as a description of Brazil: a little bit of Belgium and a lot of India, the country was very rich for some and very poor for most.
       The self-image of the inhabitants of the Brazilian "Belgium" consists in seeing both sides of the coin without their necessary connection. For them, the true Brazil is theirs – white, well off, well educated. The lawless "India" outside the gates not only exists on its own account, without any causal relation with the wealth inside, but is also what drags the country down: were it not for the plebe, so the thinking goes, there would be only Belgium."