I find the level of ignorance about Brazil absolutely astonishing.
Despite what the media tells us, corruption is not the main reason why Brazil didn’t develop and it won’t be an important factor in stopping China’s development.
As a Brazilian, I can tell you that structural corruption is more dangerous to a country’s future than small stuff such as bribing a cop or a judge. As a matter of fact, Brazil does have a robust legal system and the Judiciary is relatively independent. Because of the country’s immense size, regional differences exist. The Southeast, where most people live, which also happens to be Latin America’s most industrialized region, is not very different from say, Russia, Hungary or Poland. Planes and satellites are built here. Brazil happens to be finishing its second particle accelerator.
São José dos Campos, a city in the Southeast of Brazil.
Maybe I should explain what I mean by structural corruption, though. I would attribute China’s success to the fact that they have outlawed imperialism. Chinese resources must serve their people and their country. I think the Chinese government would agree with me here: since they took power, they have in effect made it difficult for rich countries to take advantage of China. There is still a long way to go in bringing development from the coast to the vast countryside and completely eliminating poverty. It’s also important to bear in mind that Brazil is still more developed and has a higher GDP per capita than China. But China will probably accomplish this because they have a political class that intends to undo their period of humiliation and subservience. As a Brazilian, I want China to succeed.
Brazil is much more similar to Russia than we tend to think. A small class of people with obscene wealth benefits from the country’s incredible pool of natural resources and keeps itself in power by whatever means necessary. Brazil went from a literal colony of Portugal to an Empire and then to a Republic whose wings have been clipped so viciously by Washington and international capital that half of its annual budget goes to banks. Yes, the country only really benefits from 50% of its income.
It’s hard to become a superpower when the agrarian elites own the media and convince people to vote against their interests. Brazilians have been trying to achieve development through democracy, and a popular president was elected on a platform of development, increased spending on education and public services, as well as land reforms. Much of the private land in Brazil has been obtained by theft, murder and the falsification of documents. These are farms so vast and underproductive that there is a closed farm in Brazil the size of Belgium. So, what happened to that president who was chosen to fix just that? Well, he was ousted in a coup with the help of the United States. 55 years ago. In 1964 the United States conducted what they called “Operation Brother Sam”. President Kennedy wanted to “prevent Brazil from becoming another China”. And the funny thing is, Brazil’s government was far from being communist. To the American government, the very idea of a strong and independent Brazil was and still is unacceptable (the same goes for Indonesia, Iran, Germany, Japan, Greece, South Africa…you get the picture).
Indeed, when development is not artificially stopped, most countries will flourish. The first letter about Brazil, sent to the King of Portugal in 1500, describes my country as a land of plenty, a place of abundance, and “everything one plants here grows and flourishes”.
Balneário Camboriú, a major city in the South. Ten years ago, 84% of Brazilians lived in cities and the number has only increased.
Still, despite these constraints, Brazil managed to create a relatively stable, predictable legal system based on a democratic constitution that regularly punishes misuse of public money, clashes with the government and protects private citizens. We can hold each other accountable in court, just not the oligarchs. Brazil has also come up with innovative solutions for transport, using biofuels since the 1970s, and is no longer on the Hunger Map, meaning less than 2,5% of its people don’t have enough to eat. According to the World Food Programme, this puts Brazil ahead of countries such as Estonia, Ukraine, Slovakia and Bulgaria.
Hospital das Clínicas in São Paulo. Each year, 50 thousand surgeries are done here as part of Brazil’s public health system.
China’s political system seems to be more robust than ours when it comes to strengthening the country and determining a common future for their population. Pointing to a path and saying here, this is development, this is the future. And they will achieve that. Brazil’s on the other hand assures we’re still Washington’s backyard, but we do have more personal freedom and the average Brazilian earns more than the average Chinese. China and Brazil must be friends. Our goals are ultimately the same. I’ve included more pictures below so you guys can understand my country better.
In 2019, truck drivers organized a national strike. The right to strike is enshrined in the Constitution.
Brazil has the biggest gay pride parade in the world and between 3 - 5 million people attend each year. Same-sex couple can marry and adopt children. The public health system provides free sex reassignment surgery.
Sustainable agriculture is supported by the government, though there has been a recent decline. This has been going on since 2010 and it mostly affects small and middle-sized farms.
The Itaipú hydroelectric dam is massive and it produces clean, renewable energy. It used to be the biggest in the world until China built the Three Gorges Dam.
PS: This is my first answer about Brazil. Due to the lack of quality content on Quora about the so-called Colossus of the South, I should start posting more.
Picture Source Wikipedia
Thanks for Reading
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