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Asserting that Brazil is part of Latin America but strives to be "a little bit more than Latin America," former Brazilian president and Professor-at-Large Fernando Henrique Cardoso spoke to a packed MacMillan 117 Wednesday night.
Cardoso's lecture - titled "Brazil: A Latin American Nation?" - was part of the "Brazil at Brown" lecture series organized by the Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies and the Department of Latin American Studies. To come up with the theme for Cardoso's speech, the departments tried to choose a topic that addressed not only political and economic issues but cultural ones as well, said Associate Professor of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies Luiz Valente, who moderated the event.
It has been difficult in the past for Brazil to "realize the meaning of being a Latin American country," Cardoso said, partly because of the nation's different culture and language. He also noted that Brazil is set apart from other nations in the region by its "strong state apparatus" capable of enforcing order and maintaining unity.
Cardoso, echoing a novelist, said Brazil and Latin America are like brothers joined at the shoulders.
"We're together, but without looking at our faces," Cardoso said. "This is the way we have been as nations since our independence."
Cardoso said Brazil was unified in the past by its traditional Portuguese language, culture and institutions, as well as by its large size and clear borders. But globalization has changed much of this, he said.
"Globalization has created a nightmare because the very concept of borderlines of nations is under attack," Cardoso said. Consequently, he said, some parts of Brazil have become more integrated with other areas of the world, while some regions of the country remain more isolated.
Cardoso said Brazil is different from many Latin-American countries because it is "not confronting globalization in a similar way."
"I'm not saying that Brazil is less Latin American because it is much more integrated with Europe or China or the USA," he said. But he said Brazilians are "much more closed" to Latin America than they were 50 years ago.
However, he added, increased integration among Latin American countries "will produce a new sense of Latin America."
"Yes, we are Latin-American," Cardoso said. "But Latin America is moving ahead, and Brazil would like to move faster."
Cardoso's speech was followed by an hour-long question-and-answer session in which the former president discussed ethanol, privatization, poverty and his thoughts on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Cardoso said capitalism "will never solve the poverty problem," in response to a question about the gap between the rich and poor.
"We're producing much more wealth, but we're not reducing poverty," Cardoso said. "We cannot rely only on market forces. We must have an active government." Cardoso said poverty has declined in Brazil because of government social programs, but the key to further reduction is producing more jobs.
Cardoso's lecture came as President Bush completed his tour of Latin America, where he pledged to help the poor and attempted to lessen the influence of populist leaders like Chavez, who has been a strong critic of the United States.
Cardoso was critical of Chavez, saying his distribution of money to the people is "good in terms of personal prestige, but bad for the country."
"He is creating an oil pipeline that gives oil revenue to the people," Cardoso said. "But this is not building up an economy for the country."
Students attending the lecture said Cardoso's speech highlighted new and interesting themes.
Carla Cornejo '10 said despite growing up with Latin-American parents, she never perceived the cleavage between Latin America and Brazil. Cornejo said she recently talked to two of her Bolivian cousins who live in Brazil and "feel like outsiders." She said Cardoso's lecture "inspired a lot of thought."
Norris Hung '09 said the former president did a good job "addressing the complexity of issues" and said he was surprised by Cardoso's honesty on controversial issues like globalization.
"A lot of times you can't get straight answers from politicians," Hung said. "I see him as more of a professor than a politician, and that's something we need more of."
