[H-PAD] Challenges to Brazilian Democracy Conference at Brown University

[Marc Becker]

We would like to inform our members about this important conference on 
the current situation in Brazil under the repressive Bolsonaro 
government and how you can act in solidarity with the opposition.


  *Challenges to Brazilian Democracy Conference*

The U.S Network for Democracy in Brazil and the Brazil Initiative at 
Brown University are delighted to invite you to the Seventh 
International Conference on Brazil at Brown University, entitled 
/Challenges to Brazilian Democracy, /which will take place between 
*April 18^th and 20^th , 2019* at the Watson Institute in Providence, 
Rhode Island. *The conference is open to all, at no cost*. Please, find 
the full program below.

*Challenges to Brazilian Democracy*
*April 18-21, 2019*
*Watson Institute for International and Policy Studies*
*111 Thayer Street, Brown University, Providence, RI*

The recent election of Jair Bolsonaro to the Brazilian presidency has 
raised new questions about the state of democracy in Brazil. Are his 
campaign promises to criminalize social movements, stop the demarcation 
of indigenous lands, and eliminate opposition political parties merely 
electoral rhetoric? What does increased deforestation of the Amazon and 
other sensitive ecological zones mean for the environment?  What is the 
fate of academic and cultural freedom under a new government whose 
supporters speak, among other questions, against “gender ideology” and 
“political correctness,” which can be read as veiled critiques of the 
women’s and the LGBTQI+ movements and the ideas of progressive social 
sectors? Will new gun policies result in more deaths in rural and urban 
areas, and particularly among people of African and indigenous descent? 
To what extent are human rights, especially among low-income citizens, 
under threat? This international conference, organized jointly with 
colleagues from Harvard University, will bring together scholars and 
social and cultural activists to analyze the current situation in Brazil 
and assess these and other threats to democracy posed by President 
Bolsonaro’s far-right agenda. At the Conference, we will also launch the 
*U.S. Observatory for Democracy in Brazil*, an English-language website 
documenting recent events in the country, and have a strategic 
discussion about how U.S.-based academics and activists can defend 
democracy in Brazil.

*_Thursday, April 18_**Opening Ceremony*

*6:00-8:00 pm *

*Welcome:*  James N. Green, Director, Brown Brazil Initiative
Richard Locke, Provost, Brown University

*Keynote Panel:  What does it mean to be a political exile under the 
Bolsonaro government?*

  * Débora Diniz, professor of anthropology and law
  * Jean Wyllys, journalist, former congressman
  * Márcia Tiburi, professor of philosophy


*8:00-9:00 pm   Reception*

*_Friday, April 19_*

*9:30-10:00        Light breakfast*

*10:00-12:00      Panel I: The Political Context in Brazil Today*
/Chair/: Bruno Carvalho, cultural historian, Harvard University

  * Celso Rocha de Barros, journalist, /Folha de São Paulo/
  * Elizabeth Hordge-Freeman, sociologist, University of South Florida
  * Marlon Weichert, Deputy Federal Attorney for Citizen’s Rights


*12:00-1:30         Lunch*

*1:30-3:30           Panel II: Cultural Resistance and Academic Freedom*
/Chair:/ Leiha Lehnen, literary scholar, Brown University

  * MC Carol, singer/songwriter
  * Éder Oliveira, artist
  * Sidney Chalhoub, historian, Harvard University



*3:30-4:00           Coffee break*

*4:00-6:00           Panel III: Religious, Ethnicity and the Brazilian 
State*
/Chair/: Geri Augusto, public policy, Brown University

  * Erisvaldo Santos, /pai de santo, /educator, Federal Univ. of Ouro Preto
  * TBA, indigenous leader and activist*[1]* <#_ftn1>
  * Michel Gherman, historian, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro


*6:30-9:00 Dinner for participants at Faculty Club*

*_Saturday, April 20_*

*9:30-10:00 Light breakfast*

*10:00-12:00          Panel IV: Economic and Social Rights*
/Chair: /Anani Dzidzienyo, Africana Studies, Brown University

  * Pedro Paulo Bastos, economist, Campinas State University
  * Douglas Belchior, activist, popular educator
  * Symmy Larrat, trans activist, President of the ABGLT


*12:00-1:30 Lunch*

*1:30-3:30 Panel V: Environmental Justice and the Right to Land *
/Chair: /Leah Van Wey, environmental sociologist, Brown University

  * Ayala Dias Ferreira, Landless Peasants Movement (MST)
  * Paul E. Little, environmental anthropologist
  * Elionice Conceição Sacramento, community researcher, /quilombola/
    activist


*3:30-4:00 Coffee break*

*4:00-6:00 Panel VI: Organizing Resistance in the United States*
/Chair: /Marina Adams, National Organizer, U.S. Network for Democracy in 
Brazil

  * Stanley Gacek, United Food and Commercial Workers Inter. Union
  * Gladys Mitchell-Walthour, President, Brazilian Studies Association
  * Alex Main, Director of International Policy at the Center for
    Economic and Policy Research, Washington, D.C.
  * James N. Green, National Coordinator, U.S. Network for Democracy in
    Brazil


*_Sunday, April 21_*

*9:00-12:00            Open Forum: Discussions on Short-term and 
Strategic Activities*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] <#_ftnref1> To be confirmed

*Conference Organizing Committee: *James N. Green (chair), Geri Augusto, 
Bruno Carvalho, Sidney Chalhoub, Keisha-Khan Perry, Leila Lehnen, Ramon 
Stern, Leah VanWey
*Sponsors:* Africana Studies (Brown), Brown Brazil Initiative Center for 
Slavery and Justice (Brown), Center for Latin American and Caribbean 
Studies (Brown), Cogut Institute of Humanities (Brown), Department of 
History (Brown), Department of African and African American Studies 
(Harvard) Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies (Brown), Watson 
Institute for International and Policy Studies (Brown).




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