In England it is common to meet people who are attune to Politics. Whether they only know two names, or whether they can name every party member since the beginning of time, everybody knows that the Government is a sham. This is exactly the same as Brazil. The people have a very strong dislike for the Government. An example of this is when the Government builds a new road but runs out of money, or cannot be bothered to finish it, Brazilian people will simply use the half-built road out of spite. They organise million-strong protests in all major cities, they organise riots, or they silently riot from home. No matter where you are or who you are, it would appear very few people in Brazil trust, or even care for, the Government.
There's a lot in Brazil that needs fixing, a lot that needs some care, a lot that needs a paint job, a lot that needs to be knocked down, swept up, and started again. There seems to be an underlying sense of laziness in Brazilian culture. Not a good-kind of laziness, not a 'put your feet back and enjoy a gin and tonic and a book in the gazebo darling' kind of laziness, but a crippling one that leaves a large amount of the population on the street outside their houses watching the world go by, day in, day out.
We have met people who go against the grain and are wonderfully talented and productive people, who are swimming against the current to find their feet. When we first arrived we stayed with the wonderful family of Mario and Erica, and their two sons Talles and Teo. This family live in Nova Igassu, a town (which confessed by them to be ugly and similar to a favela) just outside of Rio. Mario and Erica work in the city, in good jobs, and the two boys go to University, and have ambition and drive to live good lives. They are educated and they can think for themselves. I remember very well a long conversation we had on the last night that I stayed at their house about Politics in Brazil and indeed the rest of the world. Quite possibly the best memory of that night was when I recorded (by request) Teo sending a message to David Cameron and Tony Blair in which he told them they were 'fucking wankers'. A hilarious, true, but possibly controversial comment, which left us laughing and crying for a long time. Wherever one goes, all you have to do is throw a rock and you can find someone who hates Tony Blair.
Being attuned to world politics is a rare trait in Brazil, and I don't think we will find many other people who are similar to Talles and Teo in that regard. It really showed me how lucky we are to have a general sense of knowledge of these things in England. Of course you can avoid learning about it, in school or otherwise, but there is still an average IQ that allows people to generally have an opinion on things. In Brazil you hate the government, and possibly riot and protest, but that's about it. I think if the people here had a better image of what things are like in other countries, it would be beneficial to people here in Brazil. I sound arrogant and like a stereotypical white-elitist, yet we have been in some parts of Brazil that seriously need re-colonising. The Portuguese didn't do a great job in some places.
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