Da quando Katiele e sua figlia sono state catapultate nella cronaca, in Brasile scarseggia il dibattito sulla necessità di legalizzare la marijuana. Katiele lotta per curare l’epilessia di sua figlia con il cannabidiolo (CBD), una sostanza estratta dalla marijuana. La domanda è: qual è la posizione dell’Anvisa, l’equivalente brasiliano dell’istituto superiore di sanità, in materia?…

Anche se conoscere il diritto brasiliano è il mio lavoro, ogni volta che vedo tutto il potere che possiede lo stato brasiliano rimango allibito. Con una legge chiamata la “Legge Fifa”, lo stato ha istituito, per tutta la durata della coppa del mondo di calcio, le cosiddette “aree di commercio esclusivo” a tutto vantaggio della…

Since Katiele and her daughter made the news, we’ve had a little debate on the legalization of medical marijuana in Brazil. Katiele struggles to treat her daughter’s epilepsy with CBD (Cannabidiol), a substance extracted from marijuana. One could ask what’s Anvisa — Brazil’s equivalent to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — position on the matter. How…

Il calcio trascende le classi sociali e quelle economiche. In Brasile è giocato ovunque da bambini e adolescenti di ogni classe sociale. Se si può improvvisare una palla, il divertimento è sicuro. Il calcio è anche alla base del patriottismo brasiliano, che durante i mondiali si innalza. La bandiera nazionale diventa oggetto d’adorazione. E sventola…

Knowing Brazilian law is my trade, but I still get scared when I learn about the powers the Brazilian state possesses. During the World Cup, the government established so-called “trade exclusion zones” in FIFA’s benefit, in a law called the “FIFA Act.” Article 11 of the act establishes that the government guarantees “to FIFA and…

Soccer transcends social classes and economic backgrounds. Children and teenagers everywhere in Brazil, from every class, play it. Where a ball may be improvised, there will be fun to be had. Soccer is also one of the foundations of Brazilian patriotism, that reascends during the FIFA World Cup. The flag colors come to be worshipped,…

With the World Cup underway, the problem at hand is: How to fight state abuse during the World Cup? We may harken back to Henry David Thoreau. He used to criticize the idea that we should expect the majority to change a law or an unfair government action, because man should live according to his conscience,…

Brazil’s Congress just passed a Proposal of Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) known as “Slave Labor Amendment.”  The new law aims to broaden the power of land confiscation without compensation by the government, including  properties on which there is exploitation of slave labor. After the modifications, Article 243 of the Constitution reads as follows: “Rural…

Last week, SlutWalk took place all over Brazil. According to the São Paulo organizers, the event, occurring simultaneously in several cities in the country, aims to raise awareness about the fact that “women are not responsible for the violence they suffer; the survivor is never to blame — the aggressor is.” We should remember that…

Come tutte le persone nate nello stato di Para, anch’io amo l’açaí (pronunciato assaì). Tutti i paraensi, a prescindere dallo status socio-economico, lo mangiano. È una realtà innegabile della vita nello stato di Para. Se vivi nella capitale, Belem, açaí ti ricorda costantemente che sei nell’Amazzonia, così come gli aironi in centro città. Açaí, preparato…

According to Leonardo Dupin on journalist Juca Kfouri’s blog, Minas Arena consortium will have the right to operate the Minerao soccer stadium in Belo horizonte for 25 years, after their investment of about $300 million, $180 million of which was kindly lent by Brazil’s state development bank, BNDES. The agreement guarantees that the government of the…

It’s over. As the evening started on Thursday (May 15), the Military Police of the State of Pernambuco, in Brazil decided to finish a strike that had lasted the whole day. Looting, depredations, disorder and murder all happened during the strike. Stores closed, people went home. “Arrastoes” (“draggings,” where large groups of people set off…

Gabe Newell — Valve‘s CEO, a company that develops games such as Half-Life and Portal, and also manages the virtual video game store Steam — famously noted, a while ago, that piracy is a service problem, rather than a pricing one: We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and…

Like any other Para-born person, I like acai (pronounced “assa-IH,” people) a lot. Every Paraense, regardless of socio-economic status, eats it. It is an undeniablefact of life in Para. If you live in the capital, Belem, that is a constant reminder that we live in the Amazon, just like the herons downtown. Acai, as it is traditionally…

It is common in Brazil to say, “Text with no context is pretext.” The wordplay conveys a valuable truth: Out of context reasoning can be easily used as pretext for an agenda. To comprehend reality outside of context can serve interests very different from those originally intended. This should be a wakeup call for the…

May Day, also called Labor Day, is a Brazilian national holiday. Since the Second International adopted May 1st as Labor Day, in support of Chicago’s labor unions struggle for the 8 hour day in 1886, the day had become a sensitive topic for many western governments by the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century – agitation and labor activism built…

Michael Uhl discusses the murder of a Brazilian torturer who confessed to his crime. John Grant discusses Losing Tim: A Memoir. Troy Camplin reviews Literature and the Economics of Liberty: Spontaneous Order in Culture. Michael S. Rozeff discusses why libertarians should still embrace the non-aggression principle William L. Anderson discusses Republican governors who are against…

Brazil is a violent country. A sizable part of the population experiences many aggressions in its streets. However, violence in Brazil is present in prisons too. There, it can take very subtle forms, which very few people – except those who suffer from it – come to know about. Among these subtle forms of violence are…

Quelli che non hanno risposto alla richiesta di “registrazione biometrica”, che ha coinvolto circa 14 milioni di elettori in diverse città brasiliane, perderanno il diritto di voto, la possibilità di iscriversi ad un’istituzione scolastica pubblica, di godere di assistenza pubblica e di fare domanda per un lavoro pubblico. Non potranno neanche fare cose banali ed…

Venerdì scorso (undici aprile), un terreno nei sobborghi di Rio de Janeiro è stato reso al gigante della telefonia fissa Oi. L’area, conosciuta come “favela da Jelerj” era stata occupata da 5.000 persone, provenienti soprattutto dalle favelas di Mandela, Manguinhos e Jacarezinho, che lì avevano costruito le loro case improvvisate. Ci sono stati scontri con…