5/7/12

We watched the movie Besouro in class today about the famous lutador de capoeira (capoeira fighter). The movie showed how the rich, white landowners would take advantage of the slaves and would treat them as inferiors because of their skin color and birthplace. Capoeira came about as a way for slaves to practice fighting in the event if they had the opportunity to overthrow their masters. Although capoeira is  fighting style, the slaves would make it into a dance ritual in order to keep the truth from their masters.
While this kind of slavery ended a long time ago in Brazil, the new kind of exploitation in Brazil, as well as in many other countries, is that of the rich taking advantage of the less educated poor. The politicians especially take advantage of the poor by promising them food, while ensuring that a lack of education will keep people dependent. It's only once the level of education rises in Brazil that one of its biggest problems- corruption- will finally begin to disappear.