Will Brazil elect Marina Silva as the world’s first Green president?Posted in Articles, Brazil, Caribbean/Latin America, Media Archive, Politics/Public Policy, Women on 2014-09-05 19:17Z by Steven |
Will Brazil elect Marina Silva as the world’s first Green president?
The Guardian/The Observer
2014-08-30
Jonathan Watts, Latin America Correspondent
Born into a poor, mixed-race Amazon family, Marina Silva is on the verge of a stunning election win after taking over her party
It started with the national anthem and ended with a rap. In between came a poignant minute’s silence, politicised football chants and a call to action by the woman tipped to become the first Green national leader on the planet.
The unveiling in São Paulo of Brazilian presidential candidate Marina Silva’s platform for government on Friday was a sometimes bizarre mix of tradition and modernity, conservatism and radicalism, doubt and hope: but for many of those present, it highlighted the very real prospect of an environmentalist taking the reins of a major country…
…Silva is a mix of Brazil’s three main ethnic groups. Among her ancestors are native Indians, Portuguese settlers and African slaves. While she is usually described as predominantly “indigenous”, friends say Silva categorises herself as “black” in the national census. In Brazil’s white-dominated political world, this is exceptional.
“It will be super-important for Brazil to have a black president, as it was in the US with Obama. It would signify a big advance for our country against discrimination,” said Alessandro Alvares, a member of the PSB and one of the few non-white faces in the room…
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