An interesting read on Al Jazeera's site about how Brazil and other Latin American countries moved from military dictatorships to democracy. The opportunity for a positive transformation exists and it would benefit everyone if the UN and the democracies of the world assisted during this process. Al Jazeera:
Since becoming democratic, 30 million Brazilians have joined the middle class, with 30 million more leaving abject poverty for less grinding poverty, the former foreign minister said. But the country still has a long to go if the goal is to eliminate vast income disparities.
Moves towards democracy in Brazil did not happen overnight; they transpired slowly throughout the 1980s. And religious institutions played a key part in that transition, said Matthew Flynn, a sociology lecturer and Brazil specialist at the University of Texas. "I'd imagine that religious institutions will play a pretty prominent role in [any transition] in the Middle East," Flynn said.
The Workers Party (PT), which currently holds power, was formed in 1978 by labour agitators in the country’s industrial heart-land, religious activists from the Catholic Church and human rights groups. "They [the PT] were pretty active in forcing elections, along with other independent parties," Flynn said.
Dilma Rouseff, Brazil’s current president and the country’s first female leader, began her political career as a leftist guerrilla, fighting the military dictatorship.
