Regarding “Brazil: A Scandal a Day…”

Hello COHA staffers,

I write because I have just read the simplistic and bombastic “Brazil: A Scandal a Day…”. This analysis is an embarrassment to COHA. I do not make this claim because I am a huge Lula supporter. I am not. Yet I am an academic with decades of experience in Brazil and I am shocked at the tone and quality of the writing you have put out.

Yes, Brazil is corrupt. But Brazilian politics is not equal to Lula. And the explanations for the increase in corruption cases regarding the PT’s own transparency makes a certain amount of sense. As does the claim that the PT’s dimantling of customary ways of doing business has resulted in an increase in corruption cases. But I am not writing to contest ‘facts.’ Your author poo-poohs this to the detriment of the quality of her writing.

But I am not here to take issue with specific facts. Rather, I would like to register my horror at the extent to which your supposedly progressive analysts mimic quite perfectly the words published in the conservative VEJA. This is sad. The situation, including the airport issue, is much more complex than your anayst is able to make out. No wonder I increasinly skip your reports.

Best,

John Collins
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
CUNY