by John Fitzpatrick

The humiliating defeat of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva´s candidate in the São Paulo mayoral vote is being treated with glee by the anti-Lula media which is painting it as a setback for him. This is wishful thinking as Lula still enjoys massive popular support and the defeat was more of a rejection of the Workers Party (PT) candidate, Marta Suplicy, who is detested by a large section of the electorate. The real winner was not the incumbent, Gilberto Kassab of the DEMs, but the state governor, Jose Serra, who backed him against the wishes of a section of his own PSDB party. Kassab´s victory paves the way for Serra to target the Planalto Palace after Lula steps down. In fact, the São Paulo contest may well have been a forerunner of the 2010 election with Serra pitted against another woman candidate backed by Lula, Dilma Rousseff.

by John Fitzpatrick

Brazil´s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is not a happy man at the moment as the international financial crisis threatens the achievements he has overseen over the last six years.  The prospect of his last two years in office ending on a low note has revived the old-style Lula who hates bosses and gringos and led to a few foolish outbursts. Fortunately though, his reactions to the crisis to date have been more like those of a grumpy old man who just wants to have a good old moan than someone who is about to do something drastic and make a bad situation even worse.

by Augusto Zimmermann

One of the most striking aspects of life in Brazil is how the law is disregarded by almost everyone, from the politicians who make it, the policemen who should enforce and the population which should obey it. This is because everyone knows that the law is not applied equally and so few people feel embarrassed at breaking it. In this article, Augusto Zimmermann, a Brazilian who is a Law Lecturer at Murdoch University, Western Australia discusses the chasm that exists between the law on paper and the law in practice. He explains three curious expressions that help reveal crucial aspects of Brazil's legal culture: 'a lei não pegou' (the law did not take hold); 'para inglês ver' (for the English to See); and 'jeito' (way of getting round an obstacle).