King’s College and Ilas debate Brazil

(Leia em Português)

 

Continuing its series of seminars, the Brazil Institute at King’s College London will hold three conferences in March, while the Institute of Latin American Studies (Ilas) of the University of London promotes this month a two-day course on the relations between Brazil and the UK.

At King’s College, on March 8^th, the Emeritus Professor of Latin American History at the University of London Leslie Bethell ministers a lecture entitled “The Failure of the Left: A Brazilian Tragedy”. The professor, according to the program, first analyses the failure of the left – communist, socialist, populist – between 1920 and 1970. Then, he explains the formation of the Brazilian Workers Party (PT) in the 1980s and its growth until the election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to the presidency in 2002, the biggest win of the Latin American left since the Cuban Revolution and the election of Salvador Allende in Chile in 1970. Finally, Leslie Bethell evaluates Lula (2003-10) and Dilma Rousseff (2011 to date) governments, apparently doomed to failure, and raises questions about the future of the left in Brazil.

On March 14^th is the time for the British Ambassador in Brazil, Alex Ellis (pictured), in post since July 2013, to present his opinions about the delicate political and economic climate of the South American country. And on March 22^nd, also at King’s College, the researcher Markus Fraundorfer, from the University of São Paulo, leads a lecture whose theme is “Democratising Global Governance. Examining Brazil’s Potential”. The main issue: is it possible for an emerging democracy from the global south to contribute to the democratization of the global governance system?

At Ilas, the title of the conference which takes place on March 10^th and 11^th at the Senate House is “Britain and Brazil: Political, Economic, Social, Cultural and Intellectual Relations, 1808 to the present”. Event organizers are Professor Leslie Bethell and Alan Charlton, who was British Ambassador in Brazil between 2008 and 2013.

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Originally published at Brasil Observer edition 36