More countries in the world claim to be listened: Brazil

By Fiorella Bafundo

An article from the Foreign Policy magazine has brought back one of the current important changes in world politics, talking about the demands of one of the “emerging powers” of this new era in international politics: Brazil, or as the journalist Paulo Sotero says “the giant of South America.” In his article, he makes reference of some claims the Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made in a press conference in Brazil where he said that “white people with blue eyes” are responsible for the huge economic crisis we are facing today. After that comment, the day after, he had to clarify as a lot of criticism came up from all around the world, such as statements that said that “Lula had a Chávez day.” When he clarified, he said that what he was trying to say is that rich countries are “more responsible” for the crisis which is affecting poor countries the most, and that they will have to act accordingly to what they have said in former Doha rounds keeping their borders open and international trade as dynamic as possible, instead of applying protectionist policies which will damage the whole international economy and mostly poor countries again.
He also made reference to the idea of the necessity of reforming the international institutions, mainly the IMF and the World Bank, which have been dominated by the United States and European countries, and that some claim that can not be like that anymore with the new economic and political order. Lula will make these demands among others (such as the commitment to work on climate change issues) in the meetings the G-20 is holding in London on these days.

Link: http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/03/31/what_lula_demands_of_white_people