Unfortunately, the advertising will have no effect upon the 14 million illiterate adults in Brazil or upon the 35 million who, while capable of reading the title of a book, cannot capture the message.

Few of the current 55 million elementary/secondary students will dedicate themselves to reading in the future because those who do acquire this aptitude in childhood and adolescence rarely are transformed into readers. Our schools, moreover, are not creating readers.

Minister of Culture Ana Hollanda’s campaign should be praised, but, at the same time, the administration should take the actions necessary to transform Brazil into a country of readers.

The first step is the revolution in elementary/secondary education, which is achieved through quality teachers with better salaries, better training, rigid selection and constant evaluation, through schools with attractive, comfortable, well-equipped buildings holding full-day sessions.

It is also achieved through methods that include reading as a substantial part of the educative process. All this demands federal responsibility for elementary/secondary education.

While the Ministry of Culture is using publicity to encourage reading, the Ministry of Education (MEC) takes care of the federal universities and the municipalities have to educate their children with their few resources.

The second step is the eradication of illiteracy, not only among teenagers and children over six years of age but also among adults. Few of these newly literate adults will become voracious readers. And to promote reading among the children it is necessary to have literate parents.

Third, it is necessary to make books less expensive by giving incentives to publishing houses and bookstores – at least equal to those given to the automobile industry – and by setting up libraries, theaters and movie houses since these cultural activities play an important role in the promotion of reading.

Finally, in the field of publicity, it would be more efficient to incorporate reading into the nighttime TV shows than to broadcast messages during the commercial breaks.

There would be an greater incentive to read if Tufão’s house had a bookcase, if Nina would appear reading The Art of War to inspire her strategies against Carminha, if Agatha, besides eating, went to school and read something, and if a young hero would successfully impress young women with his reading instead of his musculature.

Scenes like this are not filmed because, for the Brazilian public, they would seem exaggeratedly fantastic: a house with books, a child reading.

When all this is done, Brazil will not need a publicity campaign to promote reading.

I want to reaffirm, nevertheless, that without the combination of actions necessary to change elementary/secondary education, the Ministry of Education’s publicity messages will have no effect.

This would be like advertising meat in a country of vegetarians.

Cristovam Buarque (CBUARQUE@senado.gov.br) is a professor at the University of Brasília and a senator (PDT-DF).

Translated by Linda Jerome (LinJerome@cs.com).

Moacyr Scliar, with his novel Manual da Paixão Solitária (Solitary Passion Manual) and Marisa Lajolo and João Luí­s Ceccantini with the essay Monteiro Lobato: Livro a Livro (Monteiro Lobato: Book to Book) were the big winner and each work received 30,000 reais (U$ 17,000) from Câmara Brasileira do Livro (Brazilian Book Chamber) the sponsor of the literary contest created in 1959.

Scliar, from the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, an author that's also a doctor had received the Jabuti twice before. In 1988 he got the prize for the best short story book, with O Olho Enigmático (Enigmatic Eye). In 1993 his book Sonho Tropical (Tropical Dream) was chosen as best novel of the year. 

All the prizes:

Fiction

1st place – "Manual da Paixão Solitária", Moacyr Scliar (Companhia das Letras)

Non-fiction

1st place – "Monteiro Lobato: Livro a Livro", Marisa Lajolo and João Luí­s Ceccantini (Editora Unesp e Imprensa Oficial)

Translation (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "A Morte de Empédocles / Friedrich Hí¶lderlin", Marise Moassaba Curioni (Iluminuras).
2nd place – "Satí­ricon", Cláudio Aquati (Cosac Naify).
3rd place – "Os Irmãos Karamázov: Vols. 1 and 2", Paulo Bezerra (Editora 34).

Architecture and Urbanization, Photography, Communication and Arts (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "Coleção Princesa Isabel: Fotografia do Século XIX", Bia and Pedro Corrêa de Lago (Capivara Editora)
2nd place – "írvores Notáveis: 200 Anos do Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro" (livro e guia de bolsa), Paulo Ormindo and Malena Barretto (Andréa Jakobsson Estúdio)
3rd place – "Tarsila do Amaral", Lygia Eluf (Imprensa Oficial do Estado and Editora Unicamp)

Literary Theory/Criticism (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "Monteiro Lobato: Livro a Livro", Marisa Lajolo and João Luí­s Ceccantini (Editora Unesp e Imprensa Oficial)
2nd place – "Pensamento e 'Lirismo Puro' na Poesia de Cecí­lia Meireles", Leila V. B. Gouvêa (Editora Universidade de São Paulo)
3rd place – "Literatura da Urgência Lima Barreto no Domí­nio da Loucura", Luciana Hidalgo (Annablume Editora)

Graphic Project (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "Fazendas Mineiras", Marcelo Drummond & Marconi Drummond (Cemig)
2nd place – "A História do Brazil de Frei Vicente de Salvador", Maria Lêda Oliveira (Versal Editores)
3rd place – "Isay Weinfeld", Roberto Cipolla (Bei Editora)

Illustration of Child or Juvenile Book (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "O Matador", Odilon Moraes (Editora Leitura)
2nd place – "De Passagem", Marcelo Cipis (Companhia das Letras)
3rd place – "Alfabeto de Histórias", Gilles Eduar (Editora ítica)

Exact Sciences, Technology and Computer Science (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "Introdução í  Quimica da Atmosfera: Ciência, Vida e Sobrevivência", Ervim Lenzi e Luzia Otilia Bortotti Favero (GEN – Grupo Editorial Nacional/LTC)
2nd place – "Fundamentos de Metrologia Cientí­fica e Industrial", Armando Albertazzi G. Jr. and André R. de Souza (Editora Manole)
3rd place – "Mapa do Jogo", Lucia Santaella and Mirna Feitoza (Cengage Learning Edições)

Education, Psychology and Psychoanalysis (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "A Voz e o Tempo", Roberto Gambini (Ateliê Editorial)
2nd place – "Religiosidade e Psicoterapia", Claudia Bruscagin, Adriana Sávio, Fátima Fontes e Denise Mendes Gomes (Editora Roca)
3rd place – "Educação í  Distância: o Estado da Arte", organizadores Fredric Michael Litto e Marcos Formiga (Pearson e ABED)

Periodical Report (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "O Livro Amarelo do Terminal", Vanessa Barbara (Cosac Naify)
2nd place – "O Sequestro dos Uruguaios: Uma Reportagem dos Tempos da Ditadura", Luiz Cláudio Cunha (L&PM Editores)
3rd place – "1968: O que Fizemos de Nós", Zuenir Ventura (Editora Planeta do Brasil)

Didactic and Paradidactic (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "História e Cultura Africana e Afro-Brasileira", Nei Lopes (Barsa Planetal)
2nd place – "Meu Primeiro ílbum de Piano Solo", Dulce Auriemo and Amilton Godoy (D.A. Produções Artí­sticas)
2nd place – "Coleção Cidade Educadora: Diário de Bordo do Aluno 1 (Vol. Amarelo)", Aureo Gomes Monteiro Júnior, Célia Cris Silva and Júlia Scandiuci Figueiredo (Aymará Edições e Tecnologia)
3rd place – "Literatura Infantil Brasileira: Um Guia para Professores e Promotores de Leitura", Vera Maria Tietzmann Silva (Cânone Editorial)

Economy, Administration and Business (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "Valores Humanos & Gestão. Novas Perspectivas", Maria Luisa Mendes Teixeira (organizer) (Editora Senac São Paulo)
2nd place – "Estratégia e Competitividade Empresarial – Inovação e Criação de Valor", Luiz Carlos Di Serio and Marcos Augusto de Vasconcelos (Saraiva)
3rd place – "Empresas na Sociedade – Sustentabilidade e Responsabilidade Social", José Puppim de Oliveira

In memoriam – "Meio Ambiente e Crescimento Econômico: Tensões Estruturais", Gilberto Dupas (Editora Unesp)

Law (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "Introdução ao Pensamento Jurí­dico e í  Teoria Geral do Direito Privado", Rosa Maria de Andrade Nery (Editora Revista dos Tribunais)
2nd place – "Execução", José Miguel Garcia Medina (Editora Revista dos Tribunais)
3rd place – "Código de Processo Civil: Comentado Artigo por Artigo", Daniel Mitidiero e Luiz Guilherme Marinoni (Editora Revista dos Tribunais)
3ºlugar – "Atual Panorama da Constituição Federal", Carlos Marcelo Gouveia and Luiz Augusto de Almeida Hoffmann, coordinators (Saraiva)

Biography (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "O Sol do Brasil", Lilia Moritz Schwarcz (Companhia das Letras)
2nd place – "José Olympio, o Editor e sua Casa", José Mario Pereira, organizer (Sextante)
3rd place – "O Santo Sujo: A Vida de Jayme Ovalle", Humberto Werneck (Cosac Naify)

Cover (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "Moby Dick", Luciana Facchini (Cosac Naify)
2nd place – "Jovem Stálin", João Baptista da Costa Aguiar (Companhia das Letras)
3rd place – "Introdução í  Filosofia", Rex Design (Editora WMF Martins Fontes)

Poetry (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "Dois em um", Alice Ruiz S (Editora Iluminuras)
2nd place – "Antigos e Soltos: Poemas e Prosas da Pasta Rosa", Viviana Bosi (organizer), Instituto Moreira Salles (Instituto Moreira Salles)
3rd place – "Cinemateca", Eucanaã Ferraz (Companhia das Letras)
3ºlugar – "Outros Barulhos", Reynaldo Bessa (anomelivros)

Human Sciences (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "História do Brasil: Uma Interpretação", Adriana Lopez and Carlos Guilherme Mota (Editora Senac São Paulo)
2nd place – "Veneno Remédio", José Miguel Wisnik (Companhia das Letras)
3rd place – "A Aparição do Demônio na Fábrica", José de Souza Martins (Editora 34)

Natural and Health Sciences (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "Fundamentos de Dermatologia", Marcia Ramos-e-Silva and Maria Cristina Ribeiro de Castro (Editora Atheneu)
2nd place – "Oftalmogeriatria", Marcela Cypel and Rubens Belfort Jr. (Editora Roca)
3rd place – "Guia de Propágulos & Plântulas da Amazônia", José Luí­s Campana Camargo, Isolde Dorothea Kosmann Ferraz, Mariana Rabello Mesquita, Bráulio Almeida Santos and Heloisa Dantas Brum (Inpa)

Short Stories and Chronicles (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "Canalha! Crônicas", Fabricio Carpinejar (Editora Bertrand Brasil)
2nd place – "Ostra Feliz Não Faz Pérola", Rubem Alves (Editora Planeta do Brasil)
3rd place – "Os Comes e Bebes nos Velórios das Gerais e Outras Histórias", Déa Rodrigues da Cunha Rocha (Auana Editora)

Child (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "A Invenção do Mundo pelo Deus-Curumim", Braulio Tavares (Editora 34)
2nd place – "No Risco do Caracol", Maria Valéria Rezende e Marlette Menezes (Autêntica Editora)
3rd place – "Era Outra Vez um Gato Xadrez", Leticia Wierzchowski (Auana)

Juvenile (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "O Fazedor de Velhos", Rodrigo Lacerda (Cosac Naify)
2nd place – "Cidade dos Deitados", Heloisa Prieto (Cosac Naify)
3rd place – "A Distância das Coisas", Flávio Carneiro (Edições SM)

Novel (R$ 3.000)

1st place – "Manual da Paixão Solitária", Moacyr Scliar (Companhia das Letras)
2nd place – "Orfãos do Eldorado", Milton Hatoum (Companhia das Letras)
3rd place – "Cordilheira", Daniel Galera (Companhia das Letras)

French-Potuguese Translation of Literary Work (R$ 6.000)

1st place – "O Conde de Monte Cristo", André Telles and Rodrigo Lacerda (Jorge Zahar Editor)
2nd place – "Topografia Ideal para uma Agressão Caracterizada", Flávia Nascimento (Editora Estação Liberdade)
3rd place – "A Elegância do Ouriço" , Rosa Freire D'aguiar (Companhia das Letras)

Excerpt of Scliar's Manual da Paixão Solitária. The following paragraphs are the opening of the book:

Como vinha acontecendo desde 1990, a comissão organizadora do Congresso de Estudos Bí­blicos, realizado cada ano numa cidade brasileira, selecionou uma passagem bí­blica como tema central do encontro: Gênesis, capí­tulo 38, texto que conta a história do patriarca Judá, de seus filhos e de uma mulher chamada Tamar.

A escolha despertou inusitado interesse. Na sua fala inicial, proferida no auditório do elegante hotel de veraneio em que se reuniam os congressistas, cerca de duzentos, disse o presidente da Sociedade Cultural de Estudos Bí­blicos, o historiador José Domí­cio Ferraz:

– Trata-se, permitam recordar-lhes, de uma história estranha. Para começar, está inserida numa outra narrativa, aquela que nos fala de José no Egito, narrativa essa que é bruscamente interrompida. E a sucessão de acontecimentos é surpreendente, quando não chocante. Tudo começa quando Judá, um dos irmãos de José, "afasta- se de seus irmãos" e vai viver na casa de um homem chamado Hirá, encontra uma canaanita, com quem casa, tornando-se pai de três filhos, Er, Onan, Shelá. Eles crescem e Judá arranja uma esposa, Tamar, para o primogênito Er. Por alguma razão que o texto não esclarece, Er desagrada ao Senhor e morre sem engravidar Tamar. De acordo com a tradição, se o irmão mais velho falecia sem deixar filhos, competia a seu irmão ter relações com a viúva de modo a assegurar a progênie. Mas Onan, sabendo que o filho de Tamar não seria considerado dele (e que esse filho seria o herdeiro do patriarca, não ele), cumpre seu dever de forma parcial; ele "derrama o sêmen na terra", praticando, pois, coito interrompido, o que também acarreta a sua morte. Restaria o terceiro filho, mas Judá, temeroso de que o rapaz tenha a mesma sorte dos irmãos, pede a Tamar que espere algum tempo: afinal, Shelá não é ainda adulto, homem-feito. Coisa que Tamar, como podemos imaginar, não aceita de bom grado. Tempos depois realiza-se em Timna, localidade próxima, uma reunião de criadores de ovelhas para tosquia. Judá, agora viúvo, ali comparece. No caminho passa por Enaim, onde há um templo pagão e onde vê uma mulher coberta por um véu, aparentemente uma prostituta. Seu desejo despertado, oferece-lhe, em troca da relação sexual, um cabrito, a ser enviado depois. A mulher aceita, mas pede uma garantia: o cajado, o sinete e o cordão de Judá, sí­mbolos da dignidade patriarcal. Judá, ainda que relutante, concorda. De volta a casa, pede a um amigo que leve o cabrito í  mulher, mas surpreendentemente ela não é encontrada. Ninguém a conhece.

Interrompeu-se, tomou um gole d'água e continuou:

– Pouco depois Tamar aparece grávida. Tomado de fúria – ela ainda deveria estar sob seu controle patriarcal -, Judá condena- a í  morte. Tamar então revela que o pai do filho que traz no ventre é o dono do cajado, do sinete e do cordão: o próprio patriarca. Judá reconhece que foi enganado e assume a paternidade. Tamar dá í  luz gêmeos, Zerá e Perez-que será um antepassado do rei Davi e de José, o pai terreno de Jesus. Com isso encerra-se a história. Que, como sabemos, apresenta vários aspectos interessantes. Em primeiro lugar, o costume do levirato, comum no Oriente Médio da época, segundo o qual o irmão ou parente de um homem morto deve dar um filho í  viúva. Havia para isso uma explicação prática: a viúva não poderia herdar as propriedades do esposo falecido, só os filhos. Compreende-se assim a determinação de Tamar em engravidar, e para tal recorrerá a uma artimanha. Nisso, não é exceção. O Gênesis conta como Rebeca enganou Isaac, fazendo com que o já senil patriarca abençoasse, e portanto reconhecesse como herdeiro, o filho de ambos, Jacó, em detrimento do primogênito Esaú; como este era peludo, Rebeca disfarçou Jacó com um pelego de carneiro.

Nova pausa, e prosseguiu:

– A astúcia de Tamar, como a de Rebeca, fica evidente. Ela se vale do fato de que a prostituição religiosa era uma coisa comum no Oriente Médio, praticada inclusive por mulheres casadas, que se entregavam a estranhos em nome da religião. Era esse o disfarce que Tamar estava adotando, recorrendo inclusive a um véu para não ser reconhecida.

E concluiu:

– Dentro do objetivo de nossa reunião, que é de estudar a Bí­blia sob um enfoque cientí­fico e cultural, há muito o que discutir. Como eu disse, espero um bom debate sobre o tema.

Que o debate seria intenso era consenso entre os participantes do evento, historiadores, antropólogos, psicólogos; a passagem escolhida não podia ser mais interessante. E debate era o principal objetivo do encontro, cujo programa previa discussões de grupo pela manhã e í  tarde. As noites destinavam-se í s chamadas conferências magistrais, em que pessoas de reconhecida autoridade também abordariam o tema. Havia muita expectativa em torno da apresentação do professor Haroldo Veiga de Assis, que viera dos Estados Unidos, onde lecionava numa importante universidade da Ivy League. O que, a propósito, custara bom dinheiro: o professor Haroldo cobrava caro por suas palestras, só viajava de primeira classe e exigia hotéis cinco estrelas. Mas era tal sua fama que os organizadores do encontro não pouparam esforços para trazê-lo, conseguindo inclusive financiamento especial. Afinal, o professor Haroldo fora o único brasileiro a fazer parte do grupo de especialistas que estudara o chamado Manuscrito de Shelá, recentemente encontrado numa caverna em Israel e que, í  semelhança dos Manuscritos do Mar Morto, fora saudado pelos historiadores como um achado sensacional.

Na noite em que o professor Haroldo falou, a segunda do evento, o auditório estava lotado. Ninguém faltara, e havia várias pessoas de pé. Todos aguardavam ansiosamente sua intervenção. Finalmente, e saudado com palmas estrondosas, ele subiu ao palco.

Aos sessenta e sete anos, o professor Haroldo, um homem alto, magro, de basta cabeleira, enorme barba e um olhar que os rivais, vários, não hesitavam em rotular como desvairado, era conhecido pela extraordinária cultura (dominava o hebraico, o aramaico, o árabe, o latim, o grego e seis outros idiomas, citava de memória qualquer trecho do Antigo Testamento) e pela excentricidade; usava terno e gravata, mas tênis coloridos, segundo ele mais cômodos e bonitos do que convencionais sapatos, além de representarem, em seu ponto de vista, uma homenagem ao Brasil, paí­s da diversidade, ao qual se considerava visceralmente ligado.

Nos vários artigos sobre o manuscrito publicados tanto na imprensa leiga como em respeitadas revistas especializadas, o professor garantia que Shelá se revelara um personagem fascinante, um narrador que levava a imaginação ao paroxismo, mas que escrevia com uma autenticidade surpreendente, coisa que, acrescentou numa entrevista, "mobilizou meu próprio imaginário; não consigo falar sobre esse misterioso Shelá com a neutralidade e com o distanciamento que em geral caracterizam os estudos históricos. Sinto-me obrigado a inovar, a recorrer ao inusitado, ao inesperado, ao não convencional".

Declaração que deveria ser levada ao pé da letra. O professor, dramaturgo nas horas vagas (uma peça sua, escrita em parceria com um conhecido escritor, estava em cartaz naquele momento, encenada por um grupo amador de São Paulo), era um tipo performático que costumava adotar, em suas apresentações, aquilo que chamava de enfoque heterodoxo. Esse enfoque podia expressar-se tanto na forma de abordagem do tema como no desempenho do orador, que não raro chegava í s raias do histriônico, constituindo-se em verdadeiro happening e provocando ora vaias, ora aplausos, ora as duas coisas. Os coordenadores estavam preparados para isso, mesmo porque, como dissera uma psicóloga que fazia parte da comissão organizadora, havia evidente compatibilidade entre o estilo do professor Haroldo e o tema do conclave, sem falar no fato de que o autor do manuscrito aparecia, na passagem bí­blica, como um personagem até certo ponto intrigante, ainda que menor.

Tudo poderia acontecer; não era impossí­vel que o conferencista, baseado em sua experiência de teatro, apresentasse um texto redigido na primeira pessoa, uma espécie de monólogo do próprio Shelá, falando desde um passado remoto sobre sua trajetória, suas aspirações, suas fantasias. E foi isso exatamente que ocorreu.

The figures were culled from the 20th issue of the Webshopper report, issued August 18 by e-commerce monitoring company E-bit. According to the company director, Pedro Guasti, the growth rate was expected to be between 20% and 25%.

According to the survey, sales of electric appliances were one of the factors that contributed the most to the result, due to the reduction of the Tax on Industrialized Products (IPI) for the so-called white-line products.

The report highlights that the reduction of the IPI made electric household appliances cheaper by up to 20%. In June, they ranked second in the list of most sold products, and accounted for 13% of total orders.

Trade Surplus

Brazil posted a trade surplus of US$ 680 million in the second week of August, according to the Brazilian Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade. During that period, exports totaled US$ 3.192 billion and imports, US$ 2.512 billion.

Up until the second week this month, exports totaled US$ 6.466 billion and imports, US$ 4.851 billion. The trade surplus during the period was US$ 1.615 billion.

The trade surplus from January until the second week of August was US$ 18.528 billion, a figure 22.8% higher than in the same period of 2008 (US$ 15.083 billion). So far this year, exports total US$ 90.561 billion and imports, US$ 72.033 billion.

ABr

This is not a Brazilian genetic problem. It results from the limitations of our elementary and secondary education in generating thinkers who meet the world’s highest standards.

More than any other professional, the intellectual is a product of society and relies upon the intellectual stimulation of his or her surroundings. For thinking to advance to the international level, intellectual activity demands dialogue and debate. But Brazil does not have an intellectual mass and falls into a vicious circle: being a nation of few intellectuals impoverishes everyone both in the number of intellectuals and in the level of Brazilian intellectual life.

The dialogue and debate are limited to the very few persons who graduate from a good secondary school, attend a good university, have a good breadth of reading, know the classics in each area of knowledge, develop their potential to historic and international levels. With the immense majority of the population excluded from intellectual activities, the few educated Brazilians stand out without much competition.

Eighty percent of adults hardly finish secondary school. They read no more than a few books over the course of their entire lives. Among the rest, at the maximum 5% manage to complete a reasonable course of studies, acquire a minimum of intermediately solid culture. It is thus relatively easy for them to achieve recognition as scholars in this country, but not abroad.

The quota of exclusion of the others protects our intellectuals. The Brazilian intellectuals have space because those without quality schools remain excluded. Even the quota for black university students is exclusionary since it seeks to privilege race but only for those who finish their secondary education and not for the millions without a good elementary and secondary education.

By excluding millions of Brazilians from school, we are throwing away the geniuses left behind. We are reducing the number of those who have access to the quality school; we are diminishing the level of work demanded in the education of those who study.

We leave millions of Brazilians uneducated and have educated Brazilians without competition who have made accommodations because of the educational poverty surrounding them. Under these conditions, even the good school becomes bad. To survive and to stand out, the intellectual elite does not need to be good: they stand out without making an effort.

This proves the old saying “In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.” That is the rule for creating thinkers in Brazil.

We do not have a Nobel Laureate but we have many of the world’s best soccer players. Because no boy is excluded in soccer, all boys have the same chance on the improvised soccer field.

Our players are outstanding there abroad because their preparation is the result of competition with everyone here inside the country, all those boys between the ages of four and eighteen. Thus is national competition elevated to world standards. The ones who win are the best and the most persistent. And since the majority of Brazilians are poor, most of the soccer stars come, naturally, from the poorest strata of Brazilian society.

In education, the exact opposite happens. It is as if Brazil were a ship filled with children and young people, throwing 60 boys and girls into the sea per minute during the years of elementary and secondary education (200 days per year with four hours of class per day). The debate is restricted to the few who arrive at the end without competition and without the need to study much.

If, back there in Recife where I grew up, all the boys and girls had parents who gave them the incentive to study, as I had; had access to good schools, as I had; had siblings and friends who studied and read, as I had; had a good faculty, not only in their area but also in the debate of ideas, as I had, then you would not be reading this article. Because someone better would have taken my place. Or, perhaps, the competition would have made me a better writer.

On the one hand, I was the beneficiary: Few Brazilians were competing for the space I achieved. On the other, I was diminished since I did not have to compete with a greater number. The same happens with Brazil: it has remained behind because it left many Brazilians behind.

Cristovam Buarque is a professor at the University of Brasília and a PDT senator for the Federal District. You can visit his website – www.cristovam.org.br – and write to him at cristovam@senado.gov.br.

Translated from the Portuguese by Linda Jerome LinJerome@cs.com.

Siciliano, a traditional Brazilian bookstore chain founded in 1928, owns 52 stores and 11 franchisees, being present in 13 of the Brazilian states and also in Brazilian capital Brasí­lia.

According to a note by Saraiva, the operations of both bookstores are complementary, with low overlapping stores. While Siciliano stores are located in important commercial areas Saraiva does not have a significant penetration.

Siciliano not-audited gross revenues in 2007 reached approximately 156 million reais (US$ 93 million), with 151 million reais (US$ 90 million) from its retailing operations and 5 million reais (US$ 3 million) from its publishing business, which include publications under the Arx, Futura, Caramelo and Arxjovem brand names.

The price is still subject to adjustments due to variations in Siciliano's net debt position as well as its working capital between November 30, 2007, and the present date.

According to the press release, "With this acquisition, Livraria Saraiva (1) shows its confidence in the future of the book retailing market and in the growth of the Brazilian publishing sector, (2) fosters an interest in culture by enhancing the purchasing experience of Siciliano's clients, (3) reconfirms its expansion strategy, increases and strengthens its chain, aimed at providing a better service to its clients, (4) seeks scale gains, and (5) increases its client base.

Besides its 36 stores, Livraria Saraiva has an e-commerce website operation, which contributed roughly one third of the Company's gross revenue in 2007. The Super Store concept was introduced in Brazil by Saraiva in 1996 and the company was one of the first online book retailers.

Besides books, the company also offers CDs, DVDs, magazines, stationary, select electronics items and information technology. Its catalog has almost 1.5 million items. In 2007 the firm organized nearly 2.7 thousand events in its stores and received more than 20 million visits.

Siciliano, on the other hand, was founded in 1928 by Pedro Siciliano and, in the early years, sold only newspapers and magazines. The first bookstore was opened in the city of São Paulo in 1942, and it was the beginning of one of the largest bookstores chains in Brazil.

In 1998 the company started its editorial business, publishing children's books and literature in general. Six years later Siciliano acquired the Berkeley Brasil publishing house and entered into the information technology publishing business.

In 1996, these two publishing houses became one, selling content through four brand names: Arx, fiction and non-fiction books; Futura, general business literature, technical and information technology publications; Caramelo, specialized in children's literature; and Arxjovem, whose main publishing lines are fiction and non-fiction books for teenagers.

The following year, Siciliano launched its e-commerce web site.

In 1998 the North American fund Darby Overseas Investments, Ltd. acquired 35% of Siciliano share capital. In 2004 the company started to franchise its brand name.

Today Siciliano has franchisees in the cities of Caxias do Sul (Rio Grande do Sul State), Fortaleza (Ceará), Mossoró (Rio Grande do Norte), Jundiaí­ (São Paulo State), Rio (Rio de Janeiro), Natal (Rio Grande do Norte), Rio Claro (São Paulo), São Carlos (São Paulo) and São Vicente (São Paulo).

According to the Brazilian Book Chamber (CBL) data, the book industry in Brazil is still very fragmented and its revenue reaches approximately 3 billion reais (US$ 1.8 billion) annually (2006 data). In the US, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles and Borders together sold more than US$ 12 billion in 2006.

The National Bookstore Association registers more than 2,600 bookstores in Brazil. The United States has less than 3,000 of them. 1800 stores are shared between the two big chains Borders and Barnes & Noble.

The new units should be opened in Mexico, Angola and Spain. The bookshop already has five shops in Portugal and five in Spain.

According to information disclosed by a spokesperson for the company, perspectives for this year are for Nobel to open five more units in Portugal and Spain, as well as starting negotiations in the United States. In Brazil, the forecast is to open another 30 shops by the end of the year.

Livraria Nobel works in three formats: Nobel Express, Nobel Books and Stationery and Nobel Mega Store, which offers not only books but also CDs, DVDs and stationery.

The bookstore was started by Italian immigrant Claudio Milano in 1943 in São Paulo, in the Brazilian southeast. Initially they published apostilhas, which are typewritten or mimeographed texts used by students in Brazil when books are not available.

The franchise system began in 1992. Now, they have more than 150 shops spread all over the country and overseas.

The article stated that in the year 2000, the government of New Delhi, in partnership with an information technology company, conceived a project for street kids using computers having Internet access.

The project was developed along the lines of what was termed "minimally invasive education". This article re-entered my thoughts from time to time as I was thinking of doing something similar in the same favelas I had been involved with while doing previous educational projects.

However, for the time being, I had set aside my thoughts regarding the article while spending a part of the month of July in a community in southeast Brazil in the mountains. While there, I used to go to public libraries which belonged to the community in my free time.

Some of the libraries were small but with wonderful books. It was there that I realized the importance of libraries regardless of size. It wasn’t even necessary that the books have been purchased by the library, as I discovered that many of them were donated. I read some books which really touched me profoundly.

After returning to Maceió in northeast Brazil, I felt inspired to donate some books of my own. These were mainly ones I hadn’t read in years. They had only been taking up space. Prior to my donating them, I had spoken to a community leader in Vale do Reginaldo (Reginaldo Valley) and asked him if he would be interested.

He had assured me that he was. I also donated the bookshelf I owned as I was moving to a smaller house and this bookshelf would not fit within my new home. The community leader smiled widely as he informed me that the association would gladly welcome the furniture as they barely had any. The bookshelf, containing the donated books, fit well there.

This association specifically deals with those living in the poorest part of Vale do Reginaldo where the crime rate is at the highest. Its location lies at a crossroads which connects to many groves or small favelas in Vale do Reginaldo and the suburb of Jacintinho.

Along with the chairs, the bookshelf, with its books and magazines, caught the resident’s attention since the association has such few pieces of furniture. It was immediately noticed by those who gathered to receive milk from the government’s Zero Hunger Project.

While people were waiting their turn, some of them started reading the books and expressed interest in borrowing them. When I heard about this, I felt quite happy. I had no means to engage in the concept of "minimally invasive education" with computers, like in New Delhi. Nevertheless, books could substitute for computers, serving the same purpose within the favela communities.

One day, I asked the community leader, along with the other members of the association to let me know what projects would best serve their interests. Believe it or not people mentioned books, magazines, and having a way to interact with something new that previously had been inaccessible in their day to day living.

To my surprise the book Cure and Health Through Food was one of the most requested. Cook books were requested mainly by women. Meanwhile, the younger adults were more interested in Brazilian and foreign literature, self-help, psychology, spiritual books, basic math and Brazilian Portuguese grammar books.

English easy readers were desired by the few who learned English through the English teaching project. This motivated us to set up a properly organized small reading room; I don’t know if I can yet call it a small library, but we are coming to that, mainly because of the continuous interest in the variety of subjects that were mentioned above.

A lot of people living outside favelas communities think that they are comprised of only illiterate people. In reality there are those who are. However, there are also a lot of favela residents who are hardworking despite their low income jobs. They make an effort to study at night, even though tired, and take their children to school.

There are also different levels of poverty, most visible among the newcomers, who don’t know anybody yet, and have just enough land for a small shack. They have come to try life in the city, the majority having left the countryside where they have been expelled by the selfish sugar cane plantation owners. Since there is one crop farming in the poor Northeast, it has left many basically enslaved to those who produce the cane.

At night, the humble place where the association is located is quite dangerous. Shots can be heard as it is central to many groves. Approximately one month after the small book donation, when the association building was opened in the morning, it was discovered that some books were stolen by someone who had put their hands through the top window where they could reach part of the bookshelf.

When I was told this, I don’t know why, but I was not disappointed. In some way, which I don’t know how to explain, I was happy, because I intuitively felt that if the stolen books fed the soul of the person who took them, in some way, it might start transforming something within himself and this justified the attempt to set up the small reading room.

As Paulo Freire said "Education cannot change the world but can change the people and people can change the world." Anyway the hole in the window was repaired. Other books from the bookshelf will be lent just as soon as the association gets done cataloging the additional ones, which we have started receiving.

Setting up a small library in those communities became viable for me on a volunteer basis once my teaching role with the English project in the favelas (1) ended. This happened after the project got organized and put in the hands of the community leaders.

It was so motivating to me to see the response to the books I’d brought into the community. Secondly, the course I was taking online, via Cidade do Conhecimento (City of Knowledge) from USP – University of São Paulo, made me become more aware of the viability of social collaborative, collective intelligence, and social constructivism.

That made me realize that, despite not having computers in the favela, nor my school, that what I was learning in the virtual world could be brought to the favela communities through establishing the library.

Organizing the Library

As I said, I learned a lot about how I could make use of information technology to teach in the classroom. However, my reality was very different, even as a teacher navigating my school computer at a speed of 50 Kb, as one Internet connection serves a network of seven computers.

The teacher’s room only has two computers which are shared by more than twenty teachers. Thus, you can imagine how slow it is. Anyhow this did not leave me unmotivated. I started adapting and that’s how things got started.

I told all my students that the oral assignment would be completely different this semester if they agreed. The idea was for them to think as successful employees of a company and our school would function as the company.

The students from all my classes were divided into groups of four and five, and they had to think of an idea of a social project to benefit a poor needy community and they had to make a presentation to the company (school) or the leadership of their own suburb.

From there, the best ideas it would be chosen with the purpose of being collectively applied. I told the students that a "crossed fertilization" of all good ideas would be made available to them so that we would incorporate each student. If everybody had Internet access we would have done this online, but that lack did not stop us.

We got a practical idea from a semester 4 student, a Librarian from Federal University of Alagoas, after telling him about the experience I had with Vale do Reginaldo Association. He suggested requesting the donation of books via the University Library authorized by an official document from the Association of Vale do Reginaldo.

This was done by the president of the association with our help, along with the aid of a volunteer social worker. More books started to arrive. We did not have anywhere to put them as the association lacked furniture. However, we had the most important thing, the library books. When my school was told about the project, it was agreed that they would sponsor 6 bookshelves of two meters each, plus one fan. They ended up following through with their agreement.

Community Takes Over

Once the books were there, along with the bookshelves and community interest, we had to empower local volunteers to manage the library. The day of the training for organizing the library was a Saturday morning. A librarian, a social worker named Viviane Cristine Cavalcanti de
Melo, and I were voluntarily on hand to help train the community participants .

In the beginning, three young volunteers showed up. We were led by Wálter, the professional librarian. First, we chatted with everybody before starting. Then we had to find a good place for the bookshelves and Wálter positioned them so well that they gave the Association a new look.

Next, Wálter started separating the books by subject. We grouped the books according to the themes Wálter used to separate them into, handing them over to the kids to place in the bookshelves. Our intention in doing so was to teach them where each subject belonged as they would be the ones to lend them to the community.

After the books were arranged on the shelves, it gave a completely different feel to the association building. In fact, a street cleaner who entered the community center continued staring at them and said, "It is beautiful!"

We got the job done except for leaving three boxes of books for the students to separate them by subject themselves as a way of practicing what they had learned. After two weeks, we will meet to check and start cataloguing the books. I told the volunteers from the community the good news.

This made them even more excited about being able to help. I told them that we might get a scholarship or two for the volunteers who are going to help in the library but this we would have to confirm with the ex-volunteer from England, who’d previously worked with the English project, as he was the one who had offered the donation.

The Story Behind the Donation

How a Civil Court Case, Brought on Behalf of a Dog, Caused the English Volunteer to Donate the Money to Our Worthy Cause

One Friday morning in August 2006, I met a friend of mine, the ex-volunteer from the Project, who is an English native speaker. He has been living in Brazil for more than 12 years and teaches English in a classy posh English language private school in Maceió, northeast Brazil.

He said to me that he knew that I was no longer active in the English language project in the favelas, but asked if I was involved in the favelas in another project. I replied that I was helping to set up a favela library with a library student and social worker, both volunteers, and explained what was happening in detail.

He smiled widely, told me he wanted to contribute and asked what could be bought, or done, to further the small library project. I said that I’d accept his help as long as he could donate some time to the project. He agreed.

A few years ago, a Rio de Janeiro veterinarian, based in Maceió, had been in charge of an adoption center for dogs. This veterinarian diagnosed his dog with Leishmaniasis and said that the animal needed to be put to sleep. My friend took him at face value and, unfortunately, allowed him to do so.

As my friend had four dogs, exams were conducted on the other three. The same veterinarian said that two of the others needed to be euthanized also due to the same problem. However, my friend did not permit this veterinarian to put to sleep the other two .

It rang a bell with George when he later heard from his wife that this same veterinarian is a specialist in euthanizing animals. Furthermore, she found out that once, in a condominium in Maceió, he had diagnosed 20 dogs with the same disease and put down all of them. This made George angry and it was then that he decided to sue this veterinarian.

As he consulted other veterinarians about his same two dogs, the same type of testing was conducted. These tests were sent out to anonymous laboratories in Maceió and neither this veterinarian nor the dog’s owner knew which lab was verifying the results. When they came back negative, it furnished the proof my friend needed to sue the first veterinarian.

The case gained a lot of attention and my friend won. Meanwhile, the Carioca veterinarian no longer lived in Maceió. He was living in another northeast Capital. He had been suspended from his job duties.

The dog who was put to sleep was a Doberman. George had told us about a time that he had gone for a lengthy walk on the beach. He reached a distant section where there were many people. A group of them suddenly appeared from the vegetation in front of George. They hadn’t noticed the dog standing behind him. Just before the people approached further, the dog put itself in the middle of George and the group, and barked fiercely at them, making them run away.

This became significant when my friend told me that, in the meantime, he had a dream about the dog. He felt like his dog’s spirit was trying to appear to him. In someway, that he doesn’t know how to explain, the dog instructed him to go further in the judicial proceeding against the veterinarian. The message in the dream was along the lines that the veterinarian was responsible for killing, push on more, go further.

Thus my friend asked his lawyer to ask for financial compensation. George won and was happy because he now had both justice for his dog as well as having made the veterinarian spend money on three air tickets from Natal since he was required to be present during the proceedings.

At this time, George said that he could donate 1,100 reais (US$ 465,50) towards the project. This was the money he had won from suing the veterinarian. He said that the case had taken a long time to settle and the money had just come through. He looked at it as blood money. Therefore, he would like to use it towards a worthwhile cause.

A Worthwhile Donation

That’s how we got the scholarship for the volunteers from the community. a table that seats eight in the Association of Vale do Reginaldo, and the bookshelves for starting another small library in the community of Grota do Arroz.

George, in accordance with the rest of the group, decided that the best thing to do with the money he donated was to buy a table, the same color as the bookshelves, which seat eight. This way, more people who wanted to use the association library would have a place to sit. On top of the table we would lay out a community newspaper and magazines. Though the table we found is designed to seat eight people, we fit 10 chairs around it.

With the rest of the money, we decided to invest in a scholarship for five months at a information technology training school, which was within walking distance from Vale do Reginaldo. The location was important so that the recipient would not have to pay for bus fare.

The young adults who volunteered to help at the library’s inception did not know about this scholarship. When I told them, at the midway point of setting up the library, their faces changed considerably to reflect their joy. The enrollment took place three days afterwards.

An emphasis was put on the importance of computer skills which would be used throughout their lives and for the future of the library. Someday, they might not only have a local library, but one linked with other branches, opening doors for their communities to have computers linked to the Internet. This was also an opportunity to build experience with these computer skills which would be helpful in aiding their own community and getting others involved to help as well.

The other part of the US$ 465,50 dollars was invested in the Grota do Arroz Community by using it to purchase a roof fan. This was needed since the heat, where the English project meets, is unbearable for both the teacher and the students. Additionally, it covered five bookshelves bought for the Association of Grota do Arroz. The idea was to finish the job in Reginaldo and then start there.

To my surprise, within the first week ex-students from the English teaching project and other people in the community, upon seeing the donations, began a campaign themselves to get used books. They even got a volunteer librarian to help them. Their contribution was great, and we could not have been happier. They even wrote a donation request asking for books. We were so proud of that.

After finishing buying the furniture for the Library, roof fans, bookshelves and providing the scholarship for the people in the community, George said that he felt relieved. He had now seen with his own eyes what he was contributing to and had personally met the people he was helping.

The Volunteers from the multidisciplinary team who are professionally organizing the libraries, and the residents involved, hope that other communities will open up other possibilities within them. Then we can expand, one step at a time, once people from those same communities have become empowered to do so.

After all, this became possible through the seed of inspiration sparked from the article on "minimally invasive education" followed by Wálter’s idea of slowly establishing an official library, and social worker, Viviane’s, help to focus the group on empowering the people in order to get them and their community involved.

We hope that once the communities got a vision of what has been accomplished, they will want to participate themselves. Donations are important, but people definitely must contribute their time to make the project successful.

Four people had another good idea. They suggested establishing a way to diagnose a problem within a needy community and resolve to work on it in a way that would facilitate change. One alumni of mine, a lawyer, said that for justice to act, it needs to be provoked. Therefore, I spoke about this problem to many people in the communities in need where there are no birth records because of the lack of funds. The result is that they are left citizens on the margin of society.

My alumni student drew up an official document citing two articles from the 1988 Federal Constitution of Brasil. I supplemented it by adding information about the community’s problems and the intervention of international organizations, in this case The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and The World Health Organization (WHO).

Viviane, in accordance with her professional experience in the area of health, added to the document. She stressed the importance of a birth registry. This relates not only to resolving questions of citizenship, but also that of public health. This had previously been cited with reference to the National Program of Immunization – PNI. In order to receive immunizations, one has to have registered the birth of their child.

After revising the official document, it was shown to the leader of the community. Acting on behalf of the association, he will be sending a request to the justices of the Tribunal Court after the elections, which will happen this October 29.

The name of the person who represents the judicial institutions has been omitted as this document won’t be sent until the election’s results are in. It also lacks the authorization of the Clerk of Court who officializes the document under the name of the president of the Judicial Court in the case that he hears the petition of the Community of the Valley of Reginaldo II.

Esteemed Sir:

_______________________________

President of the Distinguished Court of

Justice of the State of Alagoas

I make this appeal to your honor, as President of the Community Association representing the residents of Reginaldo II. It is asked that the court provide for the presence of an itinerant judge in our community for the purpose of drawing up basic documents, to which all citizens have a right, such as the Birth Certificate, Federal Identity Card, etc, for people who live in an extreme state of social exclusion without, at most times, the financial means to pay for these services.

Therefore, this petition has as its objective the goal of proper citizenship and promotes the dignity to which all humans have a right in accordance with what has previously been set forth in Article 1, sections II and III of the Federal Constitution of 1988.

Our community remains a major area of international focus due to the presence of lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis) in the State of Alagoas according to the World Health Organization and the Pan American Organization of Health. These organizations were financing medicine from Switzerland through a contract they entered into with the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL, FUNASA) and the Municipal Secretary of Health of Maceió.

I’d like to point out that the presence of an itinerant judge is needed to attend to this and other questions of public health, since there are presently various children who are not being attended to by the National Program of Immunization. In the municipality, they have been denied vaccinations since no Birth Registry exists.

I am certain that we can count on the support of the Justice Tribunal to promote fairness for its citizens.

I await your contact at number 9103—–(talk with——). 

Sincerely, President of Vale do Reginaldo Community.

(1) English project in the favelas – This project was one I conceived and in which I served as a professor and volunteer coordinator for almost six years. It continues today under community supervision. I left the project after I became aware of the need to delegate responsibility to those the project benefits.

I saw that my mission as a professional and citizen, conscious of the inequalities existing within society, was no longer being fulfilled through this project. Currently I continue with other volunteer projects, such as the library, in which I have the aid of a multidisciplinary team.

The course website I mention in the first paragraph can be found at www.cidade.usp.br/educar. And the original article that inspired me can be read here: www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue7_7/warschauer

P.S. – Previous information about the Teaching English Project can be read at the following links from Brazzil Magazine.

https://www.brazzil.com/content/view/9373/79/

https://www.brazzil.com/content/view/1646/57/

Antônio Ângelo Farias da Silva, lives in Maceió, in the Brazilian Northeast and can be contacted at aafdasilva@gmail.com.br.

Brazil’s Ministry of Education (MEC) allocated US$ 414,000 (1 million reais) from the Literate Brazil program to edit indigenous literary works, which have already been selected and are on their way to the printers.

Initially, there will be 22 titles with editions in varying quantities and in different languages, such as macaxali, pataxó, xakriabá, xavante, and bororo.

According to the general coordinator of Indigenous School Instruction in the MEC, Kleber Gesteira, part of the collection will be distributed by year-end to schools in indigenous villages.

“The works are so that people who are learning to read and write or who have just become literate have reading material in their mother tongue,” he explained. The partnership to produce the books is between Literate Brazil and the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG).

The books were writtten by indigenous authors, most of whom live near the Negro and Xingu Rivers and come from the states of Mato Grosso, Pernambuco, Minas Gerais, and Amazonas. According to Gesteira, some of the funds from Literate Brazil will be used in 2006.

There are presently 2,228 indigenous schools in Brazil, with 147 thousand students enrolled in basic education. Approximately 90% of the 7,500 teachers who work at these schools are also of indigenous origin.

In 2006, in addition to the literary works, the communities will receive CDs, DVDs, videotapes, maps, games, and posters. They are part of the teaching materials to be used in the classroom.

A group of 71 projects designed to valorize the oral culture of these peoples was analyzed in Brasí­lia at a meeting of the Commission for the Support of the Production of Teaching Materials (Capema). The commission is made up of 16 members, including eight indigenous teachers, as well as educational specialists.

Agência Brasil

The rural libraries program Arca das Letras (Chest of Letters) developed by the Brazilian Ministry of Agrarian Development (Ministério do Desenvolvimento Agrário, MDA), will be implemented in East Timor.

The objective is to foster the consolidation of the Portuguese language in that country.

Three libraries were sent to East Timor this Sunday, May 15, in airplanes of the Brazilian Air Force (Força Aérea Brasileira, FAB), which will bring back Brazilian soldiers that are currently on United Nations peace mission.

Fifty percent of East Timor adults are illiterate. In spite of having being colonized by Portugal, only 15% of the population speaks Portuguese. The country has a great linguistic diversity, in addition to Portuguese, they speak the Bahasa Indonesian, Tetum, plus 35 dialects.

The three libraries have a total of 832 titles, including Brazilian literature for children, youth and adults, as well as publications in the areas of health, citizenship, education, and agriculture. The chests used for keeping the books are made by Brazilian prisoners.

The Chest of Letters is a partnership of the MDA and the Brazilian Embassy in Dili, capital of East Timor, with the support of FAB and of the Ministries of Education and Culture.

In addition to the donation of the libraries, the partnership also includes recruiting and training of reading agents, which will later become the project’s multiplying agents.

In Brazil, rural libraries have already been implemented in 607 communities of 12 Brazilian states, benefiting more than 51 thousand families with the distribution of 146 thousand books.

Agência Brasil

The Rural Libraries program, Book Chest, run by Brazil’s Ministry of Agrarian Development’s (MDA) Secretariat of Agrarian Restructuring, will be present at the 14th International Book Fair, in Cuba, from February 3 to 13, in Havana’s San Carlo de la Cabaí±a Fortress. Brazil will be a special guest.

The Book Chest (Arca das Letras, in Portuguese) project was created in December, 2003, for the purpose of undertaking specific measures to meet the need for libraries in rural areas.

According to the coordinator of the program, Cleide Soares, “each community participates in the choice of books it wants to have, where the library will function, and who will act as voluntary literary agents, in charge of handling the books.”

Each library has a different stock of books, in accordance with the demands of residents of the municipality. Each Chest holds around 200 books. But the number of titles can be even greater.

“Over time the libraries’ stocks are updated. The project continues to send new titles, and we encourage the communities to organize local campaigns to collect more books. The Chest is just a nucleus,” the coordinator explains.

The partnership between the MDA and the Ministries of Education, Culture, and Justice has already distributed 437 Chests, in 2004, and hopes to deliver another thousand units all over Brazil this year.

The Book Chest sent to the International Fair in Cuba will be donated to an institution selected by the Cuban government. It should be useful to both the Brazilians who study or live in Cuba and the Cubans themselves.

Translation: David Silberstein
Agência Brasil