Questões de Inglês - Vocabulary

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Why do so many families make the difficult and dangerous journey to migrate to the USA?

I have spent much of the last decade conducting on-the-ground fieldwork along the migration paths through Mexico, seeking answers to this question. The region‘s extreme poverty and violent impunity are central factors that drive migration.

Yet every migrant‘s story is unique. Some simply seek the chance to earn enough money to ensure a better future for themselves or their children. Others flee persecution at the hands of gangs, organized crime or corrupt state officials. For others, insecurity and poverty are so intertwined that drawing them apart becomes impossible.

"Falling deeper into debt‟

Extreme poverty and inequality haunt the region. Today, about half of all Central Americans – and two-thirds of the rural populations of Guatemala and Honduras – survive below the international poverty line.

Meanwhile, throughout the 21st century, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador have consistently counted among the most murderous nations in the world. Many Central American migrants are simply desperate to find work that pays enough to feed their families. U.S. asylum law provides no relief for these "economic refugees."

I met Roberto Quijones in a migrant shelter in the Mexican state of Tabasco, about 25 mile north of the Mexico‘s southern border with Guatemala. We spoke as he soaked his blistered feet and tried to mend his busted shoes with duct tape.

Roberto is from a rural town in northwestern El Salvador near the border with Honduras and Guatemala, and had been out of work for two years. For more than a year, he and his wife and their 2-year-old daughter had been living with an aunt. Their welcome had worn thin.

And even for those who can find work, extremely low wages cannot cover families‘ basic needs, destroying hope for a better future.

Ethics and survival

The images and stories of Central Americans caged at the border awaiting processing expose how the U.S. immigration system was never designed to deal with this many people fleeing these kinds of problems.

In the hopes of getting better treatment at the border, some migrants have resorted to pretending to be part of family units, or lying about their age. This kind of "gaming the system" may be ethically questionable, but viewed from the perspective of survival, it makes perfect sense.

Such strategies speak most of all of collective desperation, begging a question posed by many of the Central American migrants I have met over the years: "If you were me, what would you do?"

Disponível em: https://theconversation.com/migrants-stories-why-they-flee114725. Acesso em 21 Mar. 2022.[Adaptado]

[1]   In the minds of many, the words Brazil and culture

conjure up images of beaches, footballers and dancers in

vivid carnival costumes. Filmmaking and cinema, on the

[4] other hand, haven’t always figured amongst Brazil’s cultural

staples.

  Repressed and censored by a military dictatorship

[7] throughout much of the 1970s and 1980s, Brazilian

filmmakers struggled to make an impact on audiences abroad.

Shortly after the country’s return to democracy, the Ministry

[10] of Culture was closed and the state-supported film industry

crumbled almost overnight. The consequent lack of funding

caused Brazilian cinema to reach a low point in the early

[13] 1990s. Today, less than two decades after the collapse of the

industry, Brazilian cinema is enjoying a renaissance, wowing

audiences and critics alike.

[16]   So, why all the excitement over Brazilian cinema now?

Since the start of 2008 Brazilian films have gone from

strength to strength on the festival circuit.

[19]   In February 2008, director Jose Padilha’s controversial

drama about police violence and corruption, Elite Squad, took

Berlin Film Festival’s top award, the Golden Bear.

[22]   Another triumph followed at Cannes Film Festival

in April. Sandra Corvelloni won the best actress award for

her role in Walter Salles’ Linha de Passe. She plays a

[25] heavily pregnant, chain-smoking mother of four boys who

are all in their own ways attempting to transcend their

working-class lives.

[28]   Salles’ film was also nominated for the prestigious

Palme d’Or, as was Blindness, the latest offering from

fellow Brazilian and director of City of God, Fernando Meirelles.

[31]   Brazilian films are all about favelas and violence, then?

Indeed, one of the most celebrated Brazilian releases of the

past years, 2003’s City of God, as well as this year’s Elite

[34] Squad, feature ultra-violent narratives set mainly in slums,

or favelas, as they are known in Brazil. Both of these films,

incidentally, were scripted by screenwriter Braulio Mantovani.

[37] Both films were widely acclaimed for their honesty and

gripping storytelling, but condemned by certain critics for

excessive depictions of violence.

[40]   At the time of its release, City of God — which has

inspired a whole genre of imitators with its fast-paced editing

and bright colors — was accused of glamorizing cruelty.

[43]   Similarly, Elite Squad has been said to promote

fascism, as it depicts the often-brutal methods employed by

Brazil’s special police force in the ongoing battle with drug

[46] gangs in the favelas. Variety magazine even dubbed

Padilha’s oeuvre “a recruitment film for fascist thugs”, with

Rambo style heroes.

[49]   But Padilha defends the film’s violent tone, insisting

that it was necessary in order to drive home its message.

“The bottom line is we are trying to say that the whole

[52] violence that goes on in Rio is mainly caused by ourselves

and we can possibly undo that”, he told CNN.

  Other Brazilian directors are taking a less bloody

[55] approach in telling the stories, of the working classes. Lucia

Murat’s Mare, Nossa História de Amor, for example, is a

musical adaptation of Romeo and Juliet set in one of Rio’s

[58] hillside shantytowns — a novelty in Brazilian cinema.

Internet: (adapted).

In the text,

Brazil stops demarcating land for indigenous people: ex-government agency official says

    Home to the world’s largest tropical forest, Brazil has lost about one fifth of the Amazon rainforest in the last 50 years, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Research by the U.S.-based World Resources Institute shows that deforestation rates on land formally owned by indigenous peoples are about 2.5 times lower than other areas since they are more likely to conserve the forest than other users.
    But politicians representing rural voters¹ oppose demarcating new territories for indigenous groups, saying the land ought to be used for farming or cattle ranching to boost economic growth in the recession-hit country. Marcio Santilli, former FUNAI president, said rural politicians were proposing new steps to the demarcation process, which would make it “virtually endless”. He also said they were also proposing that Congress, rather than FUNAI or the Justice Ministry, make decisions on which lands are demarcated to indigenous groups.
(Chris Arsenault. www.reuters.com, 11.01.2017. Adaptado.)
 

¹ Politicians representing rural voters: bancada ruralista no Congresso Nacional.

[1]     Mexico City once had the world’s worst air, with skies
so poisonous that birds dropped dead in flight. Today, efforts
to clean the smog are showing visible progress, revealing
[4] stunning views of snow-capped volcanoes — and offering a
model for the developing world. International experts are
praising the country’s progress. Many say its determined efforts
[7] to control auto emissions and other environmental effects of
rapid urbanization offer practical lessons to cities in China,
India and other fast-growing countries. Mexican officials have
[10] attacked the root causes of pollution that plagues many large
urban centers with spiraling growth. They plan to further
reduce vehicle emissions, which are the city’s greatest source
[13] of pollution. Pemex, the state oil monopoly, plans to build a
US$9.3 billion plant to produce low-sulfur fuel. Mexico City
Mayor Marcelo Ebrard is expanding the low-emissions
[16] Metrobus system, which has eliminated 80,000 tons of carbon
monoxide annually since 2005. Officials plan to add hybrid
buses. A suburban train system is to replace hundreds of
[19] thousands of vehicles.

        The potential payoff for such efforts is now in sight:
Mexico City does not even rank among the top 10 polluted
[22] cities worldwide. Mexico City appears to have cut most of its
pollutants at least by half, while recent studies show a number
of cities in China and India recording higher levels of the most
[25] serious pollutants. In 1992, the United Nations declared
Mexico City the most polluted on the planet. High ozone levels
were thought to cause 1,000 deaths and 35,000 hospitalizations
[28] a year. Mexico was forced to act. It replaced the city’s sootbelching
old cars, removed lead from gasoline, embraced
natural gas, expanded public transportation, and relocated
[31] refineries and factories. Change was gradual, but the pace has
quickened in recent years. The presence of lead in the air has
dropped by 90 percent since 1990. Suspended particles –
[34] pieces of dust, soot or chemicals that lodge in lungs and cause
asthma, emphysema or cancer – have been cut by 70 percent.
Carbon monoxide and other pollutants also have been
[37] drastically reduced.
Anne-Marie O’Connor. Mexico City drastically reduced air pollutants since the 1990s. In: The Washington Post. Internet: <www.washingtonpost.com>.

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