Yesterday, Amy did 10 minutes on Dilma with guest Greg Grandin.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff: From Imprisoned Guerrilla Fighter to "The Most Powerful Woman in the World"

Brazil has made history with the swearing-in of its first female president. On Saturday, Dilma Rousseff received the presidential sash from outgoing President Lula da Silva at a ceremony in the capital Brasília. In the 1960s, Rousseff was a guerrilla resisting Brazil’s military dictatorship. She was imprisoned and tortured for three years. We speak with Greg Grandin, professor of Latin American history at New York University.

http://www.democracynow.org/2011/1/3/brazilian_president_dilma_rousseff_from_imprisoned

who seems to be talking about what his presidency meant to him. W/ subtitles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XikoNv67uME&feature=watch_response

Appreciated the chance to hear the short clip with Lula, as well.

Had never really thought about the pressure he took on himself by represesnting the workers when he became the President. He didn't let them or himself down. What a precious man.

Thank you.

Rec.

and thrilled that Dilma Rousseff overcame so many obstacles to win this resounding victory for women, for workers and the poor and for all who have been oppressed, tortured and murdered by U.S.-backed fascist regimes in Brazil and throughout Latin America--a horror that still continues in U.S. client states such as Colombia and Honduras. Rousseff will be a very powerful force against U.S. interference and bullying, as was her mentor Lula.

I noticed something quite telling in the vid of Rousseff's reception line. Democracy Now cut it off, unfortunately, but picked up the tail of it later. And it was this: Rousseff shook hands with Hillary (the Democracy Now footage was focused on that handshake) but Rouseff was LOOKING AT SOMEONE ELSE and smiling with delight at this person who was off camera (the next person waiting to congratulate her). Her eyes shifted very quickly off Hillary--almost rudely quickly--to this next person. It was a cold cut-off of Hillary in favor of that next person. I was really annoyed that DN cut off who was next.

Then, later in the DN piece, they showed Rousseff greeting Hugo Chavez with great delight. She smiled and hugged him warmly. And guess who was just leaving her? Hillary! So the person that she had been looking PAST Hillary to greet so profusely was Chavez!

This was so noticeable, when I pieced it together, as to be almost a diplomatic flap. She brushed off Hillary--barely looked at her, then looked at Chavez (who was next) with a big smile and initiated a hug with him.

I know some rightwingers here were trying to make something of Chavez leaving the Rousseff reception early. In fact, they lied that he didn't go at all. But he was clearly there AND CLEARLY BEING PREFERRED by Rousseff. One of our rightwingers invented a whole "Alice in Wonderland" fantasy about the other leaders of Latin America "isolating" Chavez, and the U.S. Senate being briefed on Chavez being crazy, and blah, blah, blah. This fantasy was completely out of touch with reality.

And check this out:



The United States didn't get a very warm reception in Brazil.

From your post:

I noticed something quite telling in the vid of Rousseff's reception line. Democracy Now cut it off, unfortunately, but picked up the tail of it later. And it was this: Rousseff shook hands with Hillary (the Democracy Now footage was focused on that handshake) but Rouseff was LOOKING AT SOMEONE ELSE and smiling with delight at this person who was off camera (the next person waiting to congratulate her). Her eyes shifted very quickly off Hillary--almost rudely quickly--to this next person. It was a cold cut-off of Hillary in favor of that next person. I was really annoyed that DN cut off who was next.

Then, later in the DN piece, they showed Rousseff greeting Hugo Chavez with great delight. She smiled and hugged him warmly. And guess who was just leaving her? Hillary! So the person that she had been looking PAST Hillary to greet so profusely was Chavez!

This was so noticeable, when I pieced it together, as to be almost a diplomatic flap. She brushed off Hillary--barely looked at her, then looked at Chavez (who was next) with a big smile and initiated a hug with him.

---------------------------

What happened was that Hugo ceded his place in the reception line to Hillary. He was BEFORE Hillary but he graciously let her go first. Hence the bemused look from Dilma.

(I posted that Hugo had let Hillary go first on another thread, but you may have missed it.)

It was very noticeable how delighted Rousseff was to greet Chavez, and how quickly and coldly she had dismissed Hillary. I can't believe that Democracy Now didn't catch this and show it. It was quite dramatic. They seemed to NOT want us to know that Chavez was next in line and was the person whom Rousseff was looking at warmly while she quickly shook Hillary's hand, not looking at her, and Hillary moved on. Of course I can't say that it was deliberate. What motive would DN have for that? None that I can think. Maybe they just didn't see it, or were told to film Hillary and get the vid to DN quickly. Who knows?

I have, of course, been wondering if Rousseff and Chavez will be as tight, as friends and allies, as da Silva and Chavez have been. We don't know the answer to that yet, but this little clue was interesting, if just a teaser. I find it amazing how our corpo-fascist press has COMPLETELY IGNORED the Brazil/Venezuela alliance. It doesn't fit their script. (Hugo bad, Lula good.) So they just don't report it--even when it is hugely evident, as when Lula invited Ahmadinejad to Brazil just after Chavez had hosted Ahmadinejad in Venezuela and took blistering criticism for it. Lula didn't miss a trick in the global corpo-fascist 'news' game and especially their demonize-Chavez and "divide and conquer" game. I hope Rousseff will be as swift. The little I've seen of her makes me think that she is capable of it but we'll have to wait and see. It's so important that they stick together. The future of the entire region depends on cooperation, having each other's backs, pulling together. This has been the most unusual and hopeful aspect of the leftist resurgence in Latin America--"all for one and one for all!"