State and Social Movements in Brazil

Abstract

As has been the case in other nations at the beginning of this century, Brazil is undergoing a series of changes in a wide range of areas, particularly those brought on by the plethora of contradictions unleashed by globalization. For the consolidation of this new phase in the history of Brazilian society it is crucial that the issue of racial equality be included in all discussions aimed at improving the living conditions of the entire nation; otherwise, if the country doesn’t resolve this century-old problem, there will be no real social progress. Since the abolition of slavery in 1888, and throughout the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first centuries, for the first time the federal government has entered the public debate about the adoption of state policies aimed at the eradication of racial inequality; it has recognized the major role played by racism in the erection of the barriers that block access to employment opportunities and decent housing, health, and education for the majority of the population.