Far and Away: Reporting From the Brink of Change

by Solomon, Andrew

  396 Record temperatures in Antarctica are reported in Katia Hetter, “Antarctic hits 63 degrees, believed to be a record,” CNN News, April 1, 2015.

  396 The effects of warmer temperatures on fungi, crustaceans, and penguins are discussed in Australian Associated Press, “Temperature affects fungi in Antarctica,” Special Broadcasting Service, September 28, 2015; Chelsea Harvey, “Next up from climate change: Shell-crushing crabs invading Antarctica,” Washington Post, September 28, 2015; and Chris Mooney, “The melting of Antarctica is bad news for humans. But it might make penguins pretty happy,” Washington Post, August 13, 2015.

  396 China’s intent to expand operations in Antarctica is detailed in Jane Perlez, “China, pursuing strategic interests, builds presence in Antarctica,” New York Times, May 3, 2015.

  When Everyone Signs

  397 Bengkala is the focus of I Gede Marsaja, Desa Kolok: A Deaf Village and Its Sign Language in Bali, Indonesia (2008). The first report in the medical literature of the strain of deafness prevalent there is S. Winata et al., “Congenital non-syndromal autosomal recessive deafness in Bengkala, an isolated Balinese village,” Journal of Medical Genetics 32 (1995). For a general, accessible discussion of syndromic deafness within endogamous communities, see John Travis, “Genes of silence: Scientists track down a slew of mutated genes that cause deafness,” Science News, January 17, 1998. Additionally, for an opinionated overview of the academic research on the subject, see Annelies Kusters, “Deaf utopias? Reviewing the sociocultural literature on the world’s ‘Martha’s Vineyard situations,’ ” Journal of Deaf Studies & Deaf Education 15, no. 1 (January 2010).

  398 The complex webs of relations among the Balinese are the subject of Hildred and Clifford Geertz’s oft-cited Kinship in Bali (1975).

  403 “Deaf” with a lowercase d refers to hearing impairment; the same word, capitalized, refers to the culture of those who communicate with each other in sign language and identify themselves as part of a community. For an exploration of Deaf politics in the United States in the nineties, see my article “Defiantly deaf,” New York Times Magazine, August 28, 1994.

  405 The postscript on the Kata Kolok language relies on the work of Connie de Vos of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, who has emerged as the most prolific scholar of the language. See, for example, Connie de Vos and N. Palfreyman, “Deaf around the world: The impact of language,” Journal of Linguistics 48, no. 3 (November 2012), which describes the relative numbers of deaf and hearing users of Kata Kolok; Connie de Vos, “Absolute spatial deixis and proto-toponyms in Kata Kolok,” NUSA: Linguistic Studies of Languages In and Around Indonesia 56 (2014), which examines the relocation of Kata Kolok signers from Bengkala; and Connie de Vos, “A signers’ village in Bali, Indonesia,” Minpaku Anthropology News, 2011, which chronicles the lack of new transmission of the language.

  Rio, City of Hope

  407 The 2014 World Cup finals are the subject of both domestic and international corruption investigations; see Lisa Flueckiger, “Brazil’s federal police to investigate after FIFA scandal,” Rio Times, May 29, 2015; and Vincent Bevins, “Coming ‘tsunami’? In Brazil, calls for reform in wake of FIFA scandals,” Los Angeles Times, June 12, 2015.

  407 Circumstances surrounding Brazil’s selection as the site of the 2016 Olympics are also suspect; see Caroline Stauffer, “Brazil’s Petrobras corruption investigators to probe Olympic contracts,” Reuters, November 25, 2015; and Tariq Panja and David Biller, “Soccer icon Romario, Rio mayor Paes cited in corruption tape,” Bloomberg, November 25, 2015.

  408 For more on the work of Vik Muniz, see Carol Kino, “Where art meets trash and transforms life,” New York Times, October 21, 2010; and Mara Sartore, “Lampedusa: Migration and desire, an interview with Vik Muniz,” My Art Guides, June 2015.

  409 For a comprehensive history of samba and Rio’s Carnival, see Marlene Lima Hufferd, “Carnaval in Brazil, samba schools and African culture: A study of samba schools through their African heritage,” Retrospective Theses and Dissertations, Paper 15406, University of Iowa, 2007. Alas, not even the world’s biggest party is free from allegations of corruption; see Anderson Antunes, “When samba meets African dictators: The ugly side of Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival,” Forbes, February 19, 2015.

  409 Lilia Moritz Schwarcz shares insights about her country’s culture in an interview with Robert Darnton, “Talking about Brazil with Lilia Schwarcz,” New York Review of Books, August 17, 2010. For a sample of her academic work, see Lilia Moritz Schwarcz, “Not black, not white: Just the opposite: Culture, race and national identity in Brazil,” Working Paper CBS-47-03, Centre for Brazilian Studies, University of Oxford, 2003.

  409 For an in-depth discussion of Brasília, see Benjamin Schwarz, “A vision in concrete,” Atlantic, July/August 2008.

  409 A clinical description of the horrendous practice of execution with flaming tires occurs in Carlos Durao, Marcos Machado, and Eduardo Daruge Jr., “Death in the ‘microwave oven’: A form of execution by carbonization,” Forensic Science International 253 (August 2015).

  409 The quote by Philip Alston (“A remarkable number of police lead double lives . . .”) comes from Todd Benson, “U.N. watchdog denounces police killings in Brazil,” Reuters, September 15, 2008.

  410 Figures on the proportion of arrestees killed by police in Rio and in the United States come from Fernando Ribeiro Delgado, “Lethal force: Police violence and public security in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo,” Human Rights Watch, December 8, 2009.

  410 Luiz Eduardo Soares has repeatedly called for a complete overhaul of Brazil’s police structure; see Nashla Dahas, “Luis Eduardo Soares,” Revista de Historia, January 11, 2014; and Leandro Resende, “ ‘A nação está pertubada,’ define antropólogo Luiz Eduardo Soares,” O Dia Brasil, October 10, 2015.

  410 Figures on the number of people killed by police in Rio and São Paulo come from the Human Rights Watch report, Delgado, op. cit.

  410 The arrest of Colonel Alexandre Fontenell Ribeiro, chief of special operations of the Rio de Janeiro military police, is reported in British Broadcasting Corporation, “Brazil corruption: Rio police arrested over ‘extortion racket,’ ” BBC News, September 16, 2014.

  410 The quote from Colonel José Carvalho (“We need fresh, strong minds, not a Rambo”) comes from a 2009 diplomatic cable included in the WikiLeaks disclosures; see American Consul Rio de Janeiro, “Counter-insurgency doctrine comes to Rio’s favelas,” September 30, 2009.

  411 For discussion of the practice of offering pay raises for police demonstrations of “bravery” against favela residents, see Steven Dudley, “Deadly force: Security and insecurity in Rio,” North American Congress on Latin America, November 1998.

  411 Figures on the number of favelas served by UPPs come from Andrew Downie, “Rio finally makes headway against its drug gangs,” Time, November 26, 2010; and US Department of State, “Country reports on human rights practices for 2011: Brazil,” US Department of State, 2012.

  412 The complaint of the Red Command’s patrão (“It is fucking up our lives . . .”) comes from Jonathan Watts, “Rio police tackle favelas as World Cup looms,” Guardian, June 10, 2013.

  413 The colonel sets forth his perspective on pacification in greater detail in Robson Rodrigues, “The dilemmas of pacification: News of war and peace in the ‘marvelous city,’ ” Stability Journal, May 22, 2014.

  414 Thanks to official concerns over gang influence, unofficial baile funk parties have become an endangered species; see Beth McLoughlin, “Rio’s funk parties silenced by crackdown on gangs,” BBC News, May 5, 2012; and Jillian Kestler-D’Amours, “Silencing Brazil’s baile funk,” Al Jazeera, July 5, 2014.

  414 For one example of more recent upscale accommodations in the favelas, see Joanna Hansford and Mary Bolling Blackiston, “Luxury boutique hostel opens in Vidigal,” Rio Times, March 4, 2014.

  414 The work of the Museu de Favela is described in British Broadcasting Corporation, “Rio de Janeiro’s f
avelas reflected through art,” BBC News, May 29, 2011.

  414 On the reduction of bullet wounds in Rio, see Melissa Rossi, “Gun wounds down in Complexo do Alemão,” Rio Times, July 3, 2012. On comparative murder rates in Rio and DC, see Richard Florida, “Gun violence in U.S. cities compared to the deadliest nations in the world,” Citylab, January 22, 2013.

  414 For more of Christopher Gaffney’s insights into his adoptive homeland, see Christopher Gaffney, “Global parties, galactic hangovers: Brazil’s mega event dystopia,” Los Angeles Review of Books, October 1, 2014.

  415 André Urani died shortly after publication of his book Rio: A Hora da Virada (2011); see his obituary, “Die economist André Urani,” O Globo, December 14, 2011.

  416 When I originally interviewed Maria Silvia Bastos Marques, she was head of Empresa Olímpica Municipal. She has since stepped down from this position; see Nick Zaccardi, “President of company preparing Rio for Olympics resigns,” NBC Sports, April 1, 2014.

  417 Controversy over forced evictions of favela dwellers to make way for Olympic commuter trains is discussed in Donna Bowater, “Olympics bus route to displace 900 families from Rio favela,” Al Jazeera, September 1, 2014; Matthew Niederhauser, “Rio’s Olympic inequality problem, in pictures,” Citylab, September 9, 2015; and Bruce Douglas, “Brazil officials evict families from homes ahead of 2016 Olympic Games,” Guardian, October 28, 2015.

  417 For a lengthier interview with Faustini, see Luiz Felipe Reis, “As muitas redes do agitador da ‘perifa’ Marcus Vinicius Faustini,” O Globo, July 21, 2012.

  418 Philip Alston’s denouncement of the idea that “occasional violent invasions can bring security” comes from the press release “UN Special Rapporteur finds that killings by Brazilian police continue at alarming rates, government has failed to take all necessary action,” United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, June 1, 2010. For his detailed analysis of the situation in Brazil, see Philip Alston, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions: Follow-up to country recommendations—Brazil,” United Nations Human Rights Council, May 28, 2010.

  420 For a historical overview of racial identity politics in Brazil, see Antonio Sérgio and Alfredo Guimarães, “The Brazilian system of racial classification,” Ethnic and Racial Studies 35, no. 7 (2012).

  420 The bewildering assortment of racial identities claimed by Brazilians is discussed in Melissa Block, “Skin color still plays big role in ethnically diverse Brazil,” All Things Considered, National Public Radio, September 19, 2013; for a report of the study finding 136 varieties, see Cristina Grillo, “Brasil quer ser chamado de moreno e sÓ 39% se autodreinem como brancos,” Folha, June 25, 1995.

  420 The study examining attitudes toward racism of Brazilian urbanites and rural dwellers is described in Étore Medeiros and Ana Pompeu, “Brasileiros acham que há racismo, mas somente 1.3% se consideram racistas,” Correio Braziliense, March 25, 2014.

  420 The study of São Paulo residents’ perceptions of their own and others’ racism is described in Lilia Moritz Schwarcz, “Especificidade do racismo Brasileiro,” in História da vida Privada no Brasil (1998).

  421 Cíntia Luna describes her work in Rachael Hilderbrand, “Conheça Cíntia Luna, Presidente da AMUST do Morro do Fogueteiro,” Rio On Watch, July 4, 2014.

  422 The Enraizados website is at http://enraizados.com.br.

  422 For Fernando Gabeira’s memoir, see O Que É Isso, Companheiro? (1979); the film based upon it is Four Days in September (1997).

  422 For perspectives on the renovation of Estádio do Maracanã, see Tom Winterbottom, “The tragedy of the Maracanã Stadium,” Rio On Watch, June 13, 2014; and Mark Byrnes, “A brief history of Brazil’s most treasured World Cup stadium,” Citylab, June 16, 2014.

  423 The renovation of the Theatro Municipal is described in Sean Collins, “City’s theater re-opens in style,” Rio Times, June 8, 2010.

  423 Sergio Mattos discusses trends in the modeling industry in Jenny Barchfield, “Transgenders break into Brazil’s modeling sector,” CNS News, December 6, 2012.

  424 See Vik Muniz’s film Waste Land (2011); see also Kino, op. cit.

  425 Tom Jobim’s alleged pronouncement “Morar em Nova Iorque é bom mas é uma merda, morar no Rio é uma merda mas é bom” has attained the status of urban legend in Brazil; references to it online abound. Cautious journalists identify the quote as “attributed”; see, e.g., Antonio Carlos Miguel, “Ser ou não ser carioca da gema não é a questão (To be or not to be carioca is the question),” O Globo, February 28, 2015 (“O conceito atribuído a Tom Jobim . . . é daqueles infalíveis”); and Fernando Canzian, “É bom, mas é ruim (It’s good, but it’s bad),” Folha, July 13, 2009 (“A frase é atribuída a Tom Jobim . . .”).

  425 Statistics on the UPPs come from Clarissa Lins, “Providing electricity to Rio de Janeiro’s favelas,” Guardian, March 18, 2014; and Janet Tappin Coelho, “Brazil’s ‘peace police’ turn five. Are Rio’s favelas safer?” Christian Science Monitor, December 19, 2013.

  425 The drop in crime rates following implementation of the UPP program is described in Simon Jenkins, “Vision of the future or criminal eyesore: What should Rio do with its favelas?” Guardian, April 30, 2014; educational improvements are noted in Robert Muggah and Ilona Szabo de Carvalho, “Fear and backsliding in Rio,” New York Times, April 15, 2014.

  425 Findings of research by the Institute of Social and Political Studies regarding criminal activity in Rio’s favelas were reported in Coelho, op. cit.

  426 The minuscule number of sanctions resulting from citizens’ reports of police violence are discussed in Human Rights Watch, “Letter: Brazil: Protect detainees in police custody,” July 25, 2014.

  426 For Amnesty International’s report on homicides by police in Rio, see “You killed my son: Homicides by military police in the city of Rio de Janeiro,” Amnesty International, August 3, 2015.

  426 For the report finding widespread displacement of favela residents and disappearance of street children during preparations for the 2016 Olympics, see Karin Elisabeth von Schmalz Peixoto et al., “Rio 2016 Olympics: The exclusion games,” World Cup and Olympics Popular Committee of Rio de Janeiro, December 7, 2015; see also Jonathan Watts, “Rio Olympics linked to widespread human rights violations, report reveals,” Guardian, December 8, 2015.

  426 The demise of Amarildo de Souza while in police custody was widely reported and analyzed; among the articles dealing with it is Jonathan Watts, “Brazil: Rio police charged over torture and death of missing favela man,” Guardian, October 2, 2013; see also Human Rights Watch, “Brazil: Reforms fail to end torture,” Human Rights Watch, July 28, 2014.

  426 Douglas Rafael da Silva Pereira’s death by beating provoked widespread protests; see Wyre Davies, “Brazil: Protesters in Rio clash with police over dancer’s death,” BBC News, April 23, 2014.

  426 Gunfights in “pacified” favelas are described in Donna Bowater, “Rio’s police-occupied slums see an increase in drug-related violence,” Washington Post, February 19, 2014.

  426 The quote from Cleber Araujo (“It feels like we’re in a war”) comes from Loretta Chao, “Rio faces surge of post–World Cup violence in slums,” Wall Street Journal, July 22, 2014.

  427 The Pew Research Trust found increasing distrust of police by Brazilian citizens; see Judith Horowitz et al., “Brazilian discontent ahead of World Cup,” Pew Research Global Attitudes Project, June 3, 2014.

  427 The impact on local residents of police attempts to expel criminal gangs from the Maré favela is described in Jonathan Watts, “Rio police tackle favelas as World Cup looms,” Guardian, June 10, 2013. Pacification of the Rocinha favela also had a devastating effect on law-abiding citizens; see Paula Ramon, “Poor, middle class unite in Brazil protests,” CNN News, July 24, 2013.

  427 The quote from Atila Roque (“backfiring miserably”) comes from “You killed my son: Homicides by military police in the city of Rio de Janeiro,” op.
cit.

  427 The quote from the anonymous favela resident (“They will run into each other on the way out”) appears in Rodrigo Serrano-Berthet et al., “Bringing the state back into the favelas of Rio de Janeiro: Understanding changes in community life after the UPP pacification process,” World Bank, October 2012.

  In Bed with the President of Ghana?

  431 Speculation that I had figured in the death of the late president of Ghana was published in Daniel Danquah Damptey, “Investigate Mills’ death,” GhanaWeb, July 29, 2015.

  432 Moses Foh-Amoaning’s prophecy that I would one day join the ministry was broadcast on Ghanaian radio; see Kweku Antwi-Otoo, “Gay activist Andrew Solomon will be a pastor one day: Moses Foh-Amoaning,” Atinka 104.7 FM, July 13, 2015. The quote “God will meet him at a point and hit him to change” comes from another report that deals with my sexual identity at some length, “ ‘Prayer’ is the key against ‘devilish’ homosexuality worldwide: Moses Foh-Amoaning,” Daily Guide Ghana, July 14, 2015.

  432 For similar, albeit less hopeful, demagoguery, see Gyasiwaa Agyeman, “‘Mahama will soon mortgage Ghana to anti-Christ,’” Adom Online, January 8, 2016.

  Gay, Jewish, Mentally Ill, and a Sponsor of Gypsies in Romania

  442 The sanction against National University of Theater Arts and Cinematography professor Andrei Rus for allegedly “ruining the University’s image” with his “gay propaganda and homosexual agenda” was reported in Dorina Calin, “Decizie UNATC: Criticul de film Andrei Rus nu va fi dat afară din instituţie, dar va fi sancţionat,” Mediafax, July 2, 2015.

  Myanmar’s Moment

  443 All quotes in my essay on Myanmar come from personal interviews unless otherwise specified.

  443 Myanmar’s release of eleven hundred political prisoners was acknowledged in a 2014 report by Tomás Ojea Quintana, UN human rights rapporteur for Burma; see Samantha Michaels, “Quintana releases final report on Burma human rights,” Irrawaddy, March 14, 2014.