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 The city of Olinda, a small historical town in Brazil, which is practically integrated to the metropolitan area of Recife, the capital of the state of Pernambuco, was founded by the Portuguese during the 16th Century.
Anyone who has been to Olinda will tell you about the breath-taking beauty of the four hundred-year-old churches and houses that stand on a hill, giving visitors a great view of the Atlantic Ocean and the Recife harbor.
Olinda is a well-known tourist spot both for year-round visitors and for revelers who flock its streets during the four days of unstoppable partying that happens during Carnaval.
During Carnaval the city attracts lovers of "frevo," the local beat created decades ago that has people frenetically jumping as they attempt to follow the manic 4-4 beat that dominates its sound.
The city was included in UNESCO's registry of landmark towns in 1986, and was recently declared a national monument by the Brazilian government.
A few years ago, a piece of Olinda came to us - an altar taken from the São Bento Monastery was included in the "Brazil Body and Soul" exhibit at New York City's Guggenheim Museum in December of 2001 - a piece of the touring show that both stunned visitors as it drew criticism from the press here and in Brazil.
Despite Olinda's undeniable allure, many of the historical structures there are in dire need of repair, and other buildings need to be returned to their original concepts.
And its refurbishment is the goal of the recently created Maria Nóbrega Foundation, which hosted "Art in The Park", a fund-raising event at Central Park's Boathouse last February 26th in celebration of The Gates with that specific aim in mind.
During the event, which had full support from the Brazilian Consulate in New York (among others), several items were auctioned off to several bidders, including works of art from masters such as Christo (one of the artists responsible for The Gates), Jeff Koons, Pablo Picasso, Arman and many others.
"Art in The Park was a great success", said Ms. Elizabeth Nóbrega, the president of the foundation during an interview conducted at the Brazilian Consulate in New York City.
"We only had a few months to get it together, and the help of the Consulate was invaluable - we couldn't have pulled if off without their assistance."
Ms Nóbrega has been involved with charitable organizations for a long time, and in addition to her work with the Maria Nóbrega foundation, she also chairs the Prince Charles Foundation in Great Britain.
The Maria Nóbrega Foundation has an ambitious project in its hands, which includes the restoration of the João Batista dos Militares Church, which dates from the early days of the Portuguese colonization and one of the few buildings not affected by the 1631 fire started by the Dutch as they seized control of the region.
The restoration project plans to install a new electrical supply system in the building and also to equip a school that will focus on information technology and social skills for 60 students.
Also on the list of priorities for Olinda is the renovation of the Nossa Senhora das Neves Church and São Francisco Convent (Brazil's oldest convent), which dates from 1585 and is in urgent need of repair.
The building is listed on the World Monument Fund Watch List of endangered historic monuments.
It will take several years to bring the structure into full repair, and the cost of refurbishing that building alone will exceed US$ 3 million.
The plan includes upgraded tourist facilities and also a school that will train students to acquire skills in architectural restoration.
"The people of Olinda want to be educated", said Ms Nóbrega, "not to be given handouts".
"When we first started preparing the plan," she said, "one of the first things the members of the communities asked about was about learning marketable skills that could be used on a long-term basis."
Not many people know about the Jewish heritage of the city of Olinda, which has strong ties with the first Jewish community that came to North America, establishing in what would later become the city of New York.
For a brief period in the 17th Century, a great part of the northeastern part of Brazil was occupied by the Dutch, who ruled the region from 1630 to 1654.
During the Dutch rule of governor Maurits van Nassau, there was a lot of religious freedom, and many Sephardic Jews originally from Portugal migrated to Olinda and nearby Recife, where the first synagogue ever to be built in the New World was established in 1641.
With the return of the Jewish-unfriendly Portuguese rule in 1654, the Jewish community was given 90 days to sell off their goods and leave on the first available ship. Some of those sailed north and finally reached the island of Manhattan.
Many of the houses built by Jewish merchants still stand today on what was once called "Rua dos Judeus" (Jews' Street), now renamed "Rua Bom Jesus", occupied today by gift shops and other local businesses.
Many are in poor state of repair.
The Maria Nóbrega Foundation aims to acquire those properties over time, restoring them and establishing workshops, small hotels ("pousadas", which would translate in English as "bed-and-breakfast") and also a Jewish Art Museum.
Finally, funds will also be directed to preserve and protect the Marta do Curado, a 120-hectare rain forest located about 20 kilometers of Olinda, where the foundation will also work towards the creation of a small eco-tourist hotel, an art gallery and a museum.
The Maria Nóbrega Foundation plans to stage other fund-raising benefits in New York ("possibly in the Spring", she said) and elsewhere, hoping to raise enough funds and awareness of the needs of the people and city of Olinda, which needs and deserves to be preserved for its beauty and historical heritage for generations to come.
For more information on the Maria Nóbrega Foundation, log on to www.nobrega-foundation.com.
This article was originally published by "The Brasilians."
Ernest Barteldes is an ESL and Portuguese teacher. In addition to that, he is a freelance writer whose work has been published by The Greenwich Village Gazette, The Staten Island Advance, The Staten Island Register, The SI Muse, Brazzil magazine, The Villager, GLSSite, Entertainment Today and other publications. He lives in Staten Island, NY. He can be reached at ebarteldes@yahoo.com.
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Brazilian Federal Judge Julier Sebastiao da Silva had this to say when signing a court order in his country:
I consider the act absolutely brutal, threatening human rights, violating human dignity, xenophobic and worthy of the worst horrors committed by the Nazis.
So what unspeakable horror is he referring to? Perhaps the 300,000+ bodies found in mass graves in Iraq? Nope. Could it be the targeting by terrorists of women and children in Israel? Nope.
The unspeakable horror is the new U.S. Immigration requirement that persons requiring a visa to enter this country be fingerprinted and photographed.
His equating photographing and fingerprinting to mass murder makes him the logical recipient of the first Ass-hat of the Week Award for the year 2004.
This entry was posted on Friday, January 2nd, 2004 at 2:10 pm and is filed under Ass-Hats. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
12 Responses to “Ass-Hat of the Week - Julier Sebastiao da Silva”
Casy Says:
January 6th, 2004 at 9:46 pm
Is the new requirement applied to all countries in the world? Nope. So, let me see… If I’m a Muslim terrorist and my second passport is from one of the countries in Europe (a lot of Algerians have France as second country, for example) I could come to America and I wouldn’t have to be photographed or fingerprinted. So, does this new requirement seem to work? Nope. A terrorist with a second citizenship obtained in one of the countries out of this list still can come here to try whatever he has in mind. Did America report any sort terrorism attack from all the 130 countries in the list? Nope. So let me see again… Countries without any terrorism historical are in this list while countries that repeatedly reported terrorism attacks (mainly motivated by religion conflicts) are out of this list… Hmm… If this doesn’t sound xenophobic, discriminatory or a violation to human dignity, you really need to know more about human rights, girl! So, in my opinion, you can share the Ass-hat of the week award with President Bush!
Rossz Says:
January 7th, 2004 at 8:56 am
Casey, you need to read the article again since you obviously missed the entire point.
Márcio Rocco Says:
January 11th, 2004 at 8:35 pm
I think that the BUSH is making with the Brazilian people and the rest of the world is wrong.(It will be that it has terrorists in Brazil? I think that not) But if we don’t can stop this, we can copy this and make the same with the americans. I am a Brazilian.
Rossz Says:
January 12th, 2004 at 9:05 am
A second person misses the entire point. Whether or not your country chooses to implement additional security measures is not at issue.
Comparing fingerprinting and photographs to mass murder is the issue.
Mariana Says:
January 15th, 2004 at 6:25 am
When the brazilian judge talked about Nazi, he was talking about discrimination! That’s it what teh USA do with the brazilians, and other countries!
Rossz Says:
January 15th, 2004 at 8:53 am
Let’s compare. The U.S. form of “discrimination” is fingerprinting and photographing people who wish to voluntarily enter the country. The Nazi form of discrimination was to forcibly ship people to concentration camps and gas them by the millions.
Oh my gawd! You’re right! It’s exactly the same thing!
Marcelo Says:
January 16th, 2004 at 3:25 am
I think all countries should do like the President Bush, let’s fingerprint the americans, be fingerprinted is a very embarassing situation. We can see this because a lot of americans decided to not come to brazil because of our Judge’s decision. Mr Bush deserves to receive the ass-hat of the millennium.
Penso que todos os países deveriam fazer como fez o presidente Bush, vamos fichar os americanos, ser fichado é uma coisa embaraçosa. Podemos ver isto porque muitos americanos decidiram não vir mais ao Brasil por causa da decisão do nosso juiz. O Senhor bush merece receber o “ass-hat ” do milênio.
Marcelo Brito Says:
January 16th, 2004 at 3:40 am
The American Stupidity
The example of the american stupidity and egocentrism is what happened the day before yesterday, when an american pilot, disrespected our federal police mans, and had to be arrested. It show americans arrogance about the other countries, its like nazi, yes, you, american people, are not superior than people from other countries. For every action there is a reaction, it was our reaction when the President Bush decided to fingerprint our citizens. If you, all americans, weren’t like this, maybe Osama wouldn’t have attacked you.
Rossz Says:
January 16th, 2004 at 8:57 am
I see the trolls still don’t get the point.
It’s your country’s decision to fingerprint visitors that or not. I never suggested otherwise. However, Brazil’s action of ONLY fingerprinting Americans is equivalent to a small child throwing a temper tantrum. Our new policy does not single out any particular country. If you need a visa to enter, then you are fingerprinted and photographed. The process is far from embarassing. It takes about three seconds, and does not involve a “line up ” as is purposely used by the Brazilians to embarass and insult.
You are a troll, Marcelo. As are the other posters. You argue points that are not at issue. You make unreasonable nazi comparisons just as your idiot judge did. You even invoke Osama in your mantra. The terrorists did not attack us because we have immigration controls. They attacked us because we, the United States, represent everything they are not. Successful and happy.
Unless you have something intelligent to say, don’t post again. You are not longer welcome on this site.
Adriano Melo Says:
January 16th, 2004 at 10:44 am
Well I agree with Marcelo, he just hurt an american citizen pride. It’s very dificult to you to understand, because, like I said, you are an arrogant, egocentric american, that thinks the world turn around the United States, what a pity. I really don’t think terrorists are jealous. You, american, have a big table, with the world drawed on it, and you decide what is going to happen into another countries, you have atomic bombs, but don’t allow that other countries has it. And you say that that atomic bombs are for pacific use, tell me how an atomic bomb can be pacificly used. It must be very dificult to read the things that he wrote, the truth hurts. If Brazil did the same thing the USA did to all countries, in a next future all the world were going to be like this, all countries were going to fingerprint their visitors. Would you like to go to Canada, a neighbour country, and be fingerprinted? How can you say that Brazil is a friend, if you don’t trust in Brazil? And the success of the USA is based on the fall of other countries, like Vietnam, Iraq, Mexico, URSS, and even Brazil! You have to agree, if i hurt you with a hot iron, you have the same right to do the same thing to me. Brazil doesn’t have terrorists, we never did something bad to you, so, it made the decision to fingerprint brazillian people unreasonable.
Only to show like you, american, are egocentric, without search, do you what is the Brazil’s capital? Without look for this information, I know that USA’s capital is Washington.
Tip: Our capital is not Rio de Janeiro.
Marcelo Brito Says:
January 16th, 2004 at 11:00 am
I don’t mind if I am welcome or not at your site. If you throwed that poll to discuss, you have to listen what you don’t want to. Of the same way the american pilot didn’t mind if the lady that was taking a picture of him was or wasn’t embarassed with his act. We didn’t do the american fingerprint to embarass you, like you need security, we need too. The only way to show you that we didn’t like your decision was this. What did you want we have done? Fingerprint chinese people to retaliate the american people? I have never applauded osama’s attitude, you have never done anything with taleban, unless it had attacked you, the same way, do you know the real reasons to your country atack Iraq? Do you really think it was to free Iraqi people? You know that your country is in a big economic crisis, and the main reason for this is called Oil. Oil was the real reason for the war. You put saddam where he was, and when you wanted you disposed him. I know that you’re going to write that I’ve lost the topic, but, all things has a relationship, so, open your mind and look what is around you.
Rossz Says:
January 16th, 2004 at 12:18 pm
I will repeat, and do try to get this through through your thick skulls: my problem with your idiot judge is his comparing finger printing to genocide. That’s it. End of story. There is nothing more to discuss.
It has nothing to do with your nation’s security.
It has nothing to do with my nation’s security.
It has nothing to do with Iraq
…or oil
…or whether or not Americans are arrogant.