The above are the conclusions I reached as a result of going to the Forum, and the Forum was an amazing thing in my life as I could learn more about other places, such as Africa through a speech given by South Africa’s Jennifer Seif. She spoke about the problems in Africa, and that South Africa is a similar country to Brazil in that it has massive social inequality and the politicians only care about getting votes as opposed to actually helping the country whilst all the public really want is to live in a democratic country. In South Africa with time, the government joined with people from the communities to work together in a better way, and she also knew places in India where this had occurred. She said that the problems in South Africa are greater than those in Brazil, and massive preconceptions still exist, especially with regard to racism as segregation still exists: whites live in their communities, blacks in theirs, and mixed race in another for example. Therefore there is no interaction between peoples; each community stays within itself: white with white, black with black, mixed race with mixed race. There are also disputes about land, as whites sometimes want to take the land where the blacks are and vice-versa. There is also an incredible preconception about marriages between races. I asked here if she thinks a project such as hers (Fair Trade in Tourism is South Africa) could work here in Brazil, and she responded by saying that each country is different, and whether it works or not is dependent on the will to do it and people working together to achieve the aim. |
