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Brazil Dodges a Demagogue
[Boston Globe] Editorial - If Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva, did not breathe a deep sigh of relief Monday when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad canceled a planned trip to the region, he should have. Ahmadinejad's reactionary regime is in opposition to much of what Lula stands for. Brazil has abolished the death penalty; Ahmadinejad's Iran executes even minors. In Brazil, 55,000 adherents of the Baha'i faith practice freely; in Iran, Baha'is are persecuted mercilessly. Holocaust survivors found a home in Brazil; Ahmadinejad recycles the lies of Holocaust deniers. So, thousands of Brazilians took to the streets of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro Sunday to protest Ahmadinejad's impending arrival.