Us and them

           

Obama came to Brazil for the first time this week, which made us think about the relations between us and them. When I was a teenager I used to say I hated North Americans because of their imperialism, but I loved their music, their cinema and their literature. In this sense, things haven’t changed much: they are still arrogant and like to mess with other countries’ businesses, and they still produce wonderful and influential culture and entertainment.

            My own perceptions have changed, though. I still love The Doors and The Velvet Underground, just like when I was 17, but the bitterness and resentment are gone. Now I just enjoy the things they can offer, like I do to other nations. From the pop culture to jazz to the literature of people like Paul Auster or the underground cinema of Jim Jarmusch, they have a complex and varied culture to which we cannot help responding.

Of course they have the republicans, the tea party and all that conservative crap, but here in Brazil we have our Sarneys, Barbalhos and Malufs, and many unresolved social issues, so I think we’re even. No country can be perfect, not even Sweden. Time has shown that we do not exactly hate the USA: we hate conservatives and imperialists, wherever they come from. As far as I’m concerned, they might even be our neighbours.

We must take advantage of our economical relations with the USA, and try to establish a productive dialogue with them in all levels. Obama and Dilma have made beautiful speeches about democracy and cooperation, and, not being naïve, but I do hope they meant every word they said and that the conservatives of both countries do not stand on the way. This might be a new beginning for us and them, the two giant nations of the Americas. To me, it is just a new approach to an old and complex relation that will certainly last, and whose new chapters are about to come. 

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