São Paulo – The ambassador Bernardo de Azevedo Brito launches the book ‘Iraq, from the early days to the search of a destination’ (Iraque, dos primórdios à procura de um destino, in Portuguese) this week. The book tells the history of the country from 1921 to nowadays. The diplomat was Brazil’s ambassador in the Arab nation from 2006 to 2011 and watched the local reality closely.
The work published by the publishing house at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC, in the Portuguese acronym) will be officially launched on the 10th, at 7p.m, at the Cultural foundation Badesc, in Florianópolis, where Brito lives, but he will be at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce in São Paulo at 10a.m on the 9th, to give a presentation about the book.
“The book covers Iraq since the days of [Winston] Churchill [then the Secretary of State for the British Colonies], in 1921, until now, and shows that the current problems were already there back then”, the ambassador told ANBA on the phone. The borders defined by British influence put three big ethnic and religious groups, the Kurdish, the Sunni Arabs and the Shia Arabs, in the same territory – which, in Brito’s point of view, made it “difficult to create a nation and that can be seen until today”.
The work talks about the different moments of modern history in the region, starting by the Monarchy imposed by the English, passing through the republic and rule of Saddam Hussein, to the Iran-Iraq war, Kuwait’s invasion, the sanctions that followed, the North American invasion in 2003 and the recent events that affected the country and the Arab world.
Brito says, for example, that the Arab Spring showed that the population can change a dictatorial regime in the Middle East “without the need for external intervention”. “The people find their solution”, he said. In his opinion, the occupation of Iraq by the United States “was a serious aggression”.
Reality
The ambassador decided to write a book to bring to the Brazilian public’s eye a little-known reality, beyond the sectarian violence that marked the country after the North American invasion. “There are attacks, there is the Sunni minority’s dissatisfaction, there are problems, but there is also another reality”, he said.
According to the diplomat, an expanding economy and the recovery of the oil industry are part of this other reality. “It is a thriving country and with great perspectives in the region”, he pointed out. Brito believes progress has been made on the political front. In his opinion, the young Iraqi democracy is problematic, but it is a democracy, and the constitution of 2005 is “quite advanced”.
It is advanced, says Brito, as it includes an instrument named “variable geometry” which, in thesis, allows different regions in the country to have autonomy without separating from the union. “The case is that in Iraq and in the Middle East, there is more than the principle ‘one man, one vote’, there is also the question of the minorities”, he pointed out.
The ambassador says he is ‘optimistic’ about the country’s future. “I would say that the book is realistic, but there is also a well-balanced dose of optimism”, he points out. The book, in his opinion, should be interesting to academics and to entrepreneurs who are willing to do business in Iraq. “The Brazilian companies should have a bigger presence in the country, but I give them advice for a conscious presence, a perspective on the difficulties”, he added.
Brito was the main supporter of the participation of Brazilian companies in Kurdistan, in the Northern Iraq, first in Sulaymaniyah and then in Erbil. The Arab Brazilian Chamber, The Ministry of External Relations, the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brazil) yearly organize the Brazilian stand in the Erbil International Fair, which will take place between 22 and 25 September in 2014.
Brito entered the political career in 1958, worked in the Brazilian embassies in Copenhagen, in Denmark, and Oslo, in Norway, and was consul in Seville, Spain. He is a former member of the Brazilian mission in the UN, former representative of the country at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), former executive director of the World Food Programme (WFP) and former Brazilian ambassador in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Finland and Estonia.
The ambassador, who is 78 years old today, retired after serving as the chief of Brazil’s representative office in Ramallah, in the West Bank, which he himself opened in 2004. He was called back to duty to reopen the Brazilian embassy in Baghdad, which was closed since the beginning of the 90’s. “I am twice retired”, he jokes.
Service
‘Iraq, from the early days to the search of a destination”
Bernardo de Azevedo Brito
Publisher UFSC
376 pages
Price: around US$ 25.50
Where to buy: www.editora.ufsc.br (in Portuguese)
Launch
Wednesday, 04/09, at 10 a.n
Place: Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Av. Paulista, 326, 11º andar, Bela Vista São Paulo, SP
The event is only for Chamber members, guests and journalists
For further information: (+55)11 3283-4066, or e-mail members@ccab.org.br
Thursday, 04/10, at 7p.m
Place: Badesc Foundation, Rua Visconde de Ouro Preto, 216, Centro, Florianópolis, SC
Phone: (+55) 48 3224-8846
Website: http://fundacaoculturalbadesc.com/ (in Portuguese)
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça