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lets go !
visitor's identification in airports
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First of all, before the actual update I want to emphasize that this is not about an anti-american comment. I am not fostering hate for north the USA. I am commenting on an isolate fact and its consequences. (this is a very important comment in these days of stereotyping and misunderstandings...)
So, after the USA immigration started to take pictures and scan digitals of visitors from a list of countries (Brasil included) when arriving to the US, the brasilian government, based on the principle of reciprocity, started doing the same thing to USA citizens arriving in Brasil.
Sincerelly I thought this was really cool. I know, 'an eye for an eye makes the world go blind', but what this USA procedure means is that they are putting all people entering the country under the same level, the same assumption. Not to mention privacy issues.
Overall, I never belived in showing respect because of rank, family ties, echonomic dominance or anything. I only respect the ones who treat me with respect.
Then today I read in a Brasilian online newspaper a statement by the USA EMbassy stating that they are really sorry about the way Brasil is treating the american visitors...
!!! But they are not sorry about the way they are treating all those countries' visitors in their black list?
They also stated that the measure undertaken by USA Immigration is not discriminating Brasilians and is designed to a group of 150 countries, while the Brasilian action discriminates only USA Citizens.
Right. It's ok to discriminate a country if its goruped among others, is that the message? And I don't mean this because Brasil is in the group. I am angry on behalf of each and every country - or better said, each and every person in those countries - that they have been packaged and labeled as a threat, and that none of them candirect the same action to the USA.
I also read that yesterday the Rio state government started to distribute flowers t shirts and jewleries to USA citizens arriving in Rio as a form of apologies...
Below the complete news in portuguese:
Turista americano receberá brindes em aeroporto do Rio
da Folha Online
Os passageiros desembarcados dos quatro vôos procedentes dos Estados Unidos receberão brindes nesta terça-feira (13) no aeroporto Internacional Antônio Carlos Jobim, no Rio.
A iniciativa é resultado de uma parceria da Secretaria Estadual de Turismo, Riotur e associações de hotéis e de agentes de viagem, com o objetivo de "compensar" os turistas americanos pelos transtornos causados pela exigência judicial de identificá-los. Recepcionistas da TurisRio entregarão aos turistas camisetas com a inscrição "Rio loves you", rosas e brindes da joalheria H. Stern e da Varig, segundo informações da Agência Brasil.
O desembargador Catão Alves, presidente do Tribunal Federal da 1ª Região, com sede em Brasília, aceitou pedido de liminar da Prefeitura do Rio para suspender a identificação obrigatória de americanos que chegam à cidade.
Entenda o "fichamento" dos turistas americanos no país
da Folha Online
Decisão do juiz federal Julier Sebastião da Silva, de Mato Grosso, obriga a identificação de todo o turista americano que entrar no país. Baseada no princípio da reciprocidade, a decisão foi adotada após ação movida pelo procurador da República José Pedro Taques e estabelece que o turista deve ser fotografado e ter as impressões digitais recolhidas.
Desde o último dia 5, todos os cidadãos brasileiros que viajarem para os Estados Unidos serão submetidos a sistema semelhante de identificação.
No Brasil, o "fichamento" entrou em vigor no dia 1º. Os americanos que desembarcaram no aeroporto de Cumbica, em Guarulhos (SP), foram os primeiros identificados.
O desembargador Catão Alves, presidente do Tribunal Federal da 1ª Região, com sede em Brasília, aceitou pedido da Prefeitura do Rio e concedeu liminar que suspende a identificação de americanos que chegam à cidade. A decisão vale apenas para o município do Rio, segundo o tribunal.
Filas
Os primeiros turistas que chegaram ao país após a medida, enfrentaram filas para a identificação. No aeroporto internacional do Rio, cerca de 300 turistas chegaram a enfrentar cerca de 7 horas de espera.
A Embaixada dos Estados Unidos no Brasil divulgou dia 5 comunicado em que "lamenta" a forma com que os cidadãos norte-americanos estão sendo tratados para entrar no Brasil.
A embaixada afirmou que os EUA não estão selecionando brasileiros de uma forma exclusiva em suas medidas de segurança, e sim dentro de um conjunto de 150 países para os quais é exigido o visto. Segundo a nota, o Brasil não está sendo discriminado. Diferentemente, a medida brasileira estaria discriminando apenas cidadãos norte-americanos.
A Embratur contabilizou suspensão de pacotes e de viagens para o país por causa da medida.
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| January 14, 2004 | 4:15 AM |
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Comments
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pax americana
let me be the devil's advocate here..
the US is the world's finest country, and because some middle eastern guys were so HATEFUL towards the US (for past deeds the US government, via its diverse bureaus, had done) that they rammed two planes into WTC in 2001, the US deems it fit to get paranoid and branding the rest of the world. There are mainly three colors: green, yellow, red. Green is white people, yellow is non-white people, but if you wear a suit and a Tag Heuer watch, and have a typical Cambridge English, you are ok. (yellow). If you are from other countries, or even are from say the UK, but have "non-english" names and do not meet the eyes of the security guards in the correct manner, then you are maybe belonging to the red group. Of course the US authorities sees it fit that they brand these 150 countries. The rest of the world IS the enemy, in one way or another, and the US is only involve with the rest of the world because the US needs markets to export to in order to earn money.
Now, I think the Brazilian scheme was an ingenious, yet quite simple pun. By daring to ask some similar questions of American citizens they are helping to shift the table - just a bit.
I am sorry every time I hear an American friend talking about travelling abroad, and then being met with disgust because that person is American or talks American (yankee style). But I also remind them that their pains is NOTHING compared to what guys from Iraq, or Afghanistan, or some minor African country are going through. They do get the point, and sometimes this realisation is new to them.
If I was an American Citizen living in NYC and I saw 9/11, I guess I would also be scared. My psyche would work in a way which opened up for prejudices against certain groups of people, and unless I really Challenged this emotion within me, it might even take control and I would actually Avoid people from the middle east. I do not Blame the Americans for being paranoid. I can understand them; it sucks to be citizen of a country which hundreds of millions of people in this world hates for reasons I cannot help myself personally.
I have a great belief in situational theatre. Street theatre where you for instance are challenged about your perceptions on things; public space, meeting strangers, jokes on your way to work/school, and so on. The Brazilian response to the US' airport security measures Can be seen upon as such an act of situational comedy. I hope as many Americans as possible realise this, and that they do not take it personally.
Discrimination and racism is an ugly ugly beast, and it is ALL among us. In the open, glaring us in the eyes. What do we do about it?
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