By subjecting Francisco Oliveira to a literacy exam, Brazil's National Congress has only enriched the metaphor. Now, instead of a clown in congress, they have a semiliterate clown in congress1. For a medley of ads from Oliveira's electoral campaign, go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HK4p35wYgXI
For news stories reporting his victory, please see:
- Brazilian clown's poll win threatened by illiteracy claim (October 5, 2010). AFP
- Brazil clown secures congress seat after literacy test (December 1, 2010). AFP
- Send in the clown (October 7, 2010). The Economist
Footnote:
- No source that I can find online can tell me whether Oliveira has become the first professional clown to hold legislative duties.
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This is rather strange and wonderful. I've posted your blog address and clown associated info to a mailing list for strange and wonderful things. Hope you don't mind.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but wonder, does this mean that noble democracy is dead or only playing dead and snickering at us?
It's certainly a watershed for Brazilian politics.
ReplyDelete