São Paulo – This Tuesday evening (22nd) in São Paulo, the Syrian Arab Culture Centre is hosting a lecture on the relations between Latin America and the Arab countries. The speaker is Social Sciences doctorate holder Marcelo Buzetto, who is also a professor and coordinator of the Centre for Latin American Studies at Fundação Santo André.<\/p>\n
Buzetto will primarily discuss relations between the two regions in the 1990s and 2000s, a time when several Latin American countries were ruled by leftist or mid-leftist governments. He will explain how this was important in building democracy and diversifying the region’s relations with the rest of the world. <\/p>\n
The professor notes that Latin America and the Arabs already share cultural identity ties that bind them together. “The strengthening of South American and Latin American integration has ultimately helped make the region’s relations more diverse,” says Buzetto regarding the ties Latin America has built with the rest of the world over the past few years. <\/p>\n
He mentioned that in 2005, Brazil, which has assumed a major role on the international scenario, had the initiative of holding the Summit of South American-Arab Countries (Aspa), which has helped build and strengthen relations between Latin America and the Arabs. The Aspa summit was the idea of then-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.<\/p>\n
However, according to Buzetto, these ties must transcend the institutional realm into other areas, such as non-government organizations, social and political organizations, universities and society itself. “Academically and culturally speaking, our attention is turned to Europe and the United States rather than towards Arabs,” says Buzetto, adding that the Arab world has great universities that Brazil could engage in exchange with. <\/p>\n
The professor believes that stronger ties among the Arab countries themselves would help on building closer ties between Arabs, the Latin America and Brazil, and forming a globally strong geopolitical group. According to him, Syria could play a relevant role in this respect, since it is closely connected with Russia which, like Brazil, is a member of the Brics (a bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, South Africa, China and India).<\/p>\n
The speaker <\/strong><\/p>\n Aside from his work at Fundação Santo André, Buzetto coordinates Projeto Solidariedade Internacional – Observatório de Conflitos (International Solidarity Project – Conflict Observatory) and is an assistant professor at the Núcleo de Formação Cidadã (Citizenship Centre) of the Methodist University of São Paulo and Florestan Fernandes National School. He is involved in several other social projects. He holds a master’s degree and a doctorate in Scoial Sciences from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP).<\/p>\n Service: <\/strong><\/p>\n Lecture “As relações América Latina e Árabes” (in Portuguese) *Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum<\/strong><\/p>\n
Tuesday, July 22nd, 7 pm
At the Syrian-Arab Culture Centre, Rua dos Ingleses, 149 – Bela Vista – São Paulo
Open to the public and free of charge
Information: +55 (11) 3266-3441<\/p>\n