I should be the last one to ever write this article. Let's face it, as an Argentinian, my feelings toward Brazil can be boiled down to just one word: jealousy. My Latin American neighbor has a larger economy, a smaller debt-to-GDP ratio, a better credit rating, and, even worse, more World Cup trophies!
After Kofi Annan released his report recommending changes to the United Nations, it has become likely that Brazil may gain a seat at the Security Council before the end of the decade. In addition, many people try to credit the Brazilians with the invention of the thong (they claim this happened because the world's most beautiful women are in Brazil). I can't argue economics or soccer rankings, but this last allegation is just plain wrong.
For all these reasons, and because of my sense of national inferiority, I believe that my words should be taken with added credibility. Trust me when I say that Brazil matters. A lot more happens there than just Carnival.
First and foremost, Brazil has about 175 million people. It is, without a doubt, the largest and most important economy in Latin America. According to the World Bank, Brazil's GDP in 2004 was 452.4 billion dollars. In comparison, in Argentina we only achieved a GDP of about 105 billion dollars, and Chile, which has a bit of a "rock star" economy in the region, only reached 41.2 billion dollars. Even Venezuela, with its populist rhetoric, questionable democracy and obscene oil wealth, only managed to pull in about 94 billion dollars.
But there is more to the world than just money. Brazil is also developing itself into a regional political leader. As I mentioned above, it seems likely that Brazil will soon be given the opportunity of sitting at the Security Council. There's more. Brazil's rapid response to the coup in Haiti last year (and its willingness to send in troops so that President Bush would not have to) scored the country major points.
While greatly advancing its interests, Brazil has managed to remain firmly Latin American. President Lula is on good terms with other leaders of the region. He was present when Tabar?© V??squez was sworn in as the first leftist president of Uruguay in March, and has even been said to be friendly with Cuba. In fact, many believe that if the democratization of the communist island-state is ever to take place, it will be under Brazilian leadership.
By now, I think, I have sufficiently proven the case for the first part of my message. But what about the second? Why does Brazil matter to us?
The fact of the matter is that Tufts is desperately working to breed the next generation of global leaders. As such, I believe the International Relations program here is nothing short of spectacular. The range of activities and events that take place here on campus meant to deepen our sense of global citizenship and responsibility is tremendous. (Take my word for it, I am the guy who usually makes the Xerox copies of event posters for the Institute for Global Leadership).
And yet, despite the many great facets of Tufts University, we have been ignoring Brazil. We have a large number of Latin American students here who could benefit from adjustments in the IR program. In addition, we have many students from the U.S. and elsewhere who have been studying Spanish, Latin American history and International Relations. Consequently, I believe that Tufts has a responsibility to do its best to fulfill its mission.
I will say this as clearly as possible: the fact that Portuguese is not taught at this university is embarrassing and dumb.
If this school is really trying to create the next wave of global leaders, it should not ignore Brazil any longer. It should be embarrassing to Tufts that it took an Argentinian to say this but it is crucial for the continual advancement of this university that Portuguese be introduced as a language option. The Romance Language department should have done this long ago, and the International Relations department should help as much as possible. It is interesting that the Latin American studies minor suggests Portuguese as one of the language options, though I guess this is intended to further challenge interested students. (Ha, you have to figure out what languages are offered on your own in order to take this minor!)
For all the aforementioned reasons, I believe that Portuguese would instantly become a very popular class here at Tufts, probably more so than Swahili or Latin, certainly rivaling German and Russian.
In addition, I would also recommend a Portuguese class designed for students with a certain degree of Spanish in their background. An accelerated Portuguese course for people who have completed Spanish 4, for example, could be especially rewarding. For students enrolled in such a course, two or three semesters would often provide them with a working proficiency of the language, benefits that do not exist in the study of Chinese or Arabic for most of us.
I realize that the bureaucracy is slow, and that the money is tight. But if it took an Argentinian to admit to this need, then someone really needs to act, and soon.
Martin Kielmanowicz is a sophomore majoring in International Relations.
