Alex and I bid farewell to São Paulo with heavy hearts. Not only because it is an amazing city but because we there during a historic time of political unrest against the current government. In fact, on the first night we arrived in our home stays, there was a ruckus of pots and pans being banged to protest President Dilma. Two weeks later, when ex-President Lula da Silva was taken in for questioning in connection with charges of corruption, the neighborhoods audibly rejoiced. While it seemed that there was a united front against the government, our middle-class neighborhoods only told one side of the story. When we met activists, such as those involved in the Black Movement, they did not share the same disdain for Dilma. To them, the impeachment proceedings against her were a reaction against strides made by the Worker’s Party. Although as IHP students we were prohibited from participating in political protests or rallies, there were two major ones that took place while we were in São Paulo. One was against Dilma’s administration and the other was for it. The turnout for both was over one million and chanting could be heard across the city. With the city as politically charged as it was, it was truly an interesting time to be there.

During my last week in São Paulo, I also became familiar with the Black Movement through my case study. I learned that it is very difficult for black students to reach top universities such as the University of São Paulo (USP) because of an admissions process that favors the rich. In Brazil, it is usually the case that public universities are the best in the nation but that students can only reach these once they have had a private education that has prepared them for the rigorous admissions exam that these require. Thus, those who attend public high schools, such as poor black youth in the periphery, are at a disadvantage. In the case of the students I met, they said that it is very unlikely to find black people at universities like USP because of the hierarchy created by the admissions exam. Yet, they had made it. But once they were in, they faced explicit discrimination. Whether it was because of racist graffiti in the bathrooms or comments made by professors, the students I spoke to found it necessary to create a Black Occupation at their university in order to call attention to the conditions at USP. Their tactic was to occupy classrooms in order to make the majority white students and white professors aware of the lack of diversity at their university, both in student and faculty demographics. When asked about their vision for a just city, they responded that a just city was one in which there was no need for Black Occupation.

As we prepare ourselves for Cape Town, Alex and I carry the conversations and experiences we had in São Paulo with us. Although Cape Town is a city with its own political, economic and social issues, we are curious to learn about connections between the two.