The Gap within the Core that is Brazil's Amazon
Monday, September 19, 2005 at 8:20PM ■"To Many in the Amazon, Government Comes on a Boat," by Larry Rohter, New York Times, 18 September 2005, p. A4.
Interesting story about how local government comes to many in isolated Brazilian sections of the Amazon by boat. In some remote locations, where waterway river traffic is the only way to get around, it can take up to 17 days to reach Brazilia, which frankly is like 1800s California making its way back to DC.
The two big things the boat tends to bring: opportunities to have documents processed (identity, land-owning, etc.) and the chance to see doctors for chronic problems. Brazil is a lot like China in this way: surprisingly Core along the coast and still amazingly Gap in the interior.
Still, connectivity is everything in keeping a sense of political rule and social order. Lose that, lose it all.
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