Students’ festival in Rio discusses Amazon, education, culture

The 13th Biennial of the National Students’ Union (UNE) started in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday (Feb. 2), with 10 thousand students from all over Brazil expected to attend until Sunday. The event includes exhibitions on scientific and artistic topics, as well as digital games. A total 1,600 works are registered.

“We picked 171. The selection observed regional, gender, and thematic parity,” said Paola Soccas, coordinator of UNE’s University Circuit for Culture and Art.

Ever since it was created, in 1999, the event has been a valuable opportunity for research into a Brazilian national identity. “It has always bought Brazil into a different perspective,” Soccas noted. This year, the theme is A River Named Brazil. The goal this time is to advocate educational, cultural, and environmental policies, also protecting biomes and traditional peoples.

“These are the main guidelines for the reconstruction of the country. We chose ‘river’ as a romantic symbol of Brazilian diversity, its strength, and the reconstruction we’re going to be witnessing,” she declared.

In an interview to Agência Brasil, Soccas stressed that the idea is to show the country that if biomes, indigenous groups, and development are not brought center stage, the future will be in danger. “It’s not education if you don’t think about our territories, about nature, about our peoples. Nothing exists without the Amazon and nature,” she added.

Besides the exhibitions, students will be offered film screenings and debates with Ministers Luciana Santos (Science, Technology, and Innovation), Ana Moser (Sports), Marina Silva (Environment), Sônia Guajajara (Indigenous Peoples), Margareth Menezes (Culture), and Anielle Franco (Racial Equality).

“The whole program was designed as a manifesto for the reconstruction of the country, based on the cultural diversity of the people and the Brazilian territory,” said UNE head Bruna Brelaz.