Rio de Janeiro, the city where I was born and lived for more than 15 years, is a mark of Globalization from its beginning. It was the place where the colonizers from Portugal arrived in 1500, in a journey to discover new worlds. Then, they brought slave workforce from Africa, and they got mixed with the existent Portuguese and indigenous population. They all had babies and then Rio became one of the most mixed-race populations in the world. The politicians had other ideas, they wanted a sophisticated city just like Paris, so they kicked the poor from their houses at the Center of the city and did architectonic reforms and opened Rio for tourism. This are of the city is till today majority rich, white, and with the crescent Globalization, foreigners.
When I think of my city today, I can see the TikTok trendies, people making videos experiencing our food, or warmth, our sun and beaches. In the summer there are people from all the world, and the informal workers on the beach get their game up and learn how to sell in Spanish, English and even French. I was there in December, and I heard more English than Portuguese in the “elite” parts of the city. I even saw an ATM, not a Brazilian version, an American ATM just like the ones we have it here in U.S. I was shocked by the amount of AutoZone stores, and even a Sam’s club!
With the arrival of Carnaval in February, people come to see the samba, the music, the festivities, and with a tourist campaign and crescent social media participation, the hotels get all full and people experience the parties of their lives. But Rio is more than just tourist Globalization. We have great famous colleges that lead research internationally, we make movies that get Golden Globes and Oscars, singers that get Grammys, we are the city for politics assemblies like COP30, and much more. It is almost impossible to think about Rio without the global presence and the Globe without the presence of Rio.
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