How the Lebanese conquered Brazil

LEBANESE IN BRAZIL SOCIETY

How the Lebanese conqueredBrazilSuccess came through hard work and

perseverance

July 3, 2014 by Joe Dyke

Photo of Beirut Port with ships used for migration (Credit: LERC Archives)

This article is part of an in depth special report on the Lebanese in Brazil.Read more stories as they’re published here, or pick up July’s issue atnewsstands in Lebanon.

Two years ago, Amin Maalouf — perhaps the most famous Lebanese socialscientist — made a trip to São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous city. Speakingat a prominent club for Lebanese expatriates, he declared that for many,Brazil was the materialization of the Lebanese dream.

It is hard to disagree with him. Perhaps more so than any other countryoutside of their homeland, the Lebanese run Brazil. In virtually every sectorof the economy, some of the most powerful individuals can trace theirlineage back to the Cedar country.

How the Lebanese conquered Brazil http://www.executive-magazine.com/business-finance/society...

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WWhhaatt’’ss iinn aa nnuummbbeerr

It is widely known that there are morepeople of Lebanese descent in Brazil thanthere are citizens of Lebanon itself. Yet howmany more is a matter for ongoing debatein both countries. Some estimates have putthe number as high as 12 million, whileothers are as low as four or five. That putsthe Lebanese–Brazilian populationsomewhere between 3 and 6 percent of thecountry’s total population of 200 million.Trying to get a reliable estimate is a lotharder than it may initially appear.

The first issue is documentation. There areno reliable estimates for the number ofLebanese people that arrived in Brazil inthe late 1800s and early 1900s. And whenthey were recorded, because theirdocuments came from the OttomanEmpire, they were called turkos — makingno distinction between Lebanese, Syriansand other groups.

As Oswaldo Truzzi writes in the bookby Roberto Khatlab “Lebanese migrants toBrazil: An Annotated Bibliography,” “For along time, the data on immigration flowsfrom the region was classified under onecategory ‘other nationalities’ in Brazil. Onlyin the state of São Paulo, where

Though the exact number is disputed (see box), it is clear that there are atleast 6 million Brazilians of Lebanese origin. In business, economics, cultureand many other fields, Lebanese people sit at the top of Brazilian society.Despite making up less than 5 percent of the population, 10 percent ofparliamentarians have Lebanese origins.

Yet these migrants were not always so successful. Arriving in the late1800s, much of the first generation brought with them nothing but theclothes on their backs. The story of how they came to make up the Brazilianelite is one of free markets, risky decisions, stigma, and above all, hardwork.

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Cheap Chinese goodsflooding the market,undermining profits andforcing businesses intobankruptcy — it may sounda distinctly modern story,borne of an era of rapidglobalization. Yet for thosewith knowledge ofLebanese history, today’scrisis in the West is merelyan echo of the events thathelped provoke the firstwave of mass emigration inthe late nineteenth century.

Eliane Fersan, a researcheron the history of Lebanesemigration, has documenteda number of factors that ledto a huge wave of migrationin that period. Among thesewas, perhaps unsurprisinglyfor a fragmented region,violence. In 1860, a warbetween MaroniteChristians and Druzecommunities led to thedeaths of thousands ofpeople. The lack of Ottoman


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immigration services became moreeffective after 1908, were these immigrantsregistered as Turk, Turk-Asian, Lebanese, orSyrian. Between 1908 and 1941, thesegroups amounted to 4 percent (48,326individuals) of the total of immigrants thatentered the state.”

In 1920 and 1940 the national censusesoffered the first official estimates of thenumbers of Lebanese and Syrians in thecountry. Strangely, despite ongoingimmigration, there were officially fewer in1940 (46,614) than in 1920 (50,246). Inrecent years that number has fallen still,“becoming statistically of little significance”according to Truzzi. Yet this is likely due toreporting methods — Brazil’s census doesnot differentiate between Brazilians whoseparents or grandparents are of foreignorigin. Lebanese have also intermarriedwith other Brazilian groups, with manylosing their Arabic name in the process.

Guita Hourani, director of the LebaneseEmigration Research Center at the NotreDame University near Beirut, says shebelieves the number is between 6 and 8million, but certainly not higher. “Lebanon’spopulation in 1900 is estimated to havebeen 380,000. Hence, it is scientificallyimpossible that the emigrant populationwould increase to 12 or more million, whilethe remaining population in Lebanon wouldincrease to 3.8 million.” She points out thatsome of the overestimates have come fromthe prominent role of Lebanese in Braziliansociety. Some, for example, haveextrapolated that because around 10percent of Brazilian parliamentarians haveLebanese roots, they make up 10 percentof the population, a point she says isunfounded since “parliamentarians are

protection for the Christiancommunity, coupled withthe fear of conscription intothe Turkish armies,convinced the first fewpioneers to seek safershores.

But the exodus was reallyaccelerated, not due topolitics, but to economics —in particular the collapse ofthe Levant’s economy.

From the late 1870sonwards, the silk trade —the most common export ofthe predominantly Christianregions of Mount Lebanon— collapsed as Europeanconsumers took advantageof cheaper transport to buyChinese and other EastAsian goods instead.

As the academic John TofikKaram noted in a paper onthe period, the Chinesetakeover left Lebaneseexporters with no market.“Reaching its zenith in theearly 1870s, the price of silkspiraled downward to nearlyhalf its value in the 1890s,”he wrote.

The cumulative effect of acollapse of business,worsening security and fewjob prospects was the startof a rush for the nearestexit. From 1860 to 1914,between a third and a halfof Mount Lebanon’s


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elected by everyone regardless of theirorigins.” There is also the problem ofself-identification — many who are perhapsjust one-eighth Lebanese will often feelproud of their roots, yet they have littlerealistic claim to Lebanese nationality.

Hourani believes that the Lebanesesuccesses in Brazil are even moreimpressive when put into the context oftheir relative size. “Exaggerating thenumbers eclipses the success of this smallpopulation … that has a high level ofexposure in their immigration countries.”

population is believed tohave emigrated — whilewell over 90 percent of allemigrants from Lebaneseterritory are thought to havebeen Christian. They fledacross the world looking fora better life, becoming thefirst generation of theLebanese diaspora.

AA nneeww ssttaarrtt

Of these emigrants, arounda third are estimated tohave reached the Braziliancoast. Quite how so many ended up making the country their new home isa matter of debate. The popular story, particularly among the Lebanese–Brazilian community, is one of divine providence. In this particular version ofhistory, Brazil’s last emperor Dom Pedro II plays a sort of Cyrus the Great,the hero to an embattled community — offering them the chance to startagain in a new land.

The reason for Pedro’s hallowed status is two trips he made to the MiddleEast in the 1870s, the latter of which involved an extensive tour of Lebanon.An enlightened and kind man, legend has it that on the road to the ruins ofBaalbeck he stopped at the side of the road to talk to some peasants. Afterhearing of their woes, he implored them to abandon the Bekaa’s aridground in favor of more luscious climes in Latin America.

Lody Brais, president of the Lebanese–Brazilian Cultural Association,believes Pedro’s actions provoked the rush to Brazil. Three years ago, sheorganized an exhibition to mark 135 years since the emperor’s visit. “Weare here thanks to Dom Pedro II, because when he went he encouragedpeople to come to Brazil,” she says. “There was already a small workingcommunity and he was pleased with them so when he went he invited [theLebanese] with open arms.”

Yet the truth may have been less clear-cut. Information travelled slowly inthat period and it is unlikely that Dom Pedro’s call would have had aprofound effect across the country. In fact, far from being pre-determinedto reach Brazil, it seems that most Lebanese were more concerned aboutleaving than selecting their destination.

Fersan, the researcher on Lebanese migration, points out that many of the


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first generation had little idea where they were going. “Most emigrantswanted to reach Amerka wherever this might turn out to be, before actuallychoosing their specific destination,” she says. “When they were refusedentry to the United States (for health or legal reasons) they used to traveldown south instead of returning home, and landed mostly in Brazil orArgentina.”

LERC Archives, Roberto Khatlab Collection


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NNoonn--CChhrriissttiiaann mmiiggrraattiioonn

While the vast majority of Lebaneseemigration to Brazil has been from thecountry’s Christian population, a smallerpercentage of the population came fromthe Muslim and Jewish communities.Reliable numbers are unfortunatelyunavailable, but estimates suggest thatbetween 10 and 15 percent of Lebanese–Brazilians are of non-Christian descent.

TThhee MMuusslliimm ccoommmmuunniittyyHussein Kalout, a Lebanese–Brazilianacademic who is currently a visiting

Lebanese peddlers in São Paulo, 1960

PPeeddddllee mmee tthhiiss

Those that arrived in Brazil found a country reaching out to the world. Therubber industry was booming and Brazil’s leaders realized that thepopulation of only a few million people meant a need for new manpower.In the latter period of the 19th century they invited people from across theworld to help build this new nation. Swathes of migrants from Germany,Italy, Japan and other nations flocked to Brazil to help make it the array ofnationalities it is today. Among these were tens of thousands of Arabs,mostly Lebanese but also Syrians and Palestinians.

Yet the Arabs distinguished themselves in one key way from the other newarrivals — they shunned agriculture in favor of trade.

This was partly because they faced higher barriers to entering the sector.Due to agreements between the Brazilian rulers and their Europeancounterparts, those who emigrated from Europe often had prearrangedwork in Brazil, with the vast majority going to work on farms. Yet theOttoman Empire had no such agreement, making access to the agriculturalsector more challenging for Lebanese immigrants.

Elsa El Hachem-Kirby, an academic who wrote her PhD on the Lebanesecommunity in Brazil, stresses that this lack of support was both a curse anda blessing. “Lebanese emigration was spontaneous, and there was nostate behind them. This was initially negative as it meant they had littleprotection but it also allowed them freedom to work however they liked —rather than being forced to be farmhands like some of the Europeanimmigrants.”

The vast majority of thesenew immigrants began towork as mascates —peddlers. As Kirby explainsin an article on the topic,this typically involvedtravelling the countrycarrying a crate of goods forsale. “The mascate wouldreplenish his stocks in thecity, in this case São Paulo,but he would sell hisproducts in the [rural]interior of the country.”


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professor at Harvard’s political sciencedepartment, comes from a Shia family. Hisfather emigrated to Brazil in the 1960s buthe speaks Arabic and has lived part of hislife in Lebanon.

He describes four main waves of Lebaneseemigration, the first of which — from the1870s until the mid 20th century — wasoverwhelmingly Christian. Muslimimmigration, he says, really began duringWorld War II and picked up during a thirdwave in the Lebanese Civil War of 1975–90.The final wave, he says, started after thewar as Israel’s 1982–2000 occupation ofsouthern Lebanon grated on the localpopulation — with many from the Shiapopulation moving for economic reasons.

For Kalout, Lebanese–Brazilian Muslimsremain more connected to Lebanon andparticularly to the Arabic language thantheir Christian counterparts. “The LebaneseMuslims are more connected to the land, tothe religion and to the language,” he says.“If you ask how many Lebanese–BrazilianChristians speak Arabic, compared to theLebanese–Brazilian Muslims, the differenceis huge.”

This is partly due to chronology, as theyemigrated later. Yet Kalout also thinks theconnection to the region is greater. “I don’tthink the third generation Shia will becomeequal to the third generation Christians [intheir connection with Lebanon] becausethey are more linked with the country, morelinked to the situation,” he says. While hethinks that many, like himself, have becomelargely irreligious in Brazil’s more secularsociety, Lebanese–Brazilian Muslimsremain politically aware of events in theMiddle East.

The conditions for theseworkers were extremelytough — they often worked20–hour days, travellingwith cases on their backs inthe most inhospitable ofclimates. Yet the rewardswere potentially large and,unlike those in agriculture,went into their pocketsrather than those ofagrarian landlords.

Carlos Eddé is now head ofthe Lebanese National Blocparty but he lived in Braziluntil 14 years ago. He saysthe Lebanese emigrants likehis grandfather actually feltsomething of a release onarrival in Brazil — leavingLebanon’s rather stiflingfeudal economy for thefrontier markets of LatinAmerica. “A fresh immigrantonce said to me: ‘When weleave Lebanon and wecome to this country we feelno tiredness, no cold, noheat, no thirst, no hunger —we just do it. And principallywe feel no shame — inLebanon we live in shame ofnot having the right house,the right clothes, notspeaking the right way, nothaving the right education.This makes Lebanese inLebanon ashamed of tryingnew things.’”

This work ethic andnewfound sense of freedom


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Lebanese–Brazilian Muslims are prominentin many areas of Brazilian society — inparticular academia and medicine. Kaloutadds that the distinction between the Sunniand Shia branches of Islam has nothistorically replicated itself in Brazil, withshared mosques and a unified Muslimfederation.

Underscoring the importance of language,there are a growing number of Arabic-language educational bodies in thecountry. “In some cities in southern Brazilthey have started to create Arab schools —not just a school to teach Arabic but aschool to put your children to learn inArabic.”

TThhee JJeewwiisshh ccoommmmuunniittyyThe Lebanese Jewish emigration to Brazilwas predominantly in the latter half of the20th century. Since the Nakba andconcomitant birth of Israel in 1948, ArabJews across the Middle East have oftenfaced animosity and violence.

Sheila Mann was just 13 in 1967. Herfamily had been in Lebanon for“generations and generations,” but whenthe Six Day War started between Israel andJordan, Syria and Egypt, hostility grewtoward the Lebanese Jewish community.“When we found out Israel had won thewar, the Lebanese army was worried thepeople would attack the Jewish district [ofcentral Beirut] so they closed it off. We hadblackouts at night so nobody knew wewere in.”

“One day they had a demonstration nearmy home. From my veranda I could seeone protester putting a photo of [Egyptianleader] Gamal Abdel Nasser on thebarricades to provoke us,” she says. Scared

enabled the first generationto succeed quickly. Withintwo generations, peddlingwould be synonymous withArabs — in 1895, Lebanese,Syrians and Palestiniansmade up 90 percent of theofficial register of peddlersin the city of São Paulo. TheArabs quickly gained areputation for travelling toplaces that most otherBrazilians wouldn’t go to —often trekking through theAmazon carrying goods forsale.

Alfredo Cotait, a formersenator and the president ofthe Lebanese–BrazilianChamber of Commerce,points out that this type ofwork means the Lebanesecommunity is found all overthe country — thoughperhaps over 50 percent arefound in São Paulo. “Youwill find Lebanese in alldomains. There are 5,300cities in Brazil and in eachone you will find Lebanesebusinessmen.”

That initial generation ofpeddlers often succeededwithin one generation.Among them was JorgeMaalouf, who would laterbecome head of theLebanese community in SãoPaulo. His grandson JorgeTakla, one of Brazil’s mostimportant theater directors,


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for their children, her parents decided toleave the country — initially for Israel.Within a decade, she says, all the LebaneseJews she knew had left the country.

Yet her parents never liked Israel and wouldconstantly bemoan their refugee status,longing for a return to Beirut. Mann, too,was never happy in Israel and at age 18moved to Brazil with her new husband.“For me Lebanon is part of my life, mybeing. I cannot imagine not thinking aboutLebanon. It was a happy time, mychildhood,” she says.

Lebanese–Brazilian Jews are relatively fewbut very successful. Perhaps foremostamong them is the Safra family — ownersof the Safra Group. The head of the family,Joseph Safra, is estimated by Forbes to bethe second richest person in Brazil, with apersonal fortune of $15.9 billion. (Executivecontacted the family for an interview butthey were in mourning over the death ofSafra’s brother, Moise.)

Mann says she thinks that the forcednature of their emigration has made manymembers of the Lebanese–Brazilian Jewishcommunity skeptical of other Lebanese–Brazilians. “I have a lot of difficulties toconvince them to be more open and theyconsider me a fool.” She now runs anorganization called Peace on the Table,which brings together Muslim and Jewishwomen of Middle Eastern descent to breakdown barriers over food.

believes that the Lebanesesucceeded due to acombination of animpressive work rate andnatural salesmanship. “[TheMaaloufs] came from a veryimportant family in Lebanonbut when they came toBrazil they had no moneyand there was hunger here.They all started asmascates, yet they mademoney very quickly,” hesays.

Back in Lebanon this exoduswas becoming a source ofalarm for some in theChristian community. OnePresbyterian church leaderis quoted in the book“Lebanese migrants toBrazil” as saying: “Theemigration fever doesn’tappear to show any signs ofdecreasing … It’s becomean obsession. It took fromour churches some of itsmost useful members; manyof the teachers are upset.”Yet in the same breath hereveals why attempts tohold them back failed. “Anilliterate emigrant goes toAmerica and after sixmonths sends back a checkfor 300 or 400 dollars, more

than a teacher’s salary or two years’ work of a shepherd.”

Crucially, Lebanese families also had a high propensity to save the profitsand reinvest them in businesses. By 1907, not peddling, but wholesaleclothes and dry goods accounted for 80 percent of the 315 Arab-ownedbusinesses in the city of São Paulo.


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Nowadays, wandering down Rua 25 de Marco you are perhaps as likely tomeet Koreans as Arabs — hundreds of stalls selling knock-off Brazilmemorabilia, painting the street yellow and green. Yet look closely and themajor São Paulo thoroughfare still shows signs of its Lebanese history —the odd street name or remaining Arabic shop name. For the first part ofthe 20th century, the street was the trading quarter for the Lebanesediaspora — where they both produced and sold a range of goods, withtextiles the primary lure.

Jorge Maalouf’s family was among the pioneers, quickly switching frompeddling to textiles and establishing a major factory near Rua 25 de Marco.Within a few decades, Maalouf had become such a success he was makingtrips back to the motherland for philanthropy, being received lavishly byLebanese politicians.

This interaction with Lebanon also went the other way — as stories ofsuccess fed back to those in the Middle East, thousands more packed upand left. Lebanese–Brazilian companies at that time also tended to preferto employ from within the community — when they needed a new peddler,they more often went back to Lebanon rather than employing a Brazilian.Sons, nephews, or cousins would be summoned — thus encouraging yetmore emigration from the home country.

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Yet the worldwide financial crisis started by the 1929 Wall Street Crash puta halt to Brazil’s growth. Demand for exports collapsed and thousandswent out of business. Among those forced out of business was thegrandfather of Francisco Rezek, later the head of Brazil’s Supreme Court.“When the American crisis produced its effects in this country in1929–1930, many of the businesses collapsed. Some of the most fortunatefamilies required an arrangement with creditors in order to pay part of thedebt,” he says. “My grandfather didn’t want to do it — he paid all the debtson his firms, closed up and moved to the countryside to live his last yearsmodestly but very proud of his attitude.”

The 1929 crash and the destitution it created fed extremism across theworld — not least in Germany where it led to the rise of fascism that wouldindirectly reshape the Middle East forever — and Brazil was no exception.As people struggled to feed their families, it became increasingly commonto lash out at immigrants — with Arabs bearing the brunt of many attacks.

Herbert Levy, one of the country’s most powerful newspaper figures at thetime, was among the most vocal critics. In one editorial he wrote that “thetype of immigration required by the country’s needs is that of agricultural


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At the end of May a rather extraordinaryevent occurred: Hundreds of Lebanesepeople flocked to a conference in Beirut.While that may sound far from unusual, forsome of the attendees it was their firststeps on Lebanese soil. For these were thediaspora, drawn from around the world inrecognition of their shared roots — thoughsome had little previous interaction withthe physical state of Lebanon.Lebanon’sForeign Minister Gebran Bassil opened theevent, which had been organized by hisministry, with an ode to the powers of theLebanese emigrant. “My dear friends,” hesaid, “you are the second wing of Lebanon,you are the wealth of Lebanon, you are theenergy of Lebanon … you are the pride ofLebanon.”

Bassil stressed that he was seeking toengage more deeply with the Lebanesediaspora and that he was looking notmerely for empty words of solidarity but forconcrete measures to improve links.

“We did not organize this meeting just tohold an event or highlight an achievement.We want to start a collective journeytogether because each one of you has asuccess story,” he said. “This partnershipmeans that we will have a dialogue, we willhave an exchange and sharing. This is whywe want to listen to you and draw on your

workers and the [Arabs] are not classified in this category,” being rather“dedicated to commerce and speculative activities.”

At other times, this hostility slid into all-out racism, with Edgar Roquette-Pinto, often considered the father of Brazilian radio, accusing Arabs ofbeing a secretive and segregated group. “Although … they are obligated toenter into relations with the Brazilians, they live perfectly segregated intheir race, in their norms, in their way of doing things.”

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Yet the changing shape ofboth Brazil and the worldwas about to transform theLebanese community fromsuccessful but stigmatizedmerchants into key pillars ofBrazil’s society. In 1930,Getulio Vargas rose topower. Recognizing Brazil’spredominantly agriculturaleconomy was ill-suited tothe modern world, thedictator set a course forrapid industrialization. In1919, industrial productionaccounted for just 21percent of gross nationalproduct, but by 1939 thatfigure was 43 percent, whilethe number of factoryworkers in São Paulotrebled.

No group was as wellplaced to take advantage ofthis as the Lebanese. Theyhad by this time establishedthemselves as the merchantclass in São Paulo, thecountry’s economic hub.Small textile businesseswere transformed intomajor factories, while


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experiences of success and richexperiences abroad.”

One concrete step forward is the Land ofDialogue of Civilizations (LDC) initiative.Launched by President Michel Sleiman in2013, the LDC aims to encourage theUnited Nations to formally recognizeLebanon as a country of dialogue andcoexistence, where those from manyreligions, sects and beliefs coexist.

Edward Alam, a professor at the NotreDame University near Beirut and one of theorganizers of the LDC initiative, says thatthe next step will include “an electronicpetition addressed to the UN Secretary thatwill be signed by Lebanese, people ofLebanese descent, friends and people whobelieve in dialogue as a tool to nonviolenttransformation,” as well as a “tour topromote the initiative in the main countriesthat have sizable Lebanese diasporas.”

Alam admitted that critics could find theidea of Lebanon’s deeply divided societybeing a model for dialogue strangeconsidering ongoing tensions. “We are notdenying that Lebanon continues to strugglefor peace, but Lebanon continues to alsosee dialogue as an indispensable tool. Evenin the midst of active warfare, there wereefforts for dialogue inside and outsideLebanon … We feel that Lebanon ispositioned historically, geopolitically,culturally to be that land [of dialogue]especially in our part of the world.”

So far, among other moves, a Brazilianbranch of the LDC has been launchedunder the leadership of Denise Milan, oneof Brazil’s top artists. She organized aconference last year — backed by theBrazilian government — that aimed to

national giants rose up inconstruction and othersectors.

By the early 1950s, theLebanese diaspora hadsucceeded in becomingsome of the country’s topindustrialists. In 1954Lebanese President CamilleChamoun visited Brazil andwas received in lavishfashion by a diasporacommunity that was bothproud of its roots but alsostarting to grow beyondthem. More importantly,there was recognition fromthe rest of the Braziliansociety of their importance.No longer trading in thebackwaters, the Lebaneseintegrated more, withintermarriage on the rise.

Yet while they were amongthe most powerful businesspowers of the time, thoseLebanese were still far fromthe country’s elite; fewLebanese–Brazilians were inparliament or had reachedthe top of the professions.This was to change with thelater generations.

For far from encouragingtheir children to take overtheir hand-built empires,many of these pioneersprioritized, above all else,the education of theirchildren. Antonio Chacra, a


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highlight the Lebanese diaspora andencourage dialogue. “We didn’t want totalk about conflict, we wanted to talk aboutcoexistence. [We aim to] highlight Lebanonin the Middle East as a place wherecoexistence exists — even with all theproblems they have. If we can pass thismessage strongly, it can be very importantfor the Middle East.”

top Brazilian endocrinologistand former vice president ofthe International DiabetesFederation, is perhapsemblematic of this shift. “Atthe age of four or five mymother said ‘you are goingto be a doctor,’” he says.“My father had a storeselling clothes and his greatdream was for his children to study. They worked and we studied.” Whilethe second and third generations of those original expats were now firmlyembedded and moving into the professions, the continued struggles inLebanon caused yet more waves of emigrants — with many followingfamily members to Brazil. Yet this generation was no longer painting on anempty canvas — Brazil had grown and opportunities were sparser than afew decades previous.

While some more recent immigrants have managed to build empires, moreoften they have found themselves frustrated. The parents of Samir Yazbek,one of the country’s top playwrights, were deeply disappointed shortly afterarriving in the 1950s. In ‘The Cedar Leaves,’ one of his most famous works,Yazbek recalls how his father’s desperate dreams of making a fortuneripped the family apart. “He travelled all over the country looking for work,starting in São Paulo in textiles, then moving to the northeast to work inconstruction. In the end he went looking for gold in the north, leaving usbehind in São Paulo.” Did he find any? “No,” he smiles, “he ended upworking in a hydroelectric dam.”

Even if Yazbek succeeded, his father’s story of frustration and failure wastypical of the later generation of immigrants. Relatively few that arrived inthat period have risen to the upper echelons of society.

AA nneeww iiddeennttiittyy

Nowadays, the extent of Lebanese influence in Brazil is also matched bytheir integration. Far from being the closed community that critics calledtheir forefathers, the Lebanese community is now highly mixed into society,intermarriage is incredibly common, while few speak even the basics ofArabic.

Kirby puts this transformation down to a process of emigration into anopen society such as Brazil’s. She stresses that now Lebanese–Brazilianidentity is more of a form of recognition that can help open doors with


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Joe DykeJoe Dyke

Joe has extensive experience covering the Syrian crisis, oiland gas, and Lebanese government and regulatoryauthorities, among other topics. He was Executive's onlineeditor from 2012 to 2014, and led the Economics & Policysection from 2013 to 2014.

other members of the community but little more than that. “At the startthey organized as a community, as did the Italians, the Japanese and othergroups. Over time they integrated into the economic and social fabric.Because they were successful, what was a community transformed into anetwork.”

In economics, politics, the arts and many other fields, those of Lebaneseorigin now occupy some of the top rungs of the ladder. Yet their primaryidentity is now that of Brazilian, with their family origins a secondary factor.Ramiro Fajuri, sales director of Chams magazine that focuses on the Arabdiaspora in Brazil, puts it another way. He says that while Lebanese–Brazilians are usually incredibly proud of their heritage, these roots are nowonly a small part of their identity.

Fajuri, who points out that his wife is Brazilian of Japanese descent, thinksthis confidence in themselves makes them happy in their identities. “Wecouldn’t keep the language but we kept some culture, the traditions, thesocial clubs,” he says. “I guess this is what [Amin] Maalouf meant.”


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How the Lebanese conquered Brazil

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