Flavio Pachalski

Flavio enhances access to information through a unique approach that combines investigative journalism with public interest law, helping first to expose concealed information and relevant documentation that would otherwise go unnoticed by the court system, and to then place the information in the hands of the public and jury. Flavio thus provides members of the public with the communication tools and information they need to defend their rights, and in so doing, aims to build a better-engaged and informed citizenry. He is now in the process of building a secure infrastructure for his organization, Publico Interesse, and is developing a virtual office that will involve young journalism students in the casework

Flavio's unique approach combines elements of investigative journalism with public interest law, helping first to expose concealed information and relevant documentation that would otherwise go unnoticed by the court system, and then places the information in the hands of the public and jury. Operating with the signed mandate of relatives of the victims and other affected individuals, he works to understand why a particular event took place, connecting seemingly unrelated persons and events. Now working on the widely covered case of Sister Dorothy Stang, a North American nun living in the remote Amazon who was killed in February 2005, Flavio has demonstrated that the case, far from being an isolated incident, is rather part of a much broader human rights conflict in the region. After careful investigation, Flavio revealed that at the time of her death, Sr. Stang was carrying files for twelve lawsuits concerning land conflicts in the area, and had been working for months to expose landowners committing violent crimes. Flavio has collected more than 5,000 pages of previously unavailable documents that government and defense lawyers failed to disclose in court that exposed fraudulent actions by both wealthy landowners and the local government. Flavio provides members of the public with the communication tools and information they need to defend their rights, and in so doing, aims to build a better-engaged and informed citizenry. He is in the process of building a secure infrastructure for his organization, Publico Interesse, and is developing a virtual office that will involve young journalism students in the casework.

Formally recognized in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the right to information plays a particularly essential role in emerging democracies. As a guarantor of other rights—to free speech, to express an opinion, and to a host of others, both political and economic—the right to information is critical to defend the rights of the poor and the powerless, and its absence invariably leads to the infringement of other essential rights. Yet, the right to information in Brazil exists largely in name only, as there exists no legal framework to ensure public access to information.

Meanwhile, despite considerable advances in democratic governance, Brazil remains home to deep political and economic inequality, and accordingly, widespread human rights abuse and exploitation of the poor. It is against this backdrop that the absence of public information has played a profoundly destructive role in the documentation of human rights abuses, and in the response of both the public and the government, particularly when it comes to high-profile criminal proceedings involving the wealthy and politically powerful. Essential facts and documents frequently go missing, legal claims are easily contested, and the public interest is often sacrificed to the interests of those in power. As a result, court decisions tend to reflect the interests of the elite rather than those of the public and favor defendants with the ability to pay for a sound defense. Particularly visible criminal cases are ruled upon without complete information, or are otherwise left unsolved, while public opinion is similarly shaped by one-sided information and false claims.

The situation is compounded by the current state of journalism in Brazil. In an age of sensationalized news media and sound-bite coverage, Brazil’s commercial media fails to provide balanced coverage and the degree of thorough investigation needed to soundly defend the public interest. More than 85 percent of the Brazilian communications industry is concentrated in the hands of just nine families—many of whom have ties to the same persons and interests implicated in high profile criminal cases. Moreover, because of the high turnover rate among today’s journalists, many are untrained in the tactics and procedures of investigation, and lack the time, money, and expertise required to expose hidden facts and events. The absence of true investigative journalism is especially damaging given Brazil’s lack of public interest law firms, whose role would otherwise be to pursue such investigative strategies. As a result, critical facts fail to come to light, leaving both the courts and the public without the necessary details and understanding they need to make informed judgments.

Having developed the structures and distribution strategies for a number of underground publications during the days of the dictatorship, Flavio has long recognized the power of journalism as a tool for defending the public interest. These experiences, along with his understanding of the close connection between what the media chooses to highlight and what then actually develops, formed the basis of his decision to launch Publico Interesse in 2001.

Publico Interesse consists of two primary units: The investigative arm, which conducts in-depth research into each case over the course of several months or even years; and the production and dissemination wing, which serves as a vehicle for communicating to the public. Because of the significant investment of time and resources required for each case, Flavio selects only high-profile cases with the potential to impact a large number of people and to influence related instances of pervasive injustice. He and his team begin with a period of thorough investigation and relationship development with the local community and individuals involved. They carefully seek to understand why particular events took place, along with the history and power dynamics between the two sides. He uses a unique set of communication tools to delve deeply into each case, going beyond even the methods typically employed by lawyers, to analyze the speech patterns of those involved, old documents, and seemingly unrelated events. Believing that those involved in the case have a “right to know,” he works directly with the families and associates of the victims to uncover relevant information, and trains them to work with the media to avoid the manipulation of information for private use.

Treating each case as a matter of public interest beyond even the interests of the select plaintiffs, Flavio combines these intensive investigative strategies with powerful media outreach. The second arm of his organization then works to translate the gathered information into an easily accessible format for the public, handling all editing, accompanying photojournalism, website design, and the like. For example, in a case involving a group of boys from the northern city of Altamira who mysteriously disappeared, Flavio set up a multimedia platform to convey daily development updates and the trial proceedings in English and Portuguese.

His first case involved a Social Security shortfall of roughly R$500B (US$223B), affecting 50 million Brazilians. In response to the government’s claims that it was unable to bear the costs, Flavio mobilized sixteen workers, and in partnership with two law firms specializing in workers’ rights, helped to carry their suit to the Supreme Court. Together with the two legal teams, several labor unions, and a number of scholarly experts focused on the national budget, Flavio conducted an in-depth study to determine whether the costs would truly bankrupt the government. He found the cost to be between R$40 to R$48B (US$18 to US$21B), compared to the government’s estimate of R$80B (US$36B). When a London consultancy published a report arguing the likelihood of bankruptcy, Flavio found that the consultancy had in fact been hired by the Brazilian government—making the report not more than a piece of the government’s communication strategy. Recognizing the need to explain the complexities in a quick soundbite, he developed a series of summaries of the case to capture the attention of the media and the public, directing those interested in further information to a website that featured the complete case documentation. A year and a half after the case was initially presented, the court ruled in favor of the workers. The case led to a massive financial settlement of R$900M (US$402M), and has impacted more than 1 million other cases to date.

In the case of Dorothy Stang, Flavio recognized early on that her murder was but one example in a long history of structured violence, involving rampant rights abuse and subsequent cover-ups in the region, fraud, and government corruption. Its just resolution had the potential to enormously impact the entire state of Para. To this end, Flavio brought together the Sisters and members of the local community to work across multiple fronts, seeking to alter public opinion, heighten media coverage of the case, and improve the legal process. He plans to create a web platform capable of transforming the 5,000 legal pages pertaining to the case, including letters, land use maps, and proof of public ownership, into a searchable database that the general public can access for a fee. Moreover, by widely publicizing his findings and exposing long withheld information, he is demonstrating the power of a coalition of everyday citizens working to effect social change.

Publico Interesse has worked with eleven high-profile or “leading” cases, the majority of which entailed more than two years of sustained investigation and drawn-out court proceedings spanning several years. In an effort to better institutionalize these efforts, Flavio is in the process of developing a virtual office that will involve and connect aspiring young journalists throughout Brazil. He has already partnered with a university in Rio de Janeiro to bring journalism students to Para to photograph the Dorothy Stang case. Through this and similar partnerships, he aims to train youth as photographers and web developers, and to provide them with a powerful understanding of human rights.

Finally, Flavio is working to develop a sustainable business model and an accessible structure through which to convey the discoveries of Publico Interesse. In breaking with traditional notions of confidentiality between the source and journalist, he aims to build an open access website for every case. Meanwhile, because the government and private sector are naturally averse to funding his efforts, Flavio has sought out a number of creative funding opportunities. While he was originally promised 1 percent of the R$900M won in the Social Security case, the money never came through, and led him to look for other sources of secure revenues. Much of his funding currently comes from other citizen organizations and rights organizations related to the case at hand, such as the Human Rights Commission and the Sisters in the Dorothy Stang case. In addition, he will create a platform through which individuals can contribute to particular cases of interest, further strengthening the role of the public. Finally, he will take on international casework, and provide online content in both Portuguese and English, to open up new funding opportunities and further spread his idea.

Flavio has been actively involved in human rights advocacy and democratic movements since his teenage days. As a medical student at the University of Rio Grande do Sul in the early 1970s, he worked on a series of underground publications in opposition to the military regime. He developed a keen interest in the structure of communications—namely, how to print and distribute newspapers while standing up to those in power. As a result of this involvement, he was arrested, kidnapped, and forced to leave school; escaping imprisonment on a legal technicality.

He moved to Sao Paulo empty-handed in 1976 and over the next decade worked to create and provide a stable infrastructure to clandestine publications. He worked for local and union newspapers, where he remained heavily involved in the pursuit of social and political rights and continued to build strong links with the press. He enrolled at the School of Communications and Arts at the University of Sao Paulo and graduated with a degree in journalism.

He helped to create the communications department of the Central Workers’ Union (CUT) in the late 1970s, and in 1983 became its first National Communication and Press Secretary. He convinced the union of the importance of a sound communications strategy and building bridges between the urban and rural sectors, and eventually achieved a daily circulation of more than 100,000 newspapers. The papers were distributed largely in factories, and became a central force in driving the workers’ movement. In addition, Flavio helped to develop the union’s communication structure in the Amazon, the northeast, and various other regions in Brazil, and during his travels, began to investigate numerous political murders, including Chico Mendes.

Flavio later took part in writing the new Constitution, and helped to develop communications programs for a number of social movements in the early days of the democracy. During the reform of the Sao Paulo transportation system, Flavio was asked to head the government’s communication program and led a team of ninety employees in the development of a communications strategy that reached millions of people.

He and his wife, a researcher and human rights advocate at UNICEF, moved to London for one year during the mid- 1990s, where he worked as an independent producer for the BBC, and as a stringer for the Brazilian magazine IstoE. Flavio returned to Brazil in 1995, following the election of a member of CUT to the House of Representative to head up his communications team. He soon grew disillusioned working for Parliament; feeling the government was failing to live up to its democratic ideals, and resigned after four years.

Around this time, Flavio began to develop Midia D, the predecessor to Publico Interesse, which strengthened connections between the country’s active social movements, government representatives, and the media. This led him to create Publico Interesse in 2001.