In tough political and economic times, Brazilians used the 2017 carnival celebrations to make their voices heard. The events demonstrate how politics can change people’s attitudes and behaviours – in this case, turning something that is typically a celebratory event into a stage for protest.

The culture of fear is rife in Brazil, with many people fearing both criminal activity as well as unjust violent behaviour from the police. Defezap is a new initiative that uses the collective, yet anonymous, input of ordinary citizens through WhatsApp to combat police brutality.

Brazilians are not unfamiliar with national crises, but amid rising crime, high unemployment, a series of political scandals, and a recession fresh in people’s memories, things are taking a heavy toll on the population. How are they reacting to the difficulties? And how do they see the future?

The vanishing of Bruno Borges is stranger than fiction, and Brazilians are clamouring over clues to piece the mystery together. As the country wrestles with a number of other national issues, people are immersing themselves in Bruno’s disappearance to tune out everything else.