Archive for May, 2012
The Making of an Urban Occupation: Manoel Congo
May 31st
On the eve of World Habitat Day, October 1, 2007, organizers from the National Movement for Housing (Movimento Nacional de Luta pela Moradia–MNLM) gathered 126 people on two buses and headed to downtown Rio, where they had been planning for months to occupy two abandoned buildings, one public and one private: a public building on Rua Alcindo Guanabara and the Vitória Cinema on Rua Senador Dantas. Organizers began to hold assemblies on the buses when they realized they were over 50 people short of their goal of 180 people to occupy the two buildings. The question was, More >
Permaculture, Agroforestry, Organic Foods, and More You Don’t Associate with Alemão…
May 30th
Complexo do Alemão, a complex of favelas in Rio’s North Zone, is perhaps best known for its history of violence related to drug trafficking and police occupation. However, project members of organisation Verdejar (Becoming Green) are working to draw attention to the area for a completely different reason.
Verdejar was founded in 1997 by Luiz Carlos Matos Marins, known as Luiz Poeta (“Luiz the Poet”), interviewed by RioOnWatch prior to his passing in late 2011. Poeta’s idea was to create trails and collect refuse in the Serra da Misericordia, home to the largest section of Atlantic Forest in Rio’s densely urban North Zone.
Verdejar More >
There will be a disaster, and the Prefeitura knows
May 28th
“If this house falls,… it will take everything else (on the hillside) down with it. There will be a total disaster, and the Prefeitura (City) knows it,” says Irenaldo Honrário da Silva, President of the Cordovil Resident’s Association, as he points to a house clinging to the hillside, built on slick soil with a cracking foundation.
The site of Pica-Pau, a community located in Rio’s North Zone region of Cordovil, is bleak and neglected. The streets flood when it rains and pollutants, from the already clogged drains, back the water up and create what residents refer to as the “little lake” More >
Fashion Rio Still Excluding Black Models
May 25th
Article published in Portuguese in Belezas Negras here.
Clothing brands, designers, and producers have once again excluded black beauty from the runways, as Fashion Rio launches its new collections for Summer 2013. Young black professionals who deserve the chance to be part of the cast of the runway shows and fashion week events are kept out of this professional space. This despite an agreement made with the agency in charge of hiring, which promised to set aside a percentage of jobs for black models. The clothing companies did not honor the agreement.
Educafro denounced the discrimination with yet another protest:
“Close to 20 people staged a More >
“Are you coming to Jaca?”
May 24th
“Are you coming to Jaca?” asked Raylton, a rapper from Cantagalo bouncing up and down on fellow hip hop artist Tigrin´s shoulders at the bottom of the South Zone favela in Ipanema last Thursday evening. “Yeah yeah, c´mon, let´s go” replies Tigrin, shrugging him off as we go to take the metro into the North Zone to the Jacarezinho favela, the unlikely location of a hip hop and poetry event attracting artists from all over the city.
Organized by Agência de Notícias da Favela, the event Ritmo e Poesia (Rhythm and Poetry) has been bringing together poetry from the asfalto, ‘asphalt’ or More >
