Posts tagged North Zone
Life in the Favela: Public Security Debated in Maré
May 14th
“What is this ‘pacification’ that is coming?” challenged favela residents last Saturday May 11th at a debate on public security in Maré. For weeks, the group of communities has been undergoing daily raids by the BOPE (Special Operations Police Battalion) in a government effort to prepare the area for the installation of the Police Pacifying Units (UPPs). The process includes illegal searches of homes without individual warrants and operations involving helicopters and armored tanks.
“The discourse from the state and from the commercial media [surrounding pacification] is a big lie,” explained Gizele Martins, coordinator and journalist at Maré’s 13-year-old community newspaper O Cidadão. More >
Does Citizenship have a Post Code? Collective Warrants and Illegal Searches in Pre-UPP Maré
May 6th
For the original in Portuguese by Cecília Oliveira on Arma Branca click here.
Does citizenship have a post code? This question may seem absurd for some, yet spot-on for others, and it is what favela residents are repeatedly asking about state powers.
Maré, a group of favelas situated between the Avenida Brasil and Linha Vermelha, two main highways in Rio’s North Zone, has been the target of six police operations in the past month. Residents are experiencing what they call “Pre-UPP Syndrome”, or TPP (Portuguese acronym).
Last Thursday May 2nd, residents of the favelas Parque União and Nova Holanda faced yet another operation, More >
Morar Carioca Stalled in 89 Favelas Before Construction Plans Finalized: The Case of Pica-Pau
May 2nd
Irenaldo, President of the Pica-Pau Residents' Association, strolls behind a cyclist on one of Pica-Pau's main streets.
Irenaldo Honório da Silva, president of the Pica-Pau Residents’ Association, is at a loss. The small favela where he has led community organizing efforts for over twenty years, slightly north of Maré along Avenida Brasil, has in the past eighteen months witnessed robust commitments to what will be the first large-scale public upgrades in its history, those from the municipal Morar Carioca program. Teams of architects, technical surveyors, and social scientists have visited, noting the locations of abandoned buildings that could be converted into schools and More >
Impacted Communities: Manguinhos Plays Host to Resistance Efforts from Across the City
Apr 30th
Manguinhos residents denounce a year's worth of standing sewage water in an area where PAC upgrading supposedly addressed infrastructure issues.
“Here we are, abandoned in the sewage!” two Manguinhos residents exclaimed, pointing to the flooded, mosquito-ridden streets encircling their homes that had been that way for over a year. They recounted that government programs such as the federal Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) and PAC II had promised infrastructure improvements to the community, but none of them had addressed the urgent sewage situation. “I have six children (including a newborn). Where I am going to go?” one woman explained, exasperated.
These complaints were voiced More >
Communities Celebrate Release of Favela Restaurant Guide
Apr 27th
On Saturday April 6, Rio’s newly launched Livraria Cultura bookstore opened its doors to celebrate the release of the Guia Gastronômico das Favelas do Rio (“Gastronomical Guide to Rio’s Favelas”) and meet those who made it all possible including Sérgio Bloch (concept and editing), Ines Garçoni (text), and Marcos Pinto (photography). The guide, bursting with eye-catching photos and a multitude of interesting facts on some of Rio’s favelas, highlights outstanding restaurants, bars, and other unique businesses typically unheard of in the favelas.
Twenty-two businesses are featured from eight communities, these include: Morro da Providênica, Santa Marta, Tabajaras, Chapéu Mangueira/Babilônia, Vidigal, Rocinha, Morro dos Prazeres, and Complexo do More >
