{"id":19000,"date":"2014-11-10T14:21:20","date_gmt":"2014-11-10T17:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=19000"},"modified":"2017-05-09T17:06:26","modified_gmt":"2017-05-09T20:06:26","slug":"occupation-in-sao-goncalo-gathers-1400-people-in-four-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=19000","title":{"rendered":"Occupation in S\u00e3o Gon\u00e7alo Gathers 1,400 People in Four Days"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the original by Henrique Coelho\u00a0in Portuguese, published in G1, click\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

On Tuesday November 4, more than 350 families completed their fourth day of occupation of a 60,000m\u00b2 area in S\u00e3o Gon\u00e7alo<\/a>, located in the Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region, according to the calculations of the new residents. The occupiers say they do not want the site to become another favela in the city. According to the City of S\u00e3o Gon\u00e7alo, the land belongs to the company G Bastos Trade and Plastic Packaging Industry LTD, owned by Walter Bastos Gon\u00e7alves.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the contrary, we want to draw attention to a social problem that afflicts many parts of Brazil. We want a proper public housing program<\/a>,” said Felipe Brito, one of the representatives of the occupation movement.<\/p>\n

The occupation of the area, which according to\u00a0residents has been abandoned for at least 30 years, was organized by coordinators of the\u00a0Landless Workers\u2019 Movement (MTST)<\/a>.\u00a0Guilherme Guimar\u00e3es, one of the movement\u2019s representatives, said he was contacted by families about six months ago and, after checking out the land, began talks with leaders of communities situated on the border between the Jardim Catarina and Santa Luzia neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe talked to leaders from various communities, and on Friday October 31 decided it was the right time,\u201d he said. He believes the solution to the housing shortage in the region includes the construction of housing units as part of the federal government\u2019s program, Minha Casa Minha Vida (MCMV)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“With all its problems, the ‘Entidades’ form of Minha Casa Minha Vida<\/a> [a small portion of the larger program,\u00a0which funds self-managed housing cooperatives]\u00a0can provide a solution for those who live in at-risk areas, or simply do not have housing, which is a universal right,\u201d he said. He says\u00a0that on separate days two people came to them claiming to be owners of the property but without presenting documents.<\/p>\n

Water for the camp is provided by a neighbor who made the artesian well of her residence available. The bathrooms are improvised and electricity is set up through informal connections. Later this week, William says the occupation will be divided into groups, with collective kitchens for each of them.<\/p>\n

Camp is set on fire<\/h3>\n

\"Menos<\/a>While they built\u00a0precarious shelter, with bamboo and plastic sheeting, on Sunday\u00a0November 2, occupiers\u00a0had an unpleasant surprise: a fire<\/a> engulfed a part of the camp during the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was arson<\/a>, to intimidate<\/a> us. But we will not leave until the situation is resolved,\u201d said Felipe Brito.<\/p>\n

After the episode, the campaign, “Less Hate, More Housing<\/a>” was launched on social media sites. Parliamentarians, artists and social activists embraced the idea and posted pictures supporting the occupation, which has been christened\u00a0Zumbi dos Palmares<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the mayor of S\u00e3o Gon\u00e7alo has said the area is not public land and has requested a letter for the landowner to present at the notary\u2019s office. The statement also says that discussions are being held as to the best way to solve the problem. According to the municipal government, the housing shortage in the city is 20,000 out of a population of 1.2 million.<\/p>\n

Hope and work<\/h3>\n

Thais Rosa da Silva, 19, was cutting bamboo around noon, under a scorching sun, to separate her tent from her neighbors\u2019. She arrived at the camp on Saturday\u00a0November 1,\u00a0coming from\u00a0Mag\u00e9<\/a>, in Baixada Fluminense<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI was paying a rent of R$350 ($135), and my boyfriend let me know what was happening. So I came here with him. I want a house of my own. This here is my best option. I think we\u2019ll stay here for a long time,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Ariane M\u00e9ri, 22, who lived in the Cano Furado favela next to the occupation, said he never knew of any public use of the area. \u201cThis here was used to dismantle cars, for homicides, only bad things. A cousin of mine was raped after being brought to this area about two weeks ago. It was terrible here,\u201d he says. \u201cNow it\u2019s safe to walk around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Almost at the edge of the camp lives Bruno Pereira, 32, and his two-year-old son. Bruno\u2019s wife, unemployed since June after working at the Rio de Janeiro Petrochemical Complex (Comperj<\/a>), now works at a gas station on Avenida Amaral Peixoto, near the site.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was fired along with 600 employees and was living in my mom\u2019s backyard in Cano Furado. I decided to come after I talked with my wife. It\u2019s a chance to have something of my own, right?\u201d he said, with his son in arms.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the original by Henrique Coelho\u00a0in Portuguese, published in G1, click\u00a0here. On Tuesday November 4, more than 350 families completed their fourth day of occupation of a 60,000m\u00b2 area in S\u00e3o Gon\u00e7alo, located in the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":19014,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1267,1333,335,1330],"tags":[642,1107,886,1197,282,1375,26,1484,1071,1374,157,296,1422,120],"writer":[1483],"translator":[946],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19000","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gentrificationwatch","8":"category-event-reports","9":"category-policies","10":"category-translation","11":"tag-arson","12":"tag-comperj","13":"tag-fire","14":"tag-greater-rio","15":"tag-housing","16":"tag-housing-deficit","17":"tag-housing-rights","18":"tag-intimidation","19":"tag-minha-casa-minha-vida-entidades","20":"tag-mtst","21":"tag-minha-casa-minha-vida","22":"tag-occupation","23":"tag-priced-out","24":"tag-sao-goncalo","25":"writer-henrique-coelho","26":"translator-amanda-bradshaw"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19000"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=19000"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=19000"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=19000"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=19000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}