{"id":21653,"date":"2015-04-21T11:01:13","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T14:01:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=21653"},"modified":"2016-04-11T02:06:16","modified_gmt":"2016-04-11T05:06:16","slug":"optimism-disillusionment-and-despair-favela-residents-and-activists-debate-pacification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=21653","title":{"rendered":"Optimism, Disillusionment and Despair: Favela Residents and Activists Debate Pacification"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Community leaders and members of the public met on April 16\u00a0to discuss the\u00a0Pacifying Police Unit (UPP) program<\/a> in Rio\u2019s favelas.<\/p>\n

The event was organized by the favela news portal\u00a0Viva Favela<\/a> (a program of NGO Viva Rio<\/a>) as the first of a series of debates on issues affecting Rio\u2019s favela communities.<\/p>\n

Speakers included Repper Fiell<\/a>, rapper and activist from Santa Marta<\/a>, Davidson Coutinho<\/a>, MA\u00a0student, journalist and Rocinha<\/a> resident, and William de Oliveira<\/a>, former president of a\u00a0Rocinha Residents\u2019 Association. Ubiritan Angelo, a coordinator of Viva Rio and a former Military Police<\/a> commander, also participated.<\/p>\n

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

The debate opened with a provocative question from moderator Carlos Costa: \u201cWhat would you say are the positive aspects of the pacification process?\u201d<\/p>\n

While former police officer Ubiritan Angelo readily gave several suggestions\u2014saying, for example, that levels of violence and criminality in favelas have fallen\u2014others found it harder to respond. William de Oliveira referred with cautious optimism to\u00a0the future of the Pacifying Police Units (UPPs)<\/a>: \u201cSome residents still believe there\u2019s some hope left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Repper Fiell, however, was not willing to see the positive side: \u201cI\u2019m not hopeful, no.\u201d He questioned why a day with no shootouts in a pacified favela is seen as a success, when it should be part of daily life for favela residents not to have to worry about shootouts at all. \u201cIt\u2019s our right!\u201d<\/p>\n

Discussion turned to the positive way pacification has often been portrayed in the mainstream media, potentially giving a misleading image of the process. Fiell said Globo News<\/em> spent a month in Santa Marta in the early days of the UPP, which he thinks distorted the public\u2019s perception of what he called \u201cpacification through violence.\u201d Rafael Sousa, from Complexo do Lins<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0speaking from the audience, agreed, remembering the large amount of \u201cadvertising and marketing\u201d orchestrated by the media at the beginning of the UPP occupation in Lins<\/a>. This allowed the UPP to \u201csell a false image\u201d of the process.<\/p>\n

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

Participants spoke about residents\u2019 growing lack of support for UPPs in their communities. Davidson Coutinho summed up his reaction: \u201cEven if you don\u2019t agree with the pacification project as a whole, it\u2019s sad to walk through the community hearing residents saying they preferred Rocinha before the UPP.\u201d Several people spoke of residents feeling removed from the pacification process in their communities. \u201cThe biggest supporters of UPPs should be the residents,\u201d said de Oliveira.<\/p>\n

One of the reasons for lack of support for pacification seemed to be disillusionment with the promises made when UPPs were installed. One promise\u2014to remove traffickers from favelas\u2014was denounced as a \u201cbig lie\u201d by Fiell. De Oliveira agreed: \u201cWe\u2019re seeing the presence of the State in places where organized crime continues, in some places even stronger than before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another promise\u2014that police occupation would bring improved public services and quality of life to favelas\u2014was described as a \u201cjoke.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fiell summed this up by referring to Santa Marta, whose residents were promised better housing, health and sanitation services alongside the police occupation. He challenged the audience to go and see the lack of improvement for themselves, referring to a number of\u00a0wooden and some unsafe houses that still exist in the community, and the low quality\u00a0of basic sanitation<\/a>. \u201cThis made people realize that it was just another political project to trick people.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Participants discussed how some changes that did accompany\u00a0the arrival of UPPs in favelas were negative, including issues related to increasing house prices, gentrification<\/a> and police restrictions of residents\u2019<\/a> right to come and go freely<\/a> in their communities.<\/p>\n

Police violence was also cited as a large concern. \u201cWe never know when a stray bullet is going to find someone we know,\u201d said de Oliveira, making particular reference to recent police killings in Complexo do Alem\u00e3o<\/a>. Speakers spoke of violence being a daily reality in their communities.<\/p>\n

The overwhelming conclusion was that police occupation alone is not the solution to improving life in Rio\u2019s favelas. \u201cPolice, police, police, police. We\u2019ve had enough of police. We\u2019ve had enough of war,\u201d said Coutinho, lamenting the lack of other projects and services in Rocinha. For example, he mentioned that the Catholic\u00a0university PUC Rio has been working in Rocinha, but on a very small scale.<\/p>\n

Coutinho hit on a key theme during the final moments of the debate\u2014the need for a change of attitude towards favelas<\/a> in the city. \u201cAs long as the favela continues to be seen as a problem to be solved, we can\u2019t move forward.\u201d One way to change attitudes\u00a0is to embrace and encourage community mobilization<\/a> and engagement<\/a>. Fiell agreed: \u201cI don\u2019t believe in a police that brings peace with weapons. I believe in the mobilization of the citizen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch the whole debate (in Portuguese) below.<\/h3>\n