{"id":27714,"date":"2016-03-29T08:00:46","date_gmt":"2016-03-29T11:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=27714"},"modified":"2016-03-30T08:24:50","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T11:24:50","slug":"vila-autodromo-perseveres-with-first-run-for-vila","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=27714","title":{"rendered":"Olympics Poverty Torch Arrives in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo at First “Run for Vila”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The first\u00a0Run for Vila\u00a0was held in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo on Saturday March 26. The event was a collaboration between the community resistance movement and Brazilian artist\u00a0Igor Vidor and brought together residents, activists and supporters in a four kilometer run around the community. Saturday\u2019s events were part of Vila Aut\u00f3dromo\u2019s ongoing weekly activities where residents host and invite supporters to engage with the community to support their struggle against\u00a0eviction.<\/p>\n

Saturday was not only a reflection of Vila Aut\u00f3dromo\u2019s ongoing\u00a0resistance<\/a> and struggle to live alongside the Olympic Park<\/a>, but honored communities worldwide<\/a>\u00a0which have suffered evictions from\u00a0mega-events<\/a>. On Saturday, Vila Aut\u00f3dromo was presented with the Olympic Poverty\u00a0Torch<\/a>, which has been passed down by community organizers in Olympic host cities since it was created in 2010\u00a0in Vancouver<\/a>, representing a range of Olympic-related issues including evictions due to\u00a0real estate speculation<\/a>. When the torch relay arrived in London in 2012, organizers said “The Poverty Torch Relay highlights long-standing Olympic issues of eviction, land seizure and the exclusion of the poor. London 2012 is no different. The Olympics epitomizes corporate power and growing social inequality.” Meanwhile, as it arrived in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo, resident Nat\u00e1lia Silva<\/a> said: \u201cThe torch has significant meaning\u2026 And we hope to pass it on to a community in the next host city [Pyeongchang, South Korea].\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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

In recent weeks the Rio city government has\u00a0increased pressure<\/a> on the community with devastating demolitions of the\u00a0Neighborhood\u00a0Association a<\/a>nd Helena Heloisa’s home<\/a> and Afro-Brazilian religious center, and earlier this month the\u00a0demolition of Maria da Penha’s home<\/a> on International Women\u2019s Day. The loss of her house did not remove Penha and her family from Vila Aut\u00f3dromo. For now they continue their struggle from the community\u2019s Catholic Church, located in the heart of the community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last week, on Wednesday, March 23, the community suffered yet another blow as the Parquinho community playground was demolished. The park had been revitalized in a collective effort in\u00a0November last year<\/a>. The City also changed the\u00a0physical border\u00a0of the community<\/a>, without warning, and a\u00a0resident was threatened<\/a> by an agent from state water company\u00a0CEDAE<\/a>.<\/span>
\n<\/a>
\nThe demolitions come at a time when the official discourse is that Vila Aut\u00f3dromo will remain. Residents still haven’t seen the Mayor’s plans for the community<\/a>\u00a0but some<\/a> received individual invitations to meet with the Mayor and discuss the plan on Monday, March 28. On Saturday residents reported that they hoped to make suggestions and have an influence on the plan<\/a>.\u00a0Residents posted a statement<\/a> on the community’s Facebook page on Monday morning: “[We] hope that from today a democratic, less traumatic process of legalization and decent, true, loyal upgrading, without tricks, begins.”<\/p>\n

\"Invitation<\/p>\n

Following Saturday\u2019s run, residents and supporters celebrated the 15th birthday of Flora, one of four siblings who have lived in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo all their lives. The party included a stilts workshop, music and food. Flora\u2019s mother,\u00a0Sandra Maria<\/a>, is a strong figure in the community\u2019s fight and recently appeared in a widely shared\u00a0video<\/a> describing the\u00a0psychological pressure the community is suffering and thanking supporters<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite everything the community has been through over the years and culminating in the last few weeks, residents continue to host weekly events, invite supporters into their homes and celebrate the community’s spirit, which has only grown with time, despite demolitions. Vila Aut\u00f3dromo plans to hold another Run for Vila in the coming weeks and maintain a regular program of weekend activities.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas The first\u00a0Run for Vila\u00a0was held in Vila Aut\u00f3dromo on Saturday March 26. The event was a collaboration between the community resistance movement and Brazilian artist\u00a0Igor Vidor and brought together residents, activists […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":27745,"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":[1293,1668,1736,1290,1333,329,336,1329],"tags":[9,371,756,910,272,11,282,26,1259,5,152,270,4,21],"writer":[1807],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-27714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-evictionswatch","8":"category-participationwatch","9":"category-1736","10":"category-civilsociety","11":"category-event-reports","12":"category-solutions","13":"category-violations","14":"category-by-international-observers","15":"tag-9","16":"tag-cedae","17":"tag-community-organizing","18":"tag-creative-organizing","19":"tag-mayor-eduardo-paes","20":"tag-forced-evictions","21":"tag-housing","22":"tag-housing-rights","23":"tag-mega-events","24":"tag-olympics","25":"tag-participation","26":"tag-resistance","27":"tag-vila-autodromo","28":"tag-west-zone","29":"writer-clare-huggins"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27714","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27714"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=27714"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=27714"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=27714"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=27714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}