{"id":28211,"date":"2016-04-22T08:00:18","date_gmt":"2016-04-22T11:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=28211"},"modified":"2016-05-20T06:46:25","modified_gmt":"2016-05-20T09:46:25","slug":"number-of-school-occupations-across-rio-de-janeiro-doubles-as-movement-grows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=28211","title":{"rendered":"Number of School Occupations Across Rio de Janeiro Doubles as Movement Grows"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The number of public schools occupied by students<\/a> more than doubled in just four days, with 45 schools occupied<\/a> by Friday April 15. On the same day, Rio de Janeiro\u2019s state Education Secretary Antonio Neto recognized the legal legitimacy<\/a> of the occupations and resolved to begin fresh negotiations with the students, after Judge S\u00e9rgio Seabra Varella ruled on Monday April 11<\/a> that the occupation of Mendes de Moraes school on Ilha do Governador<\/a> was lawful.<\/p>\n

The numbers of occupied schools is currently fluctuating, with state teachers\u2019 union SEPE claiming 64 schools<\/a> across Rio de Janeiro state are occupied, while Rio city-based activists<\/a> have publicly acknowledged 60 and Rio\u2019s state education secretariat recognize 55<\/a>\u00a0occupations.<\/p>\n

Disputing the legality of the schools\u2019 occupations had been the government\u2019s most severe critique of the movement until Varella\u2019s decision, but government figures also attempted to undermine the legitimacy of students\u2019 complaints by claiming that students\u2019 issues were specific to their individual schools.<\/p>\n

In an interview on R\u00e1dio Globo<\/em><\/a> with Mendes de Moraes student Jo\u00e3o Victor on March 29, Neto alleged that the complaints were only applicable to Mendes students and proceeded to insist their demands could all be met \u201cif they spoke directly to their school director.\u201d He also claimed that students had not yet tried to speak directly with him about the issues they were facing, but admitted less than ten minutes later in the same interview that his department had spoken to students on the first morning of the occupation.<\/p>\n

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

Some students occupying their schools also reported threats, intimidation and aggression from Military Police<\/a> as among the first official responses. Police facing legal gray areas attempted to enter schools, including the Chico Anysio School in Tijuca<\/a> on April 8 and Mendes in its first days of occupation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey entered by force, they came here in the auditorium with handguns and M16s, trying to find a motive to do something and saying students occupying were not the majority,\u201d said Alan, an 18 year-old Mendes alumnus supporting the occupation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey didn\u2019t see the occupation as legitimate, as something with good intentions. But they knew they could not be here with firearms and without a warrant, and we prevented them from entering on the third day [of the occupation].\u201d<\/p>\n

Students from Chico Anysio say the Military Police\u2019s tactics have evolved in the last week, calling their actions towards the students \u201cpsychological pressure<\/a>.\u201d Cecilia, 17, spoke about how police had telephoned parents of the students occupying the school and told them they would be arrested. They then proceeded to attempt entry by force, and stood outside the school gate with firearms and \u201cenormous guns\u201d while three students remained alone inside during the occupation\u2019s first hours.<\/p>\n

Some students have also faced threats from other parties. Laetitia, a 17 year-old student from Gomes Freire school in Penha<\/a>, told RioOnWatch<\/em> that in the first two days of their occupation, an individual claiming to be from Rio state\u2019s guardianship council entered and assaulted some of the occupying students.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe came without identification, we don\u2019t know if he was from the guardianship council or not,\u201d she stressed, \u201cbut he entered by force and beat two students.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

With only 20 to 30 students sleeping in many of the occupied schools and numbers reaching around 100 students occupying in the daytime, officials have also sought to claim that the movement is undemocratic and that the occupying students do not represent the majority, despite all students being invited to vote on occupations before they happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are 2,300 students registered here, but it\u2019s wrong to say that their absence means they are not in support of the movement,\u201d said Alan.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany students are minors, and most can\u2019t stay all the time. And there are some whose parents will not let them come because they know what has already happened and fear for their children\u2019s safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students occupying their schools have also received support from their wider communities, including donated food, cleaning materials and access to Wi-Fi from neighboring residents. Students in many schools have received advice from human rights<\/a> lawyers, verifying the legality of their occupations. With the aid of community members, students have also been hosting debates, activities and alternative classes<\/a> on everything from the military dictatorship<\/a> and feminism to muay thai and yoga.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe community is really supporting us,\u201d said Pedro, a 16 year-old student at Chico Anysio. \u201cThey saw the police vans outside the school on the weekend, and when people were passing by they asked how they could help, what we needed here.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is also demonstrable online support for the movement, with more than 30,000 likes for the activist Facebook page reporting\u00a0the movement<\/a> and almost 9,000 likes for individual schools\u2019 occupy pages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Occupying students acknowledge that protest movements always face some opposition, but are hopeful for success in the near future. With the movement growing, students and teachers have been able to express solidarity with one another and cast off previous accusations that teachers were manipulating students.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more than a question of just salary,\u201d said Mariana, an educational psychology professor from the Fluminense Federal University (UFF), while visiting Mendes. \u201cIt\u2019s much more than that: it\u2019s the lack of necessary studying and working conditions, the employees fired without receiving their wages\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Students, too, view the occupations as about more than just their own personal situations or the schools they attend. Cecilia is in her final year at Chico Anysio, as is Laetitia at Gomes Freire.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt won\u2019t make that much different for us, in our final year,\u201d said Laetitia. \u201cBut it\u2019s not for us. It\u2019s for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas The number of public schools occupied by students more than doubled in just four days, with 45 schools occupied by Friday April 15. On the same day, Rio de Janeiro\u2019s state […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":28214,"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":[1668,1288,1290,335,1329],"tags":[298,756,910,397,1113,1996,918,1292,518,193,18,423,301,270,1019,1350,259],"writer":[1956],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-28211","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-participationwatch","8":"category-highlight","9":"category-civilsociety","10":"category-policies","11":"category-by-international-observers","12":"tag-occupy","13":"tag-community-organizing","14":"tag-creative-organizing","15":"tag-education","16":"tag-educational-reform","17":"tag-ilha-do-governador","18":"tag-military-police","19":"tag-organizing","20":"tag-organizing-tactics","21":"tag-penha","22":"tag-protest","23":"tag-psychological-terror","24":"tag-public-policy","25":"tag-resistance","26":"tag-right-to-education","27":"tag-tijuca","28":"tag-youth","29":"writer-ciara-long"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28211","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\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28211"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=28211"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=28211"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=28211"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=28211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}