{"id":32865,"date":"2016-09-20T12:14:21","date_gmt":"2016-09-20T15:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=32865"},"modified":"2016-09-26T15:48:17","modified_gmt":"2016-09-26T18:48:17","slug":"horto-protests-90-day-eviction-notice-and-assault-from-media-giant-globo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=32865","title":{"rendered":"Horto Protests 90-Day Eviction Notice and Assault from Media Giant Globo"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

On Sunday, September 18, residents of the\u00a0Horto<\/a>\u00a0favela in the South Zone<\/a> of Rio de Janeiro held a protest titled \u201cFica Horto, Fora Globo<\/a>\u201d (Stay Horto, Go Globo) protesting\u00a0the pending eviction<\/a>\u00a0order against their community. Last month, on August 10, the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) issued a decision<\/a> giving the Botanical Gardens\u00a090 days to evict residents of Horto. At this time, no further action has been taken by the the Botanical Gardens\u00a0or the federal government, but residents expect the Gardens\u00a0to take steps towards evicting the community after municipal elections on October 2, or, if a runoff is also held, after October 30.<\/p>\n

\"Leaflet<\/a>
Leaflet posted inviting residents to protest: “Globo lies about Horto. Global lies about everything. Globo lies! We’re done with listening quietly to the lies about us, we’re done with false bombs and invented emails, we’re done with slander and prejudice! We demand our right to respond! We want to open a dialogue that permits us to share the truth about Horto! We’ll no longer accept Globo’s defamation campaign against our community! September 18, 2016 let’s go to Globo’s doors and show that this must end!” Photo from M\u00eddia1508 Facebook page<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Residents of Horto have a 200-year claim<\/a> to the land: nestled in the shadow of Christ the Redeemer, the community\u00a0was\u00a0founded by workers of the Botanical Garden, established in 1808, who were given permission\u00a0to settle on the land adjacent to the park\u00a0with their families. In the 1960s Brazil’s President Juscelino Kubitschek built a municipal school<\/a> for the neighborhood’s children. And residents have legal documents going back generations<\/a> proving their ties there. If any favela in Rio has right to its land, it’s Horto. Which is why so much is at stake here, for the community’s residents and beyond.<\/p>\n

Residents and supporters gathered at the entrance to Horto around 10am to prepare for the family-friendly protest<\/a>, following extensive organization\u00a0resulting in\u00a0a sound car, drums, songs and chants, and signs for all participants.<\/p>\n

At 11am, community leaders led over one hundred residents<\/a> down Rua Pacheco Le\u00e3o to the focal point of the protest: in front of Globo headquarters\u00a0on the same street. Organiza\u00e7\u00f5es Globo is Latin America\u2019s largest media group with the second largest commercial TV network in annual revenue worldwide. Residents of Horto now attribute\u00a0escalating pressures to remove them to Globo, as eviction threats began only once the company set up operations in the neighborhood, during the military regime, in the 1960s<\/a>, and have grown with the gentrification of the surrounding neighborhood, fueled by Globo’s growth. Globo\u00a0is widely known\u00a0to have supported Brazil’s military regime<\/a> and, more recently, has been associated with efforts to impeach<\/a> President Dilma Rousseff.<\/p>\n

Assembled in front of Globo’s building, Emilia de Souza, former president of the Association of Residents and Friends of Horto<\/a> (AMAHOR), spoke first and then introduced seven other residents who each gave a short speech detailing\u00a0the community\u2019s current situation. Three themes were reiterated throughout the speeches: Globo published lies about Horto, the environmental argument to remove Horto is misguided, and unity is essential to resistance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Residents reacted to Globo\u2019s media pronouncements\u00a0calling Horto residents “invaders<\/a>,” among other claims. \u201cAll property starts with possession, and ours goes back two centuries,\u201d said Emilia. \u201cOur right<\/a> to dignified housing, to our neighborhood, and to our city is recognized by the government, provided for by the constitution and Brazilian and international law. But, intending to rob us of this right, and to promote social and ethnic cleansing, Globo doesn\u2019t hesitate to invent facts and promote them as truth.\u201d As examples, Emilia cited a 2013 statement by the director of the Botanical Gardens National School attributing a homemade bomb to Horto residents. Although the director quickly withdrew the statement, Globo published it<\/a>. More recently, Globo published a story<\/a> attributing to Horto residents an anonymous email threatening the Botanical Gardens president. Globo frequently refers to Horto residents as \u201cinvaders\u201d even though the community<\/a> has existed as long as the Botanical Gardens, over 200 years.<\/p>\n

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

Second, speakers challenged the environmentally-based argument for removing Horto as ironic and unjust. Emerson de Souza, current president of AMAHOR, described how\u00a0the Botanical Gardens removed\u00a0hundreds of\u00a0old, native trees to build a parking lot near the entrance of Horto for the Gardens’\u00a0employees. Others emphasized that Horto is a very green community that lives in harmony with\u00a0the environment.<\/p>\n

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

Finally, speakers emphasized unity: \u201cEvery resident is relevant, every resident is important,\u201d said one speaker. Residents of Horto intend to resist removal, and community leaders frequently note that unity will be essential to successful resistance.<\/p>\n

Residents have held similar protests<\/a> against eviction in the past<\/a>, most recently in April of this year. Since 2013, Horto<\/a> has faced heightened threat of eviction, but has thus far resisted. Residents had hoped eviction threats would calm down\u00a0after the Olympics<\/a>, but the 90-day notice issued on August 10 has impelled\u00a0residents to continue their resistance efforts.<\/p>\n

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

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

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas On Sunday, September 18, residents of the\u00a0Horto\u00a0favela in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro held a protest titled \u201cFica Horto, Fora Globo\u201d (Stay Horto, Go Globo) protesting\u00a0the pending eviction\u00a0order against […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":32868,"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":[1293,1267,1854,1288,1290,1333,336,1329],"tags":[756,474,698,11,390,884,282,26,894,1292,18,270,156,471],"writer":[2157],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-32865","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-evictionswatch","8":"category-gentrificationwatch","9":"category-housingwatch","10":"category-highlight","11":"category-civilsociety","12":"category-event-reports","13":"category-violations","14":"category-by-international-observers","15":"tag-community-organizing","16":"tag-environment","17":"tag-federal-government","18":"tag-forced-evictions","19":"tag-globo","20":"tag-horto","21":"tag-housing","22":"tag-housing-rights","23":"tag-jardim-botanico","24":"tag-organizing","25":"tag-protest","26":"tag-resistance","27":"tag-south-zone","28":"tag-sustainability","29":"writer-laura-bachmann"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32865","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\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32865"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=32865"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=32865"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=32865"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=32865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}