{"id":36396,"date":"2017-05-11T14:38:26","date_gmt":"2017-05-11T17:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=36396"},"modified":"2020-03-24T16:31:17","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T19:31:17","slug":"acari-favela-debates-police-violence-at-community-wide-public-audience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=36396","title":{"rendered":"Acari Favela Debates Police Violence at Community-Wide Public Audience"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Last Saturday, May 7, the Fala Akari Collective<\/a> and\u00a0Acari<\/a>\u00a0Residents\u2019 Association\u00a0organized a Public Audience<\/a>\u00a0to hear what residents had to say and to report crimes carried out by the State in the community. The setting chosen for the event, the Favo de Acari Samba School<\/a>, was a symbolic choice because the spot\u00a0marks the site of the Acari slaughter<\/a>\u00a0of 1990; an event that has gone without consequences for its perpetrators<\/a>. The event opened with a memorial to favela victims of police violence<\/a>; their names called out and responded to with loud cries of \u201cpresent.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

In addition to this\u00a0unresolved crime, residents used the space<\/a> to denounce\u00a0others, like the death of thirteen year old Maria Eduarda, struck by four bullets whilst sitting in class at her local\u00a0school<\/a>. \u201cI wasn\u2019t afraid to speak up before, and now I really am not! No one will shut me up!\u201d Rosilene, the girl\u2019s mother said into the microphone. \u201cWhen the Mayor says he\u2019s going to bulletproof\u00a0the schools<\/a>, it\u2019s laughable<\/a>! We don\u2019t want that, we want a bulletproof society. We want the presence of City Hall\u00a0beyond just the police<\/a>,\u201d asserts Leonardo, teacher in the municipal school where Eduarda was assassinated.<\/p>\n

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

Various people echoed this sentiment and the\u00a0need to find a solution, not for policing but for investment in health, especially mental health<\/a> provisions, and education<\/a>. \u201cHow can you not have a technical school or university in a favela yet you can afford to fund a massive police operation?\u201d questioned Estev\u00e3o, resident of Acari. Other residents complained that the Ronaldo Gazolla Municipal Hospital, whose management was involved in embezzlement scandals in 2015<\/a>, has no psychological services and is nothing more than a white elephant while the local schools and day care centers suffer from a chronic lack of provisions, classes, and teachers. Lennon, a member of the Deley de Acari the Poet Cultural Centre<\/a> (CCPD) also denounced the vacating of the community\u2019s first college preparatory course due to violence. One of the questions brought forward for discussion at\u00a0the event was, \u201cHow can we maintain a public security<\/a>\u00a0policy without armed conflicts interfering with the continuity of the school calendar<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Recurring property invasions without a court order<\/a>, using skeleton keys<\/a>\u00a0or cropping locks, also appeared on the order of the day in the speeches of several residents. \u201cWhen we get home, it\u2019s all turned upside down. When we go out to work for the day we\u2019re already in a state of fear,\u201d said Janete. Residents claim that the invasion is often followed by the seizure of personal documents, using the residence as a hideout<\/a>, and even a secret jail space.<\/p>\n

Rio’s North Zone\u00a0has the highest death rates from police action<\/a> (new term for \u2018acts of resistance\u2019<\/a>) in the city. The 41st<\/sup> Battalion of the Military Police, which operates in the area, is considered the most lethal battalion in all of Rio de Janeiro<\/a> and residents say it is known for practicing heavy-handed\u00a0policing and taking in police officers from other battalions who are involved with problems\u00a0and are still the\u00a0subject of investigation. In the first three months of 2017 alone, the battalion executed at least thirty-six people<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

Estev\u00e3o reported: \u201cEveryone who lives here has seen a pool of blood or a dead body. There\u2019s drug taking and trading in Barra and Leblon [wealthy neighborhoods]. But it is here\u00a0where there\u00a0are gunshots, death<\/a>. Sometimes, people convince themselves the war is normal but it is part of a system that is putting money in someone’s pocket, and it\u2019s certainly not in ours. This war involves everyone<\/a> but it only gets implemented here.\u201d Another resident added, \u201cThe form of repression against trafficking is a political choice. If the traffic was over, they\u2019d just find another reason to kill us<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas Last Saturday, May 7, the Fala Akari Collective and\u00a0Acari\u00a0Residents\u2019 Association\u00a0organized a Public Audience\u00a0to hear what residents had to say and to report crimes carried out by the State in the community. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":36400,"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":[1288,1290,1333,336],"tags":[555,756,842,25,918,673,37,17,888,809,3073,268],"writer":[2247],"translator":[1344],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-36396","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-highlight","8":"category-civilsociety","9":"category-event-reports","10":"category-violations","11":"tag-acari","12":"tag-community-organizing","13":"tag-debate","14":"tag-human-rights","15":"tag-military-police","16":"tag-misplaced-public-priorities","17":"tag-north-zone","18":"tag-police-brutality","19":"tag-police-intimidation","20":"tag-public-security","21":"tag-ronaldo-gazolla-hospital","22":"tag-state-violence","23":"writer-luisa-fenizola","24":"translator-cara-pears"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36396","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\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36396"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=36396"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=36396"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=36396"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=36396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}