{"id":40267,"date":"2017-11-17T12:27:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-17T15:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=40267"},"modified":"2020-08-07T14:03:32","modified_gmt":"2020-08-07T17:03:32","slug":"communities-across-rio-unite-to-protest-eviction-images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=40267","title":{"rendered":"Communities Across Rio Unite to Protest Eviction [IMAGES]"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Hundreds of residents from across Rio de Janeiro gathered in\u00a0City of God<\/a>\u00a0on Monday morning, November 13, to march to Mayor Marcelo Crivella<\/a>‘s\u00a0Barra da Tijuca\u00a0residence in the\u00a0West Zone<\/a>\u00a0in protest of numerous recent eviction threats across the city. Over\u00a077,000 favela residents were evicted<\/a> under the previous mayor, Eduardo Paes<\/a>, and in the first year of Crivella’s term a combination of old and new\u00a0forced eviction<\/a>\u00a0threats have thousands more residents worrying about their homes and communities. Riding into the mayoral seat on the message that he would care for Rio’s citizens, it feels to many that Crivella has made a 180-degree turn.<\/h5>\n
Most cases are in areas experiencing\u00a0real estate speculation<\/a>, begging the question of who the mayor is really caring for. Additionally, two\u00a0of the threatened communities are situated in Barra, in Crivella’s backyard so to speak, where evictions are referred to as a form of “social cleansing<\/a>.” Crivella went so far as calling one of these communities, the regional\u00a0economic powerhouse<\/a> of\u00a0Rio das Pedras<\/a>, “Barra’s latrine<\/a>,” a view residents have been working tirelessly to combat through community clean-up activities<\/a> (despite waste collection being a responsibility of the City). Despite a City official recently announcing in Rio das Pedras<\/a> that “there will be no eviction” under this administration, the City’s new plans for the favela remain opaque and residents believe the City still aims to remove many from their community. Communities currently facing eviction threats include: Horto<\/a>, Rio das Pedras, Barrinha<\/a>, Ara\u00e7atiba, Maracaj\u00e1s<\/a>, and\u00a0R\u00e1dio Sonda<\/a>.<\/h5>\n

The March Begins<\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>
“No to evictions: For the right to housing.” Photo from Nidivaldo Marc\u00e1rio Oliveira Facebook page.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Residents marched several kilometers from the City of God favela to Mayor Crivella’s residence, which is located in a large and wealthy condominium in Barra da Tijuca. A Facebook post announcing the protest<\/a> had explained: “Mayor Crivella prioritizes real estate interests to the detriment of the population… Democracy in Brazil is threatened, let’s unite!”<\/p>\n

Maracaj\u00e1s Road, Represent!<\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>
“The Aeron\u00e1utica wants to expel us from our homes in Maracaj\u00e1s in order to profit!” Photo from SOS Maracaj\u00e1s Facebook page.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although the community of Maracaj\u00e1s Road has existed near Rio’s international airport on Ilha da Governador<\/a> for some 100 years, Brazil’s Air Force has demanded residents destroy their own houses<\/a> and leave the area. Maracaj\u00e1s families were joined on Monday by the movement from R\u00e1dio Sonda<\/a>, a neighboring community also facing eviction threats by the Air Force.<\/p>\n

Ara\u00e7atiba, Represent!<\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>
“Rio’s Organic Law, Article 429, section VI, prohibits the removal of residents!!!” Photo by Tyler Strobl<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Residents of Ara\u00e7atiba, a West Zone community in Guaratiba<\/a>, are being threatened with removal as well. Accused by the government of endangering the local mangrove reserve, Ara\u00e7atiba residents emphasize their decades of coexistence with<\/a> and care for their surrounding environment. Some families’ houses have already been demolished this year; one house was mistakenly destroyed. Some community members have also reported threats to their houses and families.<\/p>\n

Rio das Pedras, Represent!<\/h1>\n

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

Rio das Pedras, the largest of the communities being threatened, has been very active in resisting<\/a> Crivella’s eviction plans. With over 140,000 residents, it has been a struggle to organize<\/a> and keep residents informed, especially since many claim that government workers are purposely spreading false information<\/a> to keep community members confused.<\/p>\n

\"by<\/a>
“Improvements, yes. Tearing us from our homes, no.” Photo from David Miranda Facebook page.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rio das Pedras is one of the few favelas specifically named in Crivella’s Strategic Plan<\/a>. At Monday’s protest residents dressed in clown costumes and makeup to protest what they see as the mayor attempting to “make the people into clowns”<\/span>\u00a0<\/em>by using tactics to disrupt their organizing efforts.<\/p>\n

Barrinha, Represent!<\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>
“Crivella, you said that you would take care of the people… You lied! #BarrinhaStays.” Photo from David Miranda Facebook page.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Barrinha is one of the most recent communities to join the fight against eviction. While living on land that their family members were invited to move to decades ago, residents were informed just weeks ago<\/a> that they could be removed imminently. They suspect\u00a0a private company has interest in developing the land.<\/p>\n

Horto, Represent!<\/h1>\n

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

Horto, a centuries-old community on the edge of the Botanical Gardens<\/a> in the South Zone<\/a>, has faced eviction threats for decades, but the process has intensified due to new eviction orders<\/a>\u00a0from the federal government in the last couple of years. Although the Botanical Gardens claims the community’s presence is a threat to the environment, Horto families have taken care of the land for generations<\/a>, and the same environmental concerns are not being applied<\/a> to the large wealthy houses in the area.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Maria da Penha wears the well-known Vila Aut\u00f3dromo flag as the protest crosses an iconic bridge in Barra da Tijuca. Photo from Nidivaldo Marc\u00e1rio Oliveria Facebook page.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Growing Movement<\/h1>\n

Also present at Monday’s protest were residents of Vila Aut\u00f3dromo<\/a> and Vila Uni\u00e3o de Curicica<\/a>, two communities that waged resistance campaigns against eviction in the lead-up to the Olympics<\/a>. NGO and civil society representatives, politicians, and other supporters marched as well, contributing to the strong, united message that this movement is growing and will not stop resisting eviction efforts.<\/p>\n

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

The protesters were met by heavily armed Municipal Guard<\/a> officers at the gate to Crivella’s residence. Although the mayor was not there, leaders met with a government representative to set up a meeting with Crivella to address their concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas Hundreds of residents from across Rio de Janeiro gathered in\u00a0City of God\u00a0on Monday morning, November 13, to march to Mayor Marcelo Crivella‘s\u00a0Barra da Tijuca\u00a0residence in the\u00a0West Zone\u00a0in protest of numerous recent […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":40275,"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":[1293,1854,2555,1668,1288,1290,2242,1333,1332,329,336,1329],"tags":[2594,225,2574,231,756,1497,11,884,282,26,2548,2225,18,2553,10,270,1445,520,4,592,21],"writer":[2431],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-evictionswatch","8":"category-housingwatch","9":"category-monitoringcrivella","10":"category-participationwatch","11":"category-highlight","12":"category-civilsociety","13":"category-democracy","14":"category-event-reports","15":"category-photo-essays","16":"category-solutions","17":"category-violations","18":"category-by-international-observers","19":"tag-aracatiba","20":"tag-barra-da-tijuca","21":"tag-barrinha","22":"tag-city-of-god","23":"tag-community-organizing","24":"tag-eviction-tactics-misinformation","25":"tag-forced-evictions","26":"tag-horto","27":"tag-housing","28":"tag-housing-rights","29":"tag-maracajas","30":"tag-marcelo-crivella","31":"tag-protest","32":"tag-radio-sonda","33":"tag-real-estate-speculation","34":"tag-resistance","35":"tag-rio-das-pedras","36":"tag-solidarity","37":"tag-vila-autodromo","38":"tag-vila-uniao-de-curicica","39":"tag-west-zone","40":"writer-tyler-strobl"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40267","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\/151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40267"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=40267"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=40267"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=40267"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=40267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}