{"id":41912,"date":"2018-02-23T10:49:42","date_gmt":"2018-02-23T13:49:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=41912"},"modified":"2018-03-05T12:26:00","modified_gmt":"2018-03-05T15:26:00","slug":"military-intervention-in-rio-sparks-multiple-events-all-agree-favela-residents-at-greatest-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=41912","title":{"rendered":"Military Intervention in Rio Sparks Multiple Events, All Agree Favela Residents At Greatest Risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Rio de Janeiro made global headlines<\/a> last Friday when\u00a0President Michel Temer<\/a> issued a decree<\/a> declaring federal military intervention, handing over all matters of Rio de Janeiro’s state public security to General Walter Braga Netto. The unanticipated decree\u2014attributed to concern over rising violent crime or to political maneuvering<\/a>, depending on your source\u2014shocked community activists and local academics alike. Organizers scrambled to address the intervention, holding at least three separate events on Monday and Tuesday evenings.<\/p>\n

Rio\u2019s Museum of Tomorrow<\/a> had organized its panel on public security<\/a> months ago as part of its \u201cBrazil of Tomorrow\u201d series. The event followed Temer\u2019s decree only by coincidence.<\/p>\n

It was unclear how or why the decision was made to invite General Marco Aur\u00e9lio Costa Vieira, the executive director of operations during the Rio 2016 Olympics, who was not listed among panelists prior<\/a> to the event, and opened Monday evening\u2019s panel by offering a justification for the military\u2019s federal intervention, calling it \u201ccompletely supported by the constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Ilona Szab\u00f3 of the Igarap\u00e9 Institute<\/a>, a think-tank on public security, and museum curator Luiz Alberto Oliveira hosted the event. Oliveira stated that the Museum of Tomorrow would conduct a 30 day evaluation of the intervention via the museum’s “Observatory of Tomorrow,” over the course of the following month.<\/p>\n

Panelist MV Bill, a celebrity rapper born and raised in City of God<\/a>, told the audience he had witnessed the ups and downs of Rio security politics firsthand. \u201cI saw firsthand the creation of the UPPs (Pacifying Police Units<\/a>). From the get-go I knew that feeling of security was going to be momentary.\u201d As for military intervention, he said, \u201cI\u2019m reluctant. We have seen few practical results [from past military operations].\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Museum of Tomorrow event only passingly addressed the topic of military intervention, two events the following evening sought to address it head on.<\/p>\n

The first was the Federation of Favelas of the State of Rio de Janeiro\u2019s (FAFERJ<\/a>) debate on military intervention. The roundtable discussion<\/a> gathered more than 100 favela residents and allies, with over 50 different favelas represented.<\/p>\n

FAFERJ, an entity that traces its history back to early 1960s opposition to favela removals under the administration of Governor Carlos Lacerda<\/a> and the implantation of Brazil\u2019s most recent military dictatorship, published a note<\/a>\u00a0on Saturday condemning the military intervention. The note highlights the failure and ultra-high costs of the military\u2019s 14 month occupation<\/a> of Complexo da Mar\u00e9<\/a> in 2014 and 2015, but notes that the armed forces could potentially play a part in a \u201csocial intervention\u201d to serve favelas\u2019 need for \u201cschools, daycare centers, hospitals, income and job support projects, and policies directed at youth.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The event\u2019s guests were less keen on the idea of any kind of military presence in the favelas, however. Historian and civil rights activist Frans\u00e9rgio Goulart, himself from the Manguinhos<\/a> favela, called attention to the military’s recent actions–not even waiting for congressional authorization, but having conducted two operations already since Temer\u2019s decree on Friday. The most dangerous element, he warned, \u201cis the question of collective search warrants<\/a>. That needs to be an important point for FAFERJ.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawyer Ana Paula Longa told the event\u2019s audience that such collective search warrants\u2014which Temer is expected to pursue with Brazil\u2019s judiciary<\/a>\u2014are illegal. Longa went further, declaring \u201cthe [presidential] decree is unconstitutional. The intervention is unconstitutional.\u201d She reminded the audience that the last time there was an \u201cintervention,\u201d the military remained in power for 21 years.<\/p>\n

The evening\u2019s guests admitted that they had witnessed widespread support for intervention in their respective favelas. Goulart noted that many in the favelas \u201ctoday are in favor of this intervention\u2026 and are looking to try something new.\u201d He urged favela leaders to build community awareness of the intervention\u2019s potential consequences.<\/p>\n

Santa Marta<\/a> long-time organizer Itamar Silva<\/a> stated: \u201cIn Santa Marta, I open my window and see a ton of people defending and supporting this intervention\u2026 But it is a Trojan Horse. We cannot fall into the illusion that this will work.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

A few kilometers away that same evening, favela NGOs and community organizations held a similar event. The Civic Forum on Security<\/a> was organized by the NGO Favelas Observatory<\/a> in collaboration with Redes da Mar\u00e9<\/a>, Casa Fluminense<\/a>, Ag\u00eancia de Not\u00edcias de Favelas<\/a>, Instituto Onikoja<\/a>, Festa Liter\u00e1ria das Periferias (FLUP)<\/a>, Ag\u00eancia de Redes para Juventude<\/a>, and Cine & Rock na Pra\u00e7a<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The forum gathered with the intention of \u201cdefending public security policies as social rights based on the preservation of life,\u201d and kicked off with the reading and revision of an official document written collectively by the events\u2019 organizing team. Organizers hoped the document would consolidate the group\u2019s official stance of creating a \u201cMonitoring Network\u201d to track and denounce human rights<\/a> abuses committed under the military intervention.<\/p>\n

The document quickly came under fire, however, for not denouncing the military intervention as strongly as participants felt necessary. \u201cThe way that it\u2019s written, it seems like it\u2019s dictating how the intervention is going to take place,\u201d said activist Renam Brand\u00e3o. \u201cIt needs to have a clearer position of repudiation of military intervention,\u201d agreed a representative from the LGBT NGO ArcoIris.<\/p>\n

Jailson de Souza e Silva<\/a>, founder and director the Favelas Observatory attempted to clarify, stating \u201cthis document cannot have winners\u2026 We need to have a minimum consensus\u2026 Our fundamental challenge is to build the monitoring [network]. We lived the experience of military intervention in Mare, we lived the 14 months, and we know the risk it poses to human rights. This document here is very clear\u2026 We are not trying to defend [the military intervention], we are only trying to work with it as a reality, and from that point create a mechanism with which to face it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debate pervaded the event from that moment on, until anthropologist and public security expert Luiz Eduardo Soares convinced the crowd that \u201cwe are divided only in words. I personally don\u2019t like the document [either]\u2026 the word \u2018monitor\u2019 implies cooperating, recognizing\u2026\u201d Soares proposed that the group, rather than create a Monitoring Network, create a \u201cNetwork of Resistance<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortly afterward, the group voted almost unanimously in favor of dismissing the original document and instead working towards \u201cresistance to the violation of human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

What participants and panelists at all three events agreed on was that favela residents will bear the worst of this intervention. At the Museum of Tomorrow, Fiocruz\u2019s Silva Ramos shouted, \u201cIf the military is coming to shoot up the favelas, then that\u2019s it. We already have the police shooting up the favelas.\u201d At FAFERJ\u2019s debate, favela resident Jo\u00e3o Ricardo quipped, \u201cFor the rich, everything. For the poor, the law.\u201d And as one Mar\u00e9 resident summed up at the Civic Forum on Security, \u201cThe ones who will suffer through this are favela residents\u2026 You won\u2019t see rifles and tanks up and down Presidente Vargas Avenue [downtown].\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas Rio de Janeiro made global headlines last Friday when\u00a0President Michel Temer issued a decree declaring federal military intervention, handing over all matters of Rio de Janeiro’s state public security to General […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":162,"featured_media":41928,"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":[2663,1288,1290,1333,335,336,1329],"tags":[1154,1162,1713,231,280,842,622,665,25,2522,654,637,2010,2657,918,2178,523,1292,15,17,809,1555,66,30],"writer":[2609],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-41912","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-interventionwatch","8":"category-highlight","9":"category-civilsociety","10":"category-event-reports","11":"category-policies","12":"category-violations","13":"category-by-international-observers","14":"tag-agencia-redes-para-juventude","15":"tag-army-occupation","16":"tag-casa-fluminense","17":"tag-city-of-god","18":"tag-complexo-da-mare","19":"tag-debate","20":"tag-faferj","21":"tag-flupp","22":"tag-human-rights","23":"tag-igarape-institute","24":"tag-lacerda","25":"tag-manguinhos","26":"tag-michel-temer","27":"tag-military-intervention","28":"tag-military-police","29":"tag-museum-of-tomorrow","30":"tag-observatorio-de-favelas","31":"tag-organizing","32":"tag-pacifying-police-unit","33":"tag-police-brutality","34":"tag-public-security","35":"tag-redes-de-desenvolvimento-da-mare","36":"tag-santa-marta","37":"tag-urban-violence","38":"writer-edmund-ruge"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41912","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\/162"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41912"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=41912"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=41912"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=41912"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=41912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}