{"id":42032,"date":"2018-03-02T07:00:10","date_gmt":"2018-03-02T10:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=42032"},"modified":"2023-08-23T12:20:33","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T15:20:33","slug":"voicesfromsocialmedia-denounce-military-intervention-and-immediate-negative-impacts-on-favelas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=42032","title":{"rendered":"#VoicesFromSocialMedia Denounce Military Intervention and Immediate Negative Impacts on Favelas"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

This article is part of RioOnWatch\u2019s\u00a0#VoicesFromSocialMedia<\/a>\u00a0series which compiles perspectives posted on social media by favela residents and activists about events and societal themes that arise. It is the first in our special series on social media reactions to the federal military intervention in Rio de Janeiro.<\/em><\/p>\n

On Friday, February 16, President Michel Temer decreed\u00a0a federal intervention<\/a> in the state of Rio de Janeiro, handing over<\/a> all of the state’s public security matters to Army General Walter Braga Netto. Recalling the military\u2019s extended occupation of\u00a0Complexo da Mar\u00e9 from 2014 to 2015<\/a>, as well as its role in\u00a0operations in favelas like Rocinha<\/a>\u00a0and Complexo do Salgueiro since<\/a>, favela residents and activists across Rio responded immediately, launching forums, panels, and debates<\/a>\u00a0focused on how to protect human rights<\/a> in favelas during the impending intervention.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Determined to prevent, document, and denounce abuses, Rio\u2019s favela residents and allies have been vigilant on social media. Complexo da Mar\u00e9<\/a> collective Mar\u00e9 Vive<\/a> was one of several voices sounding the alarm<\/a> as government officials explored the idea of seeking collective search and seizure warrants: \u201cLet’s get ready because human rights and the federal constitution are getting trashed by this federal intervention. Would collective warrants be possible in the neighborhoods of Barra, Ipanema, Leblon, and S\u00e3o Conrado?\u201d<\/p>\n

Following civil society pressure from groups like Mar\u00e9 Vive and general public outrage, the federal government dropped the proposal for collective arrest warrants<\/a>\u00a0and adopted a more cautious rhetoric on collective search warrants, while\u00a0leaving open the option that the latter could be used on a case-by-case basis<\/a>.\u00a0Egregious searches have already occurred, however. On February 20, the armed forces searched children\u2019s backpacks<\/a> as part of an operation into the Kelson’s favela in Rio\u2019s North Zone<\/a>. Folha de S\u00e3o Paulo<\/em>\u2019s cover photo (below) by AP<\/em> photographer Leo Correa went viral the following day.<\/p>\n

Complexo do Al\u00e9m\u00e3o<\/a> resident and Favela Art founder Mariluce Mari\u00e1 de Souza<\/a> shared the\u00a0cartoon titled “Unconstitutional” below<\/a> which features the dialogue: \u201cDid you find anything dangerous, soldier?!\u201d \u201cYes commander!! I found BOOKS!\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The military then began photographing and registering favela residents<\/a> as part of an operation in the favelas of Vila Kennedy<\/a>, Coreia, and Vila Alian\u00e7a<\/a>, in Rio’s West Zone<\/a>, on February 23. News of the extraordinary process\u2014a measure declared unconstitutional<\/a> by both Rio\u2019s Bar Association (OAB-RJ) and the state Public Defenders Office\u2014and images of the military photographing favela residents flooded social media:<\/p>\n

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

Community Facebook page\u00a0VOZ da Vila Kennedy<\/a>\u00a0tagged the Brazilian army\u2019s page and reported<\/a>: \u201cMultiple people were stopped in the middle of the street and photographed with their IDs, including men, women, and even the elderly. We\u2019d like to ask the Brazilian Army: is using soldiers’ private cell phones to take photos of citizens and their IDs a common practice? If you wanted to identify residents you should have brought the army\u2019s own identification system. [Taking] photos with private cell phones is against the law. We aren\u2019t against the Military Operation, we are against excesses committed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Historian and activist Frans\u00e9rgio Goulart, from Manguinhos<\/a>, imagined the public outrage that would result if something similar were to happen in Rio\u2019s wealthier South Zone<\/a>, writing on Facebook<\/a>: \u201cAnd if this image and action of military intervention were to happen to residents of a condominium down in the South Zone or in Barra da Tijuca<\/a>?\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Others pointed to disproportionate government funding for military operations over social spending. Sharing a report that the costs of the 15 month-long military occupation of Mar\u00e9 were\u00a0nearly double the city government\u2019s social spending<\/a> in Mar\u00e9 over six years, Manguinhos resident and Networks Against Violence<\/a> representative Ana Paula Oliveira asked<\/a>: \u201cThey don\u2019t want to invest in HEALTH and EDUCATION because ?? It\u2019s clear that it isn\u2019t because of a lack of money, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

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

In a televised debate on Globo Comunidade<\/em>,\u00a0shared on Facebook<\/a> by Alem\u00e3o media collective\u00a0Voz das Comunidades<\/em>, community photographer Betinho Casas Novas\u00a0echoed Oliveira, saying: \u201cRio\u2019s favelas have already suffered through security interventions for a long time. Before security interventions, the government could have intervened in health, education, culture, and in this way, this federal intervention wouldn\u2019t have been necessary now\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

In resisting the first federal intervention in state security<\/a> since Brazil’s dictatorship, Rio\u2019s favelas face no small task. If the intervention\u2019s first two weeks are any indication, however, favela residents\u2019 vibrant and active social media presence<\/a> will be a powerful force against human rights abuses. Emboldened by such unprecedented unity among activists, Mar\u00e9 community journalist Gizele Martins wrote on Facebook<\/a>: \u201cIt is the first time in my life that I’ve seen the most diverse social movements speaking\u2014all at once\u2014and uniting to fight against militarization in the favelas<\/a>. We always talked about it, but today we are all joining forces! Onward together! Long live favelas! Enough militarization!\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas This article is part of RioOnWatch\u2019s\u00a0#VoicesFromSocialMedia\u00a0series which compiles perspectives posted on social media by favela residents and activists about events and societal themes that arise. It is the first in our […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":162,"featured_media":42059,"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":[1294,2663,1288,1290,335,336,1329],"tags":[1087,2119,1162,280,32,2662,25,2550,2661,637,2160,1845,2657,918,673,213,37,69,809,270,12,120,796,268,121,612,1843,21],"writer":[2609],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-communitymedia","8":"category-interventionwatch","9":"category-highlight","10":"category-civilsociety","11":"category-policies","12":"category-violations","13":"category-by-international-observers","14":"tag-voicesfromsocialmedia","15":"tag-armed-forces","16":"tag-army-occupation","17":"tag-complexo-da-mare","18":"tag-complexo-do-alemao","19":"tag-complexo-do-salgueiro","20":"tag-human-rights","21":"tag-illegal-searches","22":"tag-kelsons","23":"tag-manguinhos","24":"tag-mare-vive","25":"tag-media","26":"tag-military-intervention","27":"tag-military-police","28":"tag-misplaced-public-priorities","29":"tag-rede-contra-violencia","30":"tag-north-zone","31":"tag-public-defenders","32":"tag-public-security","33":"tag-resistance","34":"tag-rocinha","35":"tag-sao-goncalo","36":"tag-social-media","37":"tag-state-violence","38":"tag-vila-alianca","39":"tag-vila-kennedy","40":"tag-voz-das-comunidades","41":"tag-west-zone","42":"writer-edmund-ruge"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42032","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=42032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42032"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=42032"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=42032"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=42032"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=42032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}