{"id":42542,"date":"2018-04-05T09:52:42","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T12:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=42542"},"modified":"2018-04-05T17:42:53","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T20:42:53","slug":"no-cosmetic-investments-in-rocinha-health-and-sanitation-now-petition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=42542","title":{"rendered":"‘No Cosmetic Investments in Rocinha! Health and Sanitation Now!’ [PETITION]"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

For the original petition in Portuguese by Rocinha Sem Fronteiras published on www.change.org<\/a> click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

We, the undersigned, residents and friends of the favela Rocinha<\/a> in Rio de Janeiro, are here to express our indignation at Mayor Marcelo Crivella<\/a> regarding the statement he made on March 19, 2018, when he visited Rocinha. His statement was recorded in a video<\/a> that swiftly circulated on social media. He said: \u201cThe fa\u00e7ade of Rocinha will be painted, the building fronts renovated to be more standardized, neat, and beautiful. Also the awnings over the shops and this ugly wiring, we’ll change those and we\u2019ll improve the utility poles too. Our idea is that, when people pass by on the Lagoa Barra Road, they look here and get an impression of a tidy and beautiful community\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

If the mayor is willing to do construction work, it is no more than his responsibility, but he must do them in a democratic and structural way<\/a>, following agreements made with residents. And not implementing ineffective, cosmetic changes to some fa\u00e7ades<\/a>, which only aim to further hide the broader reality of the need for structural investments<\/a>, which is the responsibility of government.<\/p>\n

We therefore strongly repudiate the mayor’s statement, which reinforces long-standing stereotypes<\/a> about Rocinha and favelas in general, perpetuating the idea that they are places of disorder, \u201cugliness,\u201d and just places to be seen as problems\u2014dangerous and inadequate. Regardless of which angle they’re viewed from (from residents\u2019 windows, from the cars passing by, or from any other point), favelas should be seen for what they are<\/a>: places rich in life and social interaction, work<\/a>, diversity<\/a>, the production of art and culture<\/a>, potentials that demand public investment<\/a> (with the participation of residents), and also places that need the urban infrastructure required for dignified lives, like any other place in the city. Remember that there are around 1.4 million people living in favelas, 22% of the city of Rio’s population.<\/p>\n

The mayor’s statement reveals indifference and a denial of rights<\/a>, in addition to a lack of knowledge about the NEEDS of residents, who for years have been demanding<\/a>: quality public health<\/a> services, basic sanitation<\/a>, better urban infrastructure<\/a> and public services, integrated and structural public policies<\/a>, among other needs, so as to guarantee the effectiveness of our right to dignified housing<\/a> and, ultimately, our right to the city<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to note that Rocinha has been suffering a lot from the cuts to public health services<\/a> in Rio de Janeiro, with a lack of medicine, supplies, and various materials alongside delayed wages.<\/p>\n

And we can’t talk about health without talking about basic sanitation<\/a>, which is the responsibility of the City, as determined by the municipal Organic Law<\/a> of Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n

In light of all this, we demand that the public funds mentioned by Mr. Mayor for the cosmetic touch-ups to Rocinha’s fa\u00e7ade are reallocated to public health in the favela, with the proper investment in the sector’s full operation, in staff salaries, and in basic sanitation infrastructure<\/a><\/strong>.<\/h4>\n

Favela lives matter and must be valued. Investment in health and sanitation in Rocinha, now!<\/h4>\n

Sign the petition against cosmetic improvements and for health and sanitation investments\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/h4>\n

Rocinha Sem Fronteiras<\/a> (Rocinha Without Borders) is a Rocinha-based activist group that has organized around basic sanitation and other urgent issues in the community for more than 12 years. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas For the original petition in Portuguese by Rocinha Sem Fronteiras published on www.change.org click here. We, the undersigned, residents and friends of the favela Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro, are here […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":42544,"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":[1294,2555,1668,1288,1328,1290,1271,1463,1330,1365],"tags":[1361,992,107,755,2225,673,2687,18,1008,12,2107,535,373,156,365],"writer":[2681],"translator":[1344],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42542","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-communitymedia","8":"category-monitoringcrivella","9":"category-participationwatch","10":"category-highlight","11":"category-by-community-contributors","12":"category-civilsociety","13":"category-favelaqualities","14":"category-perceptions","15":"category-translation","16":"category-whats-a-favela-2","17":"tag-endfavelastigma","18":"tag-cosmetic-improvements","19":"tag-health","20":"tag-infrastructure","21":"tag-marcelo-crivella","22":"tag-misplaced-public-priorities","23":"tag-petition","24":"tag-protest","25":"tag-right-to-the-city","26":"tag-rocinha","27":"tag-rocinha-sem-fronteiras","28":"tag-sanitation","29":"tag-sewerage","30":"tag-south-zone","31":"tag-zero-participation","32":"writer-rocinha-sem-fronteiras","33":"translator-cara-pears"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42542","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\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42542"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=42542"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=42542"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=42542"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=42542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}