{"id":59368,"date":"2020-05-05T13:05:26","date_gmt":"2020-05-05T16:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=59368"},"modified":"2020-05-13T16:02:18","modified_gmt":"2020-05-13T19:02:18","slug":"we-are-all-block-captains-opinion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=59368","title":{"rendered":"We Are All Block Captains [OPINION]"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

For the original article in Portuguese by Gilson Rodrigues, president of the residents’ association of S\u00e3o Paulo’s largest favela, Parais\u00f3polis, published in UOL click here<\/a>. <\/em>This is our latest article on the\u00a0<\/i>new coronavirus as it impacts Rio de Janeiro\u2019s favelas<\/a>.<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

On International Worker’s Day [May 1], I look around and see, through the dark veil of the pandemic, two distinct Brazils. One there ahead, in peaceful quarantine, working from home, supplied with food and distracted by the TV, phones and the Internet, face masks and disinfectant whenever needed. And the other Brazil, the one of 13 million favela residents, without money, without food, even without water to wash their hands<\/a>, where the pandemic further reveals and accentuates social differences.<\/p>\n

Unemployment, already on the rise in recent months, has been accelerated by the circumstances, and informal workers have to risk their lives on a daily basis trying, without any protection against the virus, to support the families they leave at home in their barracos<\/em>. The residents of favelas living over open-air sewage canals, without basic sanitation, where hunger was already an issue, are now moving towards absolute poverty. Disinfectant and face masks are luxury items, unaffordable for this population<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Once again, the lack of public policies is going to cause many deaths in the favelas. It is necessary to have empathy and look to one another. Rising inequality<\/a> hurts all Brazilians.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGrowth is impossible if it is not for everyone. We need to create solidarity-based economic models.\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The experience of the Block Captains<\/a> (Presidentes de Rua<\/em>) in [S\u00e3o Paulo’s largest favela of] Parais\u00f3polis<\/a>, with volunteer residents representing and serving each region<\/a>, has helped us to build\u2014efficiently and generously\u2014a large support<\/a> network to confront the crisis.<\/p>\n

Together, we can confront this pandemic and carry on with our lives. Not as things were before, but perhaps with an even better model. Gradually resuming activities in a more collective and humane way, our \u201cnew normal\u201d will feature a more united<\/a>, productive, and confident country.<\/p>\n

May the green on our flag be the green of hope. May our colors be the reason for our strength. May we once again take pride in living in Brazil. For this, we must press our representatives for effective actions for all. We need well-structured public policies that look after the rights of every citizen.<\/p>\n

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\u201cToday marks five months since the death of nine young people in Parais\u00f3polis<\/a>. One more date marked by injustice and the neglect of deprived populations. Unity is needed if we want to stop being a country defined by social inequality.\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/blockquote>\n

At a time when the virus is taking away our air, I ask that we join forces to catch our breath. All this is going to pass. If we are aware, we will take a lesson with us: that only through unity will we rise from this tragedy as one Brazil, just, strong, and free.<\/p>\n

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Support our efforts to provide strategic assistance to Rio\u2019s favelas during the Covid-19 pandemic, including\u00a0<\/b>RioOnWatch<\/i><\/b>\u2019s tireless, critical and cutting-edge hyperlocal journalism, online community organizing meetings, and direct support to favelas\u00a0by clicking here<\/a><\/b>.<\/b><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas For the original article in Portuguese by Gilson Rodrigues, president of the residents’ association of S\u00e3o Paulo’s largest favela, Parais\u00f3polis, published in UOL click here. This is our latest article on […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":59392,"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":[3071,1288,1328,1331,1330],"tags":[756,258,1063,3068,203,518,464,406,3069,2248,2665],"writer":[3111],"translator":[3062],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-59368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-coronaviruswatch","8":"category-highlight","9":"category-by-community-contributors","10":"category-opinion-2","11":"category-translation","12":"tag-community-organizing","13":"tag-community-solution","14":"tag-cooperation","15":"tag-coronavirus","16":"tag-inequality","17":"tag-organizing-tactics","18":"tag-paraisopolis","19":"tag-sao-paulo","20":"tag-series-coronavirus-in-the-favelas","21":"tag-solidarity-economy","22":"tag-unity","23":"writer-gilson-rodrigues","24":"translator-cormac-whitney-low"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59368","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\/201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/59392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59368"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=59368"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=59368"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=59368"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=59368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}