{"id":62454,"date":"2020-10-20T10:44:23","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T13:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=62454"},"modified":"2023-08-23T12:20:04","modified_gmt":"2023-08-23T15:20:04","slug":"black-women-from-viradouro-affirm-the-favela-is-ours-respect-it-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=62454","title":{"rendered":"Black Women from Viradouro Affirm: ‘The Favela is Ours! Respect It!’ [VIDEO]"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

This is our latest article about\u00a0<\/i>Covid-19 and its impacts on the favelas<\/a>. It is also part of a series created in partnership with the\u00a0<\/i>Center for Critical Studies in Language, Education, and Society (NECLES)<\/a>, at the Fluminense Federal University (UFF), to produce articles to be used as teaching resources in public schools<\/a> in the city of Niter\u00f3i, Rio de Janeiro’s sister city across Guanabara Bay.<\/i><\/p>\n

In Niter\u00f3i<\/a>, in the Greater Rio<\/a> area, for almost two months now, residents of the Viradouro complex of favelas<\/a>, formed by Largo da Garganta and the favelas of\u00a0Africano<\/a>, Uni\u00e3o<\/a>, Papagaio, Viradouro, and Cruz, have lived with the routine of a police occupation<\/a>. Launched on August 19, the occupation is being carried out despite the ADPF das Favelas<\/a>, a Brazilian Supreme Court\u00a0decision that bans police operations during the Covid-19<\/a> pandemic, except in \u201cabsolutely exceptional\u201d cases.<\/p>\n

Responding to the legal requirements, according to the State Military Police Secretariat, the police operation in Complexo do Viradouro was reported to the Rio de Janeiro State Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office. However, there is no information so far as to whether the public prosecutor has any knowledge of what the police occupation consists of, nor what justifies the \u201cexceptionality\u201d claimed by the State.<\/p>\n

What is public knowledge is that the police occupation\u2014which is installing<\/a> armored police cabins to monitor a region at the edge of a municipal construction site\u2014has brought residents of Complexo do Viradouro, in addition to neighboring communities Morro do Zulu and Atalaia, fear and militarization, with police abuses and human rights violations.<\/p>\n

In this report, Eloanah Gentil, a resident of Morro da Uni\u00e3o, narrates the resistance movement organized by residents, most of them black, from the Viradouro Complex, home to more than 6,000 people.<\/h5>\n
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My favela was invaded by the police, through the Coordination of Special Operations and Resources (CORE), the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro (PMERJ<\/a>), the Special Operations Battalion (BOPE<\/a>, akin to SWAT in the United States), the Canine Action Battalion (BAC<\/a>), and the Shock Police Battalion (BPChq<\/a>). The reason was a war between giants: the parallel power [organized crime] and the mayor of Niter\u00f3i, Rodrigo Neves. They fell out, and now, somehow, we got the leftovers. Between the city\u2019s mayor and the parallel power<\/a> here we are, the residents of Complexo do Viradouro.<\/p>\n

After three days of police violence and abuse of power<\/a> towards residents, including abusive invasions of residents\u2019 homes<\/a>, the Complexo do Viradouro Residents’ Association decided to hold a demonstration. I went down the favela to participate. Despite all of the police coercion, I was motivated. However, something leapt out in that context: only the dark-skinned black women who live on the hillside or its peak had come down. The few men present had status, they were on the board of the Resident\u2019s Association, and had no strategy for action or protection. They had no Plan B, nor were they open to ideas or suggestions. The other man present was my brother, Gugu (Alessandro Concei\u00e7\u00e3o<\/a>), who is an activist.<\/p>\n

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

There were many black women, dark-skinned\u2014some leaders from the top of their favelas, almost all heads of families\u2014who are the ones who keep the Complexo moving, taking care of it. On second thought, it is nothing new or absurd that men occupy positions of status, even in this moment of female protagonism. What is absurd is that women are protagonists and leaders and, purposefully, do not formally occupy that place. Anyway, in that very adverse situation, the union of women was already born to fight against the abuse of police power. Having said that, the demonstration did not happen. Euphoric, with our cry of peace muffled, we went home very frustrated. The agreement, between the men, was to return the next day, at 10am on a rainy Saturday, even with all the women saying it wasn’t going to happen. In a nutshell: it didn’t happen.<\/p>\n

The days went by and the police violence and abuse of power only increased and, even though I was unmotivated, still very restless and suffocated, I talked straight to my brother Gugu and told him what we would do within our means. And there, it was the junction of straight talk with academic-“isms<\/em>.”<\/a> First we changed the name of the event, from “demonstration” to “protest.” I gathered the women from the favela, we talked, and we decided to hold a peaceful protest, with sheets that said\u00a0#LarDeMoradoraRespeite<\/a> (#RespectFemaleResidentHomes). We glued some pamphlets on our doors and gates with contact information for whistleblowing channels.<\/p>\n

\"#LarDeMoradoraRespeite,<\/a><\/p>\n

We took two days for production and organization, and I also activated networks such as the Center for the Theater of the Oppressed<\/a>, Black Lives Matter-Niter\u00f3i<\/a> and the Union of Socialist Youth<\/a>. The protest happened, it was very powerful, and I was there with the women from the favelas speaking \u2018favel\u00eas<\/em><\/a>\u2019 [language and dialect from the favelas], while also using those \u201cisms<\/em>\u201d with\u00a0NGOs, the press, in audiovisual materials, to make myself understood [by them]. It may seem silly, but language is super important<\/a> to be able to achieve something in the favela.<\/p>\n

We changed the name “demonstration” to “protest” because the word demonstration has a negative meaning in favelas, both because of evangelicals and of the image portrayed by the media. Then we had to talk straight about the consequences that our action could have. Firstly, women demanded their names be protected, and lastly, they asked that there be no political intervention, but rather \u201cus for us<\/a>\u201d (a gente pela gente). Thus the name of the protest was born, and on August 26, the peaceful protest \u201cA Gente Pela Gente<\/a>\u201d was held<\/a> at Morro da Uni\u00e3o.<\/p>\n