Snapshot from the Streets of Rio

Tucked away down a small, anonymous side street in the Lapa district of Rio a prominent sociologist, Luiz Edoardo Soares, was about to give a talk in a social centre about recent events in Brazil. First he gave a brief interview to a BBC camera crew, the reporter dressed in hiking boots, combat trousers and the kind of hat that only a “Brit abroad” would wear. The inside of the building was full: people were sitting on the floor, on the staircase and sat with their legs dangling over the edge of the loft. On the other side of the glass front of the social centre there were also people sitting on the near and far pavements as the odd car still squeezed down the alleyway, curious as to why the forty or fifty people were assembled.

Although planned as a general discussion about the protest movement that erupted on the streets of Brazil’s major cities last week, the discussion was dominated by questions of policing and violence. The police have been heavily criticised for their handling of earlier protests, when their indiscriminate use of pepper spray and rubber bullets resulted in a large number of injuries, including to journalists and bystanders not taking part in the protests.  The question of police violence has taken on greater urgency since Monday night, when a conflict took place between the  “BOPE” (the highly trained, highly militarised, incredibly violent special forces unit) and drug trafficking gangs in the Maré favela complex. Details remain sketchy, but reports suggest that up to nine people may have been killed, including one police officer and at least three civilians, and that residents and a well-known research institute based in Maré, the Favela Observatory, were terrorised by ongoing gun battles. Composed of fourteen favelas and with some 130, 000 residents Maré is widely considered to be the ‘missing piece’ in the government’s favela pacification programme (UPP) with its strategic position between the international airport, the city centre and some of the key World Cup and Olympics venues. Increasingly aggressive police incursions seem to be laying the ground for a permanent ‘pacification’, or occupation, of the favela in the coming months.

As the middle aged, bespectacled academic spoke about these weighty issues, a perfect example of them was about to be provided at the top of the side street. There is always a light police presence at the foot of the breathtaking Selarón steps – the twenty-year, life-consuming project of the eccentric Chilean street artist “Selarón”, who recently killed himself on the steps in a final act of dramatic devotion to his art. A commotion became apparent between the handful of Guarda Civil (municipal police who carry huge batons but not guns as all other types of police in the city do) and five rowdy, shabbily dressed young guys who had clearly had a few drinks and were shouting abuse at the police. Not understanding what they were saying, it was easy to put their behaviour down to the fact that they were clearly intoxicated. In actuality, they were anarchist activists who had participated in the Maracanã occupation . This resistance to the corporate redevelopment of the area surrounding the famous stadium was finally ended two months ago with the eviction of the protesters.

The uniformed police response was one of violence. One grabbed an anarchist from behind and throttled him with his baton, which had the girth of a rolling pin but more than twice the length. The anarchists were also assailed by two large men who were with the police but were in plain clothes As one of the anarchists held up a tattered copy of the Brazilian constitution, proclaiming to the Guarda Civil that it was all lies and that Brazil was a dictatorship, one of the huge men totally blindsided him, punching him flush on the nose which then began to stream with blood. The clear collaboration between the police and the unidentified men led many onlookers to the conclusion that these were plain clothes officers or even militia.

The bloodied man’s friend, dressed in dungarees and with a huge bone earring through his left lobe and a nose-ring through his septum, then came running and screaming and a Guarda Civil chased him down the alleyway towards the conceptual discussion of police violence 30 yards away.  It was interesting to see the difference in police behaviour when first dealing with a small group of intoxicated, ragged-looking guys living on the edge compared to when these men mixed in with a crowd of trendily dressed, mainly middle class, young students and activists. The implication being that the police considered some to have, at least, some basic rights as citizens while others were seen as fair game, someone who could be disciplined without fear of consequences.

[youtube width=”590″ height=”442″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk6H34KZeGQ&[/youtube]

The four or five anarchists (including another with a bloodied nose) mixed in with the crowd and, emboldened by increased numbers, shouted their slogans ever louder and launched volleys of “Filho da Puta”(Son of a Bitch) at the cops. Very quickly the number of uniformed police trebled and blocked both ends of the back street. The discussion was temporarily halted and all of those in attendance tried to calm the atmosphere – holding back the anarchists (whom some of them knew) and talking to the police. At one point they chanted “Sem Violencia” (without violence) a common refrain at the Brazil protests, calling for peaceful protest.

Describing the commotion as a practical example of their discussion, Soares desconstructed the events by saying that the job of the police should be to protect citizens whereas the police in this context either didn’t know or didn’t care what their responsibilities should be in this kind of situation. He went on to say that you hear constant complaints about vandalism with regard to the burgeoning protest movement but you never hear about the violence of the state, of the police going into a favela like Maré, firing bullets indiscriminately. The violence faced by protesters in Brazil is far greater than by those in the UK, and the violence faced by those in favelas and considered “bandidos” is far worse than those faced by Brazilian protesters. The bullets of the BOPE are live, not rubber.

As things calmed, the discussion continued and those who remained had resolved to go to Maré to show their solidarity. I, meanwhile, headed to a public square in the Uruguaiana shopping district where a “plenária” (essentially a general assembly) had been organised in what seemed like an attempt to take stock and discuss next steps in the movement. It was well attended and, by all accounts, there is still a real buzz about what is happening in the city and the country. Around 1500-2000 people all sat on the ground while the organisers crowded onto the stairs in front of the grand Instituto da Filosofia e Ciencias Sociais, of the Rio Federal University.

Unfortunately, the meeting quickly descended into farce. A combination of a faulty sound system and signs of factionalism amongst the different organisers meant that the first hour and a half were spent arguing about how a proposal should be proposed whilst the sound cut out every other minute to be met with increasing frustration from the crowd whose participation was increasingly limited to pantomime boos and sarcastic insults. Of course, anyone can be let down by technology and perhaps something more productive came out of it after I left but what will certainly be interesting is to see how successful the movement will be at holding such a broad coalition together – comprising political parties (including at least one right-wing one), unions, student activists, social movements, etc.  So far, it would seem that the success of this movement which has already bore some tangible fruit, has been in mobilising large numbers onto the streets in a way that has surprised the whole country. If those numbers dwindle, due to creaking coalitions, in-fighting or the increased intimidation from a remarkably violent police force who act with impunity, will the momentum start to slow? For now, something big is happening in Brazil. Big changes are taking place socially, economically and in the human geography and infrastructural development of this “Cidade Maravilhosa,” and transformation brings rupture. Who knows what will emerge out of the cracks?

By Matthew & Michael Richmond | @mattyrichy & @Sisyphusa

 

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