And if this was in your house? But, wait! It is in your house!
Polícia prende suspeito de chefiar tráfico em Vigário Geral
In an operation on Thursday, 20 suspected drug traffickers were arrested in Vigário Geral, North Zone of Rio de Janeiro. During the operation, children on their way to school were systematically stopped and searched as police suspected that they were forced to carry weapons and/or drugs by the local drug traffickers.
The headline of Extra was, "Isto é em Vigário Geral. E se fosse na Zona Sul?" or "This is in Vigário Geral. and if it was in the South Zone?" This was the foto which ran under this headline on the front page (sorry, but I can't find the full front page on the internet...)
Zona Sul in Rio de Janeiro encompases Copacabana, Ipanema, Jardim Botanico and a host of other mostly affluent neighborhoods. Within the South Zone, there are numerous pockets of autonomous zones run by traffickers and populated by poor (read: invisible people with little or no representation) people, but mostly it's a pretty well off area. Vigário Geral in the North Zone is a very poor area.
Children being subject to this sort of experience is yet another symptom of the invisiblity of those without economic power. Practically the exact same thing is happening in Mitchell's Plain in Cape Town in the post below. This is happening so much that it's perceived as being normal.
We don't want to break out of our little bubbles to see what's really going on around us. Case in point - note Timeblind's observations on the difference in lifestyle in Berlin and New York City.
There are those who want to smash the state. Those who want to insulate and isolate themselves in order to avoid more pain (maybe that's why those people who passed me after the accidents in South Africa were in such a hurry). Or those who seek to create their own autonomous zones where they can create the lives they desire free from the control and manipulation of the state and the consumer culture at large. Some can be constructive (self-sufficient communities, for example) while others are destructive (drug addiction for example).
According to the Vice Guide to Travel (which I will be discussing soon in another post), there are 50,000 murders per year in Rio de Janeiro alone. That's a civil war. That's more than in the Israel/Palestine conflict per year.
But then, here I am, exclaiming that this is all so alarming......I'll post this and then go on to writing emails and doing my work and washing the dishes and listening to invisible people firing shots at each other just up the street (that is NOT an isolated incident, just in case you were wondering)..............................I don't know what I'm saying. I don't know the answer. I'm stumped. I'm confused.
And what if this was in your house?
In an operation on Thursday, 20 suspected drug traffickers were arrested in Vigário Geral, North Zone of Rio de Janeiro. During the operation, children on their way to school were systematically stopped and searched as police suspected that they were forced to carry weapons and/or drugs by the local drug traffickers.
The headline of Extra was, "Isto é em Vigário Geral. E se fosse na Zona Sul?" or "This is in Vigário Geral. and if it was in the South Zone?" This was the foto which ran under this headline on the front page (sorry, but I can't find the full front page on the internet...)
Zona Sul in Rio de Janeiro encompases Copacabana, Ipanema, Jardim Botanico and a host of other mostly affluent neighborhoods. Within the South Zone, there are numerous pockets of autonomous zones run by traffickers and populated by poor (read: invisible people with little or no representation) people, but mostly it's a pretty well off area. Vigário Geral in the North Zone is a very poor area.Children being subject to this sort of experience is yet another symptom of the invisiblity of those without economic power. Practically the exact same thing is happening in Mitchell's Plain in Cape Town in the post below. This is happening so much that it's perceived as being normal.
We don't want to break out of our little bubbles to see what's really going on around us. Case in point - note Timeblind's observations on the difference in lifestyle in Berlin and New York City.
There are those who want to smash the state. Those who want to insulate and isolate themselves in order to avoid more pain (maybe that's why those people who passed me after the accidents in South Africa were in such a hurry). Or those who seek to create their own autonomous zones where they can create the lives they desire free from the control and manipulation of the state and the consumer culture at large. Some can be constructive (self-sufficient communities, for example) while others are destructive (drug addiction for example).
According to the Vice Guide to Travel (which I will be discussing soon in another post), there are 50,000 murders per year in Rio de Janeiro alone. That's a civil war. That's more than in the Israel/Palestine conflict per year.
But then, here I am, exclaiming that this is all so alarming......I'll post this and then go on to writing emails and doing my work and washing the dishes and listening to invisible people firing shots at each other just up the street (that is NOT an isolated incident, just in case you were wondering)..............................I don't know what I'm saying. I don't know the answer. I'm stumped. I'm confused.
And what if this was in your house?
Labels: rio de janeiro, vigario geral
posted by Maga Bo at 4:18 PM
3 Comments:
you can't go up to vigário geral and stop it, but reporting on it is probably the next best thing.
if visibility/villainizing are the biggest problems favelas face (and vis-a-vis relations with the rest of the city, I think they are), then simple pointing out that something wrong is happening and there are victims has immense value in its own right.
at least you're there to bear some kind of witness. the northern hemisphere continues to suck away my time and attention . . . a garden of earthly delights that makes it way too fucking easy to forget about what's happening elsewhere.
Thanks for the comment Greg. Yes, I suppose every small conscientization helps. Although it is painful to see this happening EVERYDAY. I saw this at the newspaper stand one day while going to buy groceries. A usual site (especially in Extra - usually the first 4 or 5 pages are devoted to violence in the myriad of forms that it takes) and it's just so damn COMMON. This shit ain't normal!
Just a couple days ago, the chefão, Caverinha, of Cantagalo (the favela closest to my house) as well as numerous other favelas, was killed while leaving Vigário Geral. I'm not too clear on whether or not it was related to the incursion that I blogged about, but he was killed there. As a result, the bailes at Cantagalo (as well as a hip hop MC battle scheduled for every sunday this month) were cancelled for the next month out of respect for him. Of course, his position has probably already been filled and the cycle continues........
It's almost too big to tackle . . . I guess that's why I find myself focusing on the incredible vibrancy & joy of culture, esp. music, in Rio. ("a vida é mais alegria aí" I always tell brasileiros who wonder why this gringo likes it so much). if I only focused on the context it comes out of, shit, it'd be too much. I almost wonder how you can live down there.
that story about cantagalo reminds me of one of the fridays I tried to go over last summer. it was 3 am and walking up the stairs from copa into cantagalo, I didn't hear any bass . . . bad sign. two guys halfway up the stairs -- sentries, I later realized -- said the baile was cancelled "a causa de guerra".
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