I just attended a really interesting presentation by Dr. Theresa Williamson called “Pre-Olympic Rio de Janeiro: The Dynamics of Urban Change.” The presentation focused on the “favelas” in Rio and the surrounding areas that are being affected by urban development spurred by the World Cup and the Olympics. Dr. Williamson started off the presentation by polling the audience on two questions: “Who has been to a favela?” and “Who has a positive image of the favelas?” The responses that she got indicated that only one man had been to a favela in the audience and he was the only one who had a positive image of the communities. She commented that in a study done about favelas 100% of people who had never been disapprove of them, while 67% of people who have been have a positive image of the communities. Dr. Williamson attributed these statistics to the stigmatization of favelas as slums, ghettos, squatter communities, and violent drug cartel controlled areas. What she would show us during the presentation changed many of the views held by members of the audience by the end.
Self-built communities or underserved communities are the terms and descriptors that Dr. Williamson would attribute to the favelas. Only 2% of the population within the favelas are involved in drug trafficking cartels and most people seek to rid themselves of even that small percentage of criminals. A majority of the community members are very hard working people who own or work for businesses that serve and benefit society, the have built their own homes, and they have contributed to public works improvements for which they receive no personal compensation. Even though the city government in Rio has neglected, disenfranchised, and marginalized members of the favelas, the people there have still made remarkable strides to improved quality of life for their denizens. Many of the favelas have been aided by organizations like Dr. Williamson’s “Catalytic Communities,” which have worked with community leaders to increase development in areas like housing and infrastructure, to allow members easier access to the internet and social networks, and have formed very global ties with organizations willing to help these underserved neighborhoods.
Unfortunately, the World Cup and the Olympics, which were supposed to bring prosperity to the favelas and to the Brazilian people as a whole, have actually turned out to be a major tool for the city government to use against property owner within these communities. Dr. Williamson explained that the mayor of Rio is sponsored heavily by real estate and commercial developers who seek to dispossess the favelas of their land, which is located in a very valuable part of the Rio peninsula, and use it to put up condos and other high-profit buildings. What the city has done is use eminent domain justified by development for the World Cup and the Olympics to evict people who live in the favelas from their land without proper compensation. In fact, most people are intimidated into signing away the rights to their property by the police and other government officials. Usually they relocate these people away from the tourist and high visibility areas and move them to parts of the city and surrounding areas that are up to two hours away from where they formerly lived. Clearly there are human rights violations going on in the “City of God” but nobody seems to notice.
Because of the massive negative stereotyping of the favelas, few are willing to fight against the city government, developers, and the gentrification movement along the high-valued areas on the Rio peninsula. The disenfranchised people who live in these communities are really being hurt more that helped by the Olympics and the World Cup, which are being used as weapons to further marginalize and overpower them. However, organizations like Catalytic Communities are working to bring transparency to the actions of the city government and show the rest of the world what is being done in Rio. Dr. Williamson commented that it’s movements that grab global attention and scrutiny to Brazil that can really make a difference in the lives of the people who are members of the favelas.
I'm sure this was a very interesting talk Adam. For those companies that are trying to help the favelas and going against what the government wants, are there any consequences? Are the penalized for trying to help something survive when the government is trying to get rid of them?
ReplyDeleteI agree; sounds like the talk was very interesting!
ReplyDeleteWhat are your thoughts on the long term consequences of this issue? Does it have the potential to create enduring tension? Do those people who are evicted stay away, hurting the larger economy? To what extent can the Olympics compensate for the losses it is creating, since it seems like the mantra of Brazil as a whole is "the olympics trump all."?
I'm the third to agree, this talk must have been very interesting!
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to attend an Olympics, but this disheartens me. Unique communities like this are what make a country great and diverse.
I was wondering if situations like this, where areas perceived as "not ideal", have been taken down for high-priority International Events? Wasn't there something like that in the 2008 Olympics in China?
Adam, knowing that you are interested in economics, would getting rid of favelas benefit Rio at all? Would it have a positive or negative effect on the Rio's economy, creating a stronger or a weaker economy?
ReplyDeleteAdam,
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting issue that I’d never thought of before. To be entirely honest, I didn’t even know what a favela was prior to reading your paper. I think it’s quite sad that the government would do this to some of its citizens. I, too, can’t help but wonder what sort of ramifications these actions might have on the greater economy and government. And I, like Jonathan, wonder if this sort of thing is more common than one might think; how many other “bad” communities have been forced from their homes for the sake of making a country look more attractive?
I definitely think that the Olympics have value for the host city/country and that economically it does provide a boost. However, it's the handling of the situation by the local or state government that sometimes tends to be exploitative. It was really interesting though that one women who was evicted from her home in a favela said that if she had the money to live in one of the condos that had displaced her then she would do it in an instant. This is associated with the stigma that goes along with being a member of a favela. Many people it seems find it easier to go along with the oppressive regime than to oppose it. I also think that part of the problem is a media issue. Even though people are aware of these things that go on associated with the Olympics, people would rather look at the glamor than on the real issues.
ReplyDelete