 |
| What are the UPPs about again? |
It is difficult to know where to begin criticizing
the idea that schoolchildren be indoctrinated with the ideology that the public
places and spaces of the city be treated as mere commodities used to accrue
personal wealth and power. We could begin with the fact that only the
current administration`s projects are highlighted in the game, giving the impression
that the mayor, governor and their cronies have produced the urban landscape since taking office. We could also highlight the fact that arbitrary monetary
values are assigned to public places, eliminating any and all conception of use
value for those that have paid for these things (the public) and transforming
every element of the urban into something that can be traded on the open,
deregulated market. How about the “sorte” (luck) card that says: “the value of
your home increases after the favela in your neighborhood was pacified, receive R$75,000”. Paulo Freire is turning like a rotisserie chicken in his grave.
Just when I was
starting to lose the hard edge of permanent pessimism, the perverse pedagogy and
poor taste of the mayor took physical form in the public space of Copacabana
Fort. In the fort, which is a federal property, a
private club has opened to attend to the beautiful people [sic] of Rio`s Zona
Sul who can no longer tolerate the hoi polloi and undifferentiated tourist
mass of Ipanema and established a clubby off world inside the fort. Veja`s
coverage was nauseatingly apologetic: “Club attracts high class clients
in search of vip treatment and the experience of sharing the beach with people
of the same profile”. A mere R$250 gets you into the club that has a pool, discreet
waiters, blaring electronica, hot tub, R$5000 bottles of campaign, R$80 face
towels and a lax security force that ignores the clouds of pot smoke drifting
off the dance floor. If you are surprised that rich, white Brazilians are able
to smoke weed bought in favelas inside a military fort while the favelas
themselves are occupied by the military, then you clearly haven`t spent enough
time playing Banco Imobiliário.
A few weeks ago
I reported on the judicial victory of the Aldeia Maracanã. During the
negotiations the government had offered to work with the Aldeia in some regard
in order to maintain the site as a part of Brazil`s indigenous heritage.
Incredibly, but unsurprisingly (another of Rio`s characteristics is that you
are not surprised at being shocked), the brain trust of Rio 2106 and the State
Government announced that the indigenous people would be expelled and the
site transformed into an Olympic museum with all profits acruing to the IOC!
Huh? This is the same set of intellectual heroes that have programmed the
destruction of an Olympic swimming pool and an Olympic training center in order
to prepare the city for the Olympics. It is a sadly transparent attempt to turn a judicial defeat into a victory.
These paradigms of competency in public
planning have also determined that the facilities constructed for the
2007 Pan American Games are almost completely inadequate. You know the situation is dire when OGlobo starts criticizing the R$1.6 billion that will have to be spent on the 2007 facilities to make them viable for 2016. To wit: the velodrome is being destroyed, the aquatics center will only host water polo while a
temporary diving center will be built at the Copacabana Fort (someone better
get rid of the rich potheads first), the basketball arena will only be used for
gymnastics and every other installation will have to undergo massive upgrades.
Of course, there is still no budget for the 2016 Games, and even if there were
why should the public pay any more attention to it than the Games organizers themselves?
A series of
fires have occured in the Autodromo de Jacarepagua, site of the future Olympic
Park. These are not ordinary fires but massive conflagrations of discarded
tires. The toxic smoke has infiltrated the Vila Autodromo over the past weeks,
creating a health and environmental hazard. This could be another manifestation
of the pressure tactics used by the government to encourage people to leave
their homes or at least to reconsider their negotiating position. When there is
not grave incompetence in public administration there is likely malice and vice
versa. Somtimes it is both.
Evidence to
support this last statement came from the Largo
do Tanque this week where a series of forced removals occurred as the
municipal government races to complete the Transcarioca BRT before the World Cup.
The reports from Tanque are as disturbing as they are tragic. There is evidence
that agents of the municipal government are negotiating the price of homes with
the residents as the bulldozers circle the house. This is not the “key for key”
policy dictated by Brazilian law and international statutes but rather an
underhanded and divisive approach to eliminating social resistance to the
invented needs of massive urban interventions. A few years ago there were a
series of signs along Flamengo
Beach
The involuntary
interment of crack addicts and homeless people continues throughout the eastern
and southern parts of Rio . Rio`s program of
forced interment is widely criticized by health care professionals as doing
nothing to solve problems of mental health, physical addiction or the social
conditions that produce such large numbers of homeless in Rio. There have been
few investigations into the conditions of the internment centers, no data
released on how long people are kept, what happens to them upon release or the
efficacy of the program in decreasing crack use. Though it might be a stretch,
the BRTs are no more a solution to Rio`s mobility problems than is the
involuntary internment program a solution to drug addiction and homeless. In
both cases human rights are violated while being sold as necessary for the
betterment of the city.
The General
Osorio metro station opened in 2010, bringing the Metro to Ipanema 35 years
after its inauguration. Last week the General closed his doors for 10 months so
the extension to the one and only metro
line in the state can start. Just to be clear, two years ago the line was extended to Ipanema with
the full knowledge that it would have to be further extended for the Olympic
transportation project. Instead of planning for that extension without needing
to close the station the top-notch intellects at Rio Metro closed the tunnel
system and therefore have to pick up where they left off in 2010. In addition
to the inconvenience of the closure, the astronomical sums of money and urban
disruptions of the Linha 4 [sic] are causing protests and revolt among even the
stodgy lovers of the status quo in Leblon.
And finally, the
call for proposals for the privatization of the Maracanã was launched on
Monday. The companies that are bidding for the 35 year “concession”, IMX and
LusoArenas, will have one month to submit their proposals and then a committee
comprised of ONE PERSON will rule in favor of one or the other. As IMX was the
external consultant that devised the economic feasibility study it looks as if
Eike Batista will be able to add another of Rio de Janeiro`s iconic spaces to
his Banco Imobiliário. The billionaire with the ten dollar toupee has not been
having much luck financially lately, but was recently granted his long-time
wish to build a nine-story convention center in the Marina da Glória.
The agency responsible for protecting Rio de Janeiro`s architectural and
cultural heritage, IPHAN, has once again surfed the wave of privatization.
There are likely no cards in the Banco Imobiliário game that represent IPHAN or
IBAMA or INEA (environmental regulatory agencies), much less something that
would make one pay for an impact study or have to spend money and time
consulting the public about the future use of public space.
This Thursday,
28.2.13, the Comitê Popular da Copa e das Olimpiadas is sponsoring a seminar
that will treat the Maracanã in all of its symbolic, historical, political and
cultural complexity. The seminar will begin at 2pm in the auditorium of the the
Associação Brasileira de Imprensa, on Rua
Araujo Porto Alegre, 71. More details can be found on the Comite`s site: www.comitepopularrio.wordpress.com
No comments:
Post a Comment