tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594722532540683646.post7317863905877417403..comments2024-01-06T23:25:09.200-03:00Comments on Hunting White Elephants / Caçando Elefantes Brancos: The blind hand of the marketChristopher Gaffneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04857921977919114588noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594722532540683646.post-89649250237083051322014-05-06T07:57:33.993-03:002014-05-06T07:57:33.993-03:00Thanks Valeria, I think. I am not sure what you ar...Thanks Valeria, I think. I am not sure what you are talking about in regards to the BBC, but I assure you that I want the best from and for Brazil. Life in Rio is extremely difficult for us at the moment and if you were to pay attention to what I write and say and do, I have been working to make Brazil better, pointing out the complexities of the situation on the ground and trying to get Brazil´s governing classes to listen to the criticisms. I understand that this may come across as Brazil-bashing but my intentions are to point out problems so they can be improved. Christopher Gaffneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04857921977919114588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594722532540683646.post-59836038354095590702014-05-06T02:08:01.430-03:002014-05-06T02:08:01.430-03:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Valeriahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12574663672795464105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594722532540683646.post-16594655860827000712014-05-05T07:52:17.625-03:002014-05-05T07:52:17.625-03:00Brian and Gunther,
Thank you for adding to this ...Brian and Gunther, <br /><br />Thank you for adding to this important debate. The Guardian piece did more to confuse than to clarify and it is good to know that there are knowledgable people reading HWE that are attuned to what is going on relative to pacification, removal and gentrification. I would agree that the UPPs have both exacerbated the security situation in some places while passing as highly visible band-aids in others. Regardless of the positive benefits in terms of mortality rates, the UPPs are not functioning to guarantee Brazilian´s right to the city as it is put forth in the City Statute. Rio de Janeiro´s municipal and state governments have been historically consistent in their attempts to push the poor away from centers of employment and have rarely (and never under the current administrations) acted to strengthen access to a regime of rights. To the contrary, Paes is openly pursuing a pogrom against the most economically vulnerable in order to attend to very narrow interests. The pacification is concentrated in the olympic rings and the shock orders as well. There is no peace in the north and west, and the south and east are impossibly expensive. Thank god the weather is nice and the mountains beautiful!Christopher Gaffneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04857921977919114588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594722532540683646.post-27119673008764098542014-05-05T03:54:28.453-03:002014-05-05T03:54:28.453-03:00
The biggest obstacle to improvement remains the c...<br />The biggest obstacle to improvement remains the continued massive presence of parallel power structures in the favelas. This is why comparisons to non-Brazilian cities are not helpful; Rio is sadly unique in this regard. The UPP roll out is at a critical juncture as the drug gangs are testing the state’s presence in “pacified” communites. This leaves the population caught in the middle. What power structure can they really trust? A couple of UPP containers is all the state can provide? UPPs have been mistaken for a genuine security strategy which Rio is clearly lacking. In some regards UPPs have exacerbated the security issue in other seemingly unrelated areas where the gangs have fled to, bringing along high levels of violence. The drug trade will always be around in some form as Rio is big consumer market. However, the open and unchallenged power base of heavily armed groups needs to be tackled by the state. Otherwise there will be little progress, however you define it.<br />The current “pacification” approach has not even succeeded in driving criminals out of pacified favelas let alone in apprehending them. For instance, Rocinha with a population of roughly 100.000 and a labyrinthine street set up has a single UPP station with 300 officers. <br /><br /><br />Gunther Kirschnernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3594722532540683646.post-38876695167566629762014-05-04T15:45:28.829-03:002014-05-04T15:45:28.829-03:00Hey Chris, I enjoyed your Blog article. It is impo...Hey Chris, I enjoyed your Blog article. It is important to answer the kind of nonsense that is appearing in the Northern press these days. Just a quick comment though. The right to housing is clearly expressed in the Brazilian constitution of 1988. The Fórum Nacional de Reforma Urbana formed in 1987 out of the struggle to ratify the first two people's amendments to the Brazilian constitution (through gathering 1 million petition signatures for each one). The results were articles 182 and 183 which establish, among other things, the social function of urban property. These two articles are regulated through the Statute of the City of 2001, now included as part of the constitution.<br />The statute of the city clearly states that housing is a human right, here:<br /><br />“Art. 2º A política urbana tem por objetivo ordenar o pleno desenvolvimento das funções sociais da cidade e da propriedade urbana, mediante as seguintes diretrizes gerais: I - garantia do direito a cidades sustentáveis, entendido como o direito à terra urbana, à moradia, ao saneamento ambiental, à infra-estrutura urbana, ao transporte e aos serviços públicos, ao trabalho e ao lazer, para as presentes e futuras gerações;”<br />http://www.dji.com.br/leis_ordinarias/l-010257-10-07-2001.htm<br /><br />Translation: “Art. 2º, the objective of urban policy is to guide the development of the social functions of the city and urban property, through the following general guidelines: I – guarantee the right to sustainable cities, which is understood as meaning the right to urban land, housing, environmental sanitation, urban infrastructure and public transportation and services for work and leisure, for present and future generations;”<br /><br />The statute of the city was a landmark piece of legislation which prioritizes the social use of property over the profit motive, effectively banning all kinds of typical slum lord behavior that you have in American cities, like Land Banking.<br />The problem is that in some Brazilian cities, notably Rio de Janeiro, local governments and the real-estate cabals that support them try to ignore it as much as they can... Other cities like São Paulo, Belém and Porto Alegre have done a good job respecting it at different times over the past few decades. <br /><br />- Brian Mier, Rio de JaneiroAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com