Favela Spirit
Sure local government should do these things, but when they don’t, we do it ourselves.
-Favela resident
Favelas are a touchy subject here in Brazil. I think I covered this subject in my previous post (What’s wrong with favelas?), so I’ll just add a minimal pre-emptive clarification: I don’t think favelas are fun or cool, but I do think they are legitimately interesting.
Back in Britain it is common to hear people lament the decline of “community spirit”. Of course there are plenty of great community projects and kind, helpful people, but as a general trend, people have become less sociable with their neighbours over the last 50 or so years.
Many people in London (and other large cities I’m sure) hardly speak to the people who live next door or across the hallway. It’s not uncommon to hear of people dying alone in their apartments and only being discovered weeks later when neighbours notice the smell.
I used to think that this phenomenon of people closing themselves off from their neighbours was caused by the population movement from small towns and villages into large cities and conurbations. It seems a logical reaction to a reduction in living space: people put up metaphorical walls to counter the fact that they are living in such close proximity to each other. But if that were true, how could you explain favelas?
Just a small section of Rocinha, Rio’s largest favela.
The thing I find most charming about Cariocas is their openness, their willingness to help out, to give directions, to stop for a chat and pass the time of day. In my view the Cariocas who show these qualities most strongly are the people who live in favelas. Bang goes my theory that living in close proximity causes people to become closed and antisocial!
At the bottom of this post I’ve embedded what I think is an excellent video “Favela as a Sustainable Model”. Not only does it show how disgusting things can get without proper sanitation and refuse collection, but it goes on to show some excellent projects that are mobilising the residents to improve their communities.
The front cover image from the you tube clip. The video itself is embedded below.
I found it a fascinating, positive video and I urge you to watch it! One thing I was particularly struck by was the willingness of residents to take matters into their own hands. The video shows favela residents lamenting the woeful shortfall in government services (both historic and present day), but also shows that they are prepared to get together to improve things for themselves. Essentially they’re saying “nobody else is going to do it so we’d better do it ourselves!”
I find this an interesting political question. Do projects like this allow a government to shirk its responsibility? I’ve heard Brazilians (not from favelas) argue against these projects, with this line: “That is the government’s job. If we do it for them then they won’t ever take responsibility. They’ll just keep stealing the money that they should be spending on public projects”.
It’s a fair point isn’t it? Tax payers have a right to demand that their money is spent wisely. I guess favela residents have been neglected for long enough that they’ve given up waiting. Anyway, here’s the video.
As I watched this film I thought how fitting the alternative name for favela is: comunidade (community). I’m not saying I want to swap my relatively large and comfortable home for a place in a favela, but I think it’s important to recognise that for all the things they don’t have, the sense of community spirit appears to be alive and well in Rio’s favelas.
A final quote from the film:
Sustainable principles already exist in Rio’s favelas, but they are so organic that they pass unnoticed. Pedestrianised streets, the use of bicycles and collective transport, local businesses, organic architecture and, fundamentally, values such as solidarity and a sense of collectivity – these things are so natural in favelas that we call them ‘comunidades’ (communities).
Learn more about Verdejar here
I think your theory as to why the metaphorical walls go up seems plausible. The favelas only show that that outcome is not inevitable. I think another thing that leads the walls to go up is, in our time, people don’t need other people to get by on a daily basis the way they once did. Technology has made people able to be far more autonomous and self sufficent than they typically were able to be in bygone times, when there were still milk men and dry grocers and cobblers.
Good point about the technology. As you say, it’s perfectly possible to go days in a modern city without saying more than a word or two. And when you’re on a bus and you don’t have an iPod/tablet etc, then your entertainment may well be found sitting next to you!
Wow, I had no clue that it was almost a quarter of Rio’s population living in favelas, but looking back at it, I guess it makes sense.
I really liked the video, and in some ways favelas really are super sustainable- they are dense as all hell, they take up smaller footprints that traditional urban occupation and they are constantly evolving (usually constructing themselves into real neighborhoods as the time goes by.) Like you said, I still wouldn’t live in the ”favela of today” but who knows, the favela of the future might be a cool place.
Nice article Tom, I liked it a lot.
Abraço
Alex
Ah, thanks Alex (I especially like that you called it an “article”. I often refer to my posts as articles when Mrs Eat Rio is in earshot because I suspect, as a real journalist, it must annoy her! Ha ha! :D )
Glad you liked the video – I liked the fact that it doesn’t try to gloss over the problems, but also highlights some very positive aspects to life in a favela. I think so much coverage of favelas (and of Rio in general now that I think of it) tends to be completely oversimplified and polarised. Everything is made out to be completely wonderful or else utterly dangerous. The truth is more complicated (and more interesting!).
Great video. All you ever seem to hear about favelas is that they are dangerous, full of drug gangs, when they are not being evicted by heavily armed police. Everybody else is considered to be a thief, alcoholic or junkie, if not a combination of all three.
I’m sure there is plenty of truth in the above statements, but it’s good to see that there is a lot of positivity too. The bad side almost always has a lot to do with living in an area where there appears to be no future or way out except through crime or getting of your head. It’s really great to be made aware that a lot of people living in favelas are trying to improve their lives and their communities. There’s a long way to go, but the future just might be worth looking forward too for these people, especially as they are not settling for waiting for the authorities to do something.
One last thing, I’d love to try some of that vegetarian food. Obviously it is intended for the local community, but someone should have a word with the lady in charge about producing a recipe book. Profits could be ploughed back into the community so everybody is happy.
I know what you’re saying about the extreme depictions of favelas in the press (etc). The flip side of the overly negative view is the one that I know really frustrates many Brazilians – tourists show up and flippantly decide that favelas are “awesome!” and decide they’re going to live there for a couple of weeks so they have a cool story to tell their friends when they get home.
It’s a complicated subject, but I think what’s most important is for everyone to move away from this prejudiced view that people who live in favelas are inherently dishonest or criminal.
Also, I hear what you’re saying about the food – looks seriously good doesn’t it? :)
“I find this an interesting political question. Do projects like this allow a government to shirk its responsibility? I’ve heard Brazilians (not from favelas) argue against these projects, with this line: “That is the government’s job. If we do it for them then they won’t ever take responsibility. They’ll just keep stealing the money that they should be spending on public projects”.
Here’s a revolutionary idea: don’t tax people and have them take care of their own communities, having them only dip into their pockets by common accord on a local level. And by local I mean neighborhoods organized (legally) in no more than 500 residents The result is less corruption, and enlightenment since dwellers learn hands on how detrimental certain personal behavior can be to the systems they just installed, and paid for (littering, etc).
I think many the community leaders feature in the vid are remarkable yet the keep repeating the same mistake by calling government agencies to sort things out. What they should do is simply promote tax reduction, and for government on all levels to get out of the way. I don’t get it, when it comes to achievements their reports cards are much better than that of city hall – so why does this statist mentality (“o governo precisa bla bla bla”) carry on?
Heh heh! Straight out of the conservative handbook! ;)
But surely even the most right-leaning government would concede a responsibility to provide citizens with basic utilities, sanitation and refuse collection?
Perhaps you are right since it was a most left leaning government (that of Mr. Leonel Brizola) that celebrated and allowed favelas everywhere; yet never raised a finger to sort out the issues you mentioned.
In the end though I don’t think governments concede on providing things but instead citizens agree to allot government certain tasks, and be taxed for them. I just seems to me that the leaders portrayed in the video should run local matters, and taxes and fees should be local affairs. I have found that the same kind of person celebrated in that video usually becomes ineffective when moved away from the daily scrutiny of his community.
Well you’ve certainly touched upon a controversial topic….one that has no easy solution. And when you have an inefficient and bureaucratic government, like they all tend to be, the situation is compounded. I didn’t realize that a quarter of the population of Rio is living in the favelas. And it’s probably a high percentage in other cities in Brazil as well, although I don’t know that for certain. The ironic thing is that some of the best views of the city are from the favelas. In other cities around the world, that would be expensive real estate.
I think the problem won’t be solved if you expect the government solely to fix things. And it won’t be solved by the people of the favelas. The only way it’ll get solved is if they work together for a better solution, offering tax incentives, creating jobs, etc. It definitely is possible.
But much of it is ingrained in the culture of the people. I think much of it has to do with fear of change. The devil that you know is better than the unknown devil.
Larry