Brazil

In the Name of the Future, Rio Is Destroying Its Past

Published in Monday August 13th, 2012 In In the media

August 12, 2012 By THERESA WILLIAMSON and MAURÍCIO HORA THE London Olympics concluded Sunday, but the battle over the next games has just begun in Rio, where protests against illegal evictions of some of the city’s poorest residents are spreading. Indeed, the Rio Olympics are poised to increase inequality in a city already famous for it. Last month, […]

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Rio 2016: The race is on to revamp Brazil’s party city

Published in Monday August 13th, 2012 In In the media

(Português) 13 August 2012 The curtain has fallen on the London Olympics, so all eyes are now turning to the next host city – Rio de Janeiro. Brazil has a huge task to get the venues ready, as the BBC’s Quentin Sommerville reports from the city. At the beach’s edge in Barra da Tijuca in […]

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Affordable rental housing scarce in Sacramento region, in the United States

Published in Monday July 23rd, 2012 In In the media

July 23, 2012 by Cynthia Hubert and Phillip Reese Trying to find affordable rental housing in the Sacramento region is a bit like playing the lottery: Fifty thousand prospective tenants recently vied for one of 3,000 slots on a Sacramento County waiting list for subsidized housing. Families are waiting two years for an apartment in an affordable housing […]

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The Making of an Urban Occupation: Manoel Congo

Published in Wednesday July 18th, 2012 In Social movement news

Manoel Congo is comprised of 42 families and 120 residents, the vast majority of whom have lived there since occupation in 2007. Many, but not all, are MNLM activists. Watch the video below to find out more about community life in this occupation:

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Favela as a sustainable model

Published in Wednesday July 11th, 2012

Sustainability principles already exist in Rio’s favelas, but they are so organic that they go unnoticed. Launched at Rio+20 by CatComm.org, the short film “Favela as a Sustainable Model” aims to initiate a global dialogue around the qualities inherent in informal settlements, particularly consolidated ones like those in Rio, and the potential lessons they offer towards a sustainable urbanization. Watch the video bellow (in Portuguese, with English subtitles):

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Brazil World Cup: Forced Evictions Violate Residents’ Rights

Published in Thursday June 28th, 2012 In In the media

The minidocumentary “We Are The Legacy: The Story of Elisangela” (below) is the first in a series of videos being produced by the human rights organization Witness, in partnership with Brazil’s Comitê Popular Rio Copa e Olimpíadas, to tell the story of people affected by forced evictions linked directly or indirectly to preparations for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

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Rio+20 : “Qu’ils nettoient devant leur porte avant de parler de la planète !”

Published in Friday June 22nd, 2012 In In the media

(Português) (Only in French) Par Nicolas Bourcier (Rio de Janeiro, correspondant) Elle prépare le thé avec les pétales des roses qu’elle a cueillies dans le jardin de sa maison. D’un ton calme, Inalva Mendes Brito évoque les souvenirs de ce passé heureux, ces années 1980, lorsqu’elle est venue ici, à Vila Autodromo, une petite favela située au […]

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Special Rapporteur visits Fortaleza, Brazil, to discuss impacts of the Soccer World Cup to the right to housing

Published in Sunday June 17th, 2012 In In the media

In June 2012, the Special Rapporteur, Raquel Rolnik, promoted a working visit to Fortaleza, Brazil, regarding the evictions and other violations to the right to housing related to sports megaevents. Fortaleza is one of the host cities to the 2014 Soccer World Cup.
The Rapporteur visited the communities that are going to be affected by the mobility and other construction sites, made to the 2014 Cup. She met with representatives of the State, of the City Council and of the organized civil society movements at the City Chamber.

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Rio+20: It’s time to change perceptions on Rio’s favelas

Published in Monday June 11th, 2012 In Mobilisation and agenda

Since 2004, in partnership with established community organizations, Catalytic Communities has been offering Educational Community Visits to journalists, activists, development researchers, government officials, city planners and architects wanting a deeper and more engaging experience of Rio de Janeiro and its favelas. If you or colleagues plan to be in Rio for the Rio+20 UN Conference […]

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Favela do Metrô Terrorized through Drawn-out Eviction

Published in Wednesday May 16th, 2012 In In the media

Two years on from the first announcements that their houses would be cleared to make way for World Cup 2014 developments, residents of Favela do Metrô are still living through the brutal, drawn out destruction of their community. A stone’s throw from the world famous Maracanã stadium, Favela do Metrô was founded 33 years ago […]

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