If you haven't done it yet, I strongly recommend watching the documentary 'Favela Rising'. Other than depicting the social context and life in favelas, the documentary shows how community activism can be used as a powerful tool to improve lives within a favela. In the movie, in response to the high criminality and drug trafficking in favelas, a group of residents organizes to form social revolutionary in one of Rio's most dangerous slums.
Criminality is one of the main concerns that strongly impact the lives of the residents in favelas. To address this issue, many programs have recently tackle drug trafficking by implementing Pacific Police Units into favelas. By identifying and acting upon the major drug trafficking factions in Rio's favelas, and by promoting social and educational events for the whole community, the UPP aims at restoring pacification into the favelas, eventually improving the lives of the residents and decreasing the stigma placed upon those communities by the rest of the city.
Here's a link to the first part of the documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKSuaPxYU0s
It is alway inspiring to see a community organize itself to combat an issue in the community. However, I feel like protest like these in America are pushed to the side and are shown as crazy and radical to the public.
ReplyDelete