Interview with Preto Zezé, granted on April 18, 2020 to the website Unidade na Diversidade, about the current situation in the communities, the actions taken so far and what still needs to be done. In addition to Preto Zezé, the debate had the support of Rudá Ricci, Tânia Dornellas, Eugênio Peixoto and Osires Gianetti. Access here .
On Thursday, the 14/04/2020th, the 8th virtual meeting of the NEB, Core of Bureaucracy Studies, took place. At the eighth meeting, the focus of the debate was the impact of the pandemic on Brazilian favelas and peripheries, as well as what are the challenges and possibilities of facing the crisis in these territories. Participated in the live: Ana Mirtes, resident and community leader of Ilha de Deus in Recife; Pedro Bento, student of public administration at FGV and creator of Favela sem Corona; Danilo Lima, from the Periphery Without Corona movement; Jabes Campos, member of the Brasilândia Solidarity Network. See here .
The panel is a presentation of articles written by students of the Graduate Program in Communication and Territorialities at Ufes. The seminar has as its theme: Activism and Communication in times of a pandemic: the performance of social movements. To see the video, go here.
Several collectives have also used whatsapp to spread their news more quickly and directly to the community. In addition to news about the pandemic, they also disclose information about emergency aid, cultural events, politics and education. Some examples are the channel of Agência da Mural, Periferia em Movimento and Max Maciel. To receive the news on whatsapp, just send a message to the number of each collective, available on their social media or websites .
Young people from the Jacaré community in Pernambuco created a community radio, Jacaré Maluquinho, with the aim of disseminating information to all neighboring families about the importance of preventing coronavirus.
Using simple equipment, a notebook and a loudspeaker, the young people make reports to the entire community and promote the brega funk “Xô-Corona”, their cheesy-protest. In addition, they spread posters all over Alligator reinforcing the use of the protective mask and distribute donations and basic baskets.
The mini-documentary “Interrupmos a Programação (?)”, created by the collective Periferia em Movimento, began to be produced in October 2019. Interpellated by the pandemic in early 2020, the production, in addition to talking about the importance of community/peripheral media for the formation and expression of the identity of the peripheries, it also reflects on its importance for the confrontation and exposure of the pandemic situation in the communities.
The documentary intends to collaborate with the dissemination of information in the peripheries about prevention, self-care and data for the creation of public policies and other immediate initiatives. It will be based on the vision of 5 young people from the periphery of the five regions of the country. The three audiovisual collectives that drive the proposal for the documentary are: Maloka Filmes, formed by LGBTs from the South Zone of São Paulo; the Communication and Youth Center – CCJ in Recife (PE); and the Apeirom Collective of Ceilândia (DF).
The podcast brings a peripheral view of the city, politics and entertainment and is presented by Max Maciel, one of the coordinators of the Urban Network of Sociocultural Actions (DF). In addition to dealing with the fight against the coronavirus in the periphery, the podcast has already addressed other relevant topics in education, politics and culture.
Podcast by the ArquePerifa collective produced to understand and share different experiences and impacts of COVID-19 on the periphery. You can find it on YouTube, Spotify or in a reduced version on whatsapp.
Podcast created by Periferia em Movimento, Alma Preta and Desenrola and Não Me Enrola. In addition to podcast, it is also released in audio format and can be disseminated through whatsapp .
Voz das Comunidades, a communication collective located in Complexo do Alemão, launched an app with the aim of minimizing misinformation and the impacts of the pandemic on communities in a more vulnerable situation.
The app can be downloaded from both GooglePlay (for Android) and the App Store (for iPhone). The app has three sections: LIVE, with quick and real-time information; FACTS: aims to combat misinformation, with news verified by the team of editors with the seal of “true” or “false”; and NEWSPAPER, which makes available in the application all the content of the existing newspaper.
All over Brazil, several funks and raps were released with the aim of raising awareness of the population of the periphery, with a closer language, about the coronavirus and prevention measures. Some of them:
Popular movements marked a “great act” to call for the “impeachment now” of the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro, at a time when the country registered the mark of 211,000 deaths from Covid-19. The event took place on January 24, 2021 at Praça dos Três Poderes, in Brasília. Access here.
On January 14, 2021, several videos of health professionals, especially in Manaus-AM, exploded on social media, denouncing the lack of oxygen pumps in hospitals. Several patients died because they did not have access to equipment, not only those contaminated with Covid-19, but also other diseases, for example, there is great concern about premature babies who depend on receiving oxygen. As a result, several protest calls emerged from different social groups.
The Movimiento por Nuestros Desaparecidos en México , formed by more than 60 collectives from Mexico and three Central American countries, demands that the Mexican government does not stop the search for the 61,000 disappeared and that efforts be accelerated to identify more than 37,000 bodies. On Mother's Day (10 May), demonstrators took to the streets but also used forms of digital protest, including a digital march. The traditional National March of Dignity: Mothers Seeking their Disappeared Family Members, Truth and Justice, was held digitally for the first time. Participants posted photos online with masks, on which was written: "where are you?"
In addition, they communicated using hashtags such as #YoApoyoParaEncontrarles, #HastaEncontrarles, #NosHacenFalta and #10DeMayoNadaQuéCelebrar. For more information, see also this analysis by Thomas Aurelani .
In memory of those killed by the pandemic, activists placed a thousand crosses on the lawns of Esplanada dos Ministérios (Brasília), on Sunday, June 28, 2020.
The NGO Rio de Paz had already held a similar protest on June 11, at Copacabana Beach.
The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) has launched the COVID-10 Disorder Tracker , to systematize data on protests and conflicts related to the pandemic in various regions of the world. It ranges from episodes of violence against health workers to protests against isolation measures.
Fridays For Future Brasil is a movement to face the COVID-19 crisis in traditional communities in the Amazon. Access the website here.
Some organizations and movements, seeking to address the impacts of neoliberal policies on territories and rural and urban communities in Latin America and the Caribbean, have launched proposals to minimize the impacts of the coronavirus in the region. Read here.
“The women of the Amazon basin and the sisters of Latin America and the Caribbean are facing a systematic and growing threat to our lives since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic as a consequence of the historical inequalities that the patriarchal neoliberal capitalist colonial system seeks perpetuate in the face of the indifference of the States to those that are not important in our lives.” Access the full document here.
“The MESA for the Articulation of National Associations and NGO Networks from Latin America and the Caribbean, an entity that brings together thousands of civil society organizations, comes to the public to express its concern about the direction that the actions that several national States are taking to face the epidemic of the coronavirus virus (COVID-19) on our continent.” Access the full note here.
“Indians of Brazil are being decimated by the arrival of Covid 19, associated with the lack of health care and protection of territories by the State. The complaint is made by the traditional communities themselves that launch campaigns with requests for support throughout Brazil. To give visibility to local initiatives and facilitate foreign donations, the International Campaign “Covid19 – SOS Indigenous Peoples of Brazil” will be launched this Sunday (2/8).” Download the document here.
Entities and civil society movements launch a public letter in which they propose practical objectives linked to a reflection on the humanitarian crisis of the Coronavirus. Access the full document here.
The group “Urbanistas contra o corona” was born as an initiative to think and produce emergency solutions for social and spatial equity in peripheral spaces in the face of the epidemic. Access the open letter produced by the group here.
The Popular Brazil Front and the People Without Fear Front point out that, in the face of the deepening of the national crisis with the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, they start to wield the flag of “Fora Bolsonaro”. Access the article here.
Letter from black women about concerns about the impacts of covid-19, signed by the Articulation of Brazilian Black Women's Organizations (AMNB).
Popular organizations Central dos Movimentos Populares (CMP), National Confederation of Residents' Associations (CONAM), National Movement for the Struggle for Housing (MNLM), Movement of Workers and Workers for Rights (MTD), Movement for Struggle for Neighborhoods and Favelas ( MLB) and the National Union for Popular Housing (UNMP) propose the adoption of some immediate measures in order to overcome the economic and social crisis in the country. Check it out here .
The Platform of Social Movements for the Reform of the Political System, which brings together hundreds of organizations and movements from all over the country, calls for some immediate measures, such as the unfreezing of social spending and the suspension and restructuring of debts. Check the claims at this link .
The Alliance for Adequate and Healthy Food, together with more than 80 organizations, collectives and civil society entities, published an appeal for the right to health and food of Brazilians to be respected, protected and guaranteed, in the context of combating the new coronavirus. Click here to access the document.
The Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC), together with its Regional Secretariats and Affiliated Scientific Societies, join forces with entities across the country linked to CT&I to carry out the Virtual March for Science in Brazil on May 7th. With activities broadcast on social media throughout the day, the purpose of the demonstration is to draw attention to the importance of science in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic and its social, economic and health implications. Access here.
Columnist says that it is necessary to strengthen the SUS, investing resources as a priority in public health, especially on the outskirts of cities - where the impact of Covid-19 is greater. Read here Raimundo Bonfim's column on the subject.
The debate about the public health system and inequalities has been amplified in society. Because of this, the launch of the manifesto of the Unified Front for solidary public policies that guarantee, during the pandemic, universal and equal access to hospital services through SUS, is scheduled for May 13th. The document is supported by Abrasco and more than 40 entities and social movements and brings five necessary measures for the “urgent construction of an effective and solidary response to the epidemic, which saves as many lives as possible, we propose”. Check out the full manifesto here.
The “Vidas Iguais” and “Leitos Para Todos” campaigns came together to mobilize society and pressure public authorities to guarantee universal and equal access to all through the Unified Health System. Access here.
“The Toda as Vidas Valem was launched by the National Human Rights Movement (MNDH) on May 15, 2020. The Campaign's main objective is to mobilize human rights organizations to guarantee human rights in the context of Covid-19. -19. As specific objectives, the Campaign aims to: a) organize solidarity to care for groups and segments with the greatest need for protection; b) promote actions to monitor human rights violations in the context of the pandemic; c) carry out training actions to strengthen human rights organizations. […]”. Check out the full document here.
“Brazil, its institutions, its people cannot continue to be attacked by someone who, democratically anointed to the position of President of the Republic, exercises the noble mandate that was given to him to ruin the foundations of our democratic system, attempting, only time, against the Legislative and Judiciary Powers, against the Rule of Law, against the health of Brazilians, acting shamelessly, in broad daylight, incapable of showing any civic spirit or compassion for the suffering of so many.” Access the campaign petition here.
“We are from a tradition that does not separate reason from emotion or the political struggle from the subjectivity of being and living in fullness. For us who profess the faith of solidarity, compassion, affection and resistance, there is no way to silence our voice in the most tragic period we have lived since the enslavement of our people. The history of our country was built on black blood. It is our ethical and moral obligation to face the Bolsonaro mismanagement policy of death, in honor of the memory of struggles and resistance of our black and black heroines and heroes.” Access the text here.
Dozens of entities got together to prepare 13 proposals for immediate and structural actions to face the Covid-19 pandemic, aimed primarily at inhabitants of popular territories - on the periphery, in informal settlements, in occupations - and also for the homeless population. and other vulnerable social groups. Access here.
