Terror and Repression in the Favelas

This week, O Globo, the newspaper of the largest media conglomerate in Brazil, started running a series on favelas. Globo is one of the leading figures in categorically treating favelados as "traficantes," regardless of whether they are actually involved in the drug trade or not.

However, it seems they are perhaps actually starting to look into the issue of violence, the police, traficantes, drugs, corruption, and paramilitary violence a little more critically at last, for the series is focusing on the 1.5 million favelados in Rio themselves (the link is just a report Globo released online of the report it is offering - in true Globo fashion, you have to buy the newspaper to read their story).

Instead of ignoring any non-traficante favelado, as it traditionally does, Globo instead investigates how the violence impacts the daily lives of those who live in the favelas and are just trying to get by. What is more, it is one of the most even-handed stories Globo has ever provided (though that is a skewed measurement), reporting on the lives of those who lost loved ones not just to drug lords, but also to police who frequently invade favelas and rather indiscriminately shoot. Globo even reports on how the actions of "bandidos" ("renegade" police that function almost as paramilitaries and that the media uniformly treats as a few bad elements, rather than a chronic problem with the military police) have resulted in deaths and increased violence in the favelas in some cases.

Globo really doesn't hold back the punches, either. In one of the most damning statements, the journal points out that the number of favelados "desaparecidos" between 1993 and June of this year is 10,464. 10,464 dead in 14 years. That's roughly 9,700 more than were killed during the 21 year Brazilian dictatorship. That's 7,000 more than died in Chile under Pinochet. Brazilians generally don't even bat an eye when a favelado's death is reported (if it's reported), but when seen in the large number, it can't help but startle anybody, given the sheer number. Globo has no problem categorically saying this is worse than the dictatorship (and, strictly in terms of deaths, the numbers make it hard to argue otherwise, especially since these are the deaths under a liberal-democratic federation, and not a military government). Indeed, the series title itself is "The Brazilians that still live under the dictatorship" ("Os brasileiros que ainda vivem na ditadura").

Certainly, there are problems still within the reporting. While the police (including rogue cops who go into the favelas and kill for what basically amounts to sport) are present, Globo can't stay away from the subtle but important twist of always mentioning the traficantes first, in turn treating the issue as a cause-effect relationship ("if there were no traficantes, there would be no bandidos"). This approach refuses to put on a level playing ground the violence the police carry out and the violenc acts the traficantes commit. What is more, while this series will doubtlessly reach millions of people, the likelihood of this series marking a watershed in how Globo reports the violence and life in the favelas is minimal. After this series, the "journalism" in Globo, as in every other major media source, will go back to completely ignoring the favelados save for the traficantes, real or reported. I could be wrong, but I doubt I am, and if Globo does prove me wrong, that's fine with me. Still, this has the potential to be an important step in slowly shifting how the media, and in turn society, view the favelas as nothing more than dens of criminals and lazy (black) people who do nothing for society (save for, of course, cleaning the houses of the middlle class and elites for generally unliveable wages). For once (and who knows when I'll have the chance to say this again, if ever), O Globo deserves applause for taking this action and reporting this story, warts and all.