An Outstanding Journalistic Report on the Favelas

Jon Lee Anderson (he of the definitive biography of Che Guevara) has an absolutely outstanding article up in the Guardian on life in one of Rio's favelas. It's fairly comprehensive - Anderson spoke with politicians, police, members of the drug network, and even the head of a gang in one of Rio's favelas. It's a very long article, and I may have more to say on it later (I don't always agree with some of Anderson's phrasings or some of the items he excludes), but overall, it's extremely good, and really provides a lot of insights into the social nuances and complexities of life in the favelas while simultaneously describing but not glorifying or simplifying the violence. Again, I cannot overstate how good the article is, and highly recommend anybody and everybody spend the half hour or so reading it.