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News :: Miscellaneous |
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On the Road in Brazil, Days 2-3 (second in a series) |
Current rating: 0 |
by Sascha Meinrath, Urbana-Champaign IMC
Email: meinrath (nospam) urbana.indymedia.org (unverified!) |
04 Jul 2001
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Sascha Meinrath and Sarah Kanouse continue to explore São Paulo, Brazil and begin meeting with local activists. |
The last two days have gone by very quickly. Yesterday (July 1) we went to an open-air market that specialized in art. In Brazil art is much more integrated into everyday living. While "professional" artists are still appreciated, there is also a strong tradition of folk art that helps break down the divide between artist and polulace. One tableaux in the market that stood out in my mind - and perhaps help illustrate the state of the country - was the tarot card reader. She was old and withered, and wore the headscarf and dress of a gypsy. She had a small table in front of her that was covered with battered cards and other mystical-looking items. Her hands were dark and calloused and deeply lined, and in one she held a Nokia cell-phone (into which she was talking animatedly).
One outgrowth of the desperate poverty that grips the country is that although Brazil's official recyling programs lag far behind the United States, almost nothing that can be re-utilized goes to waste. In São Paulo the price for new items is almost the same as in United States (though São Paulo is considered one of the most expensive cities in Brazil), however, because labor is so cheap, almost nothing is ever thrown out. In fact, it is almost always cheaper to fix shoes, electronics, broken furniture, and other goods than replace them. It is quite common to see tinkers and other jacks-of-all-trades on street corners as one walks through the neighborhoods.
Today (July 2) we spent a good deal of time walking through the area around where we are staying. It's a well-to-do area of the city - a mixture of apartment buildings, town-houses, and stand-alone single-family dwellings. One can trace the rise in the city's crime-rate by investigating the security measures in place to protect the houses in the neighborhood. One can still see the original 5-6 foot walls surrounding many houses, and how, over time, they have been added onto - first being extended to 8 or 9 feet tall, then adding another several feet of wrought-iron (usually ending in spear-like projections), and finally topped-off with barbed-wire, razor-wire, and/or the ubiquitous electrified wire that is on 80% of the buildings in the area. Many of the houses also sported security systems and dogs - they often resembled bunkers or prisons more than family abodes. Apartment buildings in the area are surrounded by 8-10 foot fences and are almost univerally topped with 3-4 feet of electrified wire. They also all have 24-hour doormen/security guards who have to buzz you in past the front gate and who prevent anyone they do not personally know from entering the building.
Today we also met with Pablo and Pietro - two activists who helped to found Brazil's Independent Media Center, and who have taken part in multiple demonstrations and are helping to organize direct action in the area. We talked for several hours (mostly on the record) about a variety of issues and social problems facing Brazil today. More information on our conversations with these act |
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06 Jul 2001
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