Monday morning, in the office; it seems a good (and true) cliche to start with a post.

I arrived slightly more that 3 weeks ago and I started directly to work hard at the University: a bit of teaching, many useful but secondary things, a lot (but never enough) on my research. About my research I am working on two different things: the presentation that I will do this Wednesday and a document that I should send to my supervisors. Both are  a general introduction on what happen in Rio de Janeiro while I was there but they are also slightly different: the first is more general, the second is more focused on my two case studies. Now that I am writing at first I was a bit scared that I did not know what to write but now I have too much to say that I do not know where to start! (And sometimes all the side things that you have to do for you PhD are very disruptive). Never mind: I started, not sure of the quality of the works but I will improve and, fundamental, I have to start from somewhere.

In these days, while trying to find official data, I found these useful links (they are more accessible from the portal, I listed here only the ones that I found more important) from the Rio de Janeiro’s city web site that have a very big and different set of information to offer with free access:

http://portalgeo.rio.rj.gov.br/ portal of entry

http://portalgeo.rio.rj.gov.br/serie_rfoco/municipio/index.HTM data aggregated of city (2001)

http://portalgeo.rio.rj.gov.br/mapa_digital_rio/?config=config/ipp/cadlog.xml interactive map of the city

http://portalgeo.rio.rj.gov.br/bairroscariocas/index_cidade.htm general data on the city

http://portalgeo.rio.rj.gov.br/amdpgint.asp?gtema=5 research data about city/neighborhood in excel document

http://portalgeo.rio.rj.gov.br/sabren/index.html information on informal settlements (favelas / loteamentos)

http://portalgeo.rio.rj.gov.br/amdados800.asp?gtema=15 Aeral maps of the city (1999)

Many people are asking me if I get used to be in Leeds and if I wanted to go back. To be sincere, right now I want to stay here in Leeds: I want to work, finish my PhD, the city is calm (even too much…), I have everything that I want for this period of my life (the Leeds Kirkgate Market, the gym, an amazing campus, etc), for the future we will see. However, still a bit of myself is in Rio de Janeiro: I experienced so many things there that it is difficult to cut off. And, most importantly, I have to write something every day: it is always in my mind, I cannot erase or forget.
Recently I found my times myself crying for the news that are coming: a new increase of the ticket price of the bus took place and new demonstrations started. One cameraman died accidentally by a firecracker left by protesters (two people were arrested)  and a street vendor escaping by the police charge was hit and killed by a bus (no actions were taken)(the body of Amarildo is still missing). The count of dead is now at 11 people died linked to demonstration, more all the people that die everyday in favelas. However, the embedded media  started a criminalization campaign of social movements, beginning to dig into the personal lives of activists, inventing evidence and fantasizing that the protesters are paid (even I ask my money!, new viral campaign). This is perfect storm the system wanted to crack the movement before the Cup, we will see what will happen. For now, some communicates against the criminalization have been published, from the FIP HERE, HERE another signed by various groups, HERE from the Forum de Lutas, HERE from OATL. My thoughts go out to all the activists who are still in Rio de Janeiro to fight for a different and better world.

I am happy to inform that I was accepted to give a presentation at the XIII Coloquio Internacional de Geocrítica EL CONTROL DEL ESPACIO Y LOS ESPACIOS DE CONTROL in Barcelona, between the 5th and 10th of May.

HERE you can find my abstract: yes, it is in Italian, one of the languages of the conference (with Spanish, Portuguese and Catalan). Title of my work is: “Le proteste popolari a Rio de Janeiro a partire da giugno 2013: uno studio preliminare”.

In April I will upload in the blog the full version of my work.

I happy to inform that I will speak in this event and you are all invited! For all the people who cannot make it, I will upload here slides and a document. See you there!

Urban resistance and contestation in Latin America. 

A view from Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.

Wednesday, February 19, 5pm

University of Leeds, Geography East Lecture Theatre
Pablo Vitale, a visiting research from Buenos Aires and Federico Venturini a researcher from Leeds recently arrived from Rio de Janeiro will present their experiences of urban contestation and working with social movements in these two cities. On Buenos Aires the focus will be on self-management of residents of informal neighbourhoods and their links with public policy and in Rio the focus will be on the recent urban uprising in Brazilian cities and the experience of doing fieldwork in revolutionary times

A talk organised as part of the Contested Cities network, School of Geography, University of Leeds.

More information on the facebook page of the event.

One of my photo of a march against the FIFA World Cup, January, Rio de Janeiro

This post will be the first of a series on murales and graffiti as a political art that I found in Rio de Janeiro.

I found these in the are of the Court of Justice (Tribunal de Justiça – TJ) in the city centre.

AMOR ANARQUIA.

MONEY IS VIOLENCE

FUCK NORMALITY.

SECURITY IS A DANGER.

SISTEMA INDIGESTO

CRIMES SÃO COMO
QUEBRA-CABEÇA QUANTO MAIS
LIGAÇOES, MAIS FACIL
ENCONTRAR A SOLUÇAO

(from a campaign “Disque-Denúncia” of Giovanni+DraftfFCB)

Between the 29th and the 30th of January I flew from Rio back to Leeds. And on the morning of the 31st I was in a class, working as demonstrator…

The flight was good, I mainly slept all the time, even rejecting the food offered (and I finished the trip starving). I had no problems with luggage or any delay. When I arrived back at the Bradford-Leeds airport I took a taxi for my house in Leeds and watching out the window I was seeing the light of the various towns of the hills surrounding Leeds, remembering me the light of the towns in Friuli, my “motherland” that I start to miss.

Since when I arrived many things are crowding my mind. On one side there is the academic life and its’ commitments (analyzing my data, writing my thesis, demonstrating, etc.), on the other I still have to get use to the British life. I spend almost 9 months in Rio and I was used to different habits and I had a totally different network of friends/people. Here, we do not have daily march or assembly, I do not have to rush all the day long in various part of a big metropolis. Here we have 7°C … Moreover, there is a fundamental different lifestyle, people are “different”. One point is striking me: I live in one of the center of Capitalism that the movement in Rio heavily criticized, what should I do? I could I act inside the University? Questions that I had even before my fieldwork but that now are even more relevant.

Next Tuesday I’m flying back to the UK, Leeds, after 4 months of intense research and personal events. These have been difficult months, spent in a complex city with a ever-changing political climate, marked by a deep personal involvement and efforts (I’ll need a long period of recovery). Months that reminded me (another time in my life) how important and necessary is to fight for a change that can happen only be struggling.
As often happens, they are dutiful thanks to all of those groups who have given me the opportunity to work with them:  the FIP, the Fórum de Lutas, Assembléia Popular Grande Tijuca, Assembléia Popular (Cinelândia), Universidade Indigena Aldeia Maracana among many others.
Individually, I would like to thank the people I meet, that are many and I will not name them all (you know who you are); a special thanks to all the people with whom I have made ​​interviews,  who helped me in the work (and a huge discount in the cubic meter of books I am taking back toEurope ) and to my sweet (and sometimes rough) partner.
I also greet with joy the birth of the Popular Group Research in Action (in short more details).

I would like to mention two episode that happen while greeting.

1. At the beginning of the last assembly of the FIP I gave a very short public speech that that one would have been my last meeting with them and many people murmured sad. Only few minutes after a comrade spoke to greet me, emphasizing the importance of the international fight and thanking me for the effort in building the FIP. After he called me to received two books for in form of thanksgiving and remembrance. For me it was a very strong moment, to be celebrated in front of everyone: it showed again the strong political and personal links that I build in these months and the goodness of my work.

2. On my last day in Rio de Janeiro I managed (so many things to do in the last days/hours!) to go to CESAC, a centre for indigenous cultures. There I met various natives from the Universidade Aldeia Maracana and member of the resistance during the evictions. The aims of the visit were mainly to greetings, see the space and buy some memories of indigenous art (like bracelets and necklaces). At the end I had an amazing experience: not only they give us an incredible discount on various items but the  they have taught me important lessons. While I was there we discussed various things, the resistance of the Aldeia Maracana, how the Amazonian forest is managed by the natives, the links between native and researcher that seem only to work for the static preservation of native culture and not improving actively the existence and culture of the today Indians. They told me that a researcher, after many years of relationship and reciprocal exchanges of gifts, brought to some Indians a chocolate made in a European country, stamped on the package: “the best chocolate in the world”. Obviously, the researcher did not see the extreme “irony” to give to native people the natural product of the earth from which they are continuously expelled, reproducing a discourse of domination. After I received a traditional removable tattoo made with an extract from a seed from the forest. Moreover they gifted me a house carved in a seed with the size of a hand. Just few days ago, speaking about research/movement the same Indian asked me “What will you give back to Aldeia Maracana once in UK?”. They all know that I was with them during the resistance, that I was on that side and they genuinely want to know if I will be the cliche  researcher who is running away with its data, like an exam. When I was at the CESAC I felt my bond with the people of the Aldeia Maracana and the pressure for disseminate their cause and mission. I am honored for the confidence they given me and I sincerly hope to be up to the their expectation.

I do not know if a short return to Rio de Janeiro but surely #nãovaitercopa !

Abraço!

Once I am back in Leeds I will have to elaborate my data ( a strange thing to call life experiences…) and write up my thesis but I just realized that I can continue to write the blog, inserting stories or analyses. The key point will be to have some “free” time to be dedicated to this; I am quite optimistic (when I am not?) but teaching commitment and working for my third and last phd’s year will, certainly, be quite influential. The idea is still the same: to use the blog as a showcase for my experiences and to present some ideas, just in an even more non-synchronized way.
This continuous problem of time reminds me how my supervisors and various teachers in my department struggle to find “time to do things”, inevitably having in the end to cut something or other out. This is certainly caused by the stringent university timing increasingly based on a capitalist mode for production of knowledge (“production” of articles, increased load of classes, etc.).

However, the problem that I am facing with my blog (my inability to follow up continuously with posts on what I am doing here in Rio de Janeiro), is related with a core aspects of research: it is really difficult (if not impossible) to write/produce something “live”, this is a role of the journalist. Researching is not only the action in “doing active research” but also reorganising all the various elements collected in to a cohesive story, that leads inevitably to telling a story that is already passed away… From here I have a question (nothing new but it is something that I really realising only now): how is research relevant for the movement that is moving so fast when our contribution from the academia could be relevant but surely out of date? I believe that only working closely with the movement can give a right answer to this question.

PS: looking forward to putting more photos (and also videos and audio!) on this blog, now I really have a considerable amount of material!

It’s been a long time since my last post and, much more important, many things have happened in Rio de Janeiro and in my research.

As I said previously, my plan was to write at least one post each week, about things happening or reflections on my research, but, now that there is less than one month to my departure back to UK, it is clear that this was an optimistic expectation. However, I realized why this was difficult to achieve and thankfully it was not laziness!

First of all, I realized that was difficult to report all the facts happenings in the daily life: Rio de Janeiro is truly in a Revolutionary time and every day there is something happening! Secondly, as time went on, my involvement as militant increased: I am, everyday, less an external observer and more a core militant. Thirdly, discovering new people and groups, my interest increased: there are so many things highly relevant for my research! (it is never enough and you always want to increase the interviews or data but even now I think to have enough material for 2 or 3 full PhD’s…).

To sum up, my time and energy are finite and I had to prioritise things: unfortunately the blog was not a top priority.

Since my last post many things have happened in Rio de Janeiro: the Black Prof’s demo, the first demo against the new increase of the ticket price, the first meeting of the FIP which was invaded by the riot police, the eviction of the Aldeia and the new indios’ fight to regain their space, the occupation of the UERJ, the daily effort in the encampment Occupy Aldeia, many meetings for organizing the activities, the collection of material necessities for flood victims and so on…

Regarding my research, I was able to do more interviews (thanks to the summer break), I took many photos, the work on the FIP’s book seems to be proceeding and there is a possible project with a new research group organized by social movements that it is very promising.

I think that this will be my last post for this year… happy new year to every one, may 2014 be full of news and changes!

Some people have recently complained because I had not updated my blog: I am sincerely sorry.

If I do not update the blog this does not mean that I am not doing anything, conversely it means that I am doing so many things that I have little time left for the blog.

I still continue to participate in various events of the movement like demos and assemblies but in the last week the pressure for organizing the first meeting of the FIP and various works at the Aldeia Maracana have drained much of my strength and time.

Moreover, I also noticed that I have to deeply review and update my research questions: with the evolution of my work, I would like to focus more on the specific Brazilian case.

Next important event:

12th of December: demonstration for the school system

14th – 15th of December: first meeting of the FIP: ORGANIZAR A FIP NO RIO DE JANEIRO
PREPARAR AS LUTAS DE 2014

20th of December: demonstration against the new increase of the public transports’ ticket

PS: for the last two days the city was completely flooded, especially the poorest areas, with meters of water in the streets and even some deaths, it was an absurd situation. This is repeated every year during the summer with heavy rains in a city heavily concreted and without adequate water works. This situation seems even more absurd thinking that this city will host the Fifa World Cup 2014 and the Olympics Game in 2016: how can a country host these events if it cannot give even a basic right to the citizens as a decent drainage system?

One of the key foci of my research is understanding how the movement in June was so successful. In my opinion, one of the key group was the Fórum de Lutas contra o aumento da passagem (abbreviated here as Forum). It was born the second half of 2012, it was fundamental in organizing the first protest against the increase of the ticket price at the beginning of June and it later maintained a key organisational role in the subsequent months, till late August when it self-imploded. At the beginning of its existence, the focus of the group was the public transport system and the increment of the ticket prize. However, it eventually expanded its focus, embracing the issues of the entire city of Rio de Janeiro as its theme and changed its name to Forum de Lutas (with the idea of a ​​further change to Forum de Lutas da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro).

For my research it is also very important to understand why an important project that achieved a lot, organizing marches with millions in the streets, was not able to survive for a longer time. Preliminary consideration points to the fundamental cause being the political manoeuvring of the various political parties participating in elections. However, this is not the argument of this post. In this period I am participating in various meetings and informal chats and the topic of many is always the same: the necessity of organisation.

It is also clear that we are in a period that is not of oceanic march, as was in June/July and October, many are speaking of reflux. I believe that people cannot be on the streets every day, there is an alternation of periods with more marching and other periods with different activities. Furthermore, since the end of the teachers strike every day there is something: a small demo, a flyering, a meeting; it is impossible to be involved in every activity, sometimes I feel I should be split in two because there many overlaps. I think that people are overwhelmed by the number of activities, while a hard-core militant (especially students or the unemployed and resident near the centre) can be involved on a daily basis, a “normal” person attends 2-3 event a week (sacrificing time for leisure, family, etc.). It is not a reflux, the movement has just changed and it is a different phase, I have a feeling that at any moment they can fill the streets again if there is a common cause.

For this reason coordination is very important: there are so many assemblies and activities that it is not possible to account for everything and people have started to discuss this. From my point of view there are two big problems:

1. lack of internal communication (e.g. people do not know what other people are doing), 2. Coordination inside the movement.

The Forum was the perfect space for this: information could circulate and various groups could plan together where/when do an activity. This is something that is that is clearly lacking now and, learning from the errors of the past, there are some attempts to overcome this situation.

Personally, since the beginning I was a big fan of the Forum: despite all its shortcomings it was the best and biggest example of coordination of groups with a different perspectives and independents. Moreover, after it was clear that the size was becoming too big, its attempt to decentralize was a clear reference to the organization of Paris Commune in 1871 and the Libertarian Municipalism theorized by Bookchin. I was very sad when I discovered that it was dead and I was looking at this event as a shame. However, thanks to some discussion and interviews, the end of the Forum was not only negative: it led to the explosion of the movement. Various assemblies were born in different neighbourhoods, various collective were born, the occupation in Leblon and that of Câmara started, etc. Now people are speaking about politics in spaces that were unthinkable just few months ago.

I believe that now is time to re-create a space (or spaces) for coordination, without ingenuousness, the desire neither to make the same mistakes of the past nor be attached to the past. Maintaining coordination over a long period of time was always a challenge in all the popular movements around the world and often the incapacity of the movement to articulate on a major scale leads to the implosion of the movement itself. The direction seems clear but the ‘how’ is the hardest part: sometimes people are asking examples from outside, from other part of the world to take inspiration. I always said that there are many useful examples but the movement here is so advanced that it has to find its unique way.

The Forum is dead. Long live the Forum!

Ps: for all those who ask, I have not received any answer from Antonio Negri