Rocinha
Thursday, January 6, 2005 • Posted by jcb
This is Favela Rocinha. Approximately 250,000 at least 500,000 and could be closer to 1,000,000 (met an NGO worker who corrected my facts) people live in what is dubbed the largest slum in South America. Sitting on the hills above the upper class neighborhood of São Conrado, Rocinha is a stark reminder of the inequities present throughout Brazil. Brazil’s favelas are essentially squatters cities. The land belongs to the state however the state has essentially deeded the land to the squatters due to the obvious problem of relocation. Self governed for the most part, life in the favelas is extremely dangerous for outsiders. However the majority of the favela inhabitants are hard working and honest citizens with few options for escape. Fret not dear reader. I have a zoom lens and a keen sense of the locales Witz and I should steer clear of. Apparently a war broke out this month between the drug lords of Rocinha and the neighboring favela. For now the government is content to sit back and watch.
Are we all content to accept what’s happening is just a case of others’ suffering?
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Posted by: robert neuwirth at January 11, 2005 12:54 AM
As the photos show, Rocinha is like no squatter community you’ve ever imagined. It’s poured concrete and brick and multi-story buildings, not a shantytown. I’m a writer from New York who lived in Rocinha for three months while working on a book. The danger from the drug gangs is real, but most of the people are not involved in narcotrafficking. There’s a trade-off. The cops are corrupt and sometimes implicated in crime themselves. Even the law abiding favela residents hate them. Much of the city of Rio is quite dangerous. But there’s no petty crime in the favelas. I walked around Rocinha at 3:00 a.m. many times, and was never hassled. The reality of the favelas is much more complex and interesting and vital than it is portrayed in much of the popular press.
I recently wrote a book about squatter cities in Brazil, Turkey, Kenya, and India. It’s called Shadow Cities, and was published by Routledge. For more information, please visit my blog at http://squattercity.blogspot.com
Robert Neuwirth
Posted by: Favelado at February 7, 2006 06:59 AM
Rocinha is not a bad place. Is a good comunity. Bad things are the traficantes and police.
Posted by: Kellie at March 11, 2006 08:13 AM
Hey, this sux really. People say that up to 250,000 people live there, some say 800,000 or even 12,000,000.
So what is the right number then? I am confused, for i have to do a prject on Rocinha and i have no idea what number to put into it!
HELP!
Posted by: favelado at October 21, 2006 01:36 PM
acho q 250.000 pessoas moram la na Rocinha.
Posted by: palloma menezes at January 22, 2007 05:36 PM
Hello,
I’m a student from Brazil and I’m working on a research project about favela tours. We’re now working on the tourists’s perceptions about tourism in Rocinha and were wondering if you would like to articipate as an interviewer. We could send you the questions (about 15) by email and would appreciate it if you could get ck to us with any suggestions you find useful.
Thank you for your attention,
Palloma
pallomamenezes@hotmail.com
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