NEWS FROM BRAZIL supplied by SEJUP (Servico Brasileiro de Justica e Paz). Number 517, September 17, 2004 Massacre of Street People in the center of the City of São Paulo In the early morning hours of August 19, 10 men who were sleeping on the street in the center of São Paulo were brutally beaten with wooden clubs and iron rods. Three days later, a woman was assassinated and four other men beaten. Seven people have died and eight are still hospitalized. The assassinations took place very close to the heart of São Paulo, the Praça da Sé, where the main cathedral is located. Protests, ecumenical acts, and vigils have denounced the violence as well as presented demands for more security and shelters for those who live on the streets. São Paulo has over 10,000 people who live on the streets and the city can shelter about 7,000 people per night. Lack of jobs and inadequate housing also contribute to the number of street people. Two military police officers who moonlight as clandestine security guards were arrested this week as suspects in the case. Evidence collected by the Homicide Department of the Police Dept. (DHPP) suggests that the two military officers are commanders of clandestine security and drug trafficking in the center of the city. According to the investigation, the police promoted a wave of attacks to eliminate one of the persons involved in carrying the drugs from traffickers to users. The other victims were attacked to confuse the investigation. According to Roberto Romano, a professor at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), these assassinations expose the social barbarity, especially against poor people, that exists in Brazil. Romano states that, “There exists an insupportable ethic in Brazilian society that needs to urgently change. There is a practice of genocidal war against poor people”. Statistics of the city of São Paulo show that the poorest areas of the city are the most violent and unequal. In 2002, there were 58 assassinations for every 100,000 people in the city. These statistics place the city of São Paulo alongside Medellin and Cali in Colombia. “To kill a human being with a wooden club shows that we live in a savage society”, states Romano. Sister Regina Manoel who has worked for 27 years with those who live on the streets indicated an explosion of the number of street people in São Paulo between the years 2001-2003, more than a 30% increase. According to her, “We live in a moment in which the economic system generates a mechanism of permanent exclusion for many people. When someone arrives at the point to live on the street, it is more difficult to be included socially in the society”. Luiz Gonzaga Da Silva, of the Central of Popular Movements, states that, “We live in a world without jobs, health care, education or housing; a world that does not offer conditions for human beings to live.” Source: O Trecheiro: Noticias do Povo da Rua (Newspaper of People Who Live on the Street in São Paulo), Aug.-Sept. 2004 and Brasil de Fato, Sept. 1, 2004 Water and Solidarity in Brazil’s Semi-arid Region (Article by José Antônio Faro Cidade Nova, Sep. 2003. Translated by Patricia Santos, Maryknoll Lay Missioner) This article for News from Brazil focuses on Part II of a series of articles on the issue of water in Brazil. Part I highlighted the National Conference of Bishops’ annual “Fraternity Campaign”, whose theme this year is “Water, Source of Life”. Nowhere in Brazil has the issue of water been more polemic than in the semi-arid region of the Northeast. This article showcases a hopeful and life-changing campaign, sponsored in part by Cáritas Brasil (Catholic Relief Services), which is aimed at providing thousands of families in the region with their own domestic water tanks. The “Program in Support of Living in Semi-arid Regions”, established in 1999, has grown to include both government and corporate support, as well as international participation. Seu Nel is a bricklayer from the town of Simão Dias, Sergipe. Thirty-five years ago, after having suffered through the problems caused by several years of drought, he designed and built, with the help of his brother, a water tank near his home for capturing rainwater. The idea worked, allowing him to overcome the many difficulties he previously faced in having to get water from tanks and water holes located miles from his home. Soon, the idea was being copied by bricklayers throughout the region. Thus, the seed was planted for what now has become a large-scale experiment to provide thousands of homes in Brazil’s semi-arid region with their own water tanks. Through his own initiative, Seu Nel, in addition to having found a viable and practical solution to the problem of water access, paved the road for a new way of dealing with the cyclical droughts that have had devastating effects on the land and population of this forgotten region of Brazil. With the construction of a simple water tank, he demonstrated that the solution to survival in the semi-arid region lies not in large-scale government projects but in simple and inexpensive ideas put into practice by the local community and in harmony with the region’s natural and socio-economic realities. It is in fact a myth that there is a lack of water in these semi-arid regions. What is lacking is proper management of water resources, relying in particular on the retention and storage of rainwater. That which seems so obvious had never been seriously contemplated in government policies and programs for this region. Rarely has there been a year with no rainfall in Brazil’s semi-arid region. The average annual rainfall in this region is between 250 and 800 mm per year, making it one of the most humid semi-arid regions of our planet. The main problem in the region is the lack of water retention due to high levels of evaporation caused by the hot sun and dry winds and the lack of adequate coverage of natural vegetation. In addition, much of the crust in these regions is made up of fragments of crystal and hard rock, which do not facilitate the accumulation of underground watersheds. The semi-arid region also suffers from irregular or sporadic rainfall. And so, what should be done? The water should be collected, stored, and protected from the sun and wind. That is exactly what Seu Nel did with his domestic water tank, which in recent years has been technically perfected. It is a type of cylindrical reservoir, pre-molded, partially buried, with covers, built at a low cost, using simple techniques. They work on the principle that rainwater, captured on the roof of the home, can be channeled by runoffs to the domestic reservoir or tank. A tank holding 15,000 liters of water can supply a family of five with enough water to make it through the dry periods. So how did Cáritas Brazil enter into the picture? In 1997 and 1998, the semi-arid region faced one of the worst droughts of the decade. During that time, Cáritas began a campaign entitled “Campaign for Solidarity with the People of the Semi-arid Region”, which called for a large-scale outreach to the populations in this region. The whole country responded to the campaign’s food drive, providing aid for more than two hundred thousand families. It was during this campaign, with its face-to-face contact with the populations of this region, that the current more daring and permanent campaign began to take rootthe “Program in Support of Living in Semi-arid Regions” (“Programa de Convivência com o Semi-Árido” (PCSA) ). The initiative, begun in 2002, was born of the earlier campaign’s experience of having spent time with the population of the region, which led to a deeper understanding of their reality. In general terms, the program consists of developing a culture of living in harmony with the semi-arid region, taking advantage of nature’s own dynamic in the region and the knowledge and experiences of the local communities. Rescuing the local cultures and all the collective knowledge they carry, gave Cáritas the necessary clues and values that have been essential to the campaign. Among other things, the program has provided local communities with training courses in managing water resources, ecology, public policy and other themes relevant to the reality of this region. But the most important aspect of this project has been the construction of the water tanks. The improved access to potable water has changed the life-style of the population. Before, women and children were forced to search for water in places miles from their homes, returning hours later with water that was not always safe to drink. With a water tank near their home, women can now dedicate time to their family and home, while children can go back to school. Their life-style in general is improved. The social mobilization is another fundamental aspect of the program. With the water tanks, it was the population itself that found a solution to its problems. The construction of the tanks is a community effort, which in addition to creating a strong sense of solidarity among the population, has placed a strong emphasis on the value of community work. Another important aspect is that with water near the home, families can break their dependency on wealthy landowners, who were the ones who most benefitted from government programs to combat the droughts. The program has yet another clear political dimension: attempting to solve problems at a grass-roots level, based on the experiences of the affected populations, increases the communities’ awareness and understanding of their reality. This, in turn, increases the potential for social mobilization. In addition, local elected leaders can invest available resources in simple and efficient social projects. The success of the campaign depends, above all, on the consciousness-raising and participation of the larger society. In fact, it is this kind of universal participation that will help mobilize political powers at all levels. In this sense, the implementation and growth of the program is in itself a rescuing of the identity of a people, a people marked by a profound belief in the value of solidarity. For more information about the campaign and how you can contribute to help build a water tank for a family in the semi-arid region of Brazil, go to the site www.cliquesemiarido.org.br . Information is provided in English! The reproduction of this material is permitted as long as the source is cited. |
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