Rio's Drug War

November 30, 2010 8:21 AM

The Boston Globe displays some pretty spectacular pictures of the drug war in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There's not a whole ton of context available within the article, but the pictures speak for themselves.
posted by TomMelee (64 comments total)

This makes it all worth it.
posted by empath at 8:24 AM on November 30, 2010 [12 favorites]

To be fair, there's plenty of context available on news sites - the page you linked to is the called The Big Picture. The photos are the point.

There are some amazing pictures in there though, this is probably my favourite.
posted by jontyjago at 8:38 AM on November 30, 2010

That's not exactly a fair characterization empath. It's one thing if you are raiding a house with one plant, it's a whole different affair when you are rooting out traffickers with grocery bags of cocaine, assault rifles, and bullet proof vests.

I can't even begin to imagine how it feels to be a resident in one of these slums. Look at this guy it's as if he doesn't even notice the panicky looking young man behind him with a machine gun.
posted by cyphill at 8:39 AM on November 30, 2010

# 9 should be titled "balls of steel". Either that, or "smart like dumptruck".
posted by Mike D at 8:41 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

cyphill: great minds think alike.
posted by Mike D at 8:42 AM on November 30, 2010

That's not exactly a fair characterization empath. It's one thing if you are raiding a house with one plant, it's a whole different affair when you are rooting out traffickers with grocery bags of cocaine, assault rifles, and bullet proof vests.

Yeah, one of them ruins a lot of perfectly good cocaine.
posted by empath at 8:42 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

The revolution will not be televised (I know, I know, that statement is used too often).
What did the authorities do, send out invitations? Wine and cheese after?

I truly hope it was successful and worth the pain, death, time and money.
posted by ashbury at 8:48 AM on November 30, 2010

Does #14 show a bullet in flight? (From the gunman on the right?) Or is that just an artifact on the photo?
posted by PhillC at 8:48 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

My only problem with the Big Picture is that the pictures aren't big enough. I want them for wallpapers without stretching! (Okay, not necessarily from this set of pics, though.)
posted by charred husk at 8:49 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Legalize It
posted by philip-random at 8:50 AM on November 30, 2010

Does #14 show a bullet in flight? (From the gunman on the right?) Or is that just an artifact on the photo?

Reflection from his wristwatch?
posted by knapah at 8:53 AM on November 30, 2010

PhilC: I'm pretty sure that's lens flare around the gunman's wristwatch.
posted by nushustu at 8:54 AM on November 30, 2010

PhillC,

It's a flash from the gunman's wristwatch.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 8:55 AM on November 30, 2010

Does #14 show a bullet in flight?

No, probably not. None of the guns pictured are showing any signs of having just been fired (muzzle flash, smoke, ejecting spent shell casings, etc).
posted by quin at 8:55 AM on November 30, 2010

Dancing with the Devil. Also on Youtube (part 1 of 10) for those of us outside 4.com's region.
posted by Ahab at 8:55 AM on November 30, 2010

I'm not sure that it's really worthwhile to make glib statements about a decades-long entrenched problem that stems from racism, classism, mistakes, and corruption both sides of the law. The government needs to intervene in the slums, but it seems kind of shameful that the hosting of international sports competitions is the impetus for intervention. It's a heavy handed and shortsighted approach. Legalizing/decriminalizing drugs won't automatically take the dealer's power away, but give it some time and proper economics and their influence will fade enough to allow breathing room for normal life to resurface. I don't know if anyone in charge in Brazil has enough sense to think about this in anything other than a paramilitary operation, which is sad.
posted by Burhanistan at 8:56 AM on November 30, 2010 [8 favorites]

None of the guns pictured are showing any signs of having just been fired (muzzle flash, smoke, ejecting spent shell casings, etc).

I think that's a shell casing in No. 15, in the middle, and a chunk of concrete on the right. I believe this guy is both firing and being fired upon.

You can kind of see a heat ripple on the ejection path of the shell casing, too.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 8:58 AM on November 30, 2010

I'm surprised these police/soldiers don't have helmets.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 8:59 AM on November 30, 2010

The Boston Globe does a good job with their photo essays. I was very taken a while back with their Saturn at Equinox feature.
posted by chebucto at 8:59 AM on November 30, 2010

And then there are the pictures that you'll never see in the Boston Globe. (You don't want to click.)

So, there are millions of people living in a form of chaos because the rich West won't take responsibility for its own appetites. I'm reminded of what may become one of the slogans of the 21st century, which is what the Chinese reportedly said to the Americans during negotiations over currency: "Why should we take the medicine when you've got the sickness?". Also the one that says capitalism never solves its problems, it just moves them around.

In the old style imperialism, you got out by getting out, handing over the countries to whoever was doing best under your regime, and carefully ignoring the consequences. This one is going to be trickier, because the world is about ten times smaller, five times fuller, and the people with their hands on the levers are about twice as smart at keeping them there.

I vote (hah!) for a global revolution mediated by transnational groups working in complete, almost neurotic levels of openness. Any other ideas?
posted by Devonian at 8:59 AM on November 30, 2010 [3 favorites]

So, there are millions of people living in a form of chaos because the rich West won't take responsibility for its own appetites

I'm not sure the drug war is responsible for Rio's slums.
posted by empath at 9:06 AM on November 30, 2010 [5 favorites]

> So, there are millions of people living in a form of chaos because the rich West won't take responsibility for its own appetites.

Most of the drugs these people are trafficking are consumed by Brazilians. Brazil has a huge economy and resource reserve available and could very well be taking care of these problems better if it cared about the lower classes more. It's easy to place blame on the so-called West, but it's more realistic to place it on the authorities in Brazil.
posted by Burhanistan at 9:11 AM on November 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

I'm not sure the drug war is responsible for Rio's slums.

Probably not. It is responsible for the violence, though.

Sigh. :(

It makes me so sad.
posted by kavasa at 9:12 AM on November 30, 2010

because the rich West won't take responsibility for its own appetites.

What would you suggest? (Not being snarky.) In the U.S. alone, we have hundreds of thousands of people locked up/on parole/on probation on drug charges. Treatment beds are hard to come by and/or expensive. The locking people up thing hasn't put a dent in use, as far as anyone can tell. Anti-drug "education" programs like DARE don't work. What should we be doing that we are not doing? (Decriminalization of marijuana is in effect in a few places, and in the works in a few more; outright legalization is still a couple of years away, at least.)
posted by rtha at 9:13 AM on November 30, 2010

I think that's a shell casing in No. 15,

Yeah, sorry. I meant that none of the guns in #14 were being fired. In addition to the casing visible in #15, all that dust in the air is probably being kicked up off the wall by the concussion of the M4 firing.
posted by quin at 9:16 AM on November 30, 2010

Whats really worthwhile about this is not the pictures but the debate of Rio residents in the comments section about drug legalization, racism in Brazil, and the future of their city.
posted by Xurando at 9:19 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

For anyone who hasn't seen Favela Rising, I simply cannot recommend it enough.
posted by rollbiz at 9:24 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Most of the drugs these people are trafficking are consumed by Brazilians.

Indeed. Many people forget that Brazil is the fifth-most populated country in the world, with the eighth largest economy, with a great deal of its people crammed into the coastal areas. Throw in a fairly wide economic gap and lack of good policing, and you end up with a "smoke it if you got it" situation.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:26 AM on November 30, 2010

The government needs to intervene in the slums, but it seems kind of shameful that the hosting of international sports competitions is the impetus for intervention.

In fairness, two points here:
1) the government does intervene from time to time, either by taking bribes, turning the other way, or doing random shoot-outs (like this recent series).
2) there isn't always (usually?) a big sporting event coming up before the government comes in, but it is an obvious link in the media right now. Similar articles popped up a couple years ago about South Africa.

The pictures you see like #7 (women, kids, some young guys hiding between buildings and looking worried)? These are 90% of the people who live in neighborhoods like Alemão. They are normal people who don't have a lot of money. Many of them moved to the city hoping to find work, and haven't had much luck. In some neighborhoods they are now second generation, and the favela has turned into a community (cf. Rocinha).

Yeah, the drugs and the gangs fuck things up a lot. But they are also the basis of any social services in the neighborhood. They keep (local, non-drug-related) crime down, they keep schools running and cable TV connections up. Because often these areas, and the people living in them, are just... forgotten... by middle-class and bureaucratic Brazil. Neither the problem, nor the solution, is as simple as "intervention".

(Used to work in Rio, in neighborhoods like this, but not particularly in Alemão.)
posted by whatzit at 9:36 AM on November 30, 2010 [2 favorites]

I'm surprised these police/soldiers don't have helmets.

I'm surprised they're not in disguise. Perhaps this illustrates a difference between favela based drug business and Mexican/American drug war, where corruption may be worse, and the stakes and brutality much higher.
posted by 2N2222 at 9:36 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

I was in Rio as the first cars were set on fire (see my video of them). The police pacification program is driving out the drug dealers, but the Brazilian government didn't think far enough ahead as to where the criminals would flea and what would happen next. Now, it's a Mafia-style war.

This is one of the better articles on why all the violence in Rio, what is being done, and what still needs to be done: "Brazil’s street war not for resale abroad" from AsiaTimes

Bruce Sterling may not have invented the term "favela chic", but he's done his best to popularize it. The Brazilian government holds the power to tap into the actual innovation happening there and make it sustainable, or to just keep buying votes with minimal welfare money while the city goes up in flames.
posted by joetrip at 9:40 AM on November 30, 2010

Chalking this up to racism and classism is smoke and mirrors.

There are two main causes of what we saw unravel in Rio this weekend: corruption and impunity. This situation serves as a great example - on Sunday morning 2,600 men of Rio police and Brazilian security forces invaded the favela Complexo do Alemão where it was said there were 600 heavily armed drug dealers holed up, having taken refuge there after being kicked out of other favelas in the vicinity in similar operations in the past week, building up to this one.

By Sunday evening they had declared victory, by having occupied the favela in its entirety, and making big apprehensions of guns and drugs. The interesting part? They made a grand total of 20 arrests, out of the estimated 600 criminals hiding in that community.
posted by falameufilho at 9:43 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Does anyone know what those square bumps are on the armored vehicle (#11)? Reactive armor, perhaps?
posted by dephlogisticated at 9:47 AM on November 30, 2010

Isn't this blog run by one of MeFi's Own? Who is it? I searched a little but came up with nothing.
posted by Aizkolari at 9:50 AM on November 30, 2010

Does anyone know what those square bumps are on the armored vehicle (#11)? Reactive armor, perhaps?

They are attachment points for other kinds of equipment. Reactive armor is a possible attachment. Reactive armor generally takes the form of big "bricks" that look like this.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 9:54 AM on November 30, 2010

@Aizkolari - it's run by me, though I'm far more of a MeFi lurker these days. Busy doing web photo things, you know.
posted by kokogiak at 9:58 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

> Isn't this blog run by one of MeFi's Own? Who is it? I searched a little but came up with nothing.

Indeed.
posted by Burhanistan at 9:58 AM on November 30, 2010

Heh
posted by Burhanistan at 9:58 AM on November 30, 2010

Big Picture!

There should be an autotag for this sort of thing.

The Big Picture is the lovingly crafted brainchild of MeFi's own kokogiak.

You can see more of his stunning photo collections in these recent MeFi posts with thebigpicture tag.
posted by cavalier at 9:59 AM on November 30, 2010

damn you, preview!
posted by cavalier at 9:59 AM on November 30, 2010

Whether or not most of the drugs go to Brazil is moot - the fact is, the international stance on drugs among democracies is led by the US, it has a determinedly prohibitionist stance, and prohibition results in corruption, gangsterism and a dangerous co-dependency between the political and the criminal. It's very difficult for a country to break out of the just-say-no gang.

Regulated legalisation doesn't solve the basic problem, which is that being whacked out of your gourd is pretty damn nice - especially when the alternatives are horrible - but doesn't make you a good and useful member of society, which you need to be to sort out those alternatives. However, even a bread and circuses approach probably generates less harm in toto than the status quo; it's certainly more honest, if more complex.

A lot of democracy works by the state being the biggest gang of the lot. If we have to get our dope from gangs, I'd rather we got it from the best.
posted by Devonian at 10:00 AM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Most of the drugs these people are trafficking are consumed by Brazilians.


I am going to disagree with this statement. The drugs consumed by Brazilians pale in comparison to the quantities trafficked through the favelas to other countries. If it were a problem of simple Brazilian consumption, the traficantes wouldn't have nearly as much power as they do. This article (Portuguese only, sorry) states that a UN study finds that Brazilian drug traffickers do business in 13 countries.

What's happening in Rio isn't even anything new. Every few years, the government calls out the troops to try and root out the baddies up in their hilltop lairs. The only thing that is new is the international attention being paid, owing to upcoming high visibility international sporting events.

My two cents. I've spent a fair amount of time in these favelas. I can say that I think most good, hardworking people who live on those hillsides do not profit from the drugs, and would like to see the traffickers removed, and a more formalized lawfulness take their place. The morros were initially populated by poor, unskilled laborers coming from the Northeast region of Brazil to find work in the more prosperous Southeast. I don't know when the international drug trade took root, but for as long as I have been aware of favelas and favelados, I have associated them not just with poverty but with drugs as well. I know it wasn't always that way. The traficantes have set up their own rules and governments, in part protected by the favelados themselves, who are often excluded from traditional and more formal recognition by general Brazilian society. They have trusted their local gang leader to settle disputes, restore order and provide in times of need. In exchange, they protect the gangs from outside police or military forces. And owing to corruption in both the civil and military police, the traficantes have remained largely undisturbed because of the cash they generate, as well as the hassle it would take to uproot them from the hillside. In the past, no one was prepared for that amount of bloodshed.
I think that now, though, most people want them gone. The uneasy truce between the hills and the beaches in Rio is gone completely. Not that we are looking at full-on class war between the haves and have-nots. I just think that it has become untenable to continue pretending that massive quantities of drugs and other illegal items aren't being trafficked right under our noses (or right over our heads) in Rio. We have to give up the charade, because the World Cup is coming. We have to stop pretending because the Olympics are coming. For better or for worse, Rio sought out the international spotlight, and now they really have to do something about the morros. And that is why all y'all are seeing this right now. This is nothing new. For my whole life, this is what it has been like. The government steps in every once and a while and rattles their sabres, but it always goes back to the same old story. I, for one, really hope that this time it's different. I am tired of all of the drugs fucking up the Cidade Maravilhosa. I think it's time that it was given back to the Cariocas, who aren't stuck between the cops and the traficantes as they fight their ceaseless, pointless war.
posted by msali at 10:57 AM on November 30, 2010 [5 favorites]

Reactive armor, perhaps?

I doubt it, it isn't used on police and paramilitary APCs because when reactive armour goes off it will kill any infantry standing near the vehicle. There's also no need for it if no-one has anti-armour weapons which is the case in Brazil.
posted by atrazine at 11:19 AM on November 30, 2010

from the comments:

203
I agree with Edgard Castro, but I must say there IS, in fact, something to do with race, not as a race wars, but in another context, which I'll try to explain briefly.
Also, all of this has nothing to do with drug legalization or which drug can be legalized and which one can't. These are solutions to another problem.
This one is a problem that must be solved prior to this kind of thing. These men are criminal, killed people, promoted terror, among other things. Nevertheless, they are fruit (rotten, it's true - there's no solution to them now) of a much deeper, much older problem, rooted in Brazil's very first days as an independent country. Drug traffic, among other crimes, are just leaves of a big tree. These slums and these criminals are the result of a badly realized process of abolition of slavery, from which a stratification of society took place. This means: rich, ologarchic minories, isolated in luxury condos, and poor, miserable majorities, mostly blacks, mixed-raced people and immigrants. These majorities did not have access to education, to opportunity, to well-paid work, turning, therefore, into individuals more subject to choose a life of crime. If it weren't drugs, it would be another kind of transgression.
However, the error already was committed, we live today. The past has gone. He live today. The solution to the current problem, unfortunately, should be something like what's happening now. Even if our government is trying to use this to leverage its popularity, this kind of action needed to take place. After it all have finished, a much more harder work should take place: investments in better education, Units of Peacemaking Police (which are already working in other communities of Rio), investments in urbanizing those slums and turn them into better places, different of these hellholes they are. And only then, analyse the problem of legalizing or not the drug use.
Posted by Julio Aragao November 29, 2010 11:47 PM

This makes sense to me, regardless of the unfortunate impetus of a large sporting event. Sometimes things that didn't need to get ugly, do. Then they get so ugly that the only way to manage them is through some more ugly -- hopefully this "means" is done well enough to change the "ends."
posted by kneecapped at 11:33 AM on November 30, 2010

Is that a mansion on that hill-top with a SKI LIFT? Who the fuck runs a ski lift to their hilltop mansion over slums?
posted by GuyZero at 11:48 AM on November 30, 2010

Ummm Brazil, trafficking drugs is bad, mmmkay. Don't traffic drugs.
posted by punkfloyd at 12:11 PM on November 30, 2010

> Is that a mansion on that hill-top with a SKI LIFT? Who the fuck runs a ski lift to their hilltop mansion over slums?

Maybe it's the lower portion of the cable car sight seeing route there?
posted by Burhanistan at 12:19 PM on November 30, 2010

Relevant film: Tropa de Elite. I feel silly mentioning a movie in a thread about real events, but it's an exceptionally gripping film--not because of the action but because it's primarily about the questions of morality surrounding Rio's law enforcement community, and how their choices affect people. As much as any standard-length film can, it has comparable depth and narrative structure to The Wire, and that's not a comparison I make lightly.
posted by heatvision at 12:21 PM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

Also, I did not know that a helicopter could carry six tons.
posted by dabitch at 12:44 PM on November 30, 2010

oh shoot, meant to click preview, not post.

This photo broke my heart.
posted by dabitch at 12:45 PM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

I doubt they were loading the entire haul of coke in one trip. That said, that's pretty damned unsafe to be loading a helicopter from one side while it's hovering next to a rooftop.
posted by Burhanistan at 12:46 PM on November 30, 2010

Maybe it's the lower portion of the cable car sight seeing route there?

It's not - the Sugarloaf cable car doesn't go near any favelas. It's the Metrocable system.

As a rule in South America the rich people live at the bottom of the hills and the poor people live higher up where roads and public amenities are non-existent or basic at best. The Metrocable lines allow people living in these areas easy access to jobs in the commercial and industrial areas.

Medellin in Colombia (a city with its own drug problems) was the first place to install this type of system and its making a big difference in changing the fortunes of the people who live there.
posted by jontyjago at 1:21 PM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

I just learned that the J/K keys work in bigpicture for moving up and down.

This changes everything.
posted by chairface at 2:29 PM on November 30, 2010

It's the Metrocable system.

Wow. Never in a million years would I have guessed that. That's actually really awesome.
posted by GuyZero at 3:04 PM on November 30, 2010

Brazil has some of the most corrupt police forces in the world. i havent kept up with Brazilian "bate papo" in a long time but am curious as to why now. if this is Dilma Rousseff's way of saying things are going to change under her presidency, then mission accomplished.
posted by liza at 4:37 PM on November 30, 2010

this comment captures exactly what "drug trafficking" means in Brazil and, unfortunately, my country (Puerto Rico):

A grande maioria das pessoas que têm no tráfico sua fonte de renda não são aqueles poderosos proprietários de mansões e carrões no meio da favela (imagem alardeada pela mídia que ajuda a criar um ideal a ser buscado por milhares de crianças que vivem nesse meio), mas alguém que precisa de dinheiro para pagar as suas contas. E estou falando de necessidades básicas: comida, aluguel, roupa. Tirar o tráfico dessas pessoas é empurrá-las para outras modalidades criminais, muitas vezes, mais nocivas ao "bom" cidadão que o próprio tráfico. Vai saber o que está por trás desse teatro todo...
Posted by Alexandre November 30, 2010 04:58 AM

the majority of people who are labeled drug traffickers are trying to make ends meet. they're not drowning in money but trying to (ironically) pay their bills. if you look at that favela, and compare it to the mountain behind it, you have everything you need to know about poverty in Latin America: without agrarian reform, without "40 acres and a mule", there's no escaping the shanty towns.

if those guys had the real prospect of having jobs and the possibility of getting a better life, do you think they'd risk life and limb for a sale of cocaine?

this is the same tragedy i see whenever i go to Puerto Rico. there's just no way out for many while the few dont have enough hours in a day to go through their wealth.
posted by liza at 4:46 PM on November 30, 2010

A Faustian Bargain

Slideshows are the scourge, and the savior, of online journalism

"Across the web, slideshows have become a shortcut to better traffic numbers; a shortcut that sites are now going out of their way to take. And increasingly they’re published because of the medium, not the message. ... As page views became a priority, web editors had to decide when slideshows morph from fun novelty to craven solicitation. ... A slideshow’s desperation is evident in its headline. “Photos” of something “spectacular,” “magnificent,” and “amazing.” A “Top 10” list that must be seen to be believed! The hyperbole is hung out there on a string, baiting us to click."
posted by intermod at 7:01 PM on November 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

> Slideshows are the scourge, and the savior, of online journalism

intermod, I hope you don't think that the Big Picture is just a slideshow. I go out of my way to make the site the complete opposite of that experience you describe. I never use hyperbole in the title, I try to form a narrative with each entry, put all the images on one page and I try to stick to newsworthy stories, I try not to pander if I can avoid it, and will often run stories on decidedly somber or difficult subjects. I agree with many of the points in the article you linked to, especially the idea that advertisers will someday see the utter lack of value in an ad placed in the middle of a multi-page slideshow.
posted by kokogiak at 7:23 PM on November 30, 2010 [3 favorites]

How does a bleeding heart liberal white American go and visit a Brazilian favela, see the real thing, and not get killed? This is a question that has consumed me for years now, probably since City of God and Bus 174. I can scarcely believe a place like thus exists and I want so badly to wrap my head around it.

A Rio native (Rio De Janerian?) guy that worked with us told a story about an American who visited down there who insisted on going to the beach alone while my friend was at work. He was told under no circumstances he should go unaccompanied, that he would be robbed blind or killed. This American ignored his advice and when he wasn't in the apartment when my friend returned from work, he went looking for his American guest and found him on the sidewalk near his apartment, covering himself with a garbage bag, having had not only his wallet, money, and keys stolen, but also his clothes and underwear as well. In less than 15 minutes. These are great pictures, and mind blowing as well.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 10:26 PM on November 30, 2010

This photo broke my heart.

which is why war should be forever banned, all we are saying is ...
posted by philip-random at 11:38 PM on November 30, 2010

Manda Bala is documentary that focuses on the corruption and massive income disparity that affects many facets of Brazilian society.

I could see this same type of shit happening here (and it does, to a certain degree) in the good ole US of A in the very near future if our society doesn't drastically alter its current course.

Military Police = societal meltdown
posted by nikoniko at 12:53 AM on December 1, 2010

One of the saddest realizations you'll make is that this same scenario is happening south of U.S., right now...
posted by Apocryphon at 1:26 AM on December 1, 2010

How does a bleeding heart liberal white American go and visit a Brazilian favela, see the real thing, and not get killed?
There are companies that run favela tours (cf. poverty tourism), which ostensibly give money back to community activities and provide jobs for people from those communities. Whether or not you feel ok participating in that cycle is another thing. They should be as safe as you can get because they should be run by community leaders. (There are two types of people you don't mess with, the people running the drug operations, and the people running community programs.)

A less-organized option in some places would be the city bus (one runs right through the center of Rocinha, one through Botafogo...). Other neighborhoods have no roads and are accessible only by stairs. Don't go after it rains; no drainage + no garbage service = bad situation. I wouldn't recommend going randomly, and alone, on foot. The city bus, just don't be dumb.

A Rio native (Rio De Janerian?) guy that worked with us told a story about an American who visited down there who insisted on going to the beach alone...
A few things to note
1) When this happened - the beaches used to be really bad; guys would come down and make a line perpendicular from ocean to street, running down the beach and beating and robbing people. This was at Ipanema, Copacabana. It doesn't happen anymore but was a problem in the '90s.
2) Where it happened - most of the beaches are inaccessible to people who live in the favelas. A lot of kids in places like Alemão have never even been to the beach.
3) Middle/upper class Brazilians talk a lot of shit about the favelas and how they should just be paved over and moved out to the outer reaches etc etc. Well this policy has been tried, and it made things worse in terms of violence and worse for the people just trying to get by (who now had 3-hour bus-rides to crappy jobs, if they had them). So there is some grain-of-salt equivalence to be considered here.
4) A native from Rio is a carioca.
posted by whatzit at 3:54 AM on December 1, 2010 [1 favorite]

@ kokogiak, intermod: that CJR story doesn't slam all photo galleries or photo journalism (and, practically speaking, slideshows) as inherently contrary to the goals of journalism.

@ burhanistan: "I don't know if anyone in charge in Brazil has enough sense to think about this in anything other than a paramilitary operation, which is sad."

I'm sure more than a few people in charge in Brazil have more sense about this problem than people who are not in charge in Brazil or, more to the point, not in Brazil, period. The hardest part about governing, though, is not knowing what is the right thing to do but figuring out, through trial and error, how how to do the right thing. Coalitions are created accordingly.

I feel sometimes that very smart people, and there's a disproportionate # of same here on MetaFilter, forget that there's a big gap between having a great idea and executing it. Sometimes, even executing a mediocre idea is quite an achievement. We marvel at Apple's ability to organize resources and deliver shiny toys. Governments do similarly complex things on a regular basis but the toys (e.g., clean water) seem less shiny as time passes.
posted by noway at 7:47 AM on December 1, 2010 [1 favorite]