We are the Legacy: Elisângela's Story
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0:03 - 0:11When the government announced on national TV that the World Cup and Olympics would be here,
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0:11 - 0:19everyone thought it would bring progress, that was everyone's first reaction - rich or poor.
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0:20 - 0:28Then, the manner in which things started being done is what turned out to be wrong.
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0:29 - 0:348,000 people have already lost their homes in Rio de Janeiro since preparations began for the
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0:34 - 0:362014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games.
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0:38 - 0:40This is one of their stories.
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0:44 - 0:50I've lived in Pavãozinho since I was 7 or 8 years old.
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0:50 - 0:53It's peaceful and calm here, as you can see.
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0:53 - 0:57The people are nice, everyone is friendly.
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0:59 - 1:04I like it here very much, I wish my mom could get the house so I could live with her.
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1:05 - 1:09I love my community, and I want to stay here.
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1:09 - 1:11No one will take me away from here.
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1:22 - 1:27Everything started here in the community in January of 2011.
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1:27 - 1:32I wasn't even home at the time, only my daughter and niece.
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1:32 - 1:38They asked for the owner of the house, and I told them my mother wasn't home.
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1:38 - 1:42And then they said they were going to tear the house down, right then and there.
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1:42 - 1:44So I said: 'No, you can't, my mom isn't even home'
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1:44 - 1:47(And they said): 'so you have to call her, because it has to happen now'.
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1:47 - 1:50And then I called my mom and she came up right away, running.
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1:51 - 1:59When I got here, the house was already flooded, they had removed the water pipes.
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1:59 - 2:03There were several men from the city government, with sledgehammers.
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2:03 - 2:06So I tried to negotiate a deadline to leave,
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2:06 - 2:11so that I could find another place for us to stay, we had no other place to go.
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2:11 - 2:14Where were we supposed to stay, in the middle of the street?
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2:14 - 2:18So he told my daughter: 'Talk to your mother, she's being too stubborn, tell her to leave,
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2:18 - 2:21or else she's going to end up getting hurt.
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2:21 - 2:24And at that moment I was very scared,
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2:24 - 2:27because a bunch of police officers, city guards,
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2:27 - 2:32all of them pressuring me, saying that if I didn't leave on good terms I would leave on bad terms,
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2:32 - 2:39so I realized what was happening was dishonest, something outside of the law.
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2:39 - 2:42And my daughter was asking me to go, so I did.
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2:42 - 2:46I don't like to remember that.
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2:57 - 3:02After Elisângela lost her house, her daughter had to go live with her grandmother,
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3:02 - 3:05and ended up missing six months of school.
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3:05 - 3:10Over a year later, the family still hasn't been compensated or ressettled by the government.
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3:10 - 3:13Mother and daughter are still living separately.
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3:13 - 3:16And then they promised to give me another house.
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3:16 - 3:27After two months of me going (to City Hall) every day, they offered a house in Campo Grande.
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3:27 - 3:38So we got the address and went to visit the condo where they had built these houses.
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3:38 - 3:43We got to Campo Grande after two and a half hours.
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3:43 - 3:48And then to get to the house we had to take another bus,
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3:48 - 3:54because there's only one line that goes all the way there. (60km from downtown Rio)
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3:54 - 3:58There's not a single shop on the street, there isn't a school,
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3:58 - 4:00so we had to consider all of this,
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4:00 - 4:03and I decided not to accept the house.
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4:05 - 4:10Every day I would go to City Hall, sometimes they wouldn't meet with me,
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4:10 - 4:15or they would say no one was there, tell me to come back.
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4:15 - 4:23So I stood in the hallway to wait for (Housing Secretary) Jorge Bittar to go to lunch.
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4:23 - 4:26When he goes to lunch, I'll stop him.
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4:26 - 4:28And that's what happened!
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4:28 - 4:31When he was going to lunch, I grabbed his arm and said:
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4:31 - 4:38'I live in Pavão-Pavãozinho, SEOP (government agency) went to my house and demolished it,
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4:38 - 4:43without giving me any prior notice, without any compensation or resettlement,
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4:43 - 4:53they gave me this piece of paper saying I would get another home in three months at most,
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4:53 - 4:55and up to now nothing has happened.
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4:55 - 5:01So he took down my contacts and said one of his secretaries would get back to me.
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5:01 - 5:04That secretary never answered my calls.
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5:04 - 5:10It's been more than a year now since they promised the resettlement, and still nothing.
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5:11 - 5:16Despite stories like Elisângela's, Rio's municipal government continues to say that all expropriations
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5:16 - 5:22are being done according to the law and in respect of human rights.
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5:23 - 5:25(Jorge Bittar, Municipal Housing Secretary - Nov/11)
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5:25 - 5:28"Nothing will be defined without dialogue with the (affected) residents."
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5:28 - 5:31"Nothing. There will not be any impositions."
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5:31 - 5:33(Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes - March/11)
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5:33 - 5:37"We've already done more than 3,000 expropriations of houses, buildings, shops."
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5:37 - 5:41"The expert makes an assessment and the government pays an adequate and fair amount."
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5:41 - 5:43"In fact we've paid very adequate amounts."
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5:44 - 5:48How do you respond to someone who reads the paper or watches TV and believes
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5:48 - 5:52the assertions being made by Mayor Paes and Secretary Bittar?
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5:52 - 6:00Even I believed that before it happened to me and my neighbors!
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6:00 - 6:04We believed it, because we see all the commercials...
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6:04 - 6:12We don't know if it's true or not, but the way they present it makes it seem real.
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6:12 - 6:22My feelings after all that happened, one year after my house was demolished,
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6:22 - 6:25are of indignation.
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6:25 - 6:35I get angry because, as you see, I have all the documentation, all the receipts
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6:35 - 6:40that prove how much I spent and invested in my home.
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6:41 - 6:46Nothing was given to me for free.
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6:46 - 6:52Everything was bought with lots of sweat and years of work.
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6:52 - 6:59If I walked into an elevator and ran into Mayor Paes, I'd have a lot to say to him.
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6:59 - 7:11I'd tell him my story, and say that it's similar to millions of other families in Rio.
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7:11 - 7:17I'd also say that he won my vote (last time). I campaigned for him, I believed him,
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7:17 - 7:21and next time that's definitely not going to happen again.
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7:21 - 7:29I won't vote for him or whoever he's supporting, and I'll campaign against him, for sure.
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7:29 - 7:34Everyone from the communities will do the same, because no one is stupid.
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7:35 - 7:40Still living away from each other more than a year later, mother and daughter see each other on weekends.
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7:45 - 7:49My dream for my daughter is something she's already told me she wants.
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7:49 - 7:57When she finishes high school, she wants to study French or Italian culinary.
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7:58 - 7:59She's the one who wants that.
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8:00 - 8:06She's seen me cook since she was 7, and today she cooks very well too.
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8:07 - 8:15I miss my mom sometimes, of course, I had always been raised by her and close to family.
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8:15 - 8:18But I hope to live with my mom again.
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8:18 - 8:21I'm going to keep fighting until the end.
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8:21 - 8:32Until the courts say I win or lose, it doesn't matter, I'm going to keep fighting.
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8:32 - 8:36I handed it over to justice, and I'm confident I will win.
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8:50 - 8:54More than 20,000 people are still at risk of losing their homes in Rio.
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8:54 - 8:59We demand an end to forced evictions, respect for our laws, and the guarantee of the right to housing in our city.
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8:59 - 9:03Share this video and join the fight for a #RioWithoutEvictions
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9:03 - 9:07http://rio.portalpopulardacopa.org.br
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9:07 - 9:14A special thanks to Elisângela and Angel for sharing their story and for the courage to keep fighting.
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9:14 - 9:21Produced by
- Title:
- We are the Legacy: Elisângela's Story
- Description:
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ENGAJE-SE NA LUTA POR UM #RioSemRemoções: http://rio.portalpopulardacopa.org.br
--Em "O Legado Somos Nós", uma nova série de vídeos, conhecemos as histórias de pessoas e famílias que foram arbitrariamente despejadas de suas casas no Rio de Janeiro para dar lugar às obras e preparativos para a Copa de 2014 e as Olimpíadas de 2016.
Este primeiro vídeo-retrato te convida a conhecer a história da Elisângela, pega de surpresa em janeiro de 2011 quando uma equipe da Prefeitura apareceu na porta de sua casa para demolir tudo. Passado mais de um ano, a família ainda não foi indenizada nem reassentada, e os impactos na vida da Elisângela e sua filha Ângel crescem a cada dia.
A história de Elisângela não se trata de caso isolado. O dossiê do Comitê Popular Rio da Copa e Olimpíadas alerta que cerca de 30 mil pessoas sofrerão remoções forçadas no Rio por causa destes megaeventos esportivos - no Brasil inteiro, aproximadamente 170.000 pessoas serão atingidas nas 12 cidades-sede, segundo estimativas da Articulação Nacional de Comitês Populares.
Para além das remoções forçadas diretamente ligadas às obras esportivas para a Copa e Olimpíadas, o dossiê aponta outras justificativas comumente usadas pelo poder público para tentar explicar as remoções forçadas, incluindo:
- a construção de vias de transporte como BRTs
- a realização de obras para promoção turística
- o dito "risco ambiental", que muitas vezes vem sem laudos técnicos comprovando o risco e também sem medidas alternativas à remoção (como muros de contenção, por exemplo)O verdadeiro desenvolvimento não viola direitos humanos, não expulsa famílias de suas casas, não deixa pessoas e comunidades mais pobres.
Remoções forçadas violam a legislação brasileira e os tratados e acordos internacionais de direitos humanos que o estado brasileiro se comprometeu a respeitar.
Esta série de vídeos busca retratar o real legado que está sendo deixado para as comunidades pobres do Rio de Janeiro como resultado destes megaeventos esportivos. Ao contrário do que repetem o prefeito Paes e outros do seu governo, os reassentamentos não estão feitos dentro da lei. Para entender isso, basta escutar a história da Elisângela.
A demanda é simples: que as autoridades no Rio eliminem -de uma vez por todas- a prática ilegal das remoções forçadas e se comprometam a respeitar, proteger e garantir o direito à moradia adequada e digna para todos os cidadãos e cidadãs do Rio de Janeiro. Para entender os critérios da ONU sobre as remoções, veja este guia preparado pela Relatora Especial para o Direito à Moradia Adequada, Raquel Rolnik: http://direitoamoradia.org/?p=6088&lang=pt
Como explica o guia, uma casa não se resume a quatro paredes e reassentamento adequado não se limita a um valor numérico de indenização. Se a vida da família piorou por causa do reassentamento (se o trabalho ficou mais distante, o transporte mais caro, os filhos mais longes da escola, os hospitais mais raros, a nova moradia em lugar mais inseguro), o reassentamento não pode ser considerado adequado. É o que diz a nossa lei. Não precisamos de novas leis, precisamos de novas práticas e de um compromisso verdadeiro com a garantia dos direitos humanos.
ENGAJE-SE NA LUTA POR UM #RioSemRemoções: http://rio.portalpopulardacopa.org.br
LEIA E DIVULGUE O DOSSIÊ "MEGAEVENTOS E VIOLAÇÕES DOS DIREITOS HUMANOS NO RIO DE JANEIRO": http://rio.portalpopulardacopa.org.br
APOIE A LUTA EM OUTRAS CIDADES: http://www.portalpopulardacopa.org.br/
COMPARTILHE ESTE VÍDEO!
Produzido por
WITNESS.org & Comitê Popular Rio da Copa e OlimpíadasPara ler mais sobre a Campanha Global da WITNESS Contra as Remoções Forçadas, acesse: http://www.witness.org/campaigns/forced-evictions
- Video Language:
- English
- Duration:
- 09:29
PriscilaN edited English subtitles for We are the Legacy: Elisângela's Story | ||
PriscilaN edited English subtitles for We are the Legacy: Elisângela's Story | ||
PriscilaN added a translation |