Story

Brazil's Socialism and Freedom Party and the "War on the Poor"

December 11, 2013 | Pulitzer Center
By
Lauren Wilks, for the Pulitzer Center

A public forum held by members of Brazil's Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL) on November 1 in Praça Mário Lago, a public square in Rio de Janeiro’s Cinelândia district. Image by Lauren Wilks. Brazil, 2013.

Members of the public are invited to ask questions about the week’s events and hold members of the party accountable for their actions. Image by Lauren Wilks. Brazil, 2013.

Founded in 2004, PSOL mobilizes support for anti-capitalist protests as well as for education and public health reform. Image by Lauren Wilks. Brazil, 2013.

Renato Cinco (second from right) is a sociologist, activist and member of the PSOL party. He has spent almost ten years denouncing what he calls the “war on the poor” in Rio de Janeiro. Image by Lauren Wilks. Brazil, 2013.

Renato Cinco’s main campaign focuses on the legalization of drugs in Brazil and, in the last few years, his work has centered on the moral panic around the “war on drugs,” which he believes is being used as an instrument for criminalizing the poor. Image by Lauren Wilks. Brazil, 2013.

Cinco and his advisers are closely monitoring a policy begun in May 2011 by the social work department, which involves the mandatory detainment of children and adolescents living on the streets for the purpose of drug rehabilitation. Image by Lauren Wilks. Brazil, 2013.

According to Cinco, teenagers and children are collected from the streets in vans and taken to centers on the outskirts of the city where they receive treatment for their drug habit. Because some of these centers are private institutions, they are not open to the public. Cinco suspects that the centers are financed through religious institutions and used to “brainwash” young people. Image by Lauren Wilks. Brazil, 2013.

Cinco also worries that the health needs of those interned are not being met; human rights organizations and medical professionals warn that the complete withdrawal from drugs for those with serious addiction can be extremely dangerous. Image by Lauren Wilks. Brazil, 2013.

In January 2013 the program of compulsory rehabilitation was extended to drug-using adults who live on the streets, but it did not continue past February due to pressure from civil society. The removal of the non-drug using adult street population, however, remains ongoing. Homeless people have been transported to centers on the outskirts of the city (simply for being homeless and an “eyesore”) since the 1990s. It’s not compulsory for people to stay at the centers—as it is for drug-using adolescents and children—but often they have no money or way of getting back other than walking. If they do manage to make it back to the city, Cinco tells me, they risk being picked up and detained again. Image by Lauren Wilks. Brazil, 2013.

Leaflets distributed by those attending the forum. Slogans read “Cabral and Paes are enemies of education.” State governor of Rio de Janeiro, Sérgio Cabral, and mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, have been the target of recent anti-government protesters who are disillusioned and angered by government spending. The government’s response to the protests has been heavily criticized. Image by Lauren Wilks. Brazil, 2013.

Occupy protesters outside the Câmara Municipal in Rio de Janeiro’s Cinelândia district. Image by Lauren Wilks. Brazil, 2013.

Every Friday, Brazil’s Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL) holds a public forum in Praça Mário Lago, a public square just five minutes away from the Câmara Municipal in Rio de Janeiro’s Cinelândia district. Members of the public are invited to ask questions about the week’s events and they hold members of the party accountable for their actions.

Founded in 2004, PSOL is a Brazilian political party known for its role in mobilizing support for anti-capitalist protests as well as for education and public health reform. Members also support a number of human rights-focused campaigns and are currently monitoring the government’s “street cleaning” exercises.

Renato Cinco’s main campaign focuses on the legalization of drugs in Brazil and, in the last few years, his work has centered on the moral panic around the “war on drugs,” which he believes is being used as an instrument for criminalizing the poor.

Cinco and his advisors are closely monitoring a policy begun in May 2011 by the social work department, which involves the mandatory detainment of children and adolescents living on the streets for the purpose of drug rehabilitation. According to Cinco, teenagers and children are collected from the streets in vans and then taken to centers on the outskirts of the city where they receive treatment for their drug habit.

However, because some of these centers are private institutions, contracted by the government, they are not open to the public. Cinco suspects that the centers are financed through religious institutions and used to “brainwash” young people. The lack of transparency makes it difficult to tell exactly what goes on in inside the walls of these centers.

Cinco also worries that the health needs of those interned are not being met; human rights organizations and medical professionals warn that the complete withdrawal from drugs can be extremely dangerous for those with serious addiction.

In January 2013, the program of compulsory rehabilitation was extended to drug-using adults who live on the streets, but it did not continue past February due to pressure from civil society and arguments that the policy contravened constitutional law.

However, the removal of the non-drug using adult street population has not stopped. Homeless people have been transported to centers on the outskirts of the city--simply for being homeless and an “eyesore”-- since the 1990s. It’s not compulsory for people to stay at the centers, as it is for drug-using adolescents and children, but often they have no money or way of getting back other than walking. If they do manage to make it back to the city, Cinco tells me, they risk being picked up and detained again. Official data from the central government suggests that a homeless person may be collected 53 times, on average, in the course of his or her life on the street.