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Global Girl Questions if a Billboard of Violence is Really a Solution for the Violence in Rio de Janeiro
About “Billboard of Violence” or Placar da Violência:
I recently read that the NGO Rio de Paz is currently undertaking a very interesting effort on Copacabana Beach. This NGO recently acquired the ability by the municipal government of Rio de Janeiro to put up a billboard called “Billboard of Violence” (My translation of Placar da Violência) that will show the official statistics of deaths in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The idea of the “Billboard of Violence” is to give even more visibility of the numbers of this tragedy that affects all parts of Rio’s society, but especially the poorer areas and the periphery.
The President of Rio de Paz, Antonio Carlos Costa, wrote this in the letter to the government asking for authorization of this movement:
“This panel will be able to provide a great opportunity to turn that part of the beach into the meeting place of those who don’t have a voice — men and women that have lost murdered relatives — and that do not have a place in the metropolitan region to be able to express their pain in a pacific way and that at the same time they will be able to be seen , without bringing confusion to the city of Rio de Janeiro.” (My Translation)
“Esse painel daria ensejo a tornarmos aquele ponto da praia, o lugar de encontro dos que não têm voz – homens e mulheres que perderam parentes assassinados – e que não têm lugar na região metropolitana para expressar sua dor de modo pacífico e que ao mesmo tempo possa ser vista, sem trazer confusão para a cidade do Rio de Janeiro.”
On the one hand, I think that this idea (and all the ideas of Rio de Paz) is very innovative and will leave big impressions on people. This could really led to people feeling a bond and sorrow for those victims of violence and families of victims in the city, and simultaneously will give these victims a space to share their experiences. The strategies of Rio de Paz’s campaign seem very similar to the strategies of the anti-smoking campaign, Truth, which had a lot of success in opening up people’s eyes.
On the other hand, it brings up another issue with focusing on the violence in the city of Rio: I hope that by focusing on the violence suffered by the city ends up uniting people and not ingraining in hurtful stigmas that poorer communities are just areas of violence, a stigma that actually ends up promoting violence in these areas.
One effort of Rio de Paz that might help this become a solution is that they will have family members of these victims reunite near the sign and be able to tell their stories. If this is accompanied with the billboard, I will have more optimism that the billboard will have a positive outcome.
Just as a side note, the placard will publish, “official” numbers, but sometimes it is the victims of the “unofficial” numbers that are the most forgotten and voiceless.
The Challenges of Combating Rio’s Violence:
The problem with combating the violence here in Rio is that there is deeply ingrained catch-22 right in the way of the problem solving path that many NGOs must confront: On the one hand, it is necessary to show that these poorer communities are mostly good people trying to live their lives and not, like the stigma portrays, criminal invested communities of “almost citizens.” Luiz Antonio Machado da Silva calls this need, “Limpeza Simbólica” or “Symbolic Cleaning.”
On the other hand, it is necessary for people, especially victims of violence or family members of victims of violence, to be able to share their stories and let the city know that what they are going through is wrong. Thus, they have to talk about the violence that goes on within their communities and have to do it in a way that people will listen, thus the idea of Rio de Paz comes into play. But the real question is what is the best way for an NGO to balance this catch-22?
Rio de Paz’s effort is certainly innovative and interesting, and ets hope that RIo de Paz is successful with their campaign and their effort does turn into a very innovative solution as well. You all should check it out on the beach of Copacabana in front of Avenida Princesa Isabel.
[...] that the efforts of Rio de Paz to put up the “Billboard of Violence” are really great, yesterday when I was writing my post, I was a little skeptical about how much it will actually accomplish in waking up the citizens of [...]