Category Archives: São Paulo

São Paulo had its most violent Virada Cultural

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Looting, stealing, fights, drug use, the closing of metro stations and more serious incidences: two deaths (one by gun and the other by overdose), five shot and at least two stabbed. Over the weekend, São Paulo recorded the most violent Virada Cultura since its first edition, in 2005. The crimes were concentrated between 2am and 5am yesterday (Saturday) and caused scenes of terror, like that of a young man being stabbed in the Viaduto do Chá area. In all, 28 adults were arrested, 9 adolescents were apprehended and 1,800 people had to be attended due to an excess of alcohol.

The city government and the Military Police confirmed the record violence at the Virada this year and attributed the problems to the “increase in the quantity of people willing to steal.” “People’s behavior changed. People who used to not come are coming (to the Virada) with other intentions”, said the mayor Fernando Haddad, upon commenting on the results of the first Virada of his term. “But we can’t let ourselves be intimidated. We have to go to the street.” At his side, Coronel Reinaldo Simões Rossi, the Military Police chief, said the police presence was larger than ever — 3,424 officers (350 more than last year) and 1,400 civil guard officers. “The MP have expertise in policing crowds. The behavior of the theives, however, transcends any planning”, he said.

During the day, there were complaints that the MPs weren’t reacting firmly towards the crimes. “In front of a crowd of 4 million, the uproar caused by police chasing after theives might be worse than the theft alone”, the Coronel reasoned. There were scenes of scuttling and confusion provoked by fights and looting in the early hours of the morning. Some areas were badly illuminated, like the Ramos Plaza, in front of the Teatro Municipal, and the Viaduto do Chá. Journalists from the Estado newspaper witnessed looting on the corner of Direita and Quintino Bocaiuva streets, close to the Sé Plaza. Merchants ended up closing their doors. Elsewhere, on Duque de Caxias Avenue, near the Sé Plaza, two girls fought 330 yards from a police vehicle. A little further, a young man was being beat up by four others. The police officers did nothing against the assaults.

Suplicy. On Saturday, just after the Daniela Mercury and Zimbo Trio concert, one of the victims of the violence was Senator Eduardo Suplicy. As soon as he realized his wallet had been taken, Suplicy went to the stage, beside Daniela Mercury, and made a plea that his belongings be returned. “They took his wallet with all his documentation. When he told me, I said that he should personally come to request that they be returned”, said the singer, who went on to say: “The person should return everything. If there’s money, all of it. Find a way to return it to a (police) posting.” After a few minutes, the Senator’s wallet with its documents were returned, but his cell phone didn’t show up. – Source

Carriage vs Car – São Paulo

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Last year, artist Eduardo Srur set up a stunt for a horse-drawn carriage to race a professional driver on the freeway in São Paulo rush-hour traffic. The result was a tie due to technicalities.

The idea came when he read that the average car speed in São Paulo traffic was 20km/hr, which also happened to be the speed of a carriage used by the elite in the 1800s, when infrastructure was basically zero. His conclusion? “the carriage is a more adequate symbol to represent mobility on the streets of São Paulo.”

His blog, found via Continente.

São Paulo to launch “bolsa crack”

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Cracolândia / Especial / JT

To aid families suffering financially with a member who uses illegal drugs, the São Paulo state government will launch a program to help fund the treatment of addicts. The amount of R$ 1,350 per month per patient will be paid to accredited clinics specialized in the recovery of drug users.

The project will be launched on Thursday by the governor Geraldo Alckmin. From the start, about 3000 addicts should benefit. The idea is to give a card to the families of addicts who accept treatment voluntarily. By presenting the card in  financed clinics, the user will receive the treatment, and the money will be transferred from the government of São Paulo directly to the clinic.

A notice to the accredited clinics should be released in the coming days by the government. Clinics in 11 cities will participate: Diadema, Sorocaba, Campinas, Bauru, São José do Rio Preto, Ribeirão Preto, Presidente Prudente, São José dos Campos, Osasco, Santos and Mogi das Cruzes.

On a visit to Franca (SP) on Tuesday, Alckmin told the G1 website that he does not fear criticism about the program.

“We have full support. Families suffer when a member is an addict. We provide this service free of charge via the NHS. This card is for the family. It’s not a card to hospitalize the sick, but rather a social card,” the governor explained. – Source (PT)

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Read about SP’s Cracolândia via the Guardian or check out (and listen to a story of) Rio’s crackland on NPR

São Paulo exports weekly biking events

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“The Ciclofaixas de Lazer (Leisure Cycle lanes), which are famous for turning the avenues of São Paulo into bicycle lanes on Sundays and national holidays such as Good Friday, are spreading throughout the country. Capitals and inland cities are adopting the model as an option for leisure and physical activity. Other cities are planning to soon begin copying what has been happening sucessfully in Sao Paulo since 2009.

This is the case of Brasilia and Rio. In the federal capital, a journey of around 7 km through the Eixo Monumental has already been tested experimentally in December and in March of this year and is scheduled to open soon. The idea is that one of the car lanes will be reserved for bicycles on Sundays from 8am to 4pm, with cones separating the cars from the bike lane. In Rio, the inauguration of the 17 km route linking Quinta da Boa Vista to Aterro do Flamengo, two of the largest city parks, was scheduled for March, but was postponed due to operational issues. Curitiba also had the bike lanes, but was shut down due to the lack of users. It should be reopened soon, using another route, near parks that are most frequented by the population.

Other cities have already “imported” the model, which is in full operation. In Caxias do Sul (RS), a route of about 4.5 km is open every Sunday from 2pm to 8pm, except in case of rain. “The bike lane helps put cycling culture in Caxias do Sul,” says cyclist Ana Zaniol, 50, referring to both the adoption of the habit by the population and the education of cyclists, motorists and pedestrians in terms of living side by side with the bicyclists. “Afterwards comes the separate bike path,” she predicts. The event, which already attracts about 400 people each Sunday, will be extended for another three kilometers.

Recife inaugurated their bike lane just this Sunday. At about 20 km long, the entire route encompasses several other routes that connect the southern and northern parts of the city, passing the historic part of the capital of Pernambuco. “After the consolidation of these two routes, we will expand the lanes into other arteries, all towards Marco Zero,” said the secretary of tourism in Recife, Felipe Carreras. He hopes that, because of the incentive to coexist with bicycles and cars on the same streets, the rate of car accidents involving cyclists in the city will fall by half in the near future.” – Estadão

Exposé on the culture of fear

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Revista Trip has a good article out (O Medo Mora Dentro) about the culture of fear and how it reflects on Brazilian society.

“A obsessão por segurança, um fenômeno global, encontra sua expressão mais eloquente nas cidades brasileiras, que abrigam gente cada vez mais isolada – e insegura. Na contramão, há quem ache que a solução está nos movimentos que tentam reocupar a cidade.”

“The obsession for security, a global phenomenon, finds its most eloquent expression in Brazilian cities, which shelter people who are more and more isolated – and insecure. On the other hand, there are those who think the solution is in the movements that try to reoccupy the city.”

The Sarau – Brazil’s Open Mic Night

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(Source, Fábio Braga)

When I lived in San Diego almost a decade ago, in my college years, I frequented open-mic nights throughout the city and they remain some of the best memories I have of that time. There’s something really cool about a bunch of strangers getting together to share their artistic creations and ideas. It should be no surprise to anyone that knows me that I have lots of admiration for those who create.

It could be argued that the moment in which something is created, it is valuable, but some might say it is when a creation is shared that it gains value. In early modern Europe, this way of thinking corresponded to people’s notion of public vs. private (kind of like shared vs. not) where private actually meant deprivation, being deprived of public life (generally, ‘public’ meant of ‘importance to the court’). Being a writer and a bit of a poet, I think art, like knowledge, should always be shared.

It is with good reason, then, that what has intrigued me for the last few weeks is the idea behind the sarau, a sort of open-mic night in Brazil which may or not be themed. Think of a topic, gather some participants and audience members, pick a place to meet and Bob’s your uncle! Your sarau can be cultural, poetic, musical, philosophical, historical, theatrical or even political. It’s an excellent idea and I really think it has the ability to take the open-mic night idea and expand upon it by creating a sense of community.


(Fábio Braga)

Sarau do Binho

In São Paulo, the oldest sarau has been operating for eight years and is called Sarau do Binho. It operates from theperiferia (the outskirts) and speaks to the issues such communities face, especially in São Paulo, when they find themselves forgotten and ignored. Binho, the event’s organizer and a poet himself, says, “The Sarau is a laboratory. Here people bring their creations and learn to have a taste for reading and writing. Out of the popular laboratory, more than just words, come a strengthened civic consciousness.”

Almost as a test of their mission and purpose, the bar where they have always come together was recently closed by the local government, likely as a measure to silence the strong community movement that the sarau promotes. As a result, they’re taking the message to the streets of more well-known neighborhoods in the center of the city in order to raise the money to pay the R$20,000 in fines to reopen the bar and continue another project based on lending books to kids.

For more on Sarau do Binho, go here (in PT). To learn more about saraus that operate from the peripheries, see this video (in PT).

More Divorces, Easier to Divorce?

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The State of São Paulo’s registry office of notes had, last year, 9,317 divorces, an increase of 109% in relation to 2009, when there were 4,459 separations. The study was done by CNB-SP (Notary College of Brazil – São Paulo Section), an entity that represents the sector for the State.

The entity attributed the expressive growth to the ease with which couples can publish their divorce. In July of last year, via the Constitutional Amendment 66, the waiting period was extinguished. Before, couples only could part ways officially after one year of formal separation or two years while living in different houses.

Also according to the statement, the notary divorces began in 2007 following the authorization obtained through Law 11,441. That year, there were 4,080 formalizations without the need for judiciary input “because they were resolved consensually in a notary office.” That number rose to 4,394 the following year.” – Folha

My Take

Either more people wanted to divorce before, yet found the process too cumbersome, meaning it’s just an easier way out now or more people are getting divorced ‘these days’. For this year, I’m predicting drive-through divorce or divorce by text. “Sorry I didn’t get the eggs and milk like you asked…didn’t you get my text earlier???” Jokes aside, I wonder if it’s also getting easier to get married, too, in Brazil (seeing as there’s no “Sin City”, like Las Vegas, there).

The more we facilitate the break-up of the family unit, the harder it will be to bond, and when there is no one to rely on, we become more succeptable to outside influences. Soon, we’ll all be ‘alone together’ (article, video).

PS – See comments

Bullet Train May Carry Mail, Ease Traffic

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“The Ministry of Communications stated today that the government is studying the possibility that the Mail and Telegraph Company (ECT) may become a fixed client of the bullet-train that will connect the cities of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Campinas.

According to the ministry, the minister Paulo Bernardo already solicited the new president of Correios, Wagner Pinheiro, to start talks with the National Agency of Land Transport (ANTT) to discuss the project. The minister estimates that close to 80% of Correios’ service traffic is concentrated in the metropolitan areas of Rio and São Paulo. The expectation is that, with Correios having a dedicated wagon for correspondences and parcels, the State can take a large quantity of trucks off the Via Dutra.

The minister believes that the anticipated contract with Correios could guarantee investors that the bullet-train could start right off with a fixed client. The transport of small parcels had already been announced by ANTT as an alternative for entrepreneurs to obtain extra revenues, which do not include direct compensation by means of passenger transport tariffs and economic exploitation of the stations.

The bullet-train auction, also known as the High Velocity Train (TAV), will occur in April. The estimated investment needed is R$33.1 billion, with a maximum timeframe of five years for construction and 40 years for service exploitation.” – Valor Online