Julia Michaels
Declaraçâo de missão / Mission Statement
IS IT GOING TO LAST?
I want it to. And to this end I’ll deliver information, independent and objective, bilingual and multimedia, about the momentous transformation that began in 2008 in Rio de Janeiro.
Is it just a mask? In 2017, should we expect the BMWs to revert to pumpkins and the politicians to turn back into myopic rats?A BLOG WITH AN AXE TO GRIND
I want it to last. I want the changes to be deep and real. I can see that the way cariocas are thinking and talking about favelas and their residents reveals new tolerance, concern and solidarity.
The more we know about what’s going on, the more we can contribute to the process, whether we are cariocas born and bred, transplants like me, onlookers, investors, tourists, transients, or cynics.
I will give you links, original reporting, questions, ideas, images, sounds, reflections, answers and more questions. No bullshit. You won’t have to read between the lines. My only agenda is I WANT IT TO LAST.This is Rio Real, a blog created in 2010 by Julia Michaels, an American writer, editor and journalist who has lived in Brazil for more than thirty years.
If you speak both languages, I suggest you read both texts. I’ll be providing more context in English and more detail in Portuguese.
We’re still pinching ourselves. Only five years ago you couldn’t walk in Ipanema and talk on a cell phone, for fear someone would snatch it off your ear. Now everyone has a cell phone, everyone walks and talks. You thought cariocas were a relaxed sort.
But only now are they finally starting to chill!
Construction is booming, favelas have an increased police presence (and more social services as well) rents and real estate are up, jobs and income are on the increase, education indicators are heartening, frozen yogurt is everywhere, health and sewage are getting serious attention for the first time possibly ever, the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas is being cleaned, new restaurants and shops are opening, Brazilians are moving here from other cities, the beaches are policed, drunk driving is almost nonexistent, the Olympics are coming, the metro is expanding and best of all, key parts of the city are safer than since just about any carioca can remember. Politicians are buddies: President Lula da Silva, elected in 2002, and then President Dilma Rousseff, after 2011; Governor Sérgio Cabral, reelected in 2010 and mayor Eduardo Paes, reelected in 2012, are working in concert to turn around the decadence that set in back in 1960 when the capital moved to Brasília.
But will it last, will the politicians persist and businesses invest?
Please tell me what you want to know about. Meanwhile, I’ve got tons of questions…VAI DURAR?
Quero que dure. Para que dure, me lanço mar adentro pelas águas da mídia social para fazer oferenda à Iemanjá: informações, independentes e objetivas, bilíngues e multimídia, sobre a transformação histórica que começou há quatro anos no Rio de Janeiro.
É apenas uma máscara? Em 2017, os BMWs irão voltar a ser meras abóboras e os políticos, ratos míopes?UM BLOG POSICIONADO
Quero que dure. Que as mudanças sejam profundas e reais. Constato que os cariocas pensam e falam das favelas e de seus moradores de maneira diferente do passado, que revela uma nova tolerância, consideração e solidariedade.
Quanto mais informações tivermos sobre o que acontece, mais poderemos contribuir, quer sejamos cariocas da gema, adotivos como eu, observadores, investidores, turistas, flaneurs ou cínicos.
Vou postar links, reportagens minhas, perguntas, ideias, imagens, sons, reflexões, respostas e mais perguntas. No bullshit. Nada de entrelinhas. Minha única agenda é QUERO QUE DURE.Chegou Rio Real, um blog criado em 2010 por Julia Michaels, escritora, editora e jornalista americana que mora no Brasil há mais de trinta anos.
Se você fala tanto inglês como português, sugiro que leia os dois textos. O inglês terá mais contexto e o português, mais detalhe.
A gente ainda não acredita. Apenas cinco anos atrás, não se podia caminhar em Ipanema e falar no celular –apesar dos seguranças fortões da Richards e da Mr. Cat— pois um assalto era certeza.
Agora, todo mundo tem celular, todo mundo se dá ao luxo de perambular e fofocar. O carioca tem fama de ser relax, mas só agora a noia está começando a se dispersar.
Cresce o número de construções, temos as UPPs e a ocupação social das favelas, esquenta-se o mercado imobiliário, há mais empregos e a renda cresce, os dados educativos são animadores, as lojas de frozen yogurt se espalham, pela primeira vez a saúde e o saneamento básico recebem atenção pra valer, a Lagoa está ficando limpa, abrem-se lojas e restaurantes novos, brasileiros de outras cidades chegam para morar no Rio, nas praias temos o choque de ordem de verão já adentrando o inverno, a Lei Seca pegou, os Jogos Olímpicos estão a caminho, o metrô se expande, e o melhor de tudo é que partes importantes da cidade estão mais seguras do que qualquer época que o carioca consiga se lembrar. Em todos os níveis governamentais, os políticos se tornaram amigos de infância: Dilma, Cabral e Paes estão trabalhando juntos para reverter a decadência que se instalou em 1960, quando a capital se transferiu para Brasília.
Mas vai durar? Será que os políticos irão persistir e as empresas vão investir— ou seja, se comprometer com o futuro a longo prazo?
Me diga o que quer saber. Da minha parte,tenho muitas perguntas...PESQUISA / POLL
-
Join 534 other subscribers
Twitter Updates
- @pblnns @rede_seguranca impressionante! agradeço 2 days ago
- acabo de ler, enfim. fascinante. gostaria de saber mais, agora, sobre a atuação das tropas brasileiras no Haiti. ob… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 4 days ago
- @washfajardo @eduardopaes uma vez olhei para cima no hall do prédio: um conjunto impressionante de poeira, nos lustres ali pendurados. 4 days ago
-
Click to get Facebook Rio news updates
Tag Archives: Rio de Janeiro pacification
Pacification: get it right, now or never
Clamping down on renewed violence and meeting social needs O Globo newspaper reported yesterday that State Public Safety Secretary José Mariano Beltrame will definitely stay on in his job under newly-reelected Governor Luiz Fernando “Pezão” Souza. The paper says Beltrame is finishing … Continue reading
Rio’s toughest moment since 2008: are we shedding our skin?
A rich exchange, as the crime rate heads north and the Brazilian army arrives to occupy favelas, just weeks before the World Cup “How do we dialogue with a cynic?” two young people asked during a Rio de Encontros gathering this … Continue reading
Rio protests, Pope, politics, police…. and pacification?
P words Recently a community leader critical of the UPP in his favela told me he’d been to a debate at PUC and was impressed by the students’ opposition to the UPPs. “They’re right,” he said, “but I saw that … Continue reading
Marvelous City meets Big Apple
Pacification chief in New York next week If you’re in or near New York, keep your eye out this Monday for Rio’s unassuming State Public Safety Secretary, José Mariano Beltrame. He’s there for just a day, first and foremost to … Continue reading
Stratfor reports on Rio de Janeiro published by Wikileaks
Para esse post em português, clique aqui Not exactly If you”re a conspiracy theory fan, it’s a great intelligence plot, a clandestine exchange of information about what’s going on in Brazil, a “Shadow CIA”. Stratfor, according to the Correio do … Continue reading
Carnival 2012, a roundup
The masks are off, daylight savings time is done; the year has begun in Rio de Janeiro Perhaps because of the recession in Europe and the U.S. (and the overvalued real), Rio saw no growth in Carnival attendance statistics from … Continue reading
Established artists cross Rio, with an invitation to follow in their footsteps
Para Artistas renomados atravessam a cidade e convidam a todos para seguir o caminho, clique aqui “Travessias” at the Bela Maré warehouse: show breaks new ground, literally While all sorts of entitities and institutions, Good Samaritans and optimists have been zipping over … Continue reading
Pacification fallout: first journalist death (among many others)
While Rio police juggle priorities, violence and fear are still present According to O Globo newspaper, yesterday TV Band cameraman Gelson Domingos da Silva, 46, was the first journalist to die in Rio de Janeiro covering during a shootout between … Continue reading
Differences: Dealing
Cidades Futuros Possíveis Seminar, at Casa de Rui Barbosa, 9-11 August, 2011 Para Diferenças: Modos de lidar clique aqui Some provocative reflections from two of the most important thinkers and actors in the city’s integration, at the Differences: Dealing with … Continue reading
Rio real
RioReal 