WUNRN
Brazil - Women in Favelas
Broadcast Peace
By Fabiana Frayssinet
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RIO DE
JANEIRO, Jul 12, 2011 (IPS) - Local women's voices have begun to be heard over
a community radio station now broadcasting in Complexo do Alemao, a clump of
favelas or shantytowns on the north side of this Brazilian city that were ruled
until recently by armed drug gangs.
Gender
issues, social and health matters, local environmental problems, employment and
women's rights are the focus of Radio Mulher, or women's radio station, which
began to broadcast this month.
Before going
on the air, the participants received a year of training about the workings of
a radio station, including general courses for all as well as specific training
in different areas depending on each woman's role in the station, as determined
by each individual's strengths and talents.
The new
community radio station operators are aiming to "exorcise" difficult
experiences that plague many girls and women in the favelas of
The radio
stations wants to tackle these and other thorny issues "that no one wants
to talk about, like beatings from husbands, economic dependency on men, mothers
who have to raise their children on their own," she said.
"Women
appear to be more resilient and combative, but they weren't raised to get a
job, to be successful, to make it on their own," said dos
Because of
this, she said, many women in Complexo do Alemao and other favelas are trapped
by the reasoning that "better to live badly with him than worse off
without him."
Dos Santos
belongs to Mulheres da Paz (Women of Peace), as do the rest of the women at the
radio station, which broadcasts in the Complexo and surrounding areas on 98.7
FM.
Women of
Peace, a Ministry of Justice programme, recruits community leaders to mediate
in conflicts among local residents and try to create a peaceful haven in the
favelas.
Anthropologist
Solange Dacach, Women of Peace field coordinator in Rio de Janeiro and at the
radio station, told IPS that one major focus of the initiative is working with
young people in the favelas, because they are the chief victims of violence in
Brazil.
"So
many young people were being killed in drug-related turf wars," she said.
That was the
situation in the Complexo do Alemao, a complex of 13 favelas home to between
70,000 and 100,000 people, until November 2010, when the government of the
state of Rio de Janeiro drove out the armed drug trafficking gangs that
controlled the area, by means of a massive police and military incursion.
After
regaining control over the favelas, the authorities established a permanent
presence – which the government describes as a "social invasion" –
with a focus on community policing and efforts to bring basic services like
running water, sanitation and education to the poor neighbourhoods.
"No one
wants to live surrounded by guns and seeing their kids left without any option
but to pick up a gun," dos Santos said.
Despite the
ostentatious presence of an "army pacification force", many residents
of Complexo and other favelas in Rio de Janeiro where the authorities have
regained control are afraid that the government will abandon them once again
and the drug trafficking gangs will move back in and take reprisals.
The women
involved in Radio Mulher realise that the cycle of violence cannot be broken
overnight, and can only be combated by creating "a culture of peace."
The
community radio station is based on the concept of women as logical nurturers
of that culture of peace, because of their mothering and caretaking roles,
whether these are built-in or learned, said Dacach.
There are
important precedents for this social leadership role taken on by women, said
the anthropologist. "In Brazil there are a large number of movements of
mothers: mothers of missing youngsters and children, of young people who were
tortured by the (1964-1985) dictatorship," which form part of the
tradition of women involved in political and feminist struggles, community
organising, soup kitchens and other initiatives.
Through the
community radio station, the women in the Complexo want to make
"peace" a tangible, day-to-day reality in the favelas.
The list of
issues they plan to deal with include women's health, sexually transmitted
diseases, birth control and local environmental clean-up initiatives, said
Marcia Rolemberg, head of educational communication in the state environment
ministry.
With the
support of other government and non-government institutions from the state of
Rio de Janeiro, Radio Mulher aired its first programme, focused on the
environment "as a whole," on Jul. 2.
"Social
questions are related to their environmental context, and because of this, the
programme has a gender focus," Rolemberg said, stressing that
environmental issues are not limited to "plants or flowers."
For these
women, who come from poor, violent neighbourhoods, there is no shortage of
issues to be addressed.
"Because
of my life experience, I want to transmit to other women that they can't be at
the mercy of a pile of clothes," Ivanir Toledo told IPS.
"They
have to think of their family, yes, but also that their objective is to
grow," said Toledo, whose husband, head cook at a restaurant in a posh
tourist area, is pleased with the changes he has seen in his wife.
"She's
more active and involved in her activities; she's happier, and I am too,"
Luiz Pereira de Sousa commented to IPS as he prepared a typical Brazilian dish
with beef, rice and beans in the family's home. "If we're not close to our
family, we as men don't move forward either," he added.
Toledo, who
survived as a street child, homeless and on her own, wants the radio station to
address an issue that still causes her pain: sexual violence.
Now happily
married and the mother of a teenage daughter, Toledo, who is an active member
of Women of Peace, has not forgotten that the streets are especially violent
for girls.
"If you
ask a man for a plate of food, you know the first thing that will pop into his
mind. I started suffering violence as soon as I left home (at age nine). I'm
talking about rape and abuse. And not just at the hands of one or two or three
guys, but more. You're there against your will, at that person's mercy,"
she said in a quiet voice.
Dos Santos,
meanwhile, wants to discuss the question of work.
"In
general, job training courses are especially focused on men, even though the
highest levels of unemployment are among women, who in addition are often the heads
of their families," she said.
The radio
station's first programme dealt with an issue of special interest to the
community: the launch of a campaign to prevent dengue fever and the
reproduction of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which spreads the disease. The
radio station's campaign has the support of the Health Ministry.
Structured
as a friendly chat among neighbour women, the programme moved from issue to
issue, ranging from advice on how to keep the neighbourhood free of garbage and
standing water in which the mosquitoes breed to how to recognise the first
symptoms of dengue fever.
Although the
Women of Peace are the operators of the radio station, it will be open to all
voices in the community, not only because that is its role as a community station,
but also because it is their calling, they explained to IPS during one of the
workshops in which they receive ongoing training.