A global phenomenon, and what the hell can we expect democracy to do about it?

This great story in the NYTimes about Gurgaon, India reveals the same phenomena that arise in many "third-world" cities as they become outposts of the global economy. It's similar to São Paulo: severe income inequality made plain through the proximity of slums to luxury high-rises, elites buying exclusive access to public goods of education/health/law and order, and a low state capacity to provide even basic necessities for those not living in these private enclaves.

The story includes quotes from residents of the complex pictured that will surely make your blood boil a bit. There's also an accompanying slide-show to get a better sense of what lives are like on either side of this urban universe. Really, do read the article.

PHOTO: Ruth Fremson, NYTimes

The author only briefly touches on the role democracy plays in this system, noting that:

India has long lived with such inequities, and though a Maoist rebellion is building in the countryside, the nation has for the most part skirted social upheaval through a critical safety valve: giving the poor their chance to vent at the ballot box. Indeed, four years ago, voters threw out the incumbent government, with its “India Shining” slogan, because it was perceived to have neglected the poor.

In democracy, leadership change is always possible and rarely prohibitively difficult. And it is true that the party in power does tweak how a state relates to underclasses (most often this shows in levels of social spending). But if India is anything like Brazil, I would venture to guess that voting and other democratic institutions have not fundamentally altered the nature of urban inequality, nor the basic relationship between the poor and the state. When I feel pessimistic, I doubt whether they ever will.

The field of comparative politics gives certain reasons for why democracies in practice are limited in this respect: clientelism and cronyism, corruption, manipulation of the press, fractured party systems and other institutional weaknesses, etc. If we can break these patterns and strengthen institutions, democracy will "function better." (As an aside, what constitutes "better functioning" is ultimately a normative question, making comparativists pretty useless for defining it in any compelling way. But for me, better functioning means creating conditions of social justice.)

The technocratic cartwheels of comparative politics aside, they are basically using what I call the "more cowbell" argument. (Recall the classic SNL skit with Christopher Walken exclaiming "I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!") If something isn't working - in this case democracy - we just need more of it.

But what if all the noise from the cowbell is covering up an inherently bad tune? Political theorists in the line of Marx will tell you that capitalism is to blame, to which democracy is inherently secondary - nothing more than a distraction from the economic gluttony and exploitation at work, a way to pacify the oppressed by giving them a superficial outlet for their anger. As an OSU professor has noted, democracy is unlike any other political system in that it internalizes descent. And in my thinking, it is in fact anti-revolutionary - to the degree that it keeps all sides playing under the established rules of the game and feeding the underdogs small victories as needed - just enough to keep them in for the next round.

Still, I'm not convinced this is inherently so. I don't really have any answers here. There was a time when I believed wholeheartedly in democracy's ability to facilitate fundamental changes, perhaps radical. I am much more pessimistic now, but where has that gotten me? I still can't untangle the knotted roots of urban injustice enough to say with conviction what they are, how they work, or most importantly, where to start pulling them up.

Lula in Der Spiegel

Lula comments on the motives for the slum upgrading in Sunday's Der Spiegel:

SPIEGEL: A drug war is raging in your major cities. Armed gangs control most of the slums in Rio de Janeiro. Has the government lost control over the favelas?

Lula: Police power alone isn't enough to solve the problem. The government itself must make its presence felt and provide opportunities, and then the violence will subside. This is why we are cleaning up the biggest slums throughout the country. We are providing them with drinking water, energy and sewage systems, schools, hospitals and libraries. With economic growth running at between 4 and 6 percent over a number of years, all this becomes possible. We have allocated $270 billion (€175 billion) to spend on improving slums as well as modernizing our infrastructure such as ports, highways, railroads and airports -- all without any new borrowing.

Writing, teaching, and community media

I’m gonna throw this out, trusting you to chew on it awhile and give me your thoughts. I am pondering making a significant part of my life writing for a popular audience, teaching writing, and starting newspapers in marginal communities.

This idea came to me the other day and I can’t get it out of my head. I think this is because:

(1) Reading Pedagogy of the Oppressed has affirmed for me the importance of mental liberation as a necessary element of social change, not just changes in material relations. I come from a generation of young, western, bleeding-heart types being sent into the world with development studies degrees and dreams of staffing world-saving NGOs. But I have already concluded that both government poverty programs and their “purer” NGO counterparts suffer from a deep fear of trusting poor people with resources or ever allowing their citizens/clients true autonomy- thereby negating their own reason for existence. The only way that the underclasses of the world will get this control is by demanding it on their own terms. A pre-requisite of this demand is a critical understanding of reality and why it exists as it does. A pre-requisite of this understanding is freeing the mind from the myths that locate the sources of oppressive situations in oppressed people themselves, writing counter narratives… basically people who aren’t encouraged to think thinking for themselves and forming their own ideas of “what is” and “what should be done.” Community written and controlled newspapers could provide a space for this to happen, as could writing classes.

(2) Developing an ever more complex, critical, and reflective understanding of the world (both its larger elements, and the parts that intimately affect my life) has been THE thing making my life worth living. To use Freire’s language, this is the project of becoming progressively more human. Having my understanding of a situation completely blow up in my face, letting the smoke clear to see it in an entirely new way, and discovering that I am capable of changing that reality now that I understand it – that’s where it is AT! If my life project isn’t helping other people have this experience then it’s a waste.

(3) I might be better suited writing for popular, rather than academic consumption. I like writing, people tell me I am goodish at it, and I want to write things that change the way people understand social realities. And not just 10 people with advanced degrees – a politically significant number of people capable of changing social realities as a result. I also struggle to raise the patience/time necessary to write a scientifically sound article on, say, “the enabling factors of neighborhood leadership in earning community legitimacy.” People listen to folks who live in their community, for chrissakes. I don’t need to do three months of data collection to tell you that.

(4) The sub-human ideas that people outside of a given underclass have about said class are really disgusting. These ideas are propagated through terrible representations in media and affect both how an underclass understands itself, and how others think underclasses deserve to be treated. This reality smacks you in the face in Brazil – I spend an afternoon in a favela and then come home to read all google news-hits where the word “favela” was used. It’s two different worlds. What if media was a humanizing force instead of de-humanizing? What if people were telling their own stories, and others were actually listening?


(5) I got a little miffed with my boyfriend when he wouldn’t apply for the new position as Homelessness Advocate for the city of Columbus. I wanted him to propose starting a newspaper written and sold by homeless citizens as the goal of his position (Cincinnati does this: see StreetVibes). Then I thought – why the hell am I not doing this? Well, because I had a ticket to São Paulo of course, but that was probably the only thing holding me back. And you know what, similar empowerment initiatives through visual and print media are being done in Brazil - see for example Viva Favela, Observatório das Favelas, Alfabetização Visual where my girl Gabriela O’Leary works, and the many examples of small community radio in peripheral neighborhoods all over the city.

If I run with this idea, it doesn’t mean I can’t go to grad school. It does mean I won’t be a prolific academic, probably not even a professor, and I will end up work primarily in English speaking countries because I don’t think my language abilities will ever be strong enough to teach writing in anything but English.

What else important might I be giving up taking a path like this? Are there other plusses? Think about it for a bit and give me your comments.

Brasilândia

Time for another research update: I am growing tired of meeting new people and reading semi-random things. My thoughts on issues related to my topic- how democracy works in favelas and could work better- are starting to atrophy and I feel the overwhelming urge to just DO something. What I really lack is a sustained role that forges some sort of unity between thinking and action – a space for praxis.

This is now my top priority. Luckily a project I was half-heartedly helping out with looks like it has the potential to, at least in part, become this space.

For the last 3 weeks a group of University of São Paulo students in architecture and international relations has been in the process of creating children’s programming in favela Brasilândia- actually an agglomeration of several favelas to the north of the city. I was tagging along, not out of any great affinity for kids, but as a way to observe community meetings and get a feel for the area. Plus free coloring…



But after a planning meeting, the group has decided to re-think its involvement in the community. In a handful of weeks, Brasilândia will become another urbanization and regularization site in the city. The details are still being worked out, but the standards are surely in order: evicting people from areas of risk, possibly building public housing blocks to replace their demolished homes, paving a few roads, building sewage canals, and arranging land titles for the residents who are able to stay put.

Meaning it is a critical time for the neighborhood. It is about to undergo serious changes and needs to be organized and attentive to insist that, to every extent possible, residents be given control over the results.

Happily, the students decided this week on two important changes in approach to make their work more relevant to the community’s current position. First, they are going to start a series of dialogues with adults, including members of the community commission. Second, the themes for investigation will be generated by participants, rather than the university students. The overarching goal is to follow Paulo Freire’s model of a Liberating Pedagogy, creating an environment where participants achieve an ever more critical and expanded understanding of their reality, and begin to develop responses to the forces that confront and oppress them.

So at the moment we are recruiting more USP students, specifically ones with education backgrounds, to help us develop the project. I hope to get us some training with a unit at USP that has experience running literacy courses on the Freire model so we can learn “classroom” strategies. It is too early to tell if this will become my “praxis role” down here. I am still following up on a few leads in the search for groups that are doing good politicizing work in favelas. But it is something worth being optimistic about at least!

Anarchy in the SP

Every day I become a little more of a democratic anarchist.

Maybe it’s because I never hung out with people on Welfare in the U.S., but coming from a lefty big government crowd, I assumed that welfare was a great thing. Tax the rich and provide for the poor, it’s the best way to keep the ravages of capitalism in check.

But I do hang out with people in Brazilian slums, the recent recipients of billions of dollars worth of upgrading projects. Not welfare exactly, but still a big government scheme to, ostensibly, improve people’s lives. If only it were that simple. Here is what appears to happen in practice: the money goes to government employees and private companies who draw up plans for big construction projects. Hundreds of families get evicted to make way, and when lucky, they are sardine-ed into overpriced soviet-style public housing that, unlike their old homes, is not built to flexibly fit the needs of residents. Participation in the decision-making by residents is attempted but usually fails, so that government and private companies have the ultimate control over intimate aspects of poor peoples lives. It’s degrading and dehumanizing, and in a matter that is close to my heart, it is not democratic.

This happens all over the world. Poor people either get screwed without a thought, or they have to submit to dehumanizing and undemocratic philanthropy on the part of rich people, NGOs, and governments to meet basic needs. I get to buy filtered water if I don’t want to drink possibly contaminated water from the tap. A slum dweller has to submit to an interview from government officials in her home, two years of waiting, and finally a water-main installation project that displaces her neighbors before she can legally drink cleanish water out of her tap. Think about how that difference feels psychologically. It sucks.

Democracy means, or should mean, the idea that people should have control over the decisions and processes that affect their lives. And in a globalizing world this becomes more and more out of reach for all people, but especially the urban poor in “developing” countries. The answers we are generating to solve this are big-hearted international institutions (think the UN, multinational NGOs) to ameliorate the actions of big bad international actors (corporations and certain governments *cough* the U.S.). Side note: I don’t know how to classify the World Bank here- they seem to be in the middle of an identity-crisis between the two poles.

Perhaps the good and bad are not the problem, but size. Being BIG means something is too far from the people who matter to ever get it right, regardless of intentions. Small and anarchic is what we need, putting aside for a moment that I only have vague ideas what that might look like and not the faintest clue how it might be achieved.

Apartment Found

Moving into my apartment today! Was squatting on the floor of a fellow American researcher in hip Pinheiros, but I now live in an older building near the city center. My roommate is a 30 year old teacher who spent some time in Canada a few years back so she speaks English (though I will try really hard not to use it).

I am excited primarily because the place is so cheap. There are a few good reasons for this - it’s on the edge of a sketchy neighborhood, and there is no furniture - but it has the basics: close to the Metro and bus stations, has a kitchen and laundry, and hopefully internet too in the coming days. With the money I am saving I can invest in some furniture and perhaps a few excursions around Brazil.

The other reason why cheap rent was paramount – I ultimately plan to move further south or west of the city when the location of my fieldwork is solidified. Most people will not rent for the short term like this, so I have been promising 3 months rent regardless of whether I stay that long or not. And I can afford blowing an extra month of rent on a cheap place, which wouldn’t be the case otherwise.

Buenos Aires

(PHOTO CREDIT: Ralph Blessing, 2008)

Went to Buenos Aires, Argentina last week for a Fulbright regional conference. Unlike a good portion of American researchers in this neck of the globe, I do not have a background in Latin American studies, so it was a great chance to learn about all the countries of the Southern Cone vicariously through the projects of other grantees.

There are about 42 research grantees in the region this year (in Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Brazil, and Argentina) with 25 different disciplines represented. Most of the week consisted of presenting our projects and sharing our experiences. This spurred some fruitful and enlightening conversations, cross-pollination in academic jargon, and one or two instances of “wait…what the hell is that guy’s project about? Something about ecosystem fragmentation, whatever that means…”

As a tourist, being in Buenos Aires felt a bit like catching royalty in the act of an embarrassing gaff. You see the mud on the dress from the fall out of the carriage, they know you see it, and despise you just a bit for it. Which is to say that urban Argentines, once residents of the uber-expensive “Paris of the South,” now have to stomach tourists from the likes of Uruguay and Brazil to support their economy after the financial crash of 2002. It is now one of the cheapest cities in the Southern Cone. Imagine, a top-notch steak dinner in a decadent Parisian-style building for the same price as a pizza in a modest Brazilian diner. It is a bit of an ego kill for the Europe of Latin America to find itself in this position. But I am not complaining, I got some great meals and a nice pair of jeans out of the trip.

More images from Argentina... a path at the estancia (ranch) where we rode horses.

(PHOTO CREDITS: Anne Sweet, 2008)

The last highlight is Tierra Santa: Parque Temático (literally “Holy Land Theme Park”). That’s right, an entire theme park dedicated to the life of Jesus Christ. Only Latin American Catholicism is theatrical enough to come up with this one (although the folks of Kentucky’s Creation Museum are giving them a run for their money). I laughed, I cried, I watched a 40 ft. tall mechanical Jesus rise from a fiberglass hillside to the tune of Handel’s Messiah- a process which repeats every ten-‘til-the-hour.

I could go on for days about this place - the reproduction of the creation with smoke and green rave lights, park staff dressed in a mix of “Middle Eastern” and Franciscan monk outfits (among other charming anachronisms), a random homage to Mahatma Gandhi, and belly dancing performances in a temple. Perhaps this last one was to portray the depravity right before Jesus would have thrown her kind out in a temple-cleansing rage? If you plan on going to Argentina, don’t miss this.