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What is even more disturbing is that his
answer might make a kind of sense. As I came to
understand, guns themselves are not the problem
in Brazil’s slums. Rather, it is the systemic poverty
and lack of social and economic alternatives
that push children to violence.
Now, a handful of nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) think they have the answer in educational
programs that train for peace.
RIO DE JANEIRO: VIOLENCE, BEAUTY,
INEQUALITY
The paradox of Rio is that it is at once one of the
most violent and one of the most naturally beautiful
cities in the world. Nurturing the violence is
a poverty that thrives, jarringly, alongside Rio’s
splendor. In fact, the problem is countrywide:
Brazil displays one of the highest rates of social
inequality in the world despite rapid economic
development. The top 10 percent of the population
earns 50 percent of the national income, and
about 34 percent of the population lives below
the poverty line. The government estimates that
20 percent of the population lives in favelas,
though the real figure could be even higher.
Not surprisingly, the history of the favelas is
deeply rooted in Brazil’s history of inequality,
which has had both socioeconomic and racial
overtones for centuries. In the world of the favelas,
people struggle daily to defend themselves,
either from drug traffickers or from the violence
and the unpredictability of police agents who,
16 SIPA NEWS
according to groups like Human Rights Watch,
often violate their human rights.
This complex situation has led to an extremely
troubling situation for Rio and its youth. A recent
study published by British anthropologist Luke
Dowdney confirms that more young people below
the age of 18 are killed by guns each year in Rio
than in many areas of the world that are officially
at war. The study showed that there are strong
similarities between children involved in drug
wars in Rio’s favelas and child soldiers in other
parts of the world. Drug gangs run the favelas,
and Dowdney’s report describes how they employ
youths as guards.
The result is a war zone. In the period between
1988 and 2002, almost 4,000 youths under
18 years of age were killed by firearms in Rio.
Currently, there are between 5,000 and 6,000
armed children in Rio alone.
THE FIGHT FOR PEACE
So what can be done in order to reduce youth
violence in cities like Rio where social inequalities
and exclusion are so powerful?
The answer can be found in “peace education,”
according to Viva Rio, one of Brazil’s most
renowned NGOs in the field of youth violence in
favelas. Other NGOs are increasingly sharing the
same perspective.
“The introduction of a different perspective
through peace education, conflict mediation and
other tools can make a difference in contexts
where youth violence is reaching immense proportions,”
says Clarissa Huguet, a program coordinator
with the Children and Youth in Organized
Armed Violence (COAV) project at the Rio-based
NGO. According to Huguet, there is an immense
need to promote peace and multicultural education
in areas where violence is epidemic and
traditional schools face difficulties in fulfilling
their main tasks. Huguet believes the result of her
organization’s peace education will be a peaceful
and progressive generation of children that build a
different environment in their communities.
Dowdney, who formerly worked with Viva Rio,
has started his own initiative in a similar vein. But
his program, Fight for Peace (FFP), takes things a
step further, combining education programs with
marketing tools to promote lifestyle changes for
the youth of the slums. FFP works to include atrisk
youth in sports, education, job training, youth
leadership and conflict resolution programs. The
project also unites community-based grassroots
projects with big-time corporate sponsors. Nike
has donated soccer equipment, boxing gear and
cash.
With these resources, FFP has managed to
borrow a concept—branding—from the world of
marketing. The organization’s brand is peaceful
living. Just like sports gear, this lifestyle brand
has some heavy-hitting spokespeople. FFP recruits
sports celebrities—among them Brazilian Formula
One champ Emmerson Fittipaldi and boxing
star Acelino “Popó” Freitas—to visit the favela