Baixada Fluminense has a history of mobilization, says activist

The inauguration date of the first railroad in Brazil, Estrada de Ferro Mauá, also marks Baixada Fluminense Day. The pioneering project is among the breakthroughs that made the region one of the most populous in Brazil, with almost 4 million inhabitants. Therefore, State Law 3.822, of May 2002, instituted the commemorative date on April 30.

The Baixada is made up of 13 municipalities of different sizes. Paracambi, Guapimirim and Seropédica have less than 100 thousand inhabitants. Nova Iguaçu, Duque de Caxias and Belford Roxo, more than 500 thousand. Between these two extremes are São João de Meriti, Magé, Mesquita, Nilópolis, Queimados, Itaguaí and Japeri.

Among the cities are Duque de Caxias, with one of the 20 largest gross domestic products in Brazil, and Japeri, where infant mortality reaches 18 per thousand live births, while the national average is 13 per thousand.

Blacks and Evangelicals

The 2010 Census, the last one carried out, characterized the region’s cities as blacker than the country’s average, and also with a larger Evangelical population. Among the 13 municipalities, only Nilópolis and Seropédica do not have more than 60% of the population that recognized themselves as black or brown in that census. This percentage reaches 70% in Japeri, and almost 68% in Belford Roxo. In Seropédica, the number of evangelicals exceeds that of Catholics by more than 50%, and Protestants are also more numerous in the two largest cities in the region, Nova Iguaçu and Duque de Caxias.

Militant for human rights, social scientist and executive coordinator of the non-governmental organization Forum Grita Baixada, Adriano de Araújo criticizes, in an interview with Brazil Agency, the generalization with which the region is usually treated, and the lack of visibility of cultural and social initiatives promoted by residents of the region. His hope for the future of the region comes from the past of great mobilization of the people of Baixada Fluminense.

“Here, there is a series of historical treasures. The Baixada has a lot of capacity to mobilize, scream and seek its rights. Unfortunately, we are not accompanied by government officials,” she says.

The forum prepared a mini-documentary in which it heard testimonials from residents of the 13 municipalities about what they consider positive and negative in the region, in addition to asking what it means to be a resident of the Baixada Fluminense.

Interview

Brazil Agency: You heard residents from all over the Baixada about what it means to be a resident of the region. Can you take an average and say an answer that summarizes what you heard?

Adriano de Araujo: They positively pointed out the fact that they felt happy in the territory largely due to the population, the people’s way of being, the welcome. It is a region that welcomes cultural differences, people coming from other states. That welcomes the culture of other peoples. It was an aspect that stood out. What also appeared positive was the tranquility of the place, in cities with a smaller population, and the commerce and cultural plurality, in the larger cities.

Brazil Agency: The forum was created to claim human rights for the residents of the Baixada. What are the most frequent violations in the particular case of Baixada residents?

Adriano de Araujo: Violence is, unfortunately, a hallmark process in the region. We have lethal violence rates that are proportionally higher than in the capital. So, this, in fact, affects a significant portion of the population, especially the poor, black and suburban population. The general population may have a generalized feeling of insecurity, but massacres, for example, do not happen everywhere. There are specific places where these massacres occur, poorer and blacker neighborhoods. Other problems affect the vast majority of the population, such as the poor quality of transport, the precarious working conditions of both buses and trains. And basic sanitation, which is a vital problem here in the Baixada Fluminense, due to its geographical condition, having several swampy and swampy areas. There is also a lack of public facilities for culture and leisure. There are cities that don’t have a movie theater. Other aspects that mark the daily life of Baixada Fluminense are feminicides, attacks on African-based religions and LGBTphobia, which unfortunately are still very present.

Brazil Agency: Violence is a recurrent theme in the news about the region, and, in fact, it is a real problem for the residents. But has this somehow told a unique story about the region? Is the Baixada being reduced to this?

Adriano de Araujo: This is an extremely important aspect, in which we try not to lose the critical dimension, but, at the same time, also not to fall into the absolutism of information and, mainly, into stereotypes. Violence is a phenomenon present in the dynamics not only of Baixada Fluminense, but in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, in impoverished and black regions. Now, we notice a lot, when we evaluate journalistic language, that when something happens in the city of Rio de Janeiro, the neighborhood and even the street are mentioned, but when it comes to the Baixada, there is such a generalization that , sometimes even cities are not mentioned. “There was a slaughter in the Baixada Fluminense”. Or, “in Nova Iguaçu”, which has almost a million people and a very large extension. And we don’t see the social movements that fight against violence being highlighted. There are a number of organizations that seek to work on education, culture, youth protagonism, the fight against racism, and which often do not have space in the media. It is very easy for the media to report on militias, massacres and political violence, and that does need to be shown, but the way often passes through a stereotype and without information that allows people to have a more accurate view. critique of what is happening.

Brazil Agency: As you said, it is very common to talk about Baixada Fluminense as a whole, but we know that its cities are very different. What do you believe unites these cities, besides geography, and how many Baixadas do you believe exist within the Baixada?

Adriano de Araujo: The Baixada is spoken of as if it were a neighborhood or a city, but it is a region of 13 cities, with almost four million people and very different cities. You have cities like Guapimirim, for example, with regions with preserved Atlantic Forest and vegetation, and other industrial cities, with a very large cultural and population diversity. There is a Baixada that has more of an air of an inland city, with people who were born and still live there and who have a great love for the way they live, quieter and calmer, and there are larger cities, such as Duque de Caxias, Nilópolis, Nova Iguaçu, Belford Roxo and São João de Meriti, which all undergo processes that are very typical of the large peripheries of urban centers. Roughly speaking, if we were to summarize more crudely, we would have these two great Baixadas. This more urban Baixada, with urban problems and qualities, and the interior Baixada, familiar and peaceful, with a population that knows itself better and does not see such a brutal change over time, with a more preserved nature.

Brazil Agency: Baixada has one of the municipalities that most produces wealth in Brazil, which is Duque de Caxias, and some locations marked by extreme poverty, such as Japeri. How do you see this disparity?

Adriano de Araujo: I think it mirrors what happens in Brazil. When we talk about this wealth, we are talking a lot about the development of the petrochemical industry in Duque de Caxias, which was vital for its development. But these are not riches that, in fact, are distributed to the population as a whole. The political elites have an exploitative relationship with the Baixada Fluminense. Many local political leaders, after becoming mayors, leave their city and go to Rio de Janeiro. So, there is this perspective of electoral corral, of having a space where you project yourself politically and, as a result, you start to gain privileges and benefits. This makes many governments not think about public policies to face these inequalities. And it is these inequalities that will be reproduced in the low quality of jobs, wages, living conditions and housing. What happens in the Baixada also happens in other cities and in the city of Rio de Janeiro itself. Much of what is sold in Rio de Janeiro is in the south zone, but the north zone and the west zone, with some exceptions, are very close to the Baixada Fluminense in this sense. They are closer to the Baixada than to the south zone.

Brazil Agency: The Baixada is home to many Umbanda and Candomblé terreiros, strong samba schools in the Rio Carnival and is also one of the blackest regions in Brazil. Does rescuing this Baixada self-esteem also involve valuing its ancestry?

Adriano de Araujo: We have many cultural groups, people producing cinema here in Baixada Fluminense. O hip hop it is very strong in the Baixada. There was also a movement reggae very interesting in Belford Roxo. So, there is a cultural diversity that even we from the Grita Baixada Forum do not know about, such is this diversity. African-based religions play a very important role in the history of the Baixada, and several cities have sought to value African culture, black culture. There are a series of movements, the settlements of native peoples, of ancestral peoples, and it is necessary to bring visibility to all these manifestations.

Brazil Agency: What gives you hope and what worries you about the future of Baixada?

Adriano de Araujo: Hope is the people of Baixada. It is these people who fight, these people who believe, articulate. One of the things that make the most impression on me and bring me pride is the history of mobilization in the Baixada Fluminense. I never tire of saying that the Baixada Fluminense, at certain moments in the country’s history, was the protagonist of many movements. Last week, a film was released in honor of Nair Jane, who is a leader here in Baixada Fluminense, who created the Union of Domestic Workers. There was Benedita da Silva (PT-RJ deputy) talking about the importance of Nair Jane for the national movement of domestic workers. Here, there is also the work that Pastoral da Terra did in relation to the issue of land rights. Before the existence of the MST, there was already a land occupation movement here in Baixada Fluminense. Here, too, death squads and death squads were denounced before militias were talked about, before militias were written about. The mothers’ movement, the feminist movement. Here you have a series of historical riches. The Baixada has a lot of capacity to mobilize, scream and seek its rights. Unfortunately, we are not accompanied by government officials, and perhaps that is my biggest concern, politics in the Baixada. There are governments and governments that succeed with accusations of corruption and involvement with crime. There are several cases of mayors denounced for criminal association, many councilors linked to militia groups. This is a source of concern. It is illegality taking possession of the instruments of state, of legality. And what do you imagine will happen in cities where criminal groups take power? This worries me, because it will have repercussions on education, health and, of course, security. But I understand that it is something that is within a political context of the entire country.