OlympicsoftheRemovals

The practice of displacing families, especially poor ones, has for centuries been one of the most perverse traits of Rio de Janeiro's politics. One need only recall the sudden expropriations carried out with the arrival of the Portuguese court in Brazil in 1808, which threw thousands of people out of their homes to make way for the nobility coming from overseas. Or Pereira Passos's Bota-Abaixo, which swept the old residents of downtown Rio out to peripheral areas. Or even the mass transfers under the Carlos Lacerda and Negrão de Lima administrations, in the 1960s and 1970s, which forced more than 100,000 residents to leave their homes in the central region and the South Zone and go live in housing projects that were far away and had precarious infrastructure. A forced diaspora.

Image description: This is an aerial photograph of an urban area under development, near a body of water. On the left, we see modern structures, including a tall building with a glass and metal facade. In the center, there is a large open area with equipment and vehicles, possibly under construction or maintenance. On the right, there are green areas and homes close to the water's edge. The sky is cloudy, giving the image a gray tone.

The history of authoritarian removals, however, is not a thing of the past. Its ghost came back to haunt Rio residents, with more force than ever, during preparations for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. It is estimated that more than 67,000 people were removed from their homes between 2009 and 2013 alone. One of the most dramatic aspects of this removal policy was that of Vila Autódromo, a community neighboring the Olympic Park that ended up becoming a symbol of the violation of the right to housing carried out by the government itself.

Image description: The image is a photograph of a demonstration. In the foreground, a group of people is holding a large orange sign with black lettering. The sign reads "WOMEN MARCHING AGAINST REMOVAL." The people are walking down a street, with old buildings and foliage in the background. The sun is high, creating rays of light that cut across the scene.

One of the main controversies in the case of Vila Autódromo is the fact that the Olympic project did not include the demolition of the houses. According to residents and activists, the removal of the families actually occurred due to real estate speculation and pressure from construction companies, since their staying would not have affected the layout of the works in any way. For this reason, they united in a process of resistance and denunciation. The drama of Vila Autódromo was portrayed in the documentary Se essa vila não fosse minha, by Felipe Pena. Moreover, it gave rise to the Museu das Remoções, a project that seeks to document the history of communities that were erased, partially or entirely.

Image description: The image is a photograph of an excavator demolishing a building. The orange excavator is positioned on the left side of the image, its articulated arm and demolition head in action. The white building is being torn down, with pieces of brick and concrete falling. On the right, there is a wall with blue letters written in Portuguese: "MEMÓRIA NÃO SE REMOVE." The sky is clear and blue, and part of a green leaf is visible in the lower right corner of the image.