WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.040 I want to start our conversation today with a 00:00:02.040 --> 00:00:06.099 little wager. Oh, okay. I'm intrigued. I am willing 00:00:06.099 --> 00:00:10.019 to bet that if I say the word favela, a very 00:00:10.019 --> 00:00:13.140 specific high -definition image loads in your 00:00:13.140 --> 00:00:16.120 brain almost instantly. I think I can picture 00:00:16.120 --> 00:00:18.940 it. You're probably seeing Rio de Janeiro. You're 00:00:18.940 --> 00:00:21.620 seeing those red brick houses stacked almost 00:00:21.620 --> 00:00:25.300 like Lego bricks up a really steep vertical hillside. 00:00:25.460 --> 00:00:27.519 Yeah, that classic image. You see the sheer density 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:29.760 of it all. Exactly. You're hearing the sounds 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:31.800 of a chaotic city. Maybe you're thinking about 00:00:31.800 --> 00:00:34.500 the movie City of God or maybe, you know, clips 00:00:34.500 --> 00:00:36.619 from the news involving police raids and things 00:00:36.619 --> 00:00:38.899 like that. It is, and I think this is fair to 00:00:38.899 --> 00:00:41.439 say, arguably one of the most recognizable urban 00:00:41.439 --> 00:00:44.420 landscapes on the entire planet. Yeah. It's become 00:00:44.420 --> 00:00:47.299 the visual shorthand. for Brazil, really, in 00:00:47.299 --> 00:00:49.119 the eyes of the rest of the world. It has, absolutely. 00:00:49.399 --> 00:00:51.659 But here's the bet. I'm willing to bet you didn't 00:00:51.659 --> 00:00:53.520 know that the word favela doesn't originally 00:00:53.520 --> 00:00:57.420 mean slum. It doesn't mean neighborhood or community 00:00:57.420 --> 00:01:00.299 or even shantytown. It's actually the name of 00:01:00.299 --> 00:01:02.840 a plant. And not just any plant. It's a very 00:01:02.840 --> 00:01:05.700 specific, and from what I understand, a very 00:01:05.700 --> 00:01:08.980 unpleasant piece of flora. We are talking about... 00:01:10.309 --> 00:01:13.310 Nidosculus corsefolius. Nidosculus corsefolius. 00:01:13.349 --> 00:01:15.030 I mean, that sounds like a spell from Harry Potter, 00:01:15.109 --> 00:01:17.370 not a tree. It does, a little bit. But no, it's 00:01:17.370 --> 00:01:19.890 a real tree in the spurge family. And it's indigenous 00:01:19.890 --> 00:01:22.290 to the Bahia region, way up in northeast Brazil. 00:01:22.569 --> 00:01:24.569 And from what I've read in the files you sent 00:01:24.569 --> 00:01:26.349 over, this is not something you want in your 00:01:26.349 --> 00:01:29.049 backyard. It's incredibly scratchy. It's skin 00:01:29.049 --> 00:01:31.930 irritating. It's a prickly, resilient survivor 00:01:31.930 --> 00:01:34.650 that kind of thrives where other things just 00:01:34.650 --> 00:01:37.230 can't. It's a harsh plant for a harsh environment. 00:01:37.450 --> 00:01:40.250 And that botanical detail, it isn't just a fun 00:01:40.250 --> 00:01:42.510 piece of trivia to start the show. Right. It 00:01:42.510 --> 00:01:44.950 is the absolute key to understanding the entire 00:01:44.950 --> 00:01:47.469 social history that we're about to unpack. The 00:01:47.469 --> 00:01:48.989 fundamental question we need to answer today 00:01:48.989 --> 00:01:51.590 is, how did a skin -irritating tree in the rural, 00:01:51.650 --> 00:01:54.430 dusty northeast of Brazil lend its name to these 00:01:54.430 --> 00:01:57.189 dense, concrete, urban communities in Rio de 00:01:57.189 --> 00:01:59.590 Janeiro? That is the origin story we're tracking 00:01:59.590 --> 00:02:03.170 today. So, welcome to the Deep Dive. We are looking 00:02:03.170 --> 00:02:05.659 at the fazella. And I think we need to be really 00:02:05.659 --> 00:02:07.819 precise about our scope here because this is 00:02:07.819 --> 00:02:11.360 a topic that just carries so much baggage. It's 00:02:11.360 --> 00:02:13.360 incredibly loaded. When we use that word today 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:15.960 based on our sources, we are using it as an umbrella 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:18.280 term for, you know, impoverished neighborhoods 00:02:18.280 --> 00:02:21.759 or informal settlements in Brazil. But the mission, 00:02:21.819 --> 00:02:24.020 I think, for this conversation is to dismantle 00:02:24.020 --> 00:02:25.900 that caricature. We all see the headlines. It's 00:02:25.900 --> 00:02:29.419 always poverty, violence, drug wars. But if you 00:02:29.419 --> 00:02:31.580 stop there, you understand literally nothing 00:02:31.580 --> 00:02:34.610 about Brazil. Nothing. We need to understand 00:02:34.610 --> 00:02:36.870 the history, the public policy, which frankly 00:02:36.870 --> 00:02:39.189 is a roller coaster of, you know, good intentions 00:02:39.189 --> 00:02:42.110 and just terrible execution and the daily reality 00:02:42.110 --> 00:02:44.110 of the millions of people who actually call these 00:02:44.110 --> 00:02:47.009 places home. And millions is not an exaggeration. 00:02:47.050 --> 00:02:48.770 I was looking at the data sheets you sent over 00:02:48.770 --> 00:02:51.830 and the scale is just staggering. We're not talking 00:02:51.830 --> 00:02:54.990 about a fringe issue or a few blocks on the edge 00:02:54.990 --> 00:02:57.729 of town. This is a massive demographic reality. 00:02:58.069 --> 00:03:00.379 It's a nation within a nation. I mean, if we 00:03:00.379 --> 00:03:03.659 just look at the 2010 census data from the IBGE, 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:05.599 that's the Brazilian Institute of Geography and 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:08.819 Statistics, about 6 % of the entire Brazilian 00:03:08.819 --> 00:03:11.879 population lived in favelas. 6%. That was 11 00:03:11.879 --> 00:03:15.060 .4 million people over a decade ago. But look 00:03:15.060 --> 00:03:18.000 at the update. The 2022 census put that number 00:03:18.000 --> 00:03:21.120 at 16 .4 million people. That's a huge jump. 00:03:21.340 --> 00:03:24.680 That is 8 .1 % of the country's entire population. 00:03:25.099 --> 00:03:27.560 And to put that in perspective for everyone listening. 00:03:28.090 --> 00:03:30.990 That is more people than live in Belgium. It's 00:03:30.990 --> 00:03:33.550 more than live in Portugal. Imagine an entire 00:03:33.550 --> 00:03:36.449 European nation living inside these informal 00:03:36.449 --> 00:03:38.330 settlements. And they are spread across more 00:03:38.330 --> 00:03:41.050 than 12 ,000 different favelas throughout Brazil. 00:03:41.330 --> 00:03:43.289 12 ,000. But I do have to add a caveat here. 00:03:44.159 --> 00:03:46.080 Even those massive numbers might be conservative. 00:03:46.300 --> 00:03:49.419 How so? Well, our sources all highlight that 00:03:49.419 --> 00:03:51.580 there is an inherent difficulty in measuring 00:03:51.580 --> 00:03:53.840 these territories. They're incredibly dynamic. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:56.219 They can grow overnight. They don't have official 00:03:56.219 --> 00:03:59.139 boundaries or registered housing units. So the 00:03:59.139 --> 00:04:01.000 government is constantly chasing a moving target. 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:03.560 And while they are everywhere in Brazil, Rio 00:04:03.560 --> 00:04:05.699 is really the epicenter, right? That's the image 00:04:05.699 --> 00:04:08.460 we all started with. You have places like Rocinha. 00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:11.280 Rocinha, yeah. The largest hill favela in Rio. 00:04:11.710 --> 00:04:14.389 the largest in Brazil, and actually the second 00:04:14.389 --> 00:04:17.430 largest slum in all of Latin America. So the 00:04:17.430 --> 00:04:20.189 premise here is simple. To really understand 00:04:20.189 --> 00:04:22.810 modern Brazil, you absolutely have to understand 00:04:22.810 --> 00:04:24.910 the favela. You cannot separate the history of 00:04:24.910 --> 00:04:26.790 the city from the history of these communities. 00:04:26.930 --> 00:04:29.329 They are not an accident. They are a direct consequence 00:04:29.329 --> 00:04:31.750 of how the country chose to develop. Okay, so 00:04:31.750 --> 00:04:34.509 let's go back to that plant, the scratchy tree. 00:04:35.129 --> 00:04:38.430 New Duskullus chrysopholius. That one. Connect 00:04:38.430 --> 00:04:40.910 the dots for us. How do we get from a plant in 00:04:40.910 --> 00:04:44.750 Bahia to a massive housing crisis in Rio? We 00:04:44.750 --> 00:04:47.790 have to go back to the late 1800s. We're looking 00:04:47.790 --> 00:04:50.209 at the timeline right around the War of Canudos. 00:04:50.389 --> 00:04:52.750 The War of Canudos, okay. This was a really brutal 00:04:52.750 --> 00:04:55.689 conflict in the late 19th century up in the northeastern 00:04:55.689 --> 00:04:58.899 state of Bahia. The Brazilian army sent thousands 00:04:58.899 --> 00:05:01.319 of soldiers up there to suppress a rebellion 00:05:01.319 --> 00:05:03.579 that was being led by a religious mystic. It 00:05:03.579 --> 00:05:06.100 was a bloody messy campaign. And the terrain 00:05:06.100 --> 00:05:09.120 up there in the northeast, the Sertão, it's notoriously 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:11.740 harsh. Incredibly. And it played a huge part 00:05:11.740 --> 00:05:14.779 in the misery of that war. So while these soldiers 00:05:14.779 --> 00:05:17.379 were stationed in Bahia fighting this rebellion, 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:21.220 they were camping on a hill. And that specific 00:05:21.220 --> 00:05:25.220 hill was just covered in this spiny. irritating 00:05:25.220 --> 00:05:27.839 plant. The favela plant. The favela plant. So 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:30.220 the locals and the soldiers, they just started 00:05:30.220 --> 00:05:32.680 calling the hill Morro da Favela, Favela Hill. 00:05:32.839 --> 00:05:35.720 OK, so the soldiers spend months, maybe longer, 00:05:35.980 --> 00:05:38.360 camping out on Favela Hill in Bahia, getting 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:40.620 scratched up, fighting this war. Eventually, 00:05:40.620 --> 00:05:43.339 the war ends. They survive. They march all the 00:05:43.339 --> 00:05:45.459 way back south to Rio de Janeiro, which was the 00:05:45.459 --> 00:05:47.339 capital of Brazil at the time. And here lies 00:05:47.339 --> 00:05:49.819 the tragedy that really sparks the whole phenomenon. 00:05:50.459 --> 00:05:52.639 These men, these veterans, they were promised 00:05:52.639 --> 00:05:55.540 land or housing in exchange for their military 00:05:55.540 --> 00:05:57.240 service. That's a pretty standard promise for 00:05:57.240 --> 00:05:59.879 soldiers. A standard promise. But when they arrived 00:05:59.879 --> 00:06:02.579 in Rio, the government essentially ghosted them. 00:06:02.660 --> 00:06:04.980 There was no land. There was no housing. They 00:06:04.980 --> 00:06:07.899 were left with absolutely nothing. Wow. It's 00:06:07.899 --> 00:06:10.279 an unfortunately classic story of veterans being 00:06:10.279 --> 00:06:12.980 mistreated after a conflict. They do the dirty 00:06:12.980 --> 00:06:15.199 work. They come home. And the state just says, 00:06:15.339 --> 00:06:18.680 sorry, we're closed. That's basically it. So 00:06:18.680 --> 00:06:21.790 now you have these soldiers. unpaid, angry, and 00:06:21.790 --> 00:06:25.350 homeless right in the center of Rio. They needed 00:06:25.350 --> 00:06:27.949 a place to stay. They managed to get permission 00:06:27.949 --> 00:06:30.050 from the Ministry of War to settle on a hill 00:06:30.050 --> 00:06:33.069 called Providencia Hill. It's located right between 00:06:33.069 --> 00:06:35.230 the seaside and the center of the city. A pretty 00:06:35.230 --> 00:06:37.449 prime location, actually. Geographically, yes. 00:06:37.670 --> 00:06:39.930 And because they had just spent so much miserable 00:06:39.930 --> 00:06:43.149 time on Morro da Favela in Bahia, they nicknamed 00:06:43.149 --> 00:06:45.920 their new home Favela Hill. That is fascinating. 00:06:46.199 --> 00:06:49.060 So the very first favela in Rio wasn't built 00:06:49.060 --> 00:06:51.240 by criminals or, you know, recent migrants from 00:06:51.240 --> 00:06:53.600 the countryside initially. It was a squatter 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:55.860 settlement for disgruntled veterans who named 00:06:55.860 --> 00:06:57.879 it after a prickly plant they remembered from 00:06:57.879 --> 00:07:00.459 the war. That is the direct linguistic root. 00:07:00.600 --> 00:07:03.079 But structurally, it didn't stay just soldiers 00:07:03.079 --> 00:07:05.939 for long. This connects very deeply to another 00:07:05.939 --> 00:07:09.100 massive event happening at the same time, the 00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:11.819 abolition of slavery in Brazil. Right. 1888. 00:07:12.060 --> 00:07:14.860 Exactly. Brazil was the last country in the entire 00:07:14.860 --> 00:07:18.420 Western world to abolish slavery. And suddenly, 00:07:18.459 --> 00:07:21.939 you had this massive population of formerly enslaved 00:07:21.939 --> 00:07:25.779 Africans who were technically free, but economically 00:07:25.779 --> 00:07:27.879 completely destitute. And I'm assuming they were 00:07:27.879 --> 00:07:30.319 barred from a lot of formal housing or employment 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:32.560 options? Completely. They were pushed to the 00:07:32.560 --> 00:07:34.980 margins of society. So they began moving into 00:07:34.980 --> 00:07:37.100 these hillside settlements as well, alongside 00:07:37.100 --> 00:07:39.759 the soldiers. In fact, some of these early settlements 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:43.050 were referred to as Barros Africanos. African 00:07:43.050 --> 00:07:44.730 neighborhoods. African neighborhoods, yeah. So 00:07:44.730 --> 00:07:47.790 even before the term favela was officially institutionalized, 00:07:47.850 --> 00:07:51.209 you had this dynamic of poor citizens, often 00:07:51.209 --> 00:07:53.709 black citizens, being pushed out of the formal 00:07:53.709 --> 00:07:56.350 city. The sources are pretty clear on this. Even 00:07:56.350 --> 00:07:59.170 before the first official favela, the poor were 00:07:59.170 --> 00:08:01.269 being systematically pushed away from the city 00:08:01.269 --> 00:08:05.420 center to the far suburbs. But as the city densified, 00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:08.399 people needed to be close to their jobs. If you 00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:10.600 live three hours away, you can't work at the 00:08:10.600 --> 00:08:12.959 docks or clean houses in the South Zone. So they 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:15.959 had to get creative. They did. They started occupying 00:08:15.959 --> 00:08:18.139 the hills, which were considered too steep and 00:08:18.139 --> 00:08:20.819 difficult to build on by the wealthy and by real 00:08:20.819 --> 00:08:23.139 estate interests. It was a strategy of survival, 00:08:23.420 --> 00:08:26.180 pure and simple. And then comes the 20th century. 00:08:26.720 --> 00:08:28.959 We move from this relatively small settlement 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:32.240 of soldiers and former slaves to a massive societal 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:36.220 shift. What kicked that into high gear? Industrialization. 00:08:36.659 --> 00:08:39.840 Specifically, the era of Getulio Vargas in the 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:43.299 1940s. Vargas was this populist leader who drove 00:08:43.299 --> 00:08:46.340 a massive industrialization campaign. And this 00:08:46.340 --> 00:08:48.259 pulled hundreds of thousands of migrants into 00:08:48.259 --> 00:08:50.769 the federal district. which was Rio at the time. 00:08:50.830 --> 00:08:53.429 The classic rural exodus. Everyone moving from 00:08:53.429 --> 00:08:55.570 the countryside to the big city for a factory 00:08:55.570 --> 00:08:58.509 job. Exactly that. But there was a severe housing 00:08:58.509 --> 00:09:01.490 crisis in the 1940s. The city just could not 00:09:01.490 --> 00:09:04.529 build fast enough to accommodate everyone. Favelas 00:09:04.529 --> 00:09:07.250 began to explode in size, replacing tenements 00:09:07.250 --> 00:09:09.929 as the main type of residence for destitute cariocas. 00:09:10.029 --> 00:09:11.850 That's what we call residents of Rio. The pressure 00:09:11.850 --> 00:09:13.750 is building and building. And then the perfect 00:09:13.750 --> 00:09:17.210 storm hits in 1960. I know this one. The capital 00:09:17.210 --> 00:09:21.620 moved. Yes. In 1960, Brazil made the absolutely 00:09:21.620 --> 00:09:24.600 radical decision to build a new capital from 00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:27.820 scratch in the middle of the savanna, Brasilia. 00:09:27.899 --> 00:09:30.179 Right. The entire political center of the country 00:09:30.179 --> 00:09:33.820 moved out of Rio. This was a slow but steady 00:09:33.820 --> 00:09:36.909 death knell for Rio's industrial base. Industry 00:09:36.909 --> 00:09:39.269 and employment options just began to dry up right 00:09:39.269 --> 00:09:40.990 at the same moment that all these people had 00:09:40.990 --> 00:09:43.990 arrived looking for work. So you have mass migration 00:09:43.990 --> 00:09:46.769 into the city, but the jobs and the political 00:09:46.769 --> 00:09:49.230 power are simultaneously moving out of the city. 00:09:49.309 --> 00:09:52.309 That sounds like a recipe for absolute disaster. 00:09:52.809 --> 00:09:54.690 It left thousands and thousands of people completely 00:09:54.690 --> 00:09:57.250 stranded. They couldn't find work, so they couldn't 00:09:57.250 --> 00:09:59.210 pay rent in the formal city, and they didn't 00:09:59.210 --> 00:10:00.629 have the money to go back to the countryside. 00:10:00.909 --> 00:10:03.649 So they were stuck. Stuck. They remained in the 00:10:03.649 --> 00:10:07.029 favelas. Right there, physically next to the 00:10:07.029 --> 00:10:09.909 urban core, the city refused to extend sanitation, 00:10:10.190 --> 00:10:12.669 electricity or any services to them. They became 00:10:12.669 --> 00:10:15.169 invisible to the state, except as a problem that 00:10:15.169 --> 00:10:17.690 needed to be solved. And that leads us directly 00:10:17.690 --> 00:10:19.909 into how the government decided to deal with 00:10:19.909 --> 00:10:22.429 this problem. We're getting into the policy segment 00:10:22.429 --> 00:10:24.870 of our deep dive. And looking at the history, 00:10:25.049 --> 00:10:27.269 it really seems like the government's attitude 00:10:27.269 --> 00:10:30.470 just swung back and forth like a pendulum. It 00:10:30.470 --> 00:10:33.269 did. It's a pendulum between eradication on one 00:10:33.269 --> 00:10:35.830 side and upgrading on the other, with a whole 00:10:35.830 --> 00:10:38.070 lot of violence mixed in between. So where does 00:10:38.070 --> 00:10:39.990 it start? What was the first reaction? In the 00:10:39.990 --> 00:10:42.389 early 20th century, the prevailing view was what 00:10:42.389 --> 00:10:45.259 we might call hygiene politics. Which sounds 00:10:45.259 --> 00:10:47.080 ominous. It sounds like they were treating people 00:10:47.080 --> 00:10:49.740 like a virus or a disease. Well, that's not far 00:10:49.740 --> 00:10:52.559 off, honestly. Favelas were viewed by the elite 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:55.539 as these breeding grounds for disease and, quote, 00:10:56.220 --> 00:10:59.379 antisocial behavior. There was a deep, deep stigma. 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:01.320 Can you give us an example of that? Yeah, the 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:03.639 sources mention a legal case involving an emin 00:11:03.639 --> 00:11:06.899 named Elvira Rodriguez Marquez from a place called 00:11:06.899 --> 00:11:10.340 Morro de Cipriana. Her family actually had to 00:11:10.340 --> 00:11:12.700 take a slander case to court because the upper 00:11:12.700 --> 00:11:14.779 class essentially considered Favello residents 00:11:14.779 --> 00:11:17.620 to be devoid of honor simply because of where 00:11:17.620 --> 00:11:19.779 they lived. So it wasn't just that they were 00:11:19.779 --> 00:11:22.539 poor. They were seen as morally deficient, like 00:11:22.539 --> 00:11:25.340 their address defined their character. Precisely. 00:11:25.340 --> 00:11:28.679 And that stigma was then used to justify very 00:11:28.679 --> 00:11:32.419 aggressive action. The 1937 building code was 00:11:32.419 --> 00:11:35.399 the first time favelas were explicitly recognized 00:11:35.399 --> 00:11:38.019 in official documents. And that really marked 00:11:38.019 --> 00:11:40.879 the start of explicit targeted policy. And that 00:11:40.879 --> 00:11:43.539 policy become? By the 1960s and 70s, under the 00:11:43.539 --> 00:11:45.919 military dictatorship, the policy became one 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:49.559 of eradication. Which is a very clinical, polite 00:11:49.559 --> 00:11:52.539 word for bulldozing people's homes. That's essentially 00:11:52.539 --> 00:11:55.480 what it was. The stated goal was cleaning the 00:11:55.480 --> 00:11:58.090 city. especially in the wealthy South Zone where 00:11:58.090 --> 00:11:59.850 favelas were right next to luxury apartments. 00:12:00.190 --> 00:12:02.210 This was when you saw the forced displacements 00:12:02.210 --> 00:12:04.750 of hundreds of thousands of residents. They were 00:12:04.750 --> 00:12:06.769 moved to these massive public housing projects 00:12:06.769 --> 00:12:09.509 like Siddhartha to a city of God. Which, if you've 00:12:09.509 --> 00:12:11.250 seen the movie, you know didn't exactly turn 00:12:11.250 --> 00:12:13.789 into a paradise. But help me understand the logic 00:12:13.789 --> 00:12:15.950 here, or the flawed logic. If they were moving 00:12:15.950 --> 00:12:18.549 people from shacks on a hill to concrete apartments, 00:12:19.009 --> 00:12:22.090 why did it fail so spectacularly? On paper, that 00:12:22.090 --> 00:12:24.429 almost sounds like an upgrade. It failed because 00:12:24.429 --> 00:12:28.879 of two things. Location and community. The expert 00:12:28.879 --> 00:12:31.320 consensus in our sources is really clear on this. 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:34.440 These projects suffered from terrible planning 00:12:34.440 --> 00:12:36.460 and a total lack of investment. So they were 00:12:36.460 --> 00:12:39.120 built on the cheap. Very cheap. But more importantly, 00:12:39.240 --> 00:12:41.299 they took people out of their established communities 00:12:41.299 --> 00:12:43.679 where they had neighbors they knew, where they 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:45.980 had credit at the local store, where they had 00:12:45.980 --> 00:12:48.659 informal child care networks, and they dumped 00:12:48.659 --> 00:12:51.720 them in these isolated projects that had no infrastructure. 00:12:52.220 --> 00:12:54.379 And no way to get to work, I'm guessing. Exactly. 00:12:54.440 --> 00:12:56.740 No transport connections to where the jobs were. 00:12:56.879 --> 00:12:59.080 So now you have a concrete roof over your head, 00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:00.860 but you can't get to work. You don't know your 00:13:00.860 --> 00:13:03.019 neighbors. And the social fabric that helped 00:13:03.019 --> 00:13:05.580 you survive is completely torn apart. And so 00:13:05.580 --> 00:13:08.559 the projects themselves just decay. They disintegrated 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:11.659 into new favelas, but often much more violent 00:13:11.659 --> 00:13:14.480 ones because that social fabric was gone. By 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:16.700 the 1980s, the government finally realized this 00:13:16.700 --> 00:13:19.700 eradication strategy wasn't working. The favelas 00:13:19.700 --> 00:13:22.129 were just growing, not shrinking. So the pendulum 00:13:22.129 --> 00:13:24.789 swung back. OK, so what's on the other side of 00:13:24.789 --> 00:13:29.070 eradication? Upgrading. In the 80s and 90s, we 00:13:29.070 --> 00:13:31.929 see this major shift. This is the Favela Biro 00:13:31.929 --> 00:13:34.429 Program, right? I've read about that. Yes. Launched 00:13:34.429 --> 00:13:37.960 in 1993. The whole philosophy changed. Instead 00:13:37.960 --> 00:13:40.759 of destroying the slum, the idea was to bring 00:13:40.759 --> 00:13:43.100 the city to the slum. They started providing 00:13:43.100 --> 00:13:46.179 basic sanitation, social services, paving streets, 00:13:46.379 --> 00:13:49.200 and crucially, they tried to legalize land tenure. 00:13:49.379 --> 00:13:51.379 Which makes so much sense. If you give people 00:13:51.379 --> 00:13:53.460 official ownership of their land and a sewer 00:13:53.460 --> 00:13:55.419 line, they're going to invest in their own homes. 00:13:55.559 --> 00:13:58.220 It turns a squatter into a homeowner. That was 00:13:58.220 --> 00:14:00.960 the hope. It was a much more humane and, frankly, 00:14:01.080 --> 00:14:03.559 more effective approach. Oh, I sense a butt coming. 00:14:03.720 --> 00:14:06.019 There's always a butt. While the government was 00:14:06.019 --> 00:14:07.799 trying to build sewers and community centers, 00:14:07.960 --> 00:14:10.700 a new dynamic was taking over the streets, the 00:14:10.700 --> 00:14:14.100 international drug trade. By the 1980s, Rio had 00:14:14.100 --> 00:14:16.879 become a major transit point for cocaine destined 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:19.259 for Europe. And this completely changed the power 00:14:19.259 --> 00:14:22.120 dynamics inside the favelas. Eviction was no 00:14:22.120 --> 00:14:24.480 longer the main worry for residents. Now the 00:14:24.480 --> 00:14:27.059 main worry was violence. And this brings us to 00:14:27.059 --> 00:14:30.139 the modern era and the UPPs. I remember reading 00:14:30.139 --> 00:14:31.980 a lot about this, especially around the time 00:14:31.980 --> 00:14:34.659 of the World Cup and the Olympics, the pacifying 00:14:34.659 --> 00:14:38.419 police units. UPPs. This was another huge policy 00:14:38.419 --> 00:14:41.820 shift starting around 2008. The inspiration for 00:14:41.820 --> 00:14:44.240 it actually came from Colombia. Really? How so? 00:14:44.539 --> 00:14:47.159 Rio's governor at the time, Sergio Cabral, he 00:14:47.159 --> 00:14:50.639 visited President Alvaro Uribe in Colombia to 00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:53.139 see how they were handling security in the comunas 00:14:53.139 --> 00:14:56.019 of Medellin. He came back with this plan and 00:14:56.019 --> 00:14:58.320 managed to secure something like $1 .7 billion 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:01.679 to implement it in Rio. So walk us through how 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:03.879 a UPP actually works on the ground. It isn't 00:15:03.879 --> 00:15:06.100 just a regular cop walking a beat, right? From 00:15:06.100 --> 00:15:07.940 the news reports, it sounds more like a military 00:15:07.940 --> 00:15:10.879 invasion. It is a staged military process. Step 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:14.190 one involves the BOP. The elite police battalion, 00:15:14.210 --> 00:15:16.309 the guys in all black with the skull logo from 00:15:16.309 --> 00:15:18.629 the elite squad movies. Those are the ones. They 00:15:18.629 --> 00:15:20.549 enter the favela with heavy weapons, armored 00:15:20.549 --> 00:15:23.029 vehicles, helicopter support. Their job is to 00:15:23.029 --> 00:15:25.129 drive out the main gang leaders and seize the 00:15:25.129 --> 00:15:27.950 heavy drug caches. It is a full -blown combat 00:15:27.950 --> 00:15:30.629 operation. And once they've done that? Once the 00:15:30.629 --> 00:15:32.850 area is considered secured, step two begins. 00:15:33.210 --> 00:15:36.549 The BOP leaves and a permanent community policing 00:15:36.549 --> 00:15:39.830 unit, the UPP, is installed. These were often 00:15:39.830 --> 00:15:41.929 newly trained recruits who received a special 00:15:41.929 --> 00:15:45.049 bonus, maybe around $300 a month, to work in 00:15:45.049 --> 00:15:47.169 these high risk areas. But here's the nuanced 00:15:47.169 --> 00:15:50.629 question. Was the goal really to arrest every 00:15:50.629 --> 00:15:53.730 single low level drug dealer? Because that just 00:15:53.730 --> 00:15:56.679 seems impossible. That's the key point. Rio's 00:15:56.679 --> 00:15:58.899 security chief at the time, Jose Mariano Beltran, 00:15:59.000 --> 00:16:01.279 he stated pretty clearly that the main purpose 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:04.159 was to reclaim territory. Not to end the drug 00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:07.139 trade itself. Not entirely. The goal was to stop 00:16:07.139 --> 00:16:09.740 heavily armed men from ruling the streets with 00:16:09.740 --> 00:16:12.500 military grade weapons. It was about reestablishing 00:16:12.500 --> 00:16:14.600 the state's sovereignty, not necessarily ending 00:16:14.600 --> 00:16:17.279 every single drug transaction. So the big question, 00:16:17.500 --> 00:16:21.399 did it work? The results were. Complicated. Very 00:16:21.399 --> 00:16:23.379 complicated. Initially, yes, there were significant 00:16:23.379 --> 00:16:26.279 drops in homicide rates in the specific favelas 00:16:26.279 --> 00:16:30.000 that received UPPs. So some success? Some. And 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:31.799 there were other interesting political side effects. 00:16:32.759 --> 00:16:35.539 Journalists noted that in UPP areas, residents 00:16:35.539 --> 00:16:38.279 felt free to vote for a much wider spectrum of 00:16:38.279 --> 00:16:40.559 candidates because they weren't under the direct 00:16:40.559 --> 00:16:43.299 pressure of the local drug lords telling them 00:16:43.299 --> 00:16:45.419 who to vote for. But I'm guessing it wasn't a 00:16:45.419 --> 00:16:47.440 total victory or we wouldn't still be talking 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:50.419 about violence in Rio today. Not at all. The 00:16:50.419 --> 00:16:52.460 suspicion and distrust toward the police remains 00:16:52.460 --> 00:16:55.320 incredibly high, and a lot of critics called 00:16:55.320 --> 00:16:59.059 the whole project favela chic. Favela chic? What 00:16:59.059 --> 00:17:00.940 does that mean? They accused the government of 00:17:00.940 --> 00:17:03.179 only pacifying the favelas that were close to 00:17:03.179 --> 00:17:05.799 the wealthy tourist areas and the stadiums being 00:17:05.799 --> 00:17:08.980 built for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. 00:17:09.319 --> 00:17:10.859 So it was just for show, for the international 00:17:10.859 --> 00:17:13.720 media. That was the accusation, that they were 00:17:13.720 --> 00:17:15.500 just cleaning up the front yard while leaving 00:17:15.500 --> 00:17:17.759 the vast, sprawling favelas in the north and 00:17:17.759 --> 00:17:22.089 west zones to rot. And the reality today is pretty 00:17:22.089 --> 00:17:25.950 sobering. A 2020 report showed that over 1 ,400 00:17:25.950 --> 00:17:28.490 favelas are still under what's called parallel 00:17:28.490 --> 00:17:31.190 power. Meaning they're controlled by either drug 00:17:31.190 --> 00:17:33.470 traffickers or militias. Exactly. The state is 00:17:33.470 --> 00:17:35.670 still not in charge. Which is a perfect segue 00:17:35.670 --> 00:17:38.210 to what life is actually like inside. Because 00:17:38.210 --> 00:17:40.430 if the government isn't fully in charge, somebody 00:17:40.430 --> 00:17:42.910 else is. Let's talk about this parallel economy 00:17:42.910 --> 00:17:45.589 and the social structure that exists. It is a 00:17:45.589 --> 00:17:48.730 very harsh reality. In many of these favelas, 00:17:48.730 --> 00:17:50.910 you have this duality. You have the vast majority 00:17:50.910 --> 00:17:54.630 of residents who are just trying to survive working 00:17:54.630 --> 00:17:57.809 as maids, doormen, bus drivers, construction 00:17:57.809 --> 00:18:00.869 workers, and then you have the donos tomorrow. 00:18:01.339 --> 00:18:03.339 The owners of the hill. The owners of the hill. 00:18:03.400 --> 00:18:06.119 These are the drug lords or increasingly the 00:18:06.119 --> 00:18:08.740 militias. Okay, explain the militias. Because 00:18:08.740 --> 00:18:10.740 to an outsider, militia sounds like it might 00:18:10.740 --> 00:18:12.759 be a government thing or maybe a rebel group. 00:18:12.920 --> 00:18:15.319 But in Rio, it's something very, very specific. 00:18:15.500 --> 00:18:18.680 It is. And it's incredibly insidious. The militias 00:18:18.680 --> 00:18:21.819 are often composed of off -duty or retired police 00:18:21.819 --> 00:18:24.660 officers, firefighters, and prison guards. So 00:18:24.660 --> 00:18:26.759 agents of the state. Current and former agents 00:18:26.759 --> 00:18:29.009 of the state. Originally, they pitched themselves 00:18:29.009 --> 00:18:31.390 to the community as the anti -drug protectors. 00:18:31.470 --> 00:18:34.150 They would come in, violently kick out the traffickers, 00:18:34.210 --> 00:18:36.950 and sell themselves as the solution to lawlessness 00:18:36.950 --> 00:18:39.170 and the violence of the drug trade. But then 00:18:39.170 --> 00:18:41.509 they became the law themselves. Exactly. They 00:18:41.509 --> 00:18:43.109 started charging residents a protection fee. 00:18:43.529 --> 00:18:46.450 But it goes so much deeper than that now. They 00:18:46.450 --> 00:18:49.210 control the supply. of cooking gas canisters. 00:18:49.309 --> 00:18:51.849 They set up their own illegal internet connections 00:18:51.849 --> 00:18:54.289 and charge for them. They control the alternative 00:18:54.289 --> 00:18:57.309 transport vans. Wow. They operate a full -blown 00:18:57.309 --> 00:19:00.130 mafia -style protection racket that touches every 00:19:00.130 --> 00:19:02.910 aspect of daily life. So you're forced to trade 00:19:02.910 --> 00:19:06.349 a drug lord for a mafia don. In many cases, yes. 00:19:06.529 --> 00:19:09.549 And the violence is just as extreme, if not more 00:19:09.549 --> 00:19:12.470 so. Murder rates in Rio can exceed 40 per 100 00:19:12.470 --> 00:19:15.329 ,000 people. And it's much, much higher inside 00:19:15.329 --> 00:19:18.430 the favelas. The drug trade alone in some of 00:19:18.430 --> 00:19:20.410 these occupied areas is estimated to rake in 00:19:20.410 --> 00:19:25.250 something like $150 million per month. $150 million 00:19:25.250 --> 00:19:28.730 a month. It is a massive economic engine that 00:19:28.730 --> 00:19:31.910 is fueling this entire conflict. It's incredibly 00:19:31.910 --> 00:19:34.569 hard to stop a war that is that profitable. But, 00:19:34.589 --> 00:19:36.630 and this is so critical for our mission today, 00:19:36.829 --> 00:19:39.549 we absolutely cannot paint this picture as just 00:19:39.549 --> 00:19:41.650 criminals and victims. That's the exact stereotype 00:19:41.650 --> 00:19:44.230 we're trying to avoid. Absolutely. 99 % of the 00:19:44.230 --> 00:19:45.569 people living there are just working people. 00:19:46.039 --> 00:19:48.900 And I was genuinely surprised by some of the 00:19:48.900 --> 00:19:51.380 infrastructure statistics in the source material. 00:19:51.799 --> 00:19:54.420 It is not all cardboard shacks without power, 00:19:54.539 --> 00:19:56.779 is it? That's probably the most common misconception. 00:19:57.220 --> 00:20:00.859 If you look at that 2010 census data again, 99 00:20:00.859 --> 00:20:04.200 .7 % of favela households had electricity. Wait, 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:08.380 wait. 99 .7 % electricity. That's basically universal 00:20:08.380 --> 00:20:10.759 coverage. That's higher than some rural areas 00:20:10.759 --> 00:20:12.839 in developed countries. It is. Now, we have to 00:20:12.839 --> 00:20:15.039 be careful with that stat. It doesn't say if 00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:17.019 that electricity is legal or if it's a gado, 00:20:17.180 --> 00:20:19.319 which is an illegal hookup where they tap directly 00:20:19.319 --> 00:20:21.279 into the main grid. But the power is there. The 00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:23.220 connectivity is there. They have refrigerators, 00:20:23.259 --> 00:20:25.759 televisions, computers, internet. It's not a 00:20:25.759 --> 00:20:28.400 pre -modern existence. So what are the big infrastructure 00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:30.599 gaps then? The lagging indicator of the big, 00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:34.819 big problem is sanitation. Only 67 .3 % had proper 00:20:34.819 --> 00:20:37.220 sanitation connected to the main sewage system. 00:20:37.660 --> 00:20:40.420 So still a third of households don't. A third 00:20:40.420 --> 00:20:42.660 do not. And that's where the health issues come 00:20:42.660 --> 00:20:45.380 in. Which explains the disease risks. Exactly. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:48.359 Disease due to crowding and open sewage is rampant. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:50.200 And because so many of these communities are 00:20:50.200 --> 00:20:53.240 on steep, unstable hillsides, you have the constant 00:20:53.240 --> 00:20:56.099 physical risk of landslides. When it rains in 00:20:56.099 --> 00:20:59.240 Rio, it really pours and entire houses can literally 00:20:59.240 --> 00:21:01.960 slide down the mountain. It's an incredibly precarious 00:21:01.960 --> 00:21:04.579 existence. But despite all those risks, there 00:21:04.579 --> 00:21:07.220 is this incredibly vibrant culture. You really 00:21:07.220 --> 00:21:09.079 can't talk about favelas without talking about 00:21:09.079 --> 00:21:11.480 the music. It seems like the immense pressure 00:21:11.480 --> 00:21:13.640 of the environment creates diamonds in terms 00:21:13.640 --> 00:21:16.759 of cultural output. Absolutely. The favela is 00:21:16.759 --> 00:21:19.180 a cultural exporter. Just think of funk karaoke. 00:21:19.559 --> 00:21:22.339 It was born in these communities. The bales, 00:21:22.339 --> 00:21:25.900 funk, these massive, loud, intense dance parties 00:21:25.900 --> 00:21:28.339 are one of the few places in Rio where the social 00:21:28.339 --> 00:21:31.160 classes actually mix. And that sound has gone 00:21:31.160 --> 00:21:33.640 completely. global. And you have so many famous 00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:35.819 artists who came from there. You do. Artists 00:21:35.819 --> 00:21:38.619 like MC Naldo, Buchecha, the rapper MV Bill, 00:21:38.759 --> 00:21:41.180 who came out of City of God. And historically, 00:21:41.339 --> 00:21:43.319 you can't forget that the favela is the birthplace 00:21:43.319 --> 00:21:45.519 and the heart of samba. The very soul of Brazilian 00:21:45.519 --> 00:21:47.799 music. And it's not just music. There's projects 00:21:47.799 --> 00:21:50.799 like Favela Brass, a music school in a favela 00:21:50.799 --> 00:21:53.240 called Pararão that teaches kids brass instruments 00:21:53.240 --> 00:21:55.559 for free. There's this incredible resilience 00:21:55.559 --> 00:21:58.539 and creativity. And religion is shifting too, 00:21:58.720 --> 00:22:01.569 right? I, like many people, always... think of 00:22:01.569 --> 00:22:04.049 Brazil as the world's biggest Catholic country. 00:22:04.470 --> 00:22:07.210 Historically, yes, that's true, along with the 00:22:07.210 --> 00:22:10.049 very strong Afro -Brazilian traditions like Umbanda 00:22:10.049 --> 00:22:13.809 and Candomblé. But the modern trend is a massive, 00:22:13.849 --> 00:22:17.259 massive shift toward evangelicalism. Specifically, 00:22:17.259 --> 00:22:19.900 Pentecostalism. You see these tiny storefront 00:22:19.900 --> 00:22:22.279 churches popping up on every single corner in 00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:25.420 the Flamelas. Why the shift? What does a Pentecostal 00:22:25.420 --> 00:22:27.220 church offer that maybe the traditional Catholic 00:22:27.220 --> 00:22:29.819 church didn't? It offers structure and community 00:22:29.819 --> 00:22:33.200 in a very direct, hands -on way. These churches 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:35.619 provide a social safety net that the state completely 00:22:35.619 --> 00:22:38.240 fails to provide. Like what? They offer child 00:22:38.240 --> 00:22:40.220 care. They offer food banks. They offer rehabilitation 00:22:40.220 --> 00:22:42.759 programs for drug and alcohol addiction. They 00:22:42.759 --> 00:22:45.140 offer a very strict moral code that helps people 00:22:45.140 --> 00:22:47.420 navigate the chaos and violence of daily life. 00:22:47.759 --> 00:22:50.079 For many, it's a pragmatic choice as much as 00:22:50.079 --> 00:22:51.940 it is a spiritual one. It's just fascinating 00:22:51.940 --> 00:22:55.039 how the favela seems to be this incubator for 00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:57.519 everything. New music, new religious movements, 00:22:57.720 --> 00:23:00.440 new ways of organizing society when the old ways 00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:03.400 fail. It's a laboratory for urban survival. And 00:23:03.400 --> 00:23:05.200 that brings us to how the rest of the world sees 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:07.900 it because, let's be honest, for a lot of people, 00:23:08.059 --> 00:23:11.019 their only exposure to a favela is through a 00:23:11.019 --> 00:23:13.680 video game or a movie. That's the pop culture 00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:16.500 lens. Yeah. And it shapes perception so powerfully. 00:23:16.839 --> 00:23:19.119 I mean, I remember playing Call of Duty Modern 00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:21.619 Warfare 2. There's that famous hornet's nest 00:23:21.619 --> 00:23:24.079 mission. You're running through these chaotic, 00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:26.720 narrow alleys, checking rooftops, shooting at 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:29.880 militia members. It turns the favela into a literal 00:23:29.880 --> 00:23:32.359 battlefield maze. Right. Or you see it in Rainbow 00:23:32.359 --> 00:23:35.480 Six Siege or Max Payne 3. Video games almost 00:23:35.480 --> 00:23:38.519 always emphasize the tactical chaos of the environment, 00:23:38.759 --> 00:23:41.720 the verticality, the endless hiding spots. It 00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:44.519 reinforces this idea of the favela as a lawless 00:23:44.519 --> 00:23:46.470 war zone, almost devoid of civility. Civilians, 00:23:46.470 --> 00:23:49.309 just a playground for combat. And then, of course, 00:23:49.329 --> 00:23:51.549 you have the films. City of God is the big one. 00:23:51.730 --> 00:23:55.089 City of God from 2002 is arguably the defining 00:23:55.089 --> 00:23:58.210 text for outsiders. It portrayed the favela of 00:23:58.210 --> 00:24:01.569 the 1960s through the 80s, that brutal transition 00:24:01.569 --> 00:24:05.109 from unorganized crime to highly organized drug 00:24:05.109 --> 00:24:08.519 cartels. It's a cinematic masterpiece, but it 00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:10.920 is brutal. It terrified people. And then on the 00:24:10.920 --> 00:24:13.859 flip side, you get Elite Squad in 2007, which 00:24:13.859 --> 00:24:16.619 showed the police perspective, the B .O .P .E. 00:24:16.619 --> 00:24:18.539 going into these areas. Yeah, the B .O .P .E. 00:24:18.539 --> 00:24:20.859 perspective. And you even have older films like 00:24:20.859 --> 00:24:23.420 Black Orpheus from 1959, which was this beautiful 00:24:23.420 --> 00:24:26.859 romanticized vision or animated films like Rio. 00:24:27.059 --> 00:24:29.680 And Fast Five. We can't forget Vin Diesel and 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:32.200 his crew driving muscle cars through Rio. Although, 00:24:32.299 --> 00:24:34.980 fun fact from our sources, most of the Rio sequences 00:24:34.980 --> 00:24:36.869 in Fast Five were actually filmed in Puerto Rico. 00:24:36.990 --> 00:24:40.430 No way. Yeah. But narratively, it places the 00:24:40.430 --> 00:24:42.789 characters in Rios Covellas as a hideout. It 00:24:42.789 --> 00:24:45.049 kind of romanticizes the outlaw aspect of the 00:24:45.049 --> 00:24:46.990 space. It makes it look cool, dangerous, and 00:24:46.990 --> 00:24:49.670 free from the rules. This global fascination 00:24:49.670 --> 00:24:51.529 has led to something even more controversial 00:24:51.529 --> 00:24:54.349 than movies, though. Slum tourism. This is a 00:24:54.349 --> 00:24:57.529 really thorny issue. It's often called favela 00:24:57.529 --> 00:25:01.859 tourism, or more critically, poorism. Since the 00:25:01.859 --> 00:25:04.019 mid -90s, you've been able to take guided jeep 00:25:04.019 --> 00:25:07.519 tours through places like Rocinha and Santa Marta. 00:25:07.640 --> 00:25:09.559 I have to admit, I can see both sides of this. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:12.259 On one hand, it feels like a human zoo. You're 00:25:12.259 --> 00:25:14.559 paying money to go look at how poor people live, 00:25:14.680 --> 00:25:16.759 taking photos of their laundry, hanging out to 00:25:16.759 --> 00:25:19.539 dry. It feels incredibly invasive. That's the 00:25:19.539 --> 00:25:21.619 voyeurism argument, and it's a very valid one. 00:25:21.740 --> 00:25:24.740 There are huge concerns about treating poverty 00:25:24.740 --> 00:25:27.420 as a spectacle for wealthy tourists. But on the 00:25:27.420 --> 00:25:29.400 other hand... On the other hand... there is a 00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:32.220 legitimate economic argument. The Rio Top Tour 00:25:32.220 --> 00:25:34.599 project, which was actually inaugurated under 00:25:34.599 --> 00:25:37.319 the Lula administration, put government money 00:25:37.319 --> 00:25:39.819 into this. In the favela of Santa Marta, for 00:25:39.819 --> 00:25:41.900 example, they put up English signs, they built 00:25:41.900 --> 00:25:43.460 viewing stations, and they trained residents 00:25:43.460 --> 00:25:45.660 to be official tour guides. So if the money actually 00:25:45.660 --> 00:25:48.230 stays in the community, is it better? That's 00:25:48.230 --> 00:25:50.849 the goal. The good tours will often visit community 00:25:50.849 --> 00:25:53.589 centers or schools that are funded by the profits 00:25:53.589 --> 00:25:55.789 from the tourism. It allows tourists to interact 00:25:55.789 --> 00:25:58.529 with locals, to buy art from local artists, to 00:25:58.529 --> 00:26:01.829 buy food. It directly challenges the stereotype 00:26:01.829 --> 00:26:04.509 that these places are just no -go zones filled 00:26:04.509 --> 00:26:06.210 with criminals. It shows they're functioning 00:26:06.210 --> 00:26:08.589 communities. With families and businesses and 00:26:08.589 --> 00:26:12.009 schools, yes. But that line between cultural 00:26:12.009 --> 00:26:14.890 exchange and exploitation is very, very thin. 00:26:15.259 --> 00:26:17.160 It seems like everything about the favela walks 00:26:17.160 --> 00:26:19.519 that thin line. The line between legal and illegal, 00:26:19.740 --> 00:26:21.420 the line between danger and community, the line 00:26:21.420 --> 00:26:24.319 between the official city and, well, whatever 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:27.259 this is. And that really brings us to the synthesis 00:26:27.259 --> 00:26:29.819 of this whole deep dive. We started with a plant, 00:26:29.980 --> 00:26:32.579 a survivor plant that thrives in a harsh climate. 00:26:32.740 --> 00:26:35.420 And we've ended up with a massive, complex social 00:26:35.420 --> 00:26:39.160 structure that is, above all else, about survival. 00:26:39.420 --> 00:26:42.319 So let's unpack the so what here. Why does this 00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:44.200 matter to someone listening right now who lives 00:26:44.200 --> 00:26:47.720 in a suburb in Ohio or a flat in London? It matters 00:26:47.720 --> 00:26:51.400 because the favela is not an anomaly. It is not 00:26:51.400 --> 00:26:54.380 an accident of history. It is a mirror of what 00:26:54.380 --> 00:26:57.079 urbanization looks like when governments fail 00:26:57.079 --> 00:27:00.380 to plan for the poor. That core tension we've 00:27:00.380 --> 00:27:02.839 discussed, neglect versus resilience, is playing 00:27:02.839 --> 00:27:05.700 out in cities all over the global south. From 00:27:05.700 --> 00:27:08.440 the slums of Mumbai to the townships of Johannesburg 00:27:08.440 --> 00:27:11.279 to the informal settlements of Manila. The favela 00:27:11.279 --> 00:27:13.140 shows us that if the state doesn't provide housing, 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:16.180 people will build it themselves. If the state 00:27:16.180 --> 00:27:18.640 doesn't provide security, parallel powers will 00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:21.039 emerge to fill the vacuum. It's proof that a 00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:22.640 city is so much more than just what's on the 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:24.880 official map. Exactly. And I want to leave you 00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:27.779 and everyone listening with one final concept 00:27:27.779 --> 00:27:30.359 that was mentioned in our research. Favelization. 00:27:30.920 --> 00:27:32.579 That sounds like a process. It is a process. 00:27:32.740 --> 00:27:36.200 In 1950, about 7 % of Rio's population lived 00:27:36.200 --> 00:27:39.099 in favelas. Today, it's roughly 24 to 25%. A 00:27:39.099 --> 00:27:40.720 quarter of the city. A quarter of the entire 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:43.119 city. So despite the eradication policies of 00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:45.180 the dictatorship, despite the pacification policies 00:27:45.180 --> 00:27:48.339 of the 2000s, the favela is not shrinking. It 00:27:48.339 --> 00:27:51.660 is evolving. It is growing. That is a truly staggering 00:27:51.660 --> 00:27:54.359 statistic. One in four people in a city like 00:27:54.359 --> 00:27:56.740 Rio. So the final provocative thought is this. 00:27:58.039 --> 00:28:01.000 As our world becomes more and more urban, Are 00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:03.119 favelas an aberration that we will eventually 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:06.900 fix or solve? Or, looking at the sheer numbers, 00:28:07.220 --> 00:28:09.279 are they actually the dominant form of future 00:28:09.279 --> 00:28:11.299 city building? Are we looking at the problem, 00:28:11.519 --> 00:28:13.920 or are we actually looking at the only available 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:17.099 solution for millions of people in a deeply unequal 00:28:17.099 --> 00:28:19.700 world? That is a huge question to chew on. From 00:28:19.700 --> 00:28:22.019 a scratchy tree in Bahia to the future of global 00:28:22.019 --> 00:28:24.440 urbanization. I hope you enjoyed this deep dive 00:28:24.440 --> 00:28:26.880 into the favela. Thanks for listening, and we'll 00:28:26.880 --> 00:28:27.619 catch you on the next one.