Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Brazilian Embassy Visit

squatters of the world unite | 17.02.2006 00:11 | Culture | Free Spaces | Social Struggles | London | World

Braving the bitter cold, rain and even a brief hail storm, a dozen or so people turned up at the Brazilian Embassy in London on Thursday to show solidarity with the residents of Prestes Maia in Sao Paulo, Brazil....



It looked for a while like nobody would come. Some people thought that the demo should be cancelled when the news came in that the eviction of Prestes Maia had been postponed for at least two months. However, the call out for the demo had gone out on a radio show and it seemed impossible to cancel. Instead we decided that the demo would be both a show of solidarity and a celebration.

We had decided to call for demo for 1pm so that we could speak to people who work in the embassy as they came out for lunch and so that anyone who wanted to join the demo could do so during their lunch break. But typically, it was about half an hour latter that people actually turned up.

The idea had been for everyone to build cardboard boxes to build a shanty town outside the embassy symbolising the plight of people evicted for the sake of gentrification.In the event, nobody managed to bring any and the wind and rain would have made it impossible.

Instead we hung the one banner that had been prepared. We had decided that we wanted a fairly generic banner so it could be used again for a future demo. We choose 'Stop the Eviction' on the basis that we could use it when it comes round to our turn to face eviction. However, ironically, our generic banners was no longer appropriate in this particular case since the eviction had already been stopped!

Nether-the-less, the hung the banner and gathered around to take photos as a first step. We'd been there for about five minutes when the police arrived, two of them in a red car which apparently means they a 'diplomatic' police who deal exclusively with protecting the embassies.

The two tried to assert their authority, insisting that the camera was turned off and demanding to know who was in charge. Of course they were ignored and they buzzed around trying to make themselves important for a while.

Meanwhile, somebody came out of the embassy to talk to us, find out why we were there and what we wanted. We told him about the Prestes Maia eviction and asked to come inside to talk to somebody about it. We hadn't really planned this so it got a bit confusing and we ended up not going in at that point but instead got the contact details for the person at the embassy who deals with human rights issues.

We then starting playing the drums (would like to call it samba but three instruments don't make a samba band) and dancing. Two people started performing capaoeira moves and I grabbed some quick interviews with some of the people there.

At this stage the women from the political section of the embassy who deals with human rights issues returned from lunch and we were invited to go in to talk to her. Four of us followed her in an waited while she tried to find a room. We then explained why we were there and were pleased to discover that she knew of Prestes Maia as she had lived in Sao Paulo.

We talked for about a quarter of an hour and she told us that she would make sure that our concerns - that the Prestes Maia building should be left to those that had made it their home; that the building should become public property; that if the residents must be moved out then they should be provided with decent housing; and finally that if evictions became necessary then it should be handled in such a way that the police don't end up killing anyone in the process.

For what it's worth, we were told that our concerns would be passed on to the appropriate officials in Brazil. Whether that is true or not is perhaps irrelevant as our primary concern was to express solidarity with the squatters of Sao Paulo rather than communicate with the oppressors. But if our message really does get passed onto the Brazilian government then that is no doubt a good thing in terms of adding to the political pressure that might ensure a positive outcome for the residents of Prestes Maia and the ongoing fight for housing and dignity everywhere.

We left the embassy in high spirits and our little group of people, who had come together this one time for this one purpose, quietly dissolved back into the anonymous streets of London.

squatters of the world unite

Additions

Some photos from the begining of the demo

17.02.2006 00:37







Here are some photos from todays demo outside the Brazilian Embassy in solidarity with the residents of the Prestes Maia squat in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

I would have uploaded these much earlier via the tr(((i)))cycle but sadly there were no open wifi nodes available outside the embassy and when the demo finished I just had to eat and then had to get home to put on a film screening, so.... here they are, finally.... video to follow.

then I forgot to take more photos as usual


Stills from video

17.02.2006 15:24

Thinks he is special because he drives a BMW?
Thinks he is special because he drives a BMW?

Together we are stronger
Together we are stronger

Gymnastic fantastic
Gymnastic fantastic

Capaoeira or violent outbursts at embassy protest?
Capaoeira or violent outbursts at embassy protest?

"You put your left leg in, your right leg out"
"You put your left leg in, your right leg out"

"Did you know the Brazilian Embassy offers samba classes?"
"Did you know the Brazilian Embassy offers samba classes?"

"How many people does it take to form a band?"
"How many people does it take to form a band?"

"Who's nicked my drum?"
"Who's nicked my drum?"

Carnivalista!!!
Carnivalista!!!

"in, out, you shake it all about"
"in, out, you shake it all about"

The Bossa Nova Two Step
The Bossa Nova Two Step

Hello, hello. What's this then?
Hello, hello. What's this then?

Pest control?
Pest control?

"I'll make sure your concerns are passed on to Brazilia"
"I'll make sure your concerns are passed on to Brazilia"

Green Street near Marble Arch briefly experienced a short tropicáliation of protest as a tiny samba band provided the beat for carnivalesque costumed dancing and capaoeira. The colouful gathering was to celebrate the cancelation of the eviction of almost 2,000 people from a maasive squatted factory in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The damp and windy London weather ruined plans to erect a cardboard favelas outside the Brazilian Embassy but failed to dampened the spirits of those who came to show their solidarity with the families of Prestes Maia.

r2r


Video of soildarity demo now uploaded.

25.02.2006 08:04

Nine minute video available now along with english transcripts for anyone wanting to translate it.

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/02/334457.html

R2R


Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech