Get to know Raízes em Movimento: an institute that has been operating in Complexo do Alemão for over 20 years

The Raízes em Movimento Institute, located in Morro do Alemão, a part of the Complexo do Alemão neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro’s Leopoldina Zone, became the third group of the CEPDOCA Program on December 4, 2021. CEPDOCA stands for Centre for Studies, Research, Documentation, and Memory of Complexo do Alemão. During this event, there were also other activities going on. One of these was the “Vira Página” movement, which was a protest the price of cooking gas that involved more than 60 groups in the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area.

About Complexo do Alemão

According MultiRio, Complexo do Alemão was designated as a neighbourhood in 1993 by Law No. 2055. The neighbourhood is home to one of the largest clusters of favelas in Zona Leopoldina, Rio de Janeiro’s North Zone, but the main one is Morro do Alemão. The neighbourhood was built on the Serra da Miser´rcordia, and the name, Morro do Alemão, was given by a Polish immigrant named Leonard Kaczmarkiewicz, whom the locals referred to as “Alemão,” and has been used ever since.

The area was once considered a violent area in general, but since 2011, the government has been acting in the area through the UPP – Pacifying Police Unit, which has significantly changed the context of the area. In July of the same year, the Teleférico do Conjunto de Favelas do Alemão, the ultimate symbol of pacification, was built to connect the favela to other means of transportation in the city, and it attracted many tourists and even a visit from a former President, resulting in many changes for the residents, but it stopped working in October 2016 and is now abandoned. These actions were carried out as part of the PAC Favela – Growth Acceleration Program.

Interviews

Alan Brum is a university professor and the Coordinator of the Raízes em Movimento Institute, and David Amém is a graffiti artist, journalist, and the Raízes em Movimento Institute’s Communications Coordinator.

Alan Bum and David Amém, co-founders of Raízes em Movimento, give an interview and discuss the work of the Raízes em Movimento Institute below.

Neuza Nascimento: How did the Raízes em Movimento Institute was created?

Alan Brum: Raízes em Movimento was founded by a group of people involved in the community preparatory course for entering the university, as well as students from EJA- Teaching for Young People and Adults, where I taught. People born and raised in Morro do Alemo chose the name Raízes em Movimento.

Neuza Nascimento: What was the purpose of creation?

Alan Brum: The idea is to build bridges between us as we move around the city, creating connections and opportunities.

Nascimento Neuza: Can you tell me a little bit about the institute’s two axes of work?

Alan Brum: One of them is knowledge production, which includes research, data collection, and training processes. The other is Communication and Culture, where we created Favela DOC, which is audiovisual training. In addition to newsletters, bulletins, newspapers, and other social network media, we create annual events such as Circulando Dialogos and Comunicação de Favelas. We have a collection here in Complexo do Alemão, and all of these activities are part of a course, a programme called CEPEDOCA, Complexo do Alemão Documentation and Memory Research Centre.

Nascimento Neuza: Can you tell me more about this programme?

Alan Brum: CPEDOCA is a history and memory course about Alemão. It traces the history of the first occupation, which occurred more than a century ago, as well as the evolution of public policies, from the water source to the arrival of the PAC Favela – Growth Acceleration Program, passing through several other areas, discussing sanitation, and so on.

We held meetings to discuss the overall process of fighting for health within Complexo do Alemão, the construction of identity as an administrative region and, later, as a neighbourhood, and the role of women in social work within the favela. We discuss and debate the importance of producing data and conducting research on the complex. We also discuss the various local social organisations, the formation of Residents’ Associations, and other important facts such as everyday stories, games, Folia de Reis, June celebration parties, dances, and traditional carnivals. We discuss several topics that remind us of Complexo do Alemão.

Neuza Nascimento: What is the demographic of the students enrolled in this course?

Alan Brum: Residents of Complexo do Alemão and its vicinities, public school teachers, doctors from the Family Clinic, a psychologist from the Psychosocial Support Centre, and outsiders such as students were among the students. Many of the instructors in these courses are members of local social organisations, as well as local researchers.

Neuza Nascimento: What will happen to the product created during the course?

Alan Brum: We’re working hard to turn the content into a book that will be released in April 2023.

Neuza Nascimento: What is the goal of the “Vira a Página” movement?

Alan Brum: This movement happens because the numbers don’t add up. Inflation its high levels have caused an impact, the unemployed are countless, and the low wage is insufficient to cover basic expenses. A kitchen gas cylinder costs more than 100 reais, and the goal of this campaign is to get us out of this dead-end path and find a way to have a perspective of a better life.   The articulation starts here today and will spread to several favelas and the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro’s metropolitan region.

According to Davi Amém, the course began in May 2021 and ended in November. More than 100 students enrolled, with 40 of them graduating. People from other territories were assisted as well as residents, as it is understood that the content is of public utility. This course is part of Favela DOC, an audiovisual production project that Raízes has been working on since 2014.

We started with this project as part of a partnership funded by Victoria Deluxe, a Belgian institution, which came about through a sympathiser, a resident there, who came to Brazil, met Raízes, and was impressed with the projects developed at the time by the institute.

During the 2014 World Cup, a project called “Copa pra Alemão Ver” was carried out, benefiting six young residents of Complexo do Alemão and Penha. They learned how to film and edit. The project’s film examines the effects of the World Cup on the daily lives of residents of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas.

David continues: “Since then this project has been carried out approximately every two years. In 2017, with a small resource and many partnerships, Favela Doc happened again, this time with 15 young people, who, in addition to training in audiovisual and photography, produced the documentary “Quando Você Chegou, o Meu Santo já Estava.” This documentary tells some stories about Umbanda and Candomblé, with the participation of Zeladores and Zeladoras de santo, residents and still active Temples here.

Today we are graduating our third class. And, based on this course, we will produce another documentary, now, about the stories and memories of Complexo do Alemão. Many people are being interviewed, people who in some way participated here in Alemão in the political, social, militancy, protesting and public policy context, since the 1970s and 1980s. We are in the process of finalising this documentary.”

Below are testimonials from two CEPEDOCA graduates

“I took the course to gain new knowledge. It was an enriching course, although I already knew a little about the history of the favelas, I didn’t know much about Complexo do Alemão. It was very important to obtain the information received during the course”.

Vanessa, 39 years old, Social Worker, graduated from UFRJ – Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and primary school teacher.

“I participated in the Morro do Alemão history course in search of understanding this extremely important memory space, but persistently marginalised by Rio society. For me, the course has helped me to understand the richness of existing social initiatives here in Morro do Alemão and in nearby favelas such as Morro do Adeus, Manguinhos and Jacaré, where people are the resistance, making movements. The course served to connect these people, these groups that are seeking improvements to the territory through public policies, and for us to finally have dignity within our living spaces.”

Carlos Silva, a former resident of Complexo do Alemão, history teacher, teaches in public schools in Rio de Janeiro.

Complexo do Alemão is a complex of favelas located in the Penha, Bonsucesso and Ramos neighborhoods.

Follow Raízes em Movimento Institute on social media using the links below:

Instagram

Facebook

Click here to watch the Productions  “Copa Pra Alemão Ver” e “Quando Você Chegou o Meu Santo já Estava” and here for more information about  CEPEDOCA.