Latest News
- [ November 8, 2025 ] Victory Against Eviction! 200 Year-Old Horto Community Wins Battle to Stay After 40 Years of Resistance #EvictionsWatch
- [ November 7, 2025 ] Why the Pre-Electoral Opinion Polling Published Following Rio de Janeiro’s ‘Mega Police Operation’ Is Misleading #MediaWatch
- [ November 5, 2025 ] Rio de Janeiro’s ‘Award-Winning’ Mayor Hollows Out Benchmark Favela Climate Initiatives While Hosting C40 *Highlight
- [ October 31, 2025 ] Ancestral Wisdom and Community Ties Flourish in a Favela Community Garden: ‘Recovering Our Ancestry… Integrating with Nature’ *Highlight
- [ October 30, 2025 ] A Massacre! Rio de Janeiro’s Deadliest Police Operation Sparks Mourning, Fear and Outrage in the Favelas, Across the City, Brazil and Around the World Say #VoicesFromSocialMedia #UPPWatch
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Latest Articles
#EvictionsWatch
Victory Against Eviction! 200 Year-Old Horto Community Wins Battle to Stay After 40 Years of Resistance
Clique aqui para Português October 13, 2025 will go down in the history of Horto, in Rio de Janeiro’s South Zone, as the day when the community signed a historic agreement that ends the threat […]
#MediaWatch
Why the Pre-Electoral Opinion Polling Published Following Rio de Janeiro’s ‘Mega Police Operation’ Is Misleading
By Scott Salmon • November 7, 2025
On Tuesday, October 28, Brazil’s deadliest police operation resulted in over 120 people dead, leaving bodies behind wherever they fell, strewn for neighbors and families to retrieve, in the Alemão and Penha favela complexes of […]
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Rio de Janeiro’s ‘Award-Winning’ Mayor Hollows Out Benchmark Favela Climate Initiatives While Hosting C40
Clique aqui para Português November 5, 2025—Rio de Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes, like Brazil’s President Lula, has recently been recognized by TIME magazine as one of 100 Climate Leaders. Currently hosting the C40 World Mayors […]
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Ancestral Wisdom and Community Ties Flourish in a Favela Community Garden: ‘Recovering Our Ancestry… Integrating with Nature’
Clique aqui para Português The community of Parque Arará, one of the favelas that make up Complexo do Arará in Benfica, Rio de Janeiro’s North Zone, gathered on the morning of October 7 for a […]
#UPPWatch
A Massacre! Rio de Janeiro’s Deadliest Police Operation Sparks Mourning, Fear and Outrage in the Favelas, Across the City, Brazil and Around the World Say #VoicesFromSocialMedia
Clique aqui para Português This article is part of RioOnWatch’s ongoing #VoicesFromSocialMedia series, which compiles perspectives posted on social media by favela residents and community organizers about events and societal themes that arise. October 28, 2025, will […]
*Highlight
COP30 Must Engage With and Walk Alongside the Favela [OPINION]
Clique aqui para Português For the original article by Preto Zezé published in O Globo, click here. For an ecological transition to be just and effective, it must start where the State fails to reach—or […]
RIP ‘Subnormal Agglomerations’
#HousingWatch
Brazilian Government Formally Recognizes ‘Favelas and Urban Communities’ As the Official Term for Informal Settlements Nationwide
By Carmen Nery, IBGE press release, Vinícius Britto, IBGE press release • Translation by Hannah McKenzie • January 31, 2024
Clique aqui para Português For the original press release in Portuguese, published by Brazil’s census bureau, the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), click here. The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) is […]
Event Reports
RIP ‘Subnormal Agglomerations,’ Part 3: Peripheral Epistemology in the Design of the Census and Presentation of a New Nomenclature
Clique aqui para Português This is the final article in a series of three about how Brazil’s census bureau, IBGE, held an unprecedented week-long workshop to debate how to change the term “subnormal agglomeration” used […]
Event Reports
RIP ‘Subnormal Agglomerations,’ Part 2: Housing Rights and Favela Stigma in the Official Nomenclature
Clique aqui para Português This is the second article in a series of three about how Brazil’s census bureau, IBGE, held an unprecedented week-long workshop to debate how to change the term “subnormal agglomeration” used […]
Climate Memory in the Favelas
Public Schools in City of God Favela Engage Youth in Climate Education Through ‘Favela Climate Memory’ Exhibition
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In Rio das Pedras, Favela Climate Memory Exhibition ‘Changes the Way We See Our Own Sense of Belonging in the Favela’
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‘Favela Climate Memory’ Exhibition Circulates in Acari’s Emblematic Community Spaces
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Groundbreaking Oral History Project—‘Favela Climate Memory’—Launches Final Exhibition, Fostering Emotional Connection Between Climate, Nature and Community [Video]
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Sustainable Favela Network Launches Groundbreaking ‘Favela Climate Memory’ Exhibition on May 3, Kicking Off Museums Month [RELEASE]
Videos: Favelas 101
What is a Favela?
Favela as a Sustainable Model
What is a Favela Community Land Trust?
Videos: Human Rights
Rio de Janeiro Street Vendors’ Battle for Rights: My Informal Work Matters
Just One More Step on My Journey: Youth Talk About the Favela During the Pandemic
Quilombo dos Palmares: Living Resistance
Videos: Climate Justice
Favela on Outskirts of Rio Gets Solar! Grassroots Women’s Group & SFN Launch Photovoltaics
Favela Climate Memory Circles 2023—Voices from Maré, Rocinha, Antares, PPG and Vidigal
Get to Know the Course: ‘Researching and Monitoring Water and Energy Justice in the Favelas’
Housing Rights
#EvictionsWatch
Victory Against Eviction! 200 Year-Old Horto Community Wins Battle to Stay After 40 Years of Resistance
Clique aqui para Português October 13, 2025 will go down in the history of Horto, in Rio de Janeiro’s South Zone, as the day when the community signed a historic agreement that ends the threat […]
#EvictionsWatch
In Rio de Janeiro, Century-Old Communities on Governor’s Island Speak Out Against Threats of Forced Eviction by the Brazilian Air Force
Clique aqui para Português The possibility of forcibly evicting the Maracajás, Rádio Sonda, and Estrada do Galeão No. 92 favelas, located near the Tom Jobim (Galeão) International Airport where tourists visiting Rio land each day, […]
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Brazil’s Favela Community Land Trust Project Celebrates Seven Years Building a Movement Across Brazil
Clique aqui para Português The Community Land Trust is a model of collective land tenure that combines individual freedom with collective strength by separating land and home ownership. Originating in the United States in the […]
Anti-racism
#UPPWatch
Tenth Edition of ‘Black July’ Connects Rio Favelas and Palestinians Against State Terrorism
Clique aqui para Português On Saturday, July 5, the tenth edition of Black July took place at the Maré Museum, in the group of favelas that make up Complexo da Maré, in Rio de Janeiro’s […]
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‘Being a Black Woman Running a Museum Means Facing the Past, Eye to Eye… It’s Reparation in Motion’: Sinara Rúbia’s Full Speech at Brazil’s 1st Seminar on Anti-Racist Museums
Clique aqui para Português On Friday, May 30, Rio de Janeiro’s Museum of Tomorrow, located in the city’s Port Region, hosted the 1st Seminar of the Anti-Racist Museums Program. Co-organized by the New Blacks Institute […]
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Samba Abstrato Exposes the Whitening of Samba Schools [OPINION]
Clique aqui para Português Launched in 2016, the Samba Abstrato (Abstract Samba) Facebook page was created to document the appropriation and whitening of Brazilian carnival samba schools, as well as to confront the invasion of […]
Human Rights
#UPPWatch
A Massacre! Rio de Janeiro’s Deadliest Police Operation Sparks Mourning, Fear and Outrage in the Favelas, Across the City, Brazil and Around the World Say #VoicesFromSocialMedia
Clique aqui para Português This article is part of RioOnWatch’s ongoing #VoicesFromSocialMedia series, which compiles perspectives posted on social media by favela residents and community organizers about events and societal themes that arise. October 28, 2025, will […]
*Highlight
In the Favela of City of God, Pioneering Elderly Day Care ‘Casa de Santa Ana’ Has Fought the Isolation and Confinement of Seniors for 30 Years
Clique aqui para Português Established in 1988, initially to offer religious support to a group of 20 elderly residents of City of God, in Rio de Janeiro’s West Zone, Casa de Santa Ana (Santa Ana’s […]
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‘It Hasn’t Been 35 Days, It’s Been 35 Years’: Mothers of the Acari Favela Massacre Continue to Fight for Justice for Victims of Forced Disappearance
Clique aqui para Português On July 26, 2025, the Fala Akari Collective and the Mothers of Acari Movement held an event marking the 35th anniversary of the Acari Massacre and honoring the ongoing fight for […]
Energy Justice
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Understanding Energy Justice and Efficiency in Rio’s Favelas [VIDEO]
Watch the video that summarizes the Energy Justice and Efficiency Series with English subtitles here: Clique aqui para Português This article and the video above offer a summary and conclusion to the series ‘Energy […]
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Pedra Branca and the Energy Dilemmas of Rio’s Urbanization: From Charcoal to Electricity
Clique aqui para Português This article is part of a series on energy justice and efficiency in Rio’s favelas. It is also the latest contribution to our year-long reporting project, “Rooting Anti-Racism in the Favelas: Deconstructing […]
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Energy That Comes From Waste: Biodigester Turns Sewage into Biogas in Vale Encantado Favela [VIDEO]
Clique aqui para Português This English subtitled documentary is the latest contribution to our series on energy justice and efficiency in Rio’s favelas. It is also part of a series created in partnership with […]
Climate Justice
*Highlight
COP30 Must Engage With and Walk Alongside the Favela [OPINION]
Clique aqui para Português For the original article by Preto Zezé published in O Globo, click here. For an ecological transition to be just and effective, it must start where the State fails to reach—or […]
#InterventionWatch
‘When Man Wipes Out All the Rivers, He’ll See That You Can’t Eat Money.’ Heavily Polluted Waterways in Rio Favelas Paint a Picture of Persistent Neglect and Demise of Historic Fishing Community
Clique aqui para Português This article is part of a series created in partnership with the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies at San Diego State University, to produce articles for the Digital Brazil Project on environmental justice in the favelas […]
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Public Schools in City of God Favela Engage Youth in Climate Education Through ‘Favela Climate Memory’ Exhibition
Clique aqui para Português Following an enthusiastic reception during its tour through Maré, Acari and Rio das Pedras—favelas where it held a busy schedule of activities—the Favela Climate Memory exhibition has arrived in City of God, […]
Podcasts
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Between the Political Right and Left, I Choose the Quilombo! [OPINION]
Clique aqui para Português This article is the latest contribution to our award-winning reporting project, Rooting Anti-Racism in the Favelas: Deconstructing Social Narratives About Racism in Rio de Janeiro. We hear about “right” and “left” all the time. […]
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A Deeply Personal In-Depth Account of the Typical Racism of Domestic Work in Brazil
Clique aqui para Português This article is the latest contribution to our award-winning reporting project, Rooting Anti-Racism in the Favelas: Deconstructing Social Narratives About Racism in Rio de Janeiro. This story, told by writer and former domestic worker […]
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I Want To Read Black Authors: When Will We See Proper Representation in Brazilian Schools and Universities? [OPINION]
Clique aqui para Português This is our latest article in a series created in partnership with the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies at San Diego State University, to produce articles for the Digital Brazil Project on climate impacts and affirmative action in […]
From the Archives: 2010-2025
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#Rio2016In Both Brazil and the US, Black Men Are Killed While Black Women Fight Against Police Violence
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#CommunityMediaFifty Years Fighting for Water Regularization in Rocinha
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#UPPWatchPeace, Pacification and UPPs in the Favelas [IMAGES]
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#CommunityMedia“The Governor pacified Rocinha just as in Germany. The only thing missing was a gas chamber.”
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PerceptionsThe Baixada Fluminense on Twitter: An Analysis of News and Perceptions
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Civil SocietyAlemão Women Form Council to Support Community Mothers
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*HighlightBaixadaCine Film Club Looks to Turn Belford Roxo Into the ‘City of Love’ for Film
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#EvictionsWatchThe Port, Gateway to Rio, Part 1: The Historic Whitening
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#EvictionsWatchHorto Residents and Allies Hold Strategic Meeting to Resist Evictions
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by Community ContributorsProvidência Hosts Cultural Festival Featuring Local Capoeira, Theater, Cinema and Environmental Action Groups