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Latest News
  • [ June 21, 2025 ] ‘We’re Working at the Micro Level Because There Are People Destroying Things on a Macro Scale’: In Rio de Janeiro, ‘Green Roof Favela’ Engages Popular Culture on World Environment Day Civil Society
  • [ June 20, 2025 ] Get to Know ‘Gaia Space’, A Network of Women Fighting for Environmental Justice and Obstetric Dignity in Greater Rio de Janeiro *Highlight
  • [ June 10, 2025 ] Groundbreaking Oral History Project—‘Favela Climate Memory’—Launches Final Exhibition, Fostering Emotional Connection Between Climate, Nature and Community [Video] *Highlight
  • [ June 7, 2025 ] ‘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 *Highlight
  • [ June 5, 2025 ] ‘A Museology That Doesn’t Serve Life Serves No Purpose’: ‘Unconventional’ Favela Museums Lead First Seminar of Rio de Janeiro’s Social Museology Network *Highlight
Home“for the English to see”

“for the English to see”

Today, a “para inglês ver” (PIV) law, policy or project is one which, from the outside, appears to address a problem, but which in practice is merely a superficial change, a temporary fix or public relations exercise intended to appease community interests and appeal to domestic and international public opinion. It does little to benefit those it purports to help, either because implementation on a well-designed policy is poorly conducted and easily corruptible, or because it is actually designed for political motives rather than social or philanthropic ones. This situation occurs when public officials lack the genuine desire or political will to institute the necessary change, and is usually accompanied by an extensive PR campaign aimed at promoting the policy. To understand the history behind this expression, read http://bit.ly/1JWMh4H.

*Highlight

A Pyramidal Approach to Rio’s Favelas, Part 6: Bridging the Gap, Inclusion, Equity and Self-esteem

By Natalia Meléndez Fuentes • September 28, 2021

Clique aqui para Português This is the final article in a six-part series on the application of Meléndez’s Pyramid for Favela Upgrading to the city of Rio de Janeiro and its favelas. This pyramidal concept was conceived by the […]

*Highlight

If This UPP Were Mine: With an End to Pacification, Residents Dream of Reoccupying Public Spaces

By Luisa Fenizola • Translation by Habib Msallem • March 11, 2019

Clique aqui para Português While the failure of the Pacifying Police Unit (UPP) model had already been signaled years ago by residents, researchers, civil society organizations, and Rio’s violence and mortality rates, only in 2018 did […]

#InterventionWatch

Countdown to Brazil’s 2018 Elections, Part 3: Public Security and Military Intervention

By Luisa Fenizola • Translation by Arman Kazemi, Desirée Poets • March 3, 2018

Clique aqui para Português This is the third article in an ongoing series on the Brazilian electoral political scene in 2018. On February 16, President Michel Temer authorized a federal military intervention in Rio de Janeiro that […]

by Community Contributors

Street Cinema Club in Maré Exhibits Films ‘For the English to See’

By Juliana Portella • Translation by Sharonya Vadakattu • September 25, 2017

Clique aqui para Português Last Saturday, September 16, a Session of Short Films “For the English to See” took place in Vila do Pinheiro, in Complexo da Maré in the North Zone. During the event—named after […]

*Highlight

Three Reasons Charlottesville Could Happen in Brazil

By Lucas Smolcic Larson • August 24, 2017

Clique aqui para Português Over the weekend of August 12, the US city of Charlottesville, Virginia, played host to violent clashes between white supremacists attending a “Unite the Right” rally and anti-racist counter-demonstrators. Provoked by […]

Posts pagination

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RioOnWatch’s anti-racist reporting series won silver in the 2022 inaugural The Anthem Awards, in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion category among Best Local Awareness Programs.
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In May 2010, Catalytic Communities launched what was originally Rio Olympics Neighborhood Watch (hence RioOnWatch), a program to bring visibility to favela community voices in the lead-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics. This news site, RioOnWatch.org, grew into a much-needed and unique reference featuring favela perspectives on the urban transformation of Rio. With diverse and deeply interlinked articles by a mix of community reporters, resident opinions, solidarity reporters, international observers, and academic researchers, we work to engender a more accurate picture of favelas, their contributions to the city, and the potential of favela-led community development in Rio and around the world.

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Fundação Heinrich Böll Brasil
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Beto Paixão Graphic Design
Architecture Museum of Vienna
Yale School of Architecture

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