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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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Chris Michael, Ana Aranha, Elle Hunt, Nick Van Mead, Ana Terra Athayde, Anna Sophie Gross, Sam Cowie, Flavio Forner, Dom Phillips and Jonathan Watts in São Paulo

Guardian Cities: Live from São Paulo's occupations

The occupation of MTST, the homeless workers’ movement of São Paulo
Bullets have reportedly been fired from the towers at the residents of the Povo Sem Medo tent city occupation in São Paulo. Photograph: Flavio Forner

Até breve

It’s coming up to 6.30pm here in São Paulo, and it’s time to conclude our live coverage from the city’s occupied buildings, and day one of Guardian Cities’ São Paulo Live.

Thank you for sharing with us your thoughts and feelings about our coverage so far – we hope you agree, it’s been a great start to the week.

Of course there is plenty more to come – on water, transport, indigenous land rights, labour, culture and more from Cracolândia, among other aspects of this fascinating megalopolis. Check back in the coming days, and let us know what you think on the hashtag #GuardianSaoPaulo; emailing saopaulo.week@theguardian.com; or chatting with our journalists.

And if you happen to be with us in São Paulo, do come along to our event in the Copan on Thursday – details here.

To quote a paulistano reader: “Sao Paulo never, ever stops” – but this live blog does. Thanks for following along – até breve.

Green space invading grey

I am at the Green Corridor on 23 de Maio, covering a different type of occupation – that by greenery, of grey urban space.

Movimento 90 have been covering São Paulo with plants since 2014. The project has several benefits, including reducing pollution, lowering temperatures and improving acoustics – not to mention its aesthetic appeal.

Another one of its spaces is the Minhocão, where vertical gardens stretch up skyscrapers.

The project, started under the government of Haddad, finances each green occupation with fines collected for environmental breaches. The space on 23 de Maio was given the green light by Doria, who is continuing the initiative.

It’s important to note that WHO recommends 12.8 sq m of green space in cities, per member of the population. São Paulo has 2.5.

A constitutional right

“We just want what is guaranteed to us via the constitution,” says Janice “Preta” Ferreria Silva, 32, a general coordinator at Occupation Hotel Cambridge. As the name suggests, it was once a hotel, owned by a powerful Sao Paulo family.

It had been standing empty for ten years when housing activists occupied it in 2012. Today it is home to 120 low income families, many of them immigrants from Syria, Angola and elsewhere.

In Brazil the right to housing is enshrined in the country’s constitution, though in practice it is rarely respected. Brazil has a housing deficit of more than six million. Occupiers can win the rights to land or property, providing the property or land is unproductive, abandoned or owes back taxes to the municipal government.

Last year, after five years of struggle, the occupying residents of Hotel Cambridge won the right to the property. Their fight was the subject of the 2016 documentary Era o Hotel Cambridge.

Updated

'People look at you like they despise you'

Allan de Oliveira, 28, and his partner Cristina Ribeiro, 23, came to Mauá today to interview for a place in a bigger occupation nearby, at the Prestes Maia building. They have been sleeping rough on Marechal Deodor Square for the past month, after de Oliveira lost his job as an administrative assistant and they were evicted.

“It was horrible. The rain soaks everything, your things get stolen,” de Oliviera said of being homeless. “People look at you like they despise you, as if you are garbage.” Some NGOs did help, Ribeiro added, by giving them clothes.

De Oliveira, who is from São Paulo, has found work as a ju-jitsu teacher in the centre. Ribeiro moved from João Pessoa in Paraíba state to become a model, and has already registered with an agency.

“This is the centre for fashion,” she said.

'Give the houses to the people'

The São Paulo city government should give empty properties to homeless people, said Natália Almeida, 29, who lives with her husband and three children in the Mauá Occupation.

“Many people on the streets, and many empty buildings. Give the houses to the people. That’s the least they could do.” In many cases, she added, the owners of vacant buildings don’t even pay local taxes, even as they insist on market rents to sell them.

Almeida, her daughters Kaillani, 15, and Emanuely, 2, and her son Ryan Gabriel, 9, live on the salary her husband Emanuel, 29, a driver, brings home. Before moving to Mauá nine years ago they lived in a Brazilian tenement called a curtiço, or pensão, and shared a tiny room and a bathroom with many other families.

At Mauá, they pay a “contribution” of $62 a month for a one-room apartment at the bottom of the building, one of the few in the occupation with a bathroom. “I am going to stay here, if God wills,” she said.

Like many of the 1000-odd families living in Mauá, the Almeidas are Evangelical Christians. But that does not mean they plan to vote for Evangelical or conservative candidates in next year’s presidential elections.

“I would vote for Lula,” she said. “In our house we are all Workers’ Party.”

'It wasn't us who damaged public space'

I visited the antiga Casa da Moeda (“House of Coins”) – an old mint, as you can tell from the facade. It was occupied at the end of October in a spate of nine occupations of buildings in the city centre.

The other eight have since been disbanded by police operations, using gas bombs and bats.

The mint is the only one that survives today, with 40 families living there.

João Batista, 33, is one resident. He was living at Avenida São João 601 when it was disbanded last month, and was briefly imprisoned as a result of the police operation.

“It wasn’t us who damaged public space, it was the police when they tore down the doors to enter,” he says.

The Copan: 'beyond trendy'

One of the pieces I’m most looking forward to reading this week is Jon Watts’ report on retiling the Copan: one of the largest and most iconic buildings in Brazil.

Designed by Oscar Niemeyer, it is often likened to a city within a city.

'I got used to São Paulo, and I stayed'

João Bento de Lima, 60, has lived in the Mauá Occupation since it began ten years ago. The community had been braced for eviction last week, before the city government announced it was buying the building and they could stay.

“I can tell you it was the beauty of God and the struggle of the people who work here,” he says.

De Lima was born in Natal in Rio Grande do Norte state in the north-east of Brazil, traditionally one of the country’s poorest regions. While working in a furniture factory there, he heard that the construction company building São Paulo’s international airport was hiring.

He moved to the city and got the job. De Lima went on to help build the São Paulo metro; today he works as a doorman. “I got used to São Paulo, and I stayed,” he says.

De Lima had met an American once before, but he had never before spoken with someone from the UK – or, as it is known in Brazil, Inglaterra (apologies to Scotland, Ireland and Wales).

Adenor Bacchi, the Brazilian soccer coach best known as Tite, had recently praised England in a television interview, he notes.

From the feirinha

Every morning from 1am to 7am, millions of garments change hands at a secretive “dawn market” in downtown São Paulo – the largest informal market in Latin America.

The night market in the Brás district in São Paulo
The night market in the Brás district in São Paulo Photograph: Flavio Forner

Behind the racks of thousands of Minnie Mouse and Calvin Klein t-shirts, we found an underworld of sweatshops, where immigrants toil away in conditions akin to slavery and a local mafia profits from the use of public space.

We met 18-year-old Leidi Laura, sporting stylish eyeliner, taking a nap on a pile of tank tops at 2am. Does the feirinha wear her out? “It’s not bad,” she said, “better than hiding behind a sewing machine.”

Leidi was especially happy about her recent promotion to the “sales department” of the family’s small venture.

Repórter Brasil’s investigation into conditions at the market will run later this week.

Updated

Doria refuses to rule out presidential bid

Earlier this afternoon Jon Watts and Dom Phillips met with São Paulo’s mayor, João Doria. Their wide-ranging interview will appear in stories still to come this week, but they tweeted some highlights below.

Doria told Jon and Dom that there had been no cuts to education spending – which raised Dom’s eyebrows at least. You’ll find out why in his forthcoming feature.

But one topline for now?

Doria has refused to rule out running for president next year. Brazil needs a centrist candidate, he told the Guardian.

Your feedback so far

Many of our roving reporters are apparently caught in traffic jams, compounded by sudden rainfall – not for nothing is São Paulo known as the city of drizzle.

It seems an opportune moment to hear from some of our readers.

Cracolândia has, unsurprisingly, proved especially shocking to readers outside of Brazil, with The Wire’s Hamsterdam proving a crude frame of reference for those of us who can’t begin to comprehend what life may be like in this community.

A reader, Marcelo, shared this paulistano perspective on Twitter.

Guardian reader Istvan singled out the final paragraph of Sam Cowie’s report.

User avatar for Istvan Solihull

the last point here is so touching . heartbreaking , if you think about it : ..."....Crackland's main appeal is its community feel ----we are like a family of the excluded"

Beneath this blog, another reader remarked on the spirit of camaraderie apparent in the occupations.

User avatar for CaptOchre

The best thing is the warm camaraderie of people inside the camp who are working for each other,” said Joana Nunes, who describes the occupation as a symbolic cry for help by people who lack access to decent housing, healthcare and education.

And yet many in the UK who have access to decent housing, healthcare and education do absolutely nothing to help anyone.

Marcelo’s follow-up point also seemed pertinent:

Let us know what you think of our coverage so far in the comments; by using the hashtag #GuardianSaoPaulo, or emailing saopaulo.week@theguardian.com.

Avenida São João 588

There are two occupations in Avenida São João: buildings number 288, and 588. Ana Terra Athayde is there this afternoon, talking to residents and coordinators.

588 is the former Columbia Palace Hotel. It had been closed for 27 years when it was occupied in October 2010. Today 81 families live there – 225 residents total, including 38 children. Here are some of their portraits.

The Columbia Palace Hotel occupation is known for its lively schedule of cultural activities, organised by and for its tight-knit community. It hosts capoeira, theatre, language classes and movie nights for its residents – there’s even a library.

Updated

Taming ‘the worm’

“I remember when our street had trees on it. It was so nice,” 91-year-old Elca Cartum told me as she sat in her living room, metres away from the incessant stream of cars and trucks on the elevated highway which passes right outside her window.

In the late 1960s Brazil’s military dictatorship decided São Paulo needed an elevated highway to help link the east and west of the city. So began the largest infrastructure project in South America at the time, and the result was the Elevado Presidente Costa e Silva, named after a key figure in the military government. It has since been renamed, but everyone knows it as the Minhocão – after a giant mythical worm which roams the forests of South and Central America.

“As soon as they built it many of our neighbours moved away,” Elca recalls, but her husband wanted to stay near his dental surgery downtown, and the children were settled at school. “Once most of them had left it was too late for us. The price had fallen too far and we couldn’t make up the difference if we moved anywhere else. It was a sad time.”

But on Saturday afternoons, all day Sunday and weeknights, the highway is closed to cars and the residents take over. People skate, run, ride bikes, play football … Another kind of occupation by the people of São Paulo.

The Minhocão on a sunny Saturday
The Minhocão on a sunny Saturday. Photograph: Nick Van Mead

How women took charge

Irene Guimarães, who hosted us at Occupation Esperança, told us that the community is led by women – first out of necessity, as men worked during the day, and then because of the strength of their relationships. This video was again shot by Ana Terra Athayde.

Psychotherapy in the park

Praça Roosevelt, a square boxed in by high-rise apartments in downtown São Paulo, was a hub of quiet activity on Saturday afternoon. Dog walkers, skateboarders and students sheltered from the 30C heat, and dotted along the perimeter, pairs of people sat facing each other in striped beach chairs, deep in conversation. Prominently displayed on an easel, a sign read “ATENDIMENTO: Publico. Individual. Gratuito.”

For four hours every Saturday, about 10 psychotherapists volunteer to provide free analysis for São Paulo residents. Between them, they see about 30 people each week, such as Djanira Carvalho, who came on the recommendation of her yoga teacher. She had seen a therapist for 20 years, but was now looking for different support. “I’m going through a moment in my life where I need help.”

Adriana Marino, a psychotherapist, said many people who sought the services of the Clínica Aberta (“Open Clinic”) had seen private practitioners in the past, but could no longer afford to do so. “Psychoanalysis shouldn’t be exclusively available to people who can afford treatment,” she said.

High rates of unemployment in São Paulo seemed of particular cause for concern, she said, as well as political upheaval in Brazil. “Psychoanalysis has something to do about this. I think it’s a way that we can hear the impact of this sociopolitical context.”

The view over Crackland

Elle Hunt and Anna Sophie Gross spent the morning in Cracolândia, an occupation of a different kind. This is an open-air drugs market where hundreds of people live, buy and smoke crack.

Cracolândia, the open-air drug market in downtown São Paulo, Brazil.
Cracolândia, the open-air drug market in downtown São Paulo, Brazil. Photograph: Joel Silva/Folhapress

People this morning are lighting up and smoking fresh pipes, likely handed out by health workers to mitigate the dangers of pipe sharing.

No one seems to care that they can be seen by passers-by and police.

Although most are men, we can also see young children and women in the heart of the “flux” – the tented area where addicts buy from dealers.

Public officials wearing blue and green jackets mill around the periphery, offering health and documentation support.

It’s too dangerous to film from close, so we climbed to the top of the Culture Ministry building and filmed from the clock tower, which offers amazing views of the whole region.

Read Sam Cowie’s exclusive report on Crackland’s incredible imperviousness here:

Updated

Bullets raining down on Tent City

Last night hundreds of tents were damaged and paths turned to mud as São Paulo’s biggest land occupation was battered by some of the heaviest rains of the year.

Residents of the Povo Sem Medo (People Without Fear) camp in São Bernardo do Campos district said, however, that soaked bedding and dirty shoes were relatively minor problems compared to the hardship of living on the streets and the prejudice they have faced from neighbours – some of whom have shot down at them from nearby tower blocks.

One man was hit in the arm and another grazed on the leg by bullets a couple of months ago, according to organisers from the Homeless Workers Movement.

The incident is a sign of the unease stirred up by the camp of 5,000-10,000 tents that has been erected over the past few months on an empty plot of land owned by a construction company.

“The worst thing about living here is the hostility of the neighbours. The best thing is the warm camaraderie of people inside the camp who are working for each other,” said Joana Nunes, who describes the occupation as a symbolic cry for help by people who lack access to decent housing, healthcare and education.

The high number of tents is somewhat misleading. The vast majority are empty placeholders for people who live elsewhere but come to register their support and their desire for better homes.

But there are several hundred permanent residents, many of whom have harrowing personal experience of life on the streets.

Elizabeth Rodrigues lives here with her husband and their 16-month-old daughter after being thrown out of her mother’s home. Their tent is tiny. There is barely enough space for a bed. But she says it is much better than the truck where they used to sleep. “It’s warmer and drier and better for the baby,” she says.

But it is not a proper home, which is what she and the other residents are campaigning for through their occupation of this land.

Guardian Cities is based this week at the offices of Repórter Brasil. Here is chief reporter Ana Aranha:

Repórter Brasil has joined the effort to unearth São Paulo’s hidden stories with the Guardian Cities team, who are using our office as headquarters. Since 2001, our nonprofit has been investigating international supply chains that connect the world consumer market with Brazil’s deep-rooted problems, such as slave labour and the indiscriminate use of pesticides.

In fact, this morning Repórter Brasil is releasing a story on pesticides that are banned in the EU, but largely allowed in our country – the world’s largest herbicide consumer.

Later this week with Guardian Cities we will also publish an expose of the illegal “Night Market” run by slave labour, and a report on how the city’s indigenous community fought back by seizing a TV tower.

And we kick off today with our own Leonardo Sakamoto’s impassioned view on how inequality divides the landscape of the city:

Inequality – mapped

Informal settlements in São Paulo are concentrated at the margins.
Informal settlements in São Paulo are concentrated at the margins. Photograph: Guardian Graphics/Rede Nossa São Paulo

São Paulo is a city of extremes, and the stark differences between the generally wealthier inner core and the poorer periphery are clear in the Map of Inequality 2017 created by Rede Nossa Sao Paulo.

The NGO says not much has changed fundamentally for the city’s 12 million residents since it started collating data for its annual report five years ago.

You can see more maps here on teen pregnancies, favelas and average age of death.

Updated

Get involved!

By the way, whether you are in São Paulo or elsewhere, we would love to hear from you – not only about your experiences of the city, but what you think of our reporting. Though we cannot host comments in Portuguese on site, there are several ways you can engage with us in both Portuguese and English:

Please get in touch!

Today's papers in São Paulo

Sao Paulo has a thriving newspaper market, and the headlines across the city’s papers today tackle a range of issues.

For many Paulistas, the biggest news of the day (year?) will be that much-loved football team Corinthians lifted the cup of the Brazilian championship yesterday, for the seventh time.

In politics, after much hype last week, TV presenter Luciano Huck announces that he will not run as a presidential candidate next year when Brazil holds general elections.

Elsewhere, in midst of economic recession, Senators increase expenses for private jets, government pushes for controversial pension reform talks, rubbish floats in Sao Paulo periphery reservoirs, armed robbery at shopping mall in city’s East Zone causes panic ... and half of old people have sex, according to a poll.

Updated

Occupation Esperança ("Hope")

On the outskirts of São Paulo, about a 40-minute drive from downtown, is Occupation Esperança, an informal settlement of about 500 families.

With grand brick homes neighbouring wooden shacks, it’s still under construction following a major fire last September – a blaze that erupted just as the community was preparing its bid for official government recognition.

Video journalist Ana Terra Athayde filmed this short clip with Irene Guimarães, an activist and leader within the community.

Inside Tent City

Welcome to the Povo Sem Medo (People Without Fear) land occupation in the São Bernardo district of São Paulo.

In a field abutting a row of skyscrapers are thousands of tents owned by people affiliated to the MTST (Landless Workers Movement). Life here is never easy, but it’s particularly tough in heavy rain – although the clouds are clearing now.

Updated

Welcome to São Paulo!

Bom dia, Paulistanos! Tudo bem?

Guardian Cities is live in the great megacity of South America, reporting all day long from the front lines of what is a truly remarkable phenomenon: São Paulo’s hundreds of occupations.

These acts of resistance take many forms: working folk who take up residence in vacant office towers to be closer to their jobs; homeless people living in makeshifts huts on public land; and militant housing activists reclaiming unused territory while inviting rock stars and politicians to address their thousands of followers.

Our correspondent Jonathan Watts is visiting what is perhaps the most impressive occupation of all: the awe-inspiring, 8,000-strong “Tent City” of Sem Medo, where Brazilian musician Caetano Veloso and firebrand leftist former president Lula have made appearances – and where it is has been pouring down rain all morning...

Updated

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