In the Name of the Future, Rio Is Destroying Its Past

By THERESA WILLIAMSON and MAURÍCIO HORA

Indeed, the Rio Olympics are poised to increase inequality in a city already famous for it. 

No favela can claim greater historical importance than Rio’s first — Morro da Providência — yet Olympic construction projects are threatening its future. 
 In the name of Olympic improvements: almost a third of the community is to be razed, a move that will inevitably destabilize what’s left of it. 

 Homes are spray-painted during the day with the initials for the municipal housing secretary and an identifying number. Residents return from work to learn that their homes will be demolished, with no warning of what’s to come, or when. 

Combine this with the city’s “divide and conquer” approach — in which residents are confronted individually to sign up for relocation, and no communitywide negotiations are permitted — and resistance is effectively squelched.

 The economic, social and psychological impacts of evictions are dire: families moved into isolated units where they lose access to the enormous economic and social benefits of community cooperation, proximity to work and existing social networks — not to mention generations’ worth of investments made in their homes. 

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