Violence In Brazil

Popular culture and mainstream media has not been kind to favelas; films such as ‘City of God’ and ‘Elite Troops’ have consistently portrayed the Brazilian slum as a place of perpetual poverty, crime, and violence. To combat this limited, but dominant portrayal, the government of Brazil has increased police raids and drug crack downs in slums, as well as making efforts to potentially demolish and raze favelas. Without questioning the political, social, and economic needs to fix the slum, including stopping of violence and raising the standard of living for the poor, one should not dismiss the organic and highly social edifice of favelas that are almost never seen from the outside; shops, businesses, children, pets, and even tourists… there