[www-editoriales] Re: [www-features] urgency - propose - The far largest squatted highrise building of South America is under threat.

[Phoenix Rose]

I think the length is fine for the story, but you definitely need a  
shorter abstract...

ciao,

phoenix

On 09/02/2006, at 9:44 AM, pina en riseup.net wrote:

>
> hey phoenix
> thanks for the review.... and we have more stories to link...  
> hopefully
> some of them will be in english as well
> about the pic, we are looking for a good one... and a few hours me  
> or toya
> will send it to the list...
> i just have a problem with the size of the feature, i thinks it's too
> long. I'll try to work on it in a few hours...
>
> ciao
> pina
>
>> Hi Toya, everybody,
>>
>> Here's a version with tidied English. Hope I've got your sense of it
>> right. It still needs a headline and an image... and do you have a
>> link to a particular story to add to the bottom?
>>
>> phoenix
>>
>>
>> São Paulo - Brazil.
>>
>> South America's largest squatted highrise building is under threat.
>>
>> The "Prestes Maia", by far the largest squatted highrise building  
>> on the
>> South American continent, is under threat of eviction. With its 468
>> families, accounting for more than1600 previously homeless people,
>> including children, elderly and disabled, the building will  
>> shortly be
>> returned to its 'lawful' owner, Mr. Hamuche & Co., who in the last 15
>> years of 'ownership' accumulated a debt in municipal taxes of some 5
>> million reais (approx. 2.2 million dollars / 2.1 million euros),
>> which is more than
>> the building is worth. This enormous debt, together with long  
>> years of
>> abandonment, should well justify (even according to law) a claim for
>> the building to become public property by the local
>> municipality, but nevertheless
>> will be returned to its owner, putting hundreds of people back  
>> onto the
>> streets.
>>
>> The 468 families, united in the Downtown Roofless Movement (Movimento
>> sem
>> Teto do Centro or MSTC) of São Paulo, have lived in the 22-storey
>> highrise since 2002. The building had simply been closed down for
>> years and left in deplorable
>> condition, serving as shelter for rats and cockroaches, as is the
>> case of
>> many buildings in downtown São Paulo. The new residents cleaned out
>> tonnes of rubbish and litter (200 trucks to be
>> exact!), organized it, expelled drugs and other criminal bosses  
>> always
>> there to take advantage, turning it into an exciting and lively human
>> dwelling, .
>>
>> Last January 27th, the family's representatives met with the police
>> authorities in charge of the forthcoming eviction. During the
>> meeting, it was
>> made clear that the action will take place somewhere between the 15th
>> and
>> 21st of February -- an exact date was not given for 'strategic'
>> reasons -- and
>> that the troops will be 'prepared for the worst'.
>>
>> The families were advised to leave the precinct before the eviction
>> to avoid
>> unpleasant encounters, and when they asked where they were supposed
>> to go, the
>> answer was: 'to the streets or elsewhere'.
>>
>> This is the way the city government has acted during countless
>> evictions since
>> Mr. José Serra took office as major of the  largest Brazilian city,
>> in the
>> beginning of 2005. His project to 'gentrify' the city centre, largely
>> paid
>> for by international funds, based on expelling the low-earning  
>> families
>> and street dwellers, counts on the systematic employment of the
>> municipal
>> (Guarda Civil Metropolitana) and state (Polícia Militar) police  
>> forces.
>> This clearly shows the municipal and state authorities' attitude  
>> towards
>> the 'poor' and their movements: first criminalise them and then fight
>> and
>> persecute them, without mercy, expelling them to the sub-urban  
>> 'favelas'
>> or at the most to 'social housing projects', mostly even further out.
>>
>> The 'Prestes Maia' squat -- with its library, its workshops, its
>> educational, social and cultural activities -- in the last years  
>> turned
>> into a major laboratory of experiments in organizing a real human
>> renewal
>> of downtown São Paulo. People of all ages and upbringings, of all
>> Brazilian states and other nationalities, artists, students, work
>> together
>> to create a new understanding of how the city should and can work.
>>
>> Putting all these people back onto the streets, 'pulverizing'  
>> them, is a
>> maior crime! Support 'Prestes Maia'!
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "If you think you're too small to make a difference, try sleeping
>> with a mosquito" -- Dalai Lama
>>
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>>
>
>

--
"If you think you're too small to make a difference, try sleeping  
with a mosquito" -- Dalai Lama