The smell of urine perforates throughout the town of unstable wooden shacks. Garbage clutters the corridors; which are prime locations for any drug dealer or thief. Wild dogs roam the streets eating whatever scraps they can find and leaving behind any remains. The tourists who flock to this city are warned repeatedly to not venture into these ramshackled areas and to make sure to not stop their vehicles at night, for fear of theft. No, this is not a description of LA in a new John Carpenter film, this is Rio de Janeiro.
There is no other city that highlights the great disparity in wealth that we see in our world better then that of Rio. There are over 800 favelas positioned on the outskirts of the city that house an estimated 20 percent of Rio’s 6 million people. These are large, sprawling communities that do not have running water, indoor plumbing, sanitary living conditions, education, or protection from crime. The poverty is out of control in Rio and the rest of the world is ok with it.
In order to prepare for the 2016 Summer Olympics city officials have decided to erect a 3 meter tall wall around some of the larger and more prominent favelas. One of these happens to be the town of Santa Marta. Click here to watch a video.
The reasons given by the government for erecting this wall have absolutely nothing to do with security or with separating the poor from the rich. They are claiming that this wall is being erected in order to protect the dwindling Atlantic rainforest, a truly noble cause. I am all for protecting the environment; in fact I had hoped Brazil would have done the responsible thing and stopped clear cutting their rainforests years ago. But they did not and do not have an affinity when it comes to caretaking and their ecological system.
Rio is a poor city and their city managers need to do a better job of taking care of all of their residents. The people of this city understand this, but so far their elected officials have done little to solve this problem. Instead, the city will be investing roughly $14.4 billion in order to ensure their sporting venues, transportation and hotel accommodations are up-to-par for the 2016 games. The fact that Brazil would allow this does not shock me. The fact that the International Olympic Committee would choose Rio over Tokyo, Madrid and Chicago is not only shocking but is inhumane.
Fortunately, for the impoverished people who live in the famed favelas of Rio, the 2016 games will add a lot of international attention to their struggle. No longer will these horrid conditions go ignored. In order for Brazil to have a successful Olympic games they must provide security to Rio, which is not an easy task, and they also must diminish the widespread poverty that is seen all over the city. History tells us that the best way to accomplish these goals is too address the issues, not build a wall around them.
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