Thread by @UR_Ninja

NEW: #Brazil asks for help as deaths from #COVID19 are hitting record daily numbers.

To get a better understanding of the impacts of the #CoronavirusPandemic from the ground, we gathered four perspectives from across the country. unicornriot.ninja/2021/brazil-is…

In small towns across #Brazil like Piúma, Espirito Santo, the health system is insufficient to deal with the surging cases of #coronavirus.

Catarina Mais, a local health professional, spoke to Unicorn Riot saying: “Piúma is asking for help ... Brazil is asking for help.”

Catarina Mais said the #UKvariant, the most aggressive #COVID19 variant, had just entered Piúma, likely from “a tourist from another state or county.” This could be devastating for Piúma, as the population doesn’t have enough hospital beds available nor an ambulance.

Pandemic effects vary from city-to-city & state-to-state. In #Brazil, the effects are accentuated by the stark contrast in social conditions. A large portion of the underprivileged population lives in close proximity to the wealthy but has a completely different reality.

While violence can still be a problem for the rich, people in the favelas & other peripheral areas of the cities endure drug faction wars & police violence.

In São Paulo, a staggering total of 5,153 people were #KilledByPolice from 2015-2020, with nearly a quarter being youth.

Similar statistics of police terror are recorded in Rio de Janeiro. From March 2020 until March 2021, there were 377 counted police actions in Rio - even after August’s ruling by Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court (STF) suspending all police operations during the pandemic.

Thainã de Meideiros, says the police keep “coming up with excuses” to violate STF's order.

Meideiros lives in Complexo do Alemão, a large group of favelas in Rio de Janeiro where police violence is constant & a recent military/police occupation of the favelas lasted a few years.

Just three months before STF ordered the suspension of police operations in Rio, 13 people in Complexo do Alemão were killed by police in one operation.

Meideiros, part of a local support group, Coletivo Papo Reto, said the favelas are now also facing a serious water shortage.

Targeted by police & abandoned by the health system, the underprivileged continue to be economically neglected by the Brazilian government. Financial aid has been cut off & lockdown measures enacted to fight the pandemic has made life virtually unsustainable.

For those living stacked up in the little edges and corners of countless Brazilian cities, isolation and quarantine is a privilege people usually can’t afford. This leads to workers risking their lives to make a paycheck.

>unicornriot.ninja/2021/brazil-is…<

From Porto Seguro, Bahia, rapper Celião told Unicorn Riot there’s no “effective sustenance for families and the population is searching for solutions.“

“We’re in a total state of vulnerability because those who dare to try to make a living are fought with repression policies.”

In turn, #MutualAid initiatives have become a backbone of support for the Brazilian people. Movements like “Serrão without Corona” which helped millions of families in the Aglomerado da Serra community of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais are the only support most people can count on.

“The favela’s helping the favela, because if it’s not us for us, nobody else will“ said DJ Pity, part of the biggest Baile Funk (favela Hip-Hop) in the Aglomerado da Serra community.

"I’m here to say that, man, like, the situation here in BH [Belo Horizonte] is awful.“ - DJ Pity

DJ Pity said they hoped that “everyone is vaccinated” by next year. Yet, the reality of mass vaccination is still far away. While the favelas & rural communities have completely different cultures &experiences, they share the same governmental neglect & risky living environments.

See the full report by Brazilian contributors EmiciThug and Jules Rey and read the transcripts of each of the four perspectives who spoke in the above thread 👇
unicornriot.ninja/2021/brazil-is…