Activism Under Fire : The Politics of Non-Violence in Rio De Janeiro's Gang Territories

Rio de Janeiro's favelas have become well-known sites of gang and police violence. Since the 1970s, dangerous networks between drug traffickers and corrupt state actors have transformed these poor neighborhoods into sites of armed conflict and political repression, limiting residents' ability to speak out against violence or demand their democratic rights. Despite these challenges, nonviolent politics remains an integral element in Cidade de Deus--City of God--one of Rio's most dangerous and famous favelas. In Activism under Fire , Anjuli Fahlberg provides an original account of how conflict activism operates in Cidade de Deus. Drawing on fieldwork, virtual ethnography, and participatory action research, Fahlberg documents how activists strategically navigate local constraints and opportunities--including gendered governing dynamics and racialized practices of solidarity--to create space for non-violent governance amid armed repression. By working within urban, national, and transnational political networks and social movements, local activists bring resources into their neighborhood and protest violence while avoiding dangerous alliances. Activism under Fire demonstrates that non-violent collective action is possible amid extreme poverty and violence, and shows what strategies enable it to survive and effect political change. In so doing, Fahlberg reveals the possibilities for collective action in violent and chaotic democratic states, not only in Latin America, but throughout the world. "I looked through the window of my taxi as it pulled over on the street corner. I looked down Jeremiah Road into CDD searching for Esther, past the frenzy of pedestrians, cars, bicycles, produce stands, and storefront awnings with dangling toys and sandals. I knew Esther's calm gait, dark skin, thin legs, and short black hair so well I would have easily spotted her in the crowd. Instead of finding Esther, I spotted a group of five or six drug traffickers stationed at the boca de fumo, or drug sale point, just a block away. Based on my previous trips, I knew there was at least one, if not two, other bocas I would have to pass on the walk to Esther's house. Having just arrived from the airport with two large conspiscuous suitcases that I would need to wheel past the bocas, I wished I could have waited in the car until Esther arrived. I could tell from my driver's anxious glances and exaggerated swiping of my credit card that he was eager to leave the area. I exited the car, grabbed my suitcases as the driver lifted them out of the trunk, and began to make my way down the road and into the neighborhood. It was a path I knew well, as I had been living with Esther off and on for the last eighteen months, along with her younger sister Maria Rita and Esther's sons André and Leonardo. Yet the feeling of fear was always bubbling below, fed by the knowledge that at any moment I could be questioned by a suspecting drug trafficker or get caught in a shootout. I maneuvered down a side street hoping to avoid at least one boca, sighing with relief when I finally spotted André heading my way. He smiled broadly and made his way to me, greeting me with a bear hug and grabbing the handle of the larger suitcase. Though he had not yet turned thirteen, he towered over me. He informed me that Esther had gone to a different corner to wait for me. "She's terrible at reading her phone messages," André reminded me, rolling his eyes in jest. We chuckled and went looking for Esther, whom we found a few blocks away. As we walked to their home together, I tried to shake off the feeling of fear that Cidade de Deus engendered and focus on the people I was so eager to see again"-- Provided by publisher