Residents of São Paulo’s largest favela protest hunger

Residents of Heliópolis, the largest favela in São Paulo (south of the capital), protested against hunger and unemployment this Wednesday (24th).

With empty pots, posters and candles (in reference to the increase in electricity bills and in homage to those killed by Covid-19), the demonstrators of the “March of the Empty Panel” also protested against the worsening of material conditions in the country’s outskirts.

“It’s very sad that your daughter asks for a loaf of bread and you can’t give it because everything is so expensive,” says Simone de Bezerra Oliveira, 51, who is unemployed and took part in the protest.

Maria da Piedade Santos, 33, says food basket donations became the main source of food for her four children during the pandemic. She alone supports the 15, 13 and 9 year old boys and a seven month old baby. Without a job, he makes odd jobs of what appears.

“I came to fight for our right to have food in the pot,” says she, who has lived in the community for five years.

The march began at 6:30 pm, with a concentration in front of the headquarters of Unas (Union of Nuclei and Associations of Residents of Heliópolis and Region) in Heliópolis, and toured the streets of the region. According to the organization’s estimate, around a thousand people participated. The protest ended at around 8:30 pm with an ecumenical event in front of the Church of Saint Hedwig, which brought together representatives of the community’s Catholic, Evangelical and African-based religions.

Participants also sang choruses of “Fora Bolsonaro” and received support from residents at the windows of the community, who banged pots and protested against the government. A tribute to the community’s residents killed by Covid-19 was carried out, with the names of the victims being read by a sound car.

The act was organized by groups of residents and local associations, such as Unas and Associação Nova Heliópolis (Association of Residents of Heliópolis and Ipiranga).

The associations are affiliated with the CMP (Central de Movimientos Populares), a member of the coalition of entities called “Fora Bolsonaro” which has been helping to organize acts against hunger, racism and the government throughout the country since May.​

According to the coordinator of the CMP and resident of Heliópolis, Raimundo Bonfim, the event took place in the neighborhood and in the late afternoon to enable the participation of residents, who generally work during the day —even on weekends— and have difficulty moving to the central regions, where the latest protests took place.

“We want to motivate acts like this in the suburbs, where hunger weighs more heavily than in the middle class regions”, says Bonfim.

In the last 12 months, the accumulated inflation of food and beverages reached 11.71%, according to the IPCA. The readjustment in food prices reached 40% during the pandemic. The food industry predicts that prices are likely to remain under pressure until early 2022.

Accumulated inflation weighs more on the pockets of families with lower income, according to a survey by Fipe (Institute of Economic Research), and was driven by the rise in food and housing prices.

Unemployment and inflation during the pandemic have also had peripheral residents digging through their garbage and crossing the city in search of food donations. A survey by the Penssan Network (Brazilian Network on Sovereignty and Food and Nutritional Security) points out that 19.1 million Brazilians suffer from serious food insufficiency, spending more than 24 hours without anything to eat.

“Those who are hungry are in a hurry. And we want a social inclusion policy, and not a program that ends after the election next year”, says Antonia Cleide Alves, resident of Heliópolis for 52 years and president of Unas.

With the advance of hunger and prices, the demand for leftovers and previously discarded items also increased. The country has recorded scenes such as people fighting for bones in a truck in Rio de Janeiro and the sale of “first-rate” and “second-class” bones in Fortaleza.