Friday, November 25th, 2011, Nightlife Guide

November 22, 2011 | Filed underNightlife Guide | Posted by Kim Dumo

Friday’s Rio Nightlife Pick: We have a very special event for you Gringos out there tonight. Eu Amo Baile Funk will be the hottest event in Lapa this Friday at Circo Voador, featuring the best music of the latest culture in Brazil.

CLUBS:

On the Floor (Botafogo)
To kick off On the floor, let’s unite the parties of DJ’s C’est La Vie, Fri Tape, and Pop Up Way Out for a big party! Cold, cheap beer, good music, boats, special lighting, music requests on the track and Jogação!
Bar da Rampa – 11PM
Av. Vieira Souto, 110, Arpoador – Tel: (21) 2523-1204
Entrance: R$20 with Lista Amiga, R$30 without

Santa Sexta (Leblon)
Friday nights at Melt are the local jump off in Leblon, featuring everything from rock to samba on two floors.
Melt – 9PM
Rua Rita Ludolf, 47, Leblon – Tel: (21) 2249-9309
Entrance: R$60 for Men, R$25 for Women

Dirty Pop (Botafogo)
Dirty Pop brings BACK 2 BASICS Casa da Matriz to rescue the precepts of their very first edition. This party is going back to its roots with DiskMtv’s, Radiola’s, Hitparade, and many more!
Casa da Matriz – 8PM
Rua Henrique de Novaes, 107 – Botafogo – Tel: (21) 2286-5257
Entrance: $20 until 1 am on the list, $25 after 1am on the list and $30 with no name on the list

MÚSICA BRASILEIRA:

Eu Amo Baile Funk (Lapa)
We have a very special event for you Gringos out there tonight. Eu Amo Baile Funk will be the hottest event in Lapa this Friday at Circo Voador, featuring the best music of the latest culture in Brazil.
Circo Voador – 11PM
Rua Arcos – Lapa – Tel: (21) 2533-5873
Entrance: R$30

Batuque na Cozinha (Lapa)
The samba group, which follows the pattern of the groups of the 70s and 80s, is a classic tour of samba, ranging from Santa Rosa to Zeca Pagodinho.
Lapa Na Pressão – 9PM
R. Mem de Sá, 59 – Lapa – Tel: (21) 2507-0580
Entrance: R$15 before 9PM, R$25 after 9PM

Perdidos na Selva (Lapa)
The rapper, Black Alien, will be performing a repertoire of the night and brings success of his debut album “Babylon by Gus – Vol 1: The Year of the Monkey” – that have letters on the social condition of Brazil, together with the pace of ragga dance – as well as songs that will be present in his next work, titled as “Babylon by Gus – Vol 2: The Legend of the Holy Wino.” During the show they will be recording the 1st Black Alien DVD.
Parada da Lapa - 10PM
Rua dos Arcos, 24, Lapa – Tel: (21) 2524-2950
Entrance: R$30

Roda de Forró (Lapa)
Anyone who likes reggae and forro do not want to miss the next Roda de Forró which opens this month at the Centro Cultural Carioca. Roda de Forró happens every week, bringing together the best groups of its kind in Rio club scene, always with special guests.
Centro Cultural Carioca – 9PM
Rua do Teatro, 37, Lapa – Tel: (21) 2252-6468
Entrance: R$20

PUBS & BARS:

Blue Agave (Ipanema)
Mexican bar and restaurant with an open atmosphere where you can sit and check out all the people that pass by. Has the best margaritas in Ipanema, and also ask them about the new spot in Copacabana that just opened.
Blue Agave
Rua Vinicius de Moraes 68, Ipanema – Tel: (21) 3592-9271
Entrance: Free

Academia da Cachaça (Leblon)
This bar specializes in the local booze cachaça and the different fruit drinks caipifrutas and caipirinhas.
Academia da Cachaça 
Rua Conde Bernadotte 26, Leblon – (21) 2239-1542
Entrance: Call for nightly prices

Live Music @ Balcony (Copacabana)
Great lunch specials, live music starting at 5:30PM and nightly drink specials and free hors d’oeuvres for paying customers everyday at 5PM.
Balcony Bar
Avenida Atlantica, 1424, Copacabana – Tel: (21) 2541 8381
Entrance: Free

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To have an event included in the weekly Nightlife Guide, please email:
events[at]riotimesonline[dot]com.

  shareshare

Rousseff and 2010 Brazil Census Results

November 22, 2011 | Filed underFront Page,Politics | Posted by Ben Tavener

By Ben Tavener, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff has said that the face of poverty in Brazil is one that is “black and female,” which highlighted the need to bolster public policies in relation to women’s health in the country and admitted that the country’s black population still experiences unacceptable levels of poverty, violence and unemployment.

While in Salvador, President Dilma Rousseff pledged more help for the region, which has a significantly bigger black population than in the richer southeast region of Brazil, photo by Roberto Stuckert Filho/PR.

She made the comments as she closed the High Level Ibero-American Meeting in commemoration of the International Year of African Descendants, which took place in Salvador, in the northeast of Brazil, where people of African decent make up a greater proportion of the population than in the southeast.

However, she also said that recently the situation had begun to reverse and that the state was now looking out for people from the more disadvantaged communities of the population.

She also noted the success of the “Brazil Without Poverty” program, which aims to bring 16 million Brazilians out of extreme poverty.

The event took part just before National Black Awareness Day on November 20th, which reflects on the injustices of slavery – now coming some 123 years after the official end of the practice in Brazil.

Recent analysis of the results of Brazil’s 2010 census by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) is starting to reveal some intriguing facts about the changing face of the Brazilian populace.

The census, which is carried out every ten years, showed rising social indicators throughout Brazil as a result of economic growth, but also showed that serious inequalities remain between men and women, and between urban and rural areas, despite improvements over the past ten years.

Brazil’s 2010 census by the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), image by IBGE.

The average monthly salary in rural parts of the country was R$596: less than half the average urban rate of R$1,294. On average, women’s salaries were only 71 percent of those earned by men.

And poorer families are having to split less money between more mouths: the average household has 3.3 residents, whereas those with very low incomes had 4.9 people at home.

More positive was the news that the census had found a major decrease in national illiteracy in the past ten years, down four percent among those aged over fifteen to 9.6 percent, and in the ten to fourteen age range the rate was down from 7.3 to 3.9 percent.

A stark difference between rich and poor and rural and urban areas could again be seen, with the national illiteracy rate at 17.5 percent for those with no or little earnings, in comparison to 0.3 percent of those living on five or more times the minimum wage.

The “face of poverty” that President Rousseff described may remain “black and female,” but the “face of Brazil” is changing. For the first time less than half of Brazil’s 191-million-strong population identified themselves as “white,” now representing 47.7 percent of the population, down from 53.7 percent in 2000.

The black population grew to 7.6 percent, and “mixed race” respondents grew to 43.1 percent – apparently almost as many as considering themselves “white.” Asian and indigenous groups make up smaller percentages of the population.

Brazil’s first national census, which was carried out in 1872, surveyed some 9,930,478 people and has become a once-a-decade event since 1941. The 2010 census surveyed over 190 million people.

  shareshare

THE OCCUPATION

The Occupation of Rocinha and Vidigal

November 15, 2011 | Filed underFront Page,Politics | Posted by Sarah de Sainte Croix

By Sarah de Sainte Croix, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In what is being painted as a historic victory for peace in Rio de Janeiro, in the early hours of Sunday morning, police and military security forces moved into some of the last remaining gang-controlled favelas in the city’s Zona Sul (South Zone). Rocinha, Brazil’s largest favela famous for its awe-inspiring scale and geography as well as the heavily-armed traficantes, is now occupied.

The occupation of Rocinha, photo by Marino Azevedo/Imprensa RJ.

In an operation that lasted just two hours and passed without a single gunshot being fired, the neighboring favelas of Rocinha, Vidigal and Chácara do Céu were invaded by around 3,000 security personnel including military and civil police officers, federal traffic officers and naval soldiers.

Supported by approximately nineteen tanks and armored vehicles, nine helicopters and an assortment of other police vehicles, the occupation began in earnest at around 2:30AM on Sunday when police blocked off all the access routes into the communities. Just after 4AM the first tanks rolled into Rocinha and Vidigal and helicopters began to circulate overhead.

Eyewitness reports say that the favelas were eerily quiet on Saturday night. “Everybody stayed inside. The usual weekend parties didn’t happen. Everybody was waiting to see what would happen next,” one Rocinha resident said.

According to Stewart Alsop, a Californian living in Vidigal, “At around 2:30AM the traffickers started putting up road blocks. There was one road block that consisted of a line of trash about one meter high. Another one that consisted of old mattresses and motorcycles…it seemed extremely likely that the traffickers would put up some sort of fight.”

But the anticipated firefight never happened, and by around 6AM the communities were declared occupied. At 12:45 in the afternoon the next day, Brazilian and Rio State flags were being symbolically hoisted in the center of Rocinha.

Alsop speculates, “After the leadership of the gangs were arrested or escaped [earlier in the week]…the only traffickers left were small time managers and street soldiers…these young men had only three options on Sunday: hide, go to prison, or die.”

A helicopter circles the steep banks of Rocinha during the Sunday occupation operation, photo by Marino Azevedo/Imprensa RJ.

According to the most recent reports, just six men were arrested (in addition to those arrested earlier in the week), and more than 100 types of weapons; 43 rifles, two rocket launchers, a submachine gun, as well as almost half a ton of drugs and 75 motorcycles have been seized.

They also discovered human remains at a location at the top of Vidigal which, according to residents, was being used by traffickers as a clandestine cemetery.

Reports vary as to the feeling in the communities following Sunday’s operation. Some reported feelings of euphoria and liberation, and crowds gathering to express their gratitude to the police. But there have also been more cautious comments, describing “a tense acceptance of the new order.”

Alsop says, “This part of the city has been generally ignored by the government and the residents are extremely distrustful of the police, who are viewed as corrupt. People are worried about the rising cost of living that will come with pacification…[but] the main fear that the residents have is that the drug dealers will come back.”

Zezinho, who grew up in Rocinha and operates a favela tour business and a DJ school, says, “My fear is what will happen after the Olympic games? The police will leave and then the traffickers come back and there will be a war for the favela again.”

  shareshare