Overnight on December 2/3, 1984, the factory owned by the U.S. multi-national Union Carbide Corp. (now Dow Chemical) accidentally leaked cyanide gas and killed thousands of mostly poor Indians in the city of Bhopal. Thirty years later, thousands of tonnes of hazardous waste remain buried at the site, slowly poisoning the drinking water of more …
As international tourists descended on Rio’s iconic Maracanã Stadium to watch the final match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in July, most Brazilians watched from television screens outside, while others took to the streets to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to protest. It is not mere opportunism that is bringing people to the streets, …
From the first steps of the samba that were developed by escaped slaves to the hyper-politicized modern-day hip-hop movement, music has always played a fundamental role in liberatory struggles in Brazil. While initially a form of protest music, samba was in many ways co-opted and commercialized, assisted by Carnaval, becoming a dominant form of mass …
BRAZILIAN POLICE KILL 5 PEOPLE EVERY DAY For some, activism is a choice, but for many, it becomes an imperative when life circumstances thrust them against injustice, and the call to action a necessity. Such was the case for Liz Martin, whose nephew Joe was executed by Brazilian police on his 30th birthday when he …
This past summer during the FIFA World Cup in Brazil, São Paulo graffiti artist Paulo Ito became famous when his graffiti mural depicting a starving child eating a soccer ball went viral online. The fame was long overdue, for Paulo Ito is an exceptionally gifted and prolific artist, this mural is but one of his …
Long before I started this project, Witness.org became one of my favourite NGOs after I was introduced to their work by Peter Wintonick & Kat Cizek’s 2002 documentary Seeing is Believing. In fact, it was my early exposure to Witness’s unique methodology – providing human rights activists video equipment and training to document human rights abuses …
I love the Olympics and World Cup…seriously! Yes it’s true, most people are surprised to hear this given I’ve spent the last four years of my life investigating how whole communities are being destroyed in Rio for these events. But at the end of the day, who doesn’t enjoy a good game of footie? I …
Here is a thorough article from RioOnWatch the community reporting outlet published by Rio-based NGO Catalytic Communities (Catcomm). CatComm was one of my first allies when I first started this project in 2010, and they have been working tirelessly to publish many of the untold stories in Rio around the same issues I am documenting …
Human Rights for Sale: The combined budget for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 is $40 billion. Chris Gaffney was the first activist I ever approached when starting this project in Rio back in 2010 when I recognized him from an Al-Jazeera segment I’d seen in my research. True to his style, Chris provides a very thorough overview …
Jason O’Hara has been in Rio during the entire World Cup, documenting the demonstrations for his upcoming film State of Exception. On Sunday, just before the World Cup final between Argentina and Germany, Jason was