Urbanismo Miliciano in Rio de Janeiro

Necropolitics Beyond the Exception: Parapolicing, Milícia Urbanism, and the Assassination of Marielle Franco in Rio de Janeiro

“…Piggybacking on earlier generations of parapolice groups, Rio’s current armed actors referred to as “ milícias ” have both intensified and reconfigured the city’s necropolitical governance 10 . These actors first emerged in the 1980s in the West Zone’s south‐western area around Jacarepaguá, where low‐income communities are juxtaposed with luxurious condominium settlements (Arias and Barnes 2017; Benmergui and Gonçalves 2019). Initially composed of local members of the militarised police and firefighter forces, they started out in the low‐income neighbourhood of Rio das Pedras as “anti‐crime” vigilantes, using extortion and lethal violence to usurp residents’ associations, levying taxes for residents and local businesses—benefiting from Rio’s uneven geography and informalised governance, which has systematically distanced swathes of urban dwellers from access to rights, services and infrastructures (Gay 2017).…”

“…Thereby, milícias have exerted considerable influence on urbanisation processes and urban politics. Controlling neighbourhood associations and government programs of social housing, as well as running sectors of the local and regional construction, extraction and service economies (Araujo 2019; Benmergui and Gonçalves 2019; Müller 2021), they form part of what Rivke Jaffe (2013) has called a “hybrid state”. In such a hybrid state, criminal organisations, politicians, police, and bureaucrats “share control over urban spaces and populations” (Jaffe 2013:735), variously implicating urban populations within these hybrid entanglements.…”

“…2019), a whole “assemblage of things” that profoundly challenged hegemonic formations of power and politics. While, at the time of writing, it is still unclear who was behind the killing, the authorities assume that the assassination, which was carefully prepared and clearly targeted, was carried out by professional killers associated with Rio’s illicit and rapidly expanding parapolice groups known as “ milícias ” (see Benmergui and Gonçalves 2019; Manso 2020; Otavio and Araújo 2020). Regarding these groups, the investigations have brought to light a series of liaisons that involve policemen, politicians as well as religious and economic actors who, for instance, collaborate in vote‐pooling schemes or the illicit trading of real estate.…”

“…For instance, young black men, as well as queer, trans and homeless people, have often been the primary targets of killings, while black mothers have suffered a range of long‐term consequences (Alves 2018; Rocha 2012; Smith 2016a). In Rio, gendered necropolitical governance has been intensified and reconfigured particularly by expanding milícia networks, or what Leandro Benmergui and Rafael Soares Gonçalves (2019) call “ urbanismo miliciano ”: a milícia‐driven system of extraction, investment and control that involves “the illegal appropriation of public land and its allotment, mass construction of buildings, and real estate and financing operations through informal credit” (Benmergui and Gonçalves 2019:382; see also Hirata et al. 2021).…”

Na Linha De Frente Da Covid-19 Nas Favelas Cariocas:

“…Essa realidade como parte dos demais processos sociais que compõem o Sul global, tem sido popularmente sistematizada na área das ciências sociais através do conceito de Direito à Cidade, cunhado na década de 15 As milícias começam a se constituir no Rio de Janeiro ainda nos anos 1980 justamente na favela de Rio das Pedras e se expande por toda a cidade a partir dos anos 2000. Elas, inicialmente, se organizam para expulsar o tráfico de drogas das favelas e passam a taxar diferentes atividades no local (transporte alternativo, venda de gás, comércio em geral...) e/ou controlam diretamente certas atividades, como, por exemplo, o mercado imobiliário (Benmergui e Gonçalves, 2019). Apesar dos recorrentes conflitos entre milícia e narcotraficantes, já há indícios, em algumas favelas, de alianças de grupos milicianos com facções de venda de drogas.…”