Violent Scenes in Brazil’s 2013 Protests

Abstract

The article discusses the unique contributions of audiovisual records made by ordinary people during the "June Journeys" protests, which took over the Brazilian streets in June and July 2013. Comparing national TV coverage with the videos made by protestors or by the alternative network Ninja Media, we draw on Jost's concept of "violent scenes," on Rancière's discussion of distribution of the sensible and visibility, as well as Brazilian communication scholarship. We argue that ordinary people's and Ninja Media's "violent scenes," as opposed to the "scenes of violence" shown by the national news, have particularly strong impacts on those who watch them because they spread easily via an engaged, connected audience. At the same time, violent scenes coexist with traditional media narratives, making visible a greater diversity of viewpoints and increasing the likelihood of contradiction.

The Instrumental Mediated Visibility of Violence: The 2013 Protests in Brazil and the Limitations of the Protest Paradigm

“…This article follows the growing number of studies relying on the notions of 'visibility' and 'mediated visibility' (e.g. Uldam 2018; Rovisco and Veneti 2017;Parry 2015;d'Andrea and Ziller 2015) to gain an understanding of the constrictions, affordances and vulnerabilities of the current hybrid, transnational media environment. Although the precise definition of visibility used in these works vary, it is largely understood as a political, aesthetic and technological field, where power is produced and contested through 'forms of noticing, managing attention and determining the significance of events and subjects' (Brighenti 2010a, 52).…”

“…Digital apps and platformsparticularly Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp-have been described as tools whose 'affordances' facilitated the circulation of narratives that supposedly reconfigured dominant regimes of visibility, opposing the hyper-visibility of violence and showing the core concerns of protesters (e.g. Conde and Jazeel 2013;d'Andrea and Ziller 2015).…”

“…Analyses of the June Journeys have adopted a largely celebratory tone toward digital media, stressing that these technologies were vital to coordinate demonstrations and confront the coverage by Brazilian news organizations. Digital apps and platforms-particularly Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp-have been described as tools whose "affordances" facilitated the circulation of narratives that supposedly reconfigured dominant regimes of visibility, opposing the hyper-visibility of violence and showing the core concerns of protesters (e.g., Conde and Jazeel 2013;d'Andrea and Ziller 2015). Members of alternative media collectives shared that view, holding that their purpose was to challenge the "criminalisation" of demonstrations by the Brazilian media.…”

“…It is therefore noteworthy that the popularity of NINJA and other collectives was underpinned on the dissemination of photos and videos exposing the violence shown by the military police toward demonstrators (Conde and Jazeel 2013;d'Andrea and Ziller 2015). The ease with which visual content was produced and distributed facilitated counter-tactics of "bottom up surveillance" or sousveillance (Cammaerts 2012: 127), monitoring state forces to make visible contrasting accounts to those produced by the national media.…”

“…Although damage 3 done by activists was originally condemned by national news organizations and framed as violence (Intervozes 2014), the Brazilian media adopted a more benevolent view in the second half of June (Intervozes 2014;Mourão 2019). This came about partly because alternative media collectives employed digital media to expose the brutality of the military police toward protesters, undermining trust in the Brazilian media and increasing support for demonstrators (Conde and Jazeel 2013;d'Andrea and Ziller 2015). Overseas "mainstream" news organizations also reported the demonstrations positively, applauding people on the streets and questioning the money spent on hosting the 2014 World Cup (Jim enez-Mart ınez 2020).…”