Brazilian responses to violence and new forms of mediation: the case of the Grupo Cultural AfroReggae and the experience of the project "Youth and the Police"

• Main Author: Sílvia Ramos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Associação Brasileira de Pós-Graduação em Saúde Coletiva
• Series: Ciência & Saúde Coletiva
• Subjects: violência; juventude; sociedade civil; movimentos sociais; favelas
• Online Access: http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1413-81232006000200019&lng=en&tlng=en
• ISSN: 1413-8123; 1678-4561

This article discusses some aspects of the Brazilian response to urban violence, focusing both official public safety policies and actions of the civil society. The text identifies the lack of a national public safety policy, indicates successful governmental experiences carried out in some states and municipalities, and concentrates on the actions of the police. Analyzing the responses of the civil society, the paper is emphasizing the campaign for disarming the population and the role played by the media. It shows the appearance of groups of young people living in the favelas, organized in turn of cultural experiences that, in multiple aspects, are characterized as "new mediators" in society. These groups thematize violence and try to build new stereotypes dissociating them from the image of criminality. The article describes in particular the cases of the Grupo Cultural AfroReggae, of Rio de Janeiro, and the pilot experience carried out in collaboration with the Minas Gerais Military Police, called "Youth and the Police". The AfroReggae group is a typical example of such a "new mediator", and the initiative of carrying out a work in cooperation with the police opens new perspectives for the traditionally scarce participation of civil organizations engaged in public safety in cooperative projects with the police.