News of Peace and War: Survival Communication Modes in the Favelas of Complexo do Alemão

Abstract

Can the journalism which is produced within the Brazilian favelas dispute narratives and the production of meaning about security and public order in the face of State discourse and violence? This subchapter will examine these issues when thinking about the city of Rio de Janeiro in the political context of what was called “pacification of favelas.” The subchapter builds upon the hypothesis that the Papo Reto Media Collective defies the vigilance of the State and the old media to denounce the State’s necropolitics and to claim the right to the city and life in its narration of the urban complex favela Complexo do Alemão. Using digital social networks and with a focus on human rights, Papo Reto Collective performs the role of local media and journalistic source for the global media and produces a communication of survival that mobilizes discourses in actions both in the digital networks and on the streets. Similarly to a toolbox, this communitarian communication disorganizes the order of the landscape of the idealized media representation of the city of Rio de Janeiro.