Abstract
This essay looks at the role networked media plays in orchestrating direct action, exposing social injustices, and representing political dissent in relation to the mega-events hosted in Rio de Janeiro in 2014–2016. It examines how independent media and citizen reportage are shaping practices of social organizing and civic mobilization to change the focus of public debate around these events and issues relating to them. It also explores how the government, in turn, is widening its use of digital military applications to monitor citizens and restrict the right to the city under the rhetoric of national security, and how this is impacting on individual freedom of expression, the structure of public protest, and threatening the democratic capacity for social and political impact.
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- 1.
The remaining 700+ favelas of Rio have not been affected by pacification. Most remain under the control of the drug trafficking gangs that have governed them for decades.
- 2.
In Brazil, just a few more than a hundred families control more than 10 % of the GDP, and the top 5000 richest families (0.0001 % of the population) have an accumulated wealth equivalent to 42 % of GDP.
- 3.
Silva has become internationally recognized for his achievements in building inclusive digital communities. He has participated at a digital communications symposium at Harvard University and a journalism exchange with an NGO in New York. He was even one of the torch bearers at the London Olympics. He still lives in Complexo do Alemão.
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Rekow, L. (2015). Police, Protests, and Policy in Rio de Janeiro—Mega-Events, Networked Culture, and the Right to the City. In: Foth, M., Brynskov, M., Ojala, T. (eds) Citizen’s Right to the Digital City. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-919-6_7
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