Homeless Workers Movement – State Collective of Ceará

Objectives and target population:

Holding political, technical and social training to debate with residents the impacts of the interventions due to the 2014 World Cup in Fortaleza, with a focus on the right to the city, socio-spatial segregation and the issue of gender and age.

Around 120 residents of affected or threatened outlying areas will be mobilized to exercise the defense of their rights in an organized and collective manner. The expectation is that some of these participants become militants of the MTST, enlarging the movement’s forces, or go on to strengthen other local organizations active in the political struggles of their communities.

Main activities:

– Publication of the journal “Rasga Lata” (Tearing Tin) to publicize the training activities and political struggle against evictions due to mega-events;

– Mass training: workshops for around eighty residents of the neighborhoods Parque Água Fria, Edson Queiroz, Serrinha, Barroso, Castelão, Boa Vista, Aldacir  Barbosa, Jangurussu and João Paulo II. Among the themes to be discussed are: the right to the city and to housing; the gender issue at mega-events; and tools for popular and community communications;

– Leadership training: Around forty community leaders will deepen their understanding of the aforementioned topics, including debates on the criminalization of youth; the ethnic-racial issue; modes of organization and strategies to fight for housing;

– Assemblies to define a list of immediate demands of the participating communities;

– Making of Cordel (a Brazilian folklore form) and a traveling Popular Museum with the history of each community, to reflect on the makeup and struggle of the affected communities, followed by workshops in public schools to further publicize the event;

– Workshop and project closure to evaluate the experience and come up with the next steps.

Context:

An example of the impact of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil is the misuse of public funds, directed toward projects that will truly be “white elephants” or benefit only certain private sectors, such as hotels. These foreseen expenditures in Fortaleza may exceed 9.3 billion reais, while rights such as health care, housing and education are distant budgetary priorities.

Aside from the misuse of public money, there are several violations of human rights. Tens of thousands of families are directly affected by the evictions and removals caused by transportation and infrastructure projects or construction or remodeling of stadiums.

Equally aggravating, the development of housing policy is far from what was expected. The housing program of the federal government, “Minha casa, minha vida” (My house, my life) received applications from 90,000 families in Fortaleza, but the forecast is that only 2,900 houses will be delivered there—part of just 15,000 throughout the state.

Furthermore, the new housing developments are being built in outlying areas without sufficient infrastructure and basic services such as health care, education, water treatment, etc.

About the organization:

The main goal of the Homeless Workers Movement (MTST) – State Collective of Ceará is the defense of a popular and class-conscious urban reform. The right to dignified housing isn’t the movement’s only flag: quality education, health care, access to public transportation and to basic infrastructure are other demands.

Created in 1990, the MTST mobilizes urban workers in outlying neighborhoods in the majority of Brazilian states, holding training activities and organizing territorial encampments, among other activities. In Ceará, the collective was formed in 2011 by youth from Parque Água Fria, Barroso, Serrinha and Conjunto Ceará.

The activities held have been focused especially on communications and culture. Today there are three fundamental claims: struggle for the Regional Hospital at the Federal University of Ceará (UECE), proposed as a legacy of the World Cup; the struggle for the construction of houses for residents of the April 17th Commune, an encampment on an urban plantation in the José Walter neighborhood, there since 2009; and the struggle against the transformation of the Social Center of the Aldacir Barbosa community into a Fortaleza Municipal Guard (police) station.

Partnerships:

The MTST participates in the Popular World Cup Committee of Fortaleza and Urban Resistance – National Movements Front.