Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
But my point is: people who live in the Brazilian favelas today are mostly happy..today.
People in Cuba are "happy" too, yet many would jump at the first opportunity to leave. Making the best of a bad situation doesn't mean that one is satisfied with one's lot.
People in Cuba are "happy" too, yet many would jump at the first opportunity to leave. Making the best of a bad situation doesn't mean that one is satisfied with one's lot.
In my opinion they are probably happier than Cubans because except for the very poor(like the man who was crying in the video) they have more resources than the average cubans. They also have the opportunity to improve their situation, that is not possible in Cuba. The main problem with these favelas is not poverty but high crime. These people don't necessarily want to leave Brazil they just want to leave their neighborhoods and move to the nicer safer areas of Rio or São Paulo. Cubans cannot even move because their government controls everything. There is no hope in Cuba.
There is no big difference between how is the life of the American poor who live in the American ghettos and how is the life of the Brazilian poor in the favelas.
The biggest difference is just the fact that the favelas look more "chaotic", because the houses were built with no plan or order, in land that is not owned by the people who built the houses and live in them. The land where the favelas were built is "occupied" land, people didn't buy the land. Because they were built with no plan or order, most streets are narrow, and many are dead-end streets.
Crime rates are also surely higher in Brazil than in the US, for a series of reasons that I won't discuss here.
But besides that, the differences are not that big.
The Brazilian poor today have nice cell phones, they have nice flat screen TVs, they have refrigerators, many families have washing machines, many families have motorcycles...
And I'm talking here about the Brazilian poor who live in favelas. Not every Brazilian poor live in favelas. In fact, the majority of the Brazilian poor don't live in favelas.
please stop comparing the slums to american ghettos, people who live in american ghettos live the life of luxury compared to those in the favelas.
please stop comparing the slums to american ghettos, people who live in american ghettos live the life of luxury compared to those in the favelas.
Just because you are saying so?
No, THEY DON'T.
Life in the Brazilian favelas is ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME as in any American ghetto.
The fact that you don't believe it, maybe because you watched some Brazilian movie from 10 years ago, before the bonanza of the Lula era, don't change the fact that IT IS TRUE.
I know favelas very well, I know favelas from inside. You probably don't know anything about favelas.
People in Cuba are "happy" too, yet many would jump at the first opportunity to leave. Making the best of a bad situation doesn't mean that one is satisfied with one's lot.
Well, the fact is: there are PLENTY of people in the favelas who have earned enough money to leave the favela, and go live in another neighborhood, and THEY DON'T GO AWAY, because THEY LOVE the favela.
In the videos that I posted in this thread they show cases like that, but you need to understand Portuguese to see it.
Life in the Brazilian favelas is ALMOST EXACTLY THE SAME as in any American ghetto.
The fact that you don't believe it, maybe because you watched some Brazilian movie from 10 years ago, before the bonanza of the Lula era, don't change the fact that IT IS TRUE.
I know favelas very well, I know favelas from inside. You probably don't know anything about favelas.
and you dont know anything about the american ghettos. do you live in the favelas to determine if the people are "happy" or not???
About the number of inhabitants, Rocinha (No. 20) doesn't have 200k at all, Rocinha has 70k and if you add her "Rival" Vidigal( No. 27) its 80k.
Here's a map of "pacified" slums in Rio or in process of pacification, that's the case of Rocinha.
Like in the other topic of why brazilians love lo live in apartments, living in slums specially in a city like Rio, that is the most "favelized" area in Brazil, is very much a cultural and political stuff.
Hundreds of then could easilly be removed to popular condos, but there´s a a hole political/cultural conjuncture that keppes then into more and more slums.
Building popular condos would be a lot more cheap than many of the other works made to be political votes manufactury like cablecars, retaining walls, etc Its very notory in Brazil that condos made for slummers are turned into "vertical slums" by the day they enter into their new homes.
please stop comparing the slums to american ghettos, people who live in american ghettos live the life of luxury compared to those in the favelas.
LOL Good point! The favelas and US ghettos are very different. In Latin America, most people in favelas work and are self sufficient. In the US, people in the ghetto live off welfare, get food stamps and many live in subsidized housing yet the complain about how hard they have it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.