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The Guardian
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Brazil: outcry after funk singer arrested for allegedly inciting crime in lyrics
The arrest of a well-known Brazilian funk singer on charges of allegedly inciting crime in his lyrics and an alleged connection to a major criminal gang has sparked outrage among artists, intellectuals and legal experts. MC Poze do Rodo, 26, who has 5.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify, was arrested early on Thursday at his home in a luxury condominium in Rio de Janeiro's west zone. Outcry has focused on the way the artist was detained over alleged non-violent offences: handcuffed, shirtless and barefoot. Footage of the arrest was broadcast repeatedly on television and splashed across the front pages of Brazilian newspapers. 'This is persecution [against me],' the funk singer told journalists as he was transferred from the police station to jail. 'There is no evidence.' Activists say the case is the latest example of the criminalisation of funk music – and, by extension, of Black culture; something researchers argue has been a systemic feature of Brazilian society since the abolition of slavery in 1888. Like most Brazilian funk artists, MC Poze – born Marlon Brendon Coelho Couto da Silva – is Black and raised in a favela. He rose to prominence in 2019 and has since succeeded with songs depicting daily life in those communities, including some tracks that openly reference drug trafficking. In an interview with TV Globo last year, he admitted that as a teenager, he had worked for the drug trade: 'I've been in shootouts, I was shot, and I was arrested too.' But he insisted he had left that life behind and that his goal was to send young people the message that 'crime doesn't lead anywhere'. Last Thursday, police justified his arrest by claiming he was 'clearly glorifying drug trafficking and the illegal use of firearms' in his lyrics, and that his concerts were being financed by one of Brazil's two main criminal gangs, the Comando Vermelho (Red Command). The police chief, Felipe Curi, even claimed that MC Poze's lyrics were 'often far more damaging than a rifle shot fired by a drug trafficker'. According to Pierpaolo Cruz Bottini, professor of criminal law at the University of São Paulo, there is no incitement to crime in MC Poze's songs. 'There is no intent to promote or defend criminal acts – rather, the songs paint a vivid picture of a reality everyone is already aware of.' Bottini said that the way the singer was detained – without being allowed to get dressed or even put on shoes – was 'completely inappropriate'. 'Even in cases of violent crimes, such treatment would only be justified if there were signs of resistance or a risk of flight – and that clearly wasn't the case,' he said. After the arrest, other funk artists took to social media to protest in solidarity. Another high-profile singer, MC Cabelinho, pointed out that when an actor in soap opera or a film portrays a character involved in drug trafficking, it is not seen as inciting crime. According to anthropologist Mylene Mizrahi, a professor at Rio's PUC university, funk artists are still not considered legitimate artists. 'They are pop artists, just like US rappers or Hollywood film-makers. But when someone like Martin Scorsese makes a mafia film, they're not branded mobsters,' she said. The lawyer Joel Luiz Costa, executive director of the Black Population Defence Institute, said: 'The criminalisation of funk is part of a long historical process that began after the abolition of slavery and previously targeted samba, capoeira and afro-Brazilian religions. 'There's a clear pattern of criminalising Black culture,' he added. 'Since they can't just outlaw being Black, they target something associated with the Black community.'
The Sun
22-05-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Shocking moment ex-Liverpool and Barcelona star Philippe Coutinho's interview interrupted by gunshots
GUNSHOTS interrupted a TV interview with Liverpool legend Philippe Coutinho. Loud gunfire likewise erupted when his Vasco da Gama team-mates Leo Jardim and Nuno Moreira went in front of the camera pitchside. 4 Fans were shocked by the scenes in Rio de Janeiro - but many were amazed above all by the reaction of all three players. Former Barcelona midfielder Coutinho, 32, paused when the shots cracked out, before turning around grinning and sharing a jokey comment. His fellow Brazilian, ex- Lille keeper Jardim, burst out laughing. And Portuguese winger Moreira stood calmly with a smile on his face before crossing his arms. Four of Brazil's biggest teams are in the high-crime city of Rio. Vasco, Fluminense, Botafogo and Flamengo are bitter rivals. But some areas of the city - usually impoverished neighbourhoods called favellas - have a history of gang violence. And when clips of the interviews were posted online, fans were stunned by how the three stars made light of gunshots. One fan wrote: "The craziest thing is that no one even moves. Like normalizing things is really scary." Another posted: "The tranquility of the Carioca people[Rio residents] listening to the bullets flying still impresses me. " 4 But a third argued: "Embarrassing. They have to move the training centre out of the middle of this favela. It's embarrassing. For the love of God." A fourth pointed out: "Vasco and Fluminense's training centers are on the same street, practically next to Cidade de Deus. "It's not a good location. But when it comes to the city of Rio de Janeiro, no place is a good place." And a fifth madean even more sobering claim. They wrote: "This is Rio de Janeiro without makeup, not what the authorities try to sell to outsiders. Most Cariocas (sur)vive daily under these conditions of imminent risk when leaving their homes. Devastating and revolting." Coutinho is on loan in his home country from Aston Villa after spending last season with Qatari club Al-Duhail SC. His career has gone downhill since following five scintillating years at Liverpool with a £142million move to Barcelona in 2018. 4
Malay Mail
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
The end of Moinho: Central Sao Paulo's last shantytown faces demolition to make way for park, train station
SAO PAULO, May 18 — Cintia Bomfim saw her eldest son struck twice by rubber bullets from police during protests this week in Moinho, downtown Sao Paulo's last favela, which is about to make way for a park and train station. Then on Thursday, after a days-long standoff between authorities and residents resisting their ouster, she received news of an agreement to provide free housing for her and hundreds of other families elsewhere in Latin America's richest and most populated city. 'If I have to leave, I want something better,' Bomfim, a 39-year-old mother of three, told AFP amid an intimidating police deployment to quell protests against the razing of houses already vacated. Ramshackle as they were, these were the only homes the residents of Moinho could afford. 'I didn't come to live here because I wanted to: I used to sell candy at a traffic light and couldn't afford a more expensive rent outside the favela,' said Bomfim. Cintia Bonfim, resident of Moinho favela, poses after an interview with AFP, during a protest against the state government's plan to evict them from their community in Sao Paulo downtown May 13, 2025. — AFP pic She had been living in Moinho for 18 years, and runs a small bakery on the main street, which she will now have to abandon. Central Sao Paulo, a city of some 12 million people, is a seemingly incongruous mix of trendy bars and restaurants right next to mass low-cost housing, people living on the street, and roaming drug dealers. In the mix is Moinho, which sprung up in the 1990s between two railway tracks in an area the size of three football fields, and which authorities have long wanted to clear. It was, until recently, home to about 900 families, of which about a quarter have already left. Riot police throw tear gas at residents of the Moinho favela during A protest against the state government's plan to evict them from their community in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil, on May 13, 2025. — AFP pic 'Cleansing' This week, AFP observed military police fire tear gas and rubber bullets and point firearms at protesting residents. Officers entered some homes with dogs, allegedly in search of drugs and weapons. The government of Sao Paulo claimed 'organised crime' was behind the community resistence — an accusation residents deny. Moinho is the only favela left in central Sao Paulo after several others were cleared in recent decades, though larger ones remain on the city's outskirts. Opponents decry what they see as a 'cleansing' of poor people in a process of gentrification to pave the way for real estate speculation. Sao Paulo is the most expensive state capital of Brazil, with an average rent of 1,700 reais (about RM1,288) for an apartment of 30 square metres, according to the Institute of Economic Research Foundation. The high housing costs have increased pressure to 'expel poor, black and marginalised people,' opposition lawmaker Paula Nunes of Sao Paulo state, told AFP. Residents of the Moinho favela protest against the state government's plan to evict them from their community in downtown Sao Paulo May 13, 2025. — AFP pic 'Important achievement' Initially, the state government had offered Moinho residents lines of credit to acquire subsidised housing elsewhere in Sao Paulo. Most of the planned units, however, are not yet ready for occupancy. In the meantime, residents were supposed to receive 800 reais per month to pay rent elsewhere. The land on which the favela was built belongs to the national government, which had agreed to transfer it to Sao Paulo on condition that decent alternative housing is found. This week, the federal government said it would halt that transfer until 'a negotiated and transparent eviction process' was agreed on. Then on Thursday, after days of protests that included the blocking of railway tracks, the national and state governments reached an agreement to jointly finance new housing for Moinho residents — bringing an end to the unrest. Under the deal, each family would receive 250,000 reais to buy a house. 'The free provision (of housing) is a long-awaited and important achievement,' celebrated Yasmim Moja, a leader of the Moinho residents' association. — AFP
