A social movement that struggles for urban reform and the right to live with dignity. MOVIMENTO DE LUTA NOS BAIRROS, VILAS E FAVELAS (MLB) was founded in Pernambuco in 1999, but quickly spread to other states to achieve its current nationwide presence. It is formed by thousands of homeless families, victims of the predatory action of land and real estate speculation. Its main method of action is squatting, aiming at urban reform.
CONTE ISSO ÀQUELES QUE DIZEM QUE FOMOS DERROTADOS (2018). In the evening, with the city lights in the distance, scores of people leave the favela and proceed to a plot of land with overgrown vegetation. In silence and under the glow of lamps and lanterns, they drive stakes into the ground, pitch tents and hang up the flag of the Movimento Luta nos Bairros, Vilas e Favelas [Struggle Movement in Neighborhoods, Alleys and Slums]. The wobbly, first-person camera follows and takes part of the squat by recording its unique moments, the step by step of an occupation. The title of the video is borrowed from the last lines of the poem “Tell” by the Palestinian poet Narjan Darwish, stressing the international nature of the struggle for land as well as the clandestine and shared wisdom of resistance.
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