The Dicionário de Favelas Marielle Franco (or Marielle Franco Favelas Dictionary) was created a year ago as a tool focused on the preservation of the memory, identity and knowledge of Rio’s favelas. As the new coronavirus arrived, it also became a collective action instrument for the populations of these areas through the creation of a new specific page on the pandemic. This page has been an important space for the promotion of solidarity demonstrations, information exchange, and support for initiatives to combat the disease. Additionally, the home page is being translated into English and Spanish, which should expand the network of solidarity.

Launched by Fiocruz in April 2019, the virtual collaborative platform, also known as Wikifavelas, has reached the mark of 500 entries (the initial goal was to publish 150 entries in three years), and it already has 322 registered associates. 

“As a funded academic project, there were targets to be met, and we have surpassed in more than three times the objectives regarding written entries, numbers of participants and number of favelas. It has been much welcomed by historical memory centers and local museums, already working in the construction and preservation of the political and collective identity of these spaces, as well as by professionals of universities studying the issue,” said the political scientist Sônia Fleury, project coordinator.

A tool against the pandemic

The researcher states the creation of the space on the pandemic within the platform, which happened last March, took the project to another dimension. “Initially, several complaints pointed at the fact that the public policies on prevention of the coronavirus did not reflect the situation of these populations. We also gathered several articles and testimonies from within the favelas regarding the actions being implemented by the neighbors themselves, such as ‘nós por nós,’ she explained.

The team of researchers compiled the information (reports, photographs, videos, comments, articles, essays, and academic thoughts) about the impacts the coronavirus has had on the life in the favelas, and organized the material thematically, such as help and support to the favelas, pieces of news regarding the impacts of the disease on the communities, testimonies from residents and local collective groups, as well as opinion articles. In addition to the complaints, content can be found on how the population has organized and mobilized to implement solidarity demonstrations. “The platform, which focused on the preservation of the memory, and the construction of the identity and the history of the favelas, has suddenly changed its meaning, becoming an agent of collective shift, from the favelas and for the favelas. We have seen an increase in the number of hits due to the crisis of the coronavirus. In the help section, for example, we recorded eight thousand hits in one week,” revealed Sônia.