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Updates and Infos on the chaos.
8 years ago
Whew....where to begin...
Last Friday, family members (mainly wives) of MPs (military policemen) began a protest in the officer's favor. They demanded several unpaid benefits, extras and such, along with abstract crap like "dignity" and "respect". They did it because no military personnel is allowed to protest or strike, which would fall under mutiny and lead to a world of shit. But since we're pros at going around and bending the laws...yep. The issue was that the protests were held in such a way as to fully block the driveways and entrances to police buildings, making them (and their patrol cars) unable to leave (though some just went "oh well, guess we can't work, huh?" and took a vacation). This happened state-wide in Espirito Santo (amusingly translating as "Holy Spirit"). If you're too lazy too google, here's a map: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ioNJXyPMQ.....0/Brasil+1.png
In that cute, smallish state, things went to hell since. Between saturday and sunday, the homicide rate spiked from last January's 4....to around 51. IN ONE WEEKEND.
The height of the chaos was between Monday and Wednesday (Febr. 6th-9th). Streets were absolutely devoid of life, no businesses of any kind were open and you could hear gunfire around the city. On the news and the 'net, things seemed even worse, with armed robberies and murders in broad daylight on several cities' main streets. And the fucking protesters still sat there, even as videos emerged of officers who wanted to get back to work but weren't being allowed to (some protesters actually stole their bulletproof vests and IDs to discourage them from working). After a lot of negotiation between inflamed, anarchist protesters and an arguably immovable state that refused to begin actual talks unless the officers went back to work, the homicide rate piled, people started leaving (or trying to; many were robbed naked or machinegunned to death around the interstate highways) and businesses recorded millions in losses, even though supplies dwindled and markets were running out of food (no supply trucks dared come into the state). Eventually, we decided to leave to our hometown, fully aware we might lose the car, the luggage and everything else, on Thursday, 9th. Luckily, we managed to do so without any significant issue, especially because, at that point, the government started deploying the army, marines, national guard and even APCs around the city. And armies aren't trained to talk or investigate: they're trained to shoot. But when we got to my hometown, a second thing was trying to spawn the same problem over there, in the Rio de Janeiro state (look at the map above). That little thing? Internet.
In Brazil, the most popular message service on mobile devices is WhatsApp, which also allows you to be part of various "groups". In those groups, the typical internet bullshit runs amok: cure-all panaceas, conspiracy theories, religious "proofs", photos and videos that range from kinda believable to ridiculously false, etc. That alone already makes my skin crawl, but another rumor was making the rounds: that the same strike that brought hell to ES was going to happen in RJ. (ES=Espirito Santo / RJ=Rio de Janeiro state) Despite zero evidence of that, several schools and stores closed and crime had a small spike. And while there were indeed protests, the officers in the RJ state, which is arguably the center of Brazilian organized crime, refused to stop. 95% of them, to be precise. Some say that it's because those officers knew that if that happened in RJ, ES's "chaos" would have been a Sunday picnic in comparison. In regular days, Rio's homicide rate (the capital has the same name as the state) is already similar to ES's anarchy state. As in, the capital has a higher homicide rate than the entire ES state. Can you imagine the entirety of the RJ state without law?
And some also remarked that RJ's policemen are notoriously more corrupt than ES's and going on strike would rob them of that sweet illicit money they get through bribes and drug trade, not to mention the little benefits (like free lunch/dinner in various spots in the towns). But whatever the reason, RJ wasn't paralyzed with strikes and fear, even now.
As the weekend wore on, ES was improving slightly. Businesses still record around R$300 million (roughly 100 million USD), the homicide rate is around 150 (and those are the ones we know; not exactly many officers keeping count for obvious reasons). But we also have over 3.800 military soldiers around now, from the navy, army, national guard, helicopters, etc. It started changing when the various state ministries began indicting hundreds of officers for mutiny and revolt (which is actually mentioned by the Brazilian constitution)...UNLESS they went back to work immediately. On Saturday (Feb 11th), 600 officers resumed work. On Sunday, it was 875. Yesterday, it was 1200. Considering that the state had around 2000 active "on the ground" officers before the protest/strike, we're close to returning to normalcy. And of course, the army is still in the streets, though they're becoming slightly uncommon now. Most people claim the officers are going back to work because the state showed they aren't going to easily accept their demands (especially, remember, Brazil is going through a heavy economic recession) and it's better to work with a low salary than go to jail with none. And by the way, their demands were the EXTRA stuff. The actual salaries are all paid on time, but at the cost of many jobs and salary increases. Plus, for any protest to work, you need a strong leadership and support from the masses. The current protest (yes, they are STILL at it) has neither at the moment. In fact, it never had the first and gradually lost the second, as the chaos went on.
I'm back home now and most things seem to be back to the usual. Most. Crime is still abnormally high and the army still patrols the streets and going out at night is a...rather bad idea still. But it's improving, at least.
Sigh.
Anyway, I did a bit of arting back in hometown, but nothing finished. Mostly sketches, ideas and some prototype charsheets. Couldn't really focus on it due to absurdly hot weather and being on a large family gathering for two days. Hell, the cat people alone make them freak out a bit. ~_~
I'll also re-make my 3D figures because a recent database cleanup of mine accidentally fucked their files up and my backups will take way too much work to bring back. It's also a nice excuse to upgrade to Genesis 3 (mine was 2). Hopefully, even make my current character before my mind magically changes again (hint: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/21359778 ). Maybe even art some new stuff I wanna try, or some pr0n, which has been a while...but for now, I'll be happy to take a nap in my room without hearing screaming and gunfire outside. Feels like it's been forever. |3
Last Friday, family members (mainly wives) of MPs (military policemen) began a protest in the officer's favor. They demanded several unpaid benefits, extras and such, along with abstract crap like "dignity" and "respect". They did it because no military personnel is allowed to protest or strike, which would fall under mutiny and lead to a world of shit. But since we're pros at going around and bending the laws...yep. The issue was that the protests were held in such a way as to fully block the driveways and entrances to police buildings, making them (and their patrol cars) unable to leave (though some just went "oh well, guess we can't work, huh?" and took a vacation). This happened state-wide in Espirito Santo (amusingly translating as "Holy Spirit"). If you're too lazy too google, here's a map: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ioNJXyPMQ.....0/Brasil+1.png
In that cute, smallish state, things went to hell since. Between saturday and sunday, the homicide rate spiked from last January's 4....to around 51. IN ONE WEEKEND.
The height of the chaos was between Monday and Wednesday (Febr. 6th-9th). Streets were absolutely devoid of life, no businesses of any kind were open and you could hear gunfire around the city. On the news and the 'net, things seemed even worse, with armed robberies and murders in broad daylight on several cities' main streets. And the fucking protesters still sat there, even as videos emerged of officers who wanted to get back to work but weren't being allowed to (some protesters actually stole their bulletproof vests and IDs to discourage them from working). After a lot of negotiation between inflamed, anarchist protesters and an arguably immovable state that refused to begin actual talks unless the officers went back to work, the homicide rate piled, people started leaving (or trying to; many were robbed naked or machinegunned to death around the interstate highways) and businesses recorded millions in losses, even though supplies dwindled and markets were running out of food (no supply trucks dared come into the state). Eventually, we decided to leave to our hometown, fully aware we might lose the car, the luggage and everything else, on Thursday, 9th. Luckily, we managed to do so without any significant issue, especially because, at that point, the government started deploying the army, marines, national guard and even APCs around the city. And armies aren't trained to talk or investigate: they're trained to shoot. But when we got to my hometown, a second thing was trying to spawn the same problem over there, in the Rio de Janeiro state (look at the map above). That little thing? Internet.
In Brazil, the most popular message service on mobile devices is WhatsApp, which also allows you to be part of various "groups". In those groups, the typical internet bullshit runs amok: cure-all panaceas, conspiracy theories, religious "proofs", photos and videos that range from kinda believable to ridiculously false, etc. That alone already makes my skin crawl, but another rumor was making the rounds: that the same strike that brought hell to ES was going to happen in RJ. (ES=Espirito Santo / RJ=Rio de Janeiro state) Despite zero evidence of that, several schools and stores closed and crime had a small spike. And while there were indeed protests, the officers in the RJ state, which is arguably the center of Brazilian organized crime, refused to stop. 95% of them, to be precise. Some say that it's because those officers knew that if that happened in RJ, ES's "chaos" would have been a Sunday picnic in comparison. In regular days, Rio's homicide rate (the capital has the same name as the state) is already similar to ES's anarchy state. As in, the capital has a higher homicide rate than the entire ES state. Can you imagine the entirety of the RJ state without law?
And some also remarked that RJ's policemen are notoriously more corrupt than ES's and going on strike would rob them of that sweet illicit money they get through bribes and drug trade, not to mention the little benefits (like free lunch/dinner in various spots in the towns). But whatever the reason, RJ wasn't paralyzed with strikes and fear, even now.
As the weekend wore on, ES was improving slightly. Businesses still record around R$300 million (roughly 100 million USD), the homicide rate is around 150 (and those are the ones we know; not exactly many officers keeping count for obvious reasons). But we also have over 3.800 military soldiers around now, from the navy, army, national guard, helicopters, etc. It started changing when the various state ministries began indicting hundreds of officers for mutiny and revolt (which is actually mentioned by the Brazilian constitution)...UNLESS they went back to work immediately. On Saturday (Feb 11th), 600 officers resumed work. On Sunday, it was 875. Yesterday, it was 1200. Considering that the state had around 2000 active "on the ground" officers before the protest/strike, we're close to returning to normalcy. And of course, the army is still in the streets, though they're becoming slightly uncommon now. Most people claim the officers are going back to work because the state showed they aren't going to easily accept their demands (especially, remember, Brazil is going through a heavy economic recession) and it's better to work with a low salary than go to jail with none. And by the way, their demands were the EXTRA stuff. The actual salaries are all paid on time, but at the cost of many jobs and salary increases. Plus, for any protest to work, you need a strong leadership and support from the masses. The current protest (yes, they are STILL at it) has neither at the moment. In fact, it never had the first and gradually lost the second, as the chaos went on.
I'm back home now and most things seem to be back to the usual. Most. Crime is still abnormally high and the army still patrols the streets and going out at night is a...rather bad idea still. But it's improving, at least.
Sigh.
Anyway, I did a bit of arting back in hometown, but nothing finished. Mostly sketches, ideas and some prototype charsheets. Couldn't really focus on it due to absurdly hot weather and being on a large family gathering for two days. Hell, the cat people alone make them freak out a bit. ~_~
I'll also re-make my 3D figures because a recent database cleanup of mine accidentally fucked their files up and my backups will take way too much work to bring back. It's also a nice excuse to upgrade to Genesis 3 (mine was 2). Hopefully, even make my current character before my mind magically changes again (hint: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/21359778 ). Maybe even art some new stuff I wanna try, or some pr0n, which has been a while...but for now, I'll be happy to take a nap in my room without hearing screaming and gunfire outside. Feels like it's been forever. |3
This actually scares me. If places like this can go bat-shit nuts when protests stop cops for going to work...I unfortunately can imagine how much of a explosion of violent madness could go if Trump continues to piss off everyone in the US and around the world. I honestly don't understand how he is still our president right now if our country is literary telling him to F*** Off.
But that's just my two cents.
You take care of yourself and hope normality returns close to complete.
When I think of Brazil I think that I owe my Volkswagen's replacement parts to the fact that Brazil was the last country to stop making the air cooled Volkswagen cars. My beetle still runs because of Brazil. Thank you.
I'll have something soon...that is, when my heavy art blocks and sudden bursts of depression cut me some slack. x_x