Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there were one billion slum residents and squatters globally. Squatting occurs worldwide and tends to occur when people find empty buildings or land to occupy for housing. A variation is Street Squatting which is the action of occupying public areas without lawful permission, such as outdoor parks or streets. It has a long history, broken down by country below.
Landless Workers' Movement is a social movement in Brazil, inspired by Marxism, generally regarded as one of the largest in Latin America, with an estimated informal membership of 1.5 million across 23 of Brazil's 26 states. MST defines its goals as access to the land for poor workers through land reform in Brazil, and activism around social issues that make land ownership more difficult to achieve, such as unequal income distribution, racism, sexism, and media monopolies. MST strives to achieve a self-sustainable way of life for the rural poor.
Luiza Erundina de Sousa is a Brazilian politician, born in Uiraúna, a small city in the interior of the Brazilian state of Paraíba.
Central Única dos Trabalhadores, commonly known by the acronym CUT, is the main national trade union center in Brazil.
The Prestes Maia building, or sometimes simply Prestes Maia, is believed to be the largest squatted highrise building in South America, with an estimated 2000 inhabitants. The complex is made up of two tower blocks, Bloco A and Bloco B, the latter of which has the address Avenida Prestes Maia, 911 near Luz Station in downtown São Paulo. Businessman Jorge Nacle Hamuche purchased the building at auction in 1993 and co-owns it with his business partner, Eduardo Amorim. The building remains registered to the previous owner, the bankrupt National Cloth Company, where Hamuche had been employed.
As an act of protest, occupation is a strategy often used by social movements and other forms of collective social action in order to squat and hold public and symbolic spaces, buildings, critical infrastructure such as entrances to train stations, shopping centers, university buildings, squares, and parks. Opposed to a military occupation which attempts to subdue a conquered country, a protest occupation is a means to resist the status quo and advocate a change in public policy. Occupation attempts to use space as an instrument in order to achieve political and economic change, and to construct counter-spaces in which protesters express their desire to participate in the production and re-imagination of urban space. Often, this is connected to the right to the city, which is the right to inhabit and be in the city as well as to redefine the city in ways that challenge the demands of capitalist accumulation. That is to make public spaces more valuable to the citizens in contrast to favoring the interests of corporate and financial capital.
Praça da Sé is a public space in São Paulo, Brazil. Considered as the city's central point, it is the point from where the distance of all roads passing through São Paulo are counted. The square was the location of many historical events in São Paulo's history, most notably during the Diretas Já movement. The name originates from the episcopal see of the city, the São Paulo Cathedral.
The Eldorado do Carajás massacre was the mass killing of nineteen landless farmers who were squatting at a private ranch. They were shot by military police on April 17, 1996, in the southern region of the Pará state, Brazil.
Francisco Prestes Maia (1896–1965) was a Brazilian architect, civil engineer, urban planner, and professor, who served three terms as mayor of the city of São Paulo.
Luiz Eduardo Greenhalgh is a Brazilian politician and one of the founders of the Workers' Party (PT). He also was the attorney of the Landless Workers' Movement (MST). A founding member of PT, Greenhalgh was affiliated 1974–1980 to the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), the party that previously represented the civilian opposition to the dictatorship. He was federal deputy for São Paulo and vice mayor of São Paulo in the government of Luiza Erundina (1989–1993). He participated in the creation of a special committee, the Brazilian Committee of Solidarity with the Peoples of Latin America in 1980.
The Popular Brigades is a socialist Brazilian political organization founded in September 18, 2011, in São Paulo. It emerged from the merger of four previous organizations and pursues strategic goals such as ending Brazil's dependency as well as the establishment of a sovereign and popular political regime. This philosophy is systematized in the organization's motto: Open Political Unity for a New Majority, which means the formation of a broad political field capable of consolidating itself as an alternative for the emancipation of the Brazilian people against a political regime built by the "Casa Grande" and the "Casa Branca".
The 2017 Brazilian general strike took place on April 28, 100 years after Brazil's first general strike in June 1917. The movement was a protest against reforms of labor laws, which were later adopted and social security proposed by Michel Temer government and pending in National Congress of Brazil.
Guilherme Castro Boulos is a Brazilian politician, activist and writer. He is a member of the National Coordination of Homeless Workers' Movement (MTST). Boulos joined the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) in 2018, and was PSOL's candidate for the presidency of Brazil in the 2018 general election.
The 2018 presidential campaign of Guilherme Boulos was announced on 3 March 2018 in São Paulo. Guilherme Boulos, a nationally-recognized leader of the Homeless Workers' Movement (MTST), ran as a member of the left-wing Socialism and Liberty Party.
The 2020 São Paulo municipal election took place in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, with the first round taking place on 15 November 2020 and the second round taking place on 29 November 2020. Voters voted to elect the Mayor, the Vice Mayor and 55 city councillors for the administration of the city. The result was a 2nd round victory for incumbent Mayor Bruno Covas of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB), winning 3,169,121 votes and a share of 59,38% of the popular vote, defeating political activist Guilherme Boulos of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), who took 2,168,109 votes and a share of 40.62% of the popular vote.
The Centre of People's Movements or Popular Movements Central is a Brazilian left-wing social movement organization that articulate various social urban movements in their common and general struggles, such as housing, health, women, blacks, solidarity economy, among others.
Hamilton Moreira de Assis, known as Hamilton Assis, is a Brazilian labor leader, left-wing activist, teacher, and politician from Salvador, Bahia. A former director of the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) in Bahia, he has run for office several times as a member of the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), most recently in 2018 where he stood as an unsuccessful candidate for the party's presidential nomination. Over the course of his career, Assis has held positions in the Bahia chapters of both PSOL and the Workers' Party (PT).
Plínio de Arruda Sampaio Jr., sometimes simply referred to as Plininho, is a Brazilian economist, academic, and political figure. He is a retired professor of economics at the University of Campinas in São Paulo, one of the top-ranked universities in Brazil and Latin America. During his career, Arruda Sampaio Jr.'s work primarily focused on the economic history of Brazil, developmentalism, and political economy. He has also served on the editorial board of Brasil de Fato, a left-wing publication.
Squatting in Brazil is the occupation of unused or derelict buildings or land without the permission of the owner. After attempting to eradicate slums in the 1960s and 1970s, local governments transitioned to a policy of toleration. Cities such as Recife, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo have large informal settlements known as favelas. A more recent phenomenon is the occupation of buildings in city centres by organised groups. In rural areas across the country, the Landless Workers' Movement (MST) arranges large land occupations.
