Brito Guterres (part 1): “The residents of Zambujal only receive crumbs, harassment and police violence. It’s important to listen to these people!”
António Brito Guterres was born in the Arroios neighborhood, in Lisbon, in a free country, in 1978.
But Portugal still had a lot to build, deconstruct, decolonize, at a time when the parish was part of a ghost town, where almost no one lived, nor were there peers to play with.
Brito Guterres became formally interested in politics very early on. He is a creation of the 90’s generation, descendant of the revolution and contemporary of the Zapatista uprising. And, naturally, he was involved in the anti-globalization fight, “looking for a fairer world.”
José Fonseca Fernandes
What took shape in the occupation of houses, transforming them into social centers; in the fight for the free movement of people, “against racism and against a life dominated only by the circulation of capital.”
“Evidently, we lost.” said Brito Guterres about his past.
But António Brito Guterres did not lower his arms, nor did he give up on the unprotected communities with whom he has been alongside.
José Fonseca Fernandes
Suffice it to say that, from a professional point of view, your workspace is also political, formalized by public policies.
Brito Guterres always felt that his political thinking, in addition to citizenship initiatives, writing and debate, should be consistent with practice.
That’s why he is in neighborhoods considered the most problematic, those named as sensitive urban areas (the ZUS) where the police are allowed to operate more harshly.
José Fonseca Fernandes
And in this conception of what is considered a sensitive area lies the criterion of the socio-ethnic composition of the neighborhood. Which means that being poor, gypsy, black, immigrant is a reason for more violent intervention than in other areas of the city.
This podcast conversation begins by addressing the riots caused by the death of Odair Moniz, a resident of the Zambujal neighborhood, fatally shot by a PSP agent, who has since been accused. There has been a long-standing friction between the residents of this neighborhood and the police forces.
José Fonseca Fernandes
Brito Guterres knows the neighborhoods on the outskirts of Lisbon like the rooms in his house and is one of the voices of this invisible city, as he calls it, always alongside these communities – mostly racialized people and immigrants – listening to them, without impositions, without condescension, without paternalism, seeking to meet some of their needs and report how these people are daily marginalized, persecuted and harassed by police forces.
What ways out of this cycle of violence, exclusion and economic and social inequality? What is important to change in the system and in these neighborhoods under fire? Brito Guterres points out paths and flaws.
José Fonseca Fernandes
In times of great polarization, when the other is increasingly seen as the enemy, Brito sees these others as equals and returns face and humanity to all the people of this “invisible city”, where economically fragile communities with specific needs live.
It is important to say that Brito Guterres is a Social Worker with a postgraduate degree in Urban Studies and is currently pursuing a PhD in the same thematic area. He is a researcher at Dinâmia-Cet ISCTE – IUL. Among several studies, he was one of the authors of the “Strategies for the Culture of the City of Lisbon”.
And, for the last ten years, he was a member of the Aga Khan Portugal Foundation, coordinating territorial, local development, artistic and cultural expression projects. At the same institution and until the end of 2022, he was director of the civil society program and the urban community development program “K’cidade” for four years.
At the same time, he has been curator of the Iminente Festival since its inception, proposing artists for the event, organizing its debates and organizing the Bairros project workshops. Furthermore, he is a member of the editorial board of Jornal A Mensagem. And he was chosen by the Expresso editors as one of the voices to be taken into account in the coming years, in a work carried out on the occasion of the weekly newspaper’s 50th anniversary.
José Fonseca Fernandes
As you know, the generic is signed by Marcia and has the collaboration of He had taken. The portraits are by José Fernandes. And the sound design of this podcast is João Ribeiro.
The second part of this episode will be released this Saturday morning. Happy listening!
