By EDERGENIO NEGREIROS VIEIRA*
The traumas that sudden absence produces give rise to several heads on this Lernaean Hydra, called violence.
Imagine a huge being the size of a skyscraper, with the body of a dragon and enormous snake heads. According to Greek mythology, this being lived in a swamp near Lake Lerna, in Argolis, which today would be the eastern coast of the Peloponnese region. As the myth tells us, the Hydra's heads could regenerate; the most hyperbolic ones said that when one head was cut off, two would grow in its place.
In the short story “We agreed not to die”, present in the book Water Eyes by writer Conceição Evaristo, we have as a central element of the approach the situation of social vulnerability of people who live in places known as favelas. The term favela was used again by IBGE (2024) (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), in the last census, to designate residential locations with different degrees of legal insecurity of possession, absence or incomplete supply of basic sanitation and waste collection, among other items described by the research body.
In addition to social vulnerability, the story by the writer from Minas Gerais also addresses elements such as violence and the fear of death. Violence is a complex phenomenon with multiple faces, which manifests itself through discourse and visceral practices that cause innumerable harm to people. From an empirical perspective, it seems clear to us that the country is making great strides, if it has not already reached a process of trivializing violence.
The violence that is exposed through literature, but which can be found in a series of streaming, in a soap opera or even in written and televised newspapers, has been producing a series of tragedies in Brazilian daily life. Because in addition to appearing in ranking In countries with intentional violent death (IVD) rates above the world average, debates on the subject are reduced and contaminated by punitive logic that barely discusses actions and strategies so that we can put an end to this true national tragedy.
Several actors are involved in the debate on this topic: security forces, the judiciary, the public prosecutor's office, public defenders' offices, universities, social movements, etc. It is worth noting that social movements have a central role in the debate on violence in Brazil. Composed mostly of women who are victims of violence, this group (as well as the children of these women) is the most vulnerable and, therefore, bears the brunt of the psychosocial impacts arising from the contemporary frenzy, which affects vulnerable territories and social minorities.
Articulated in collectives such as Mães da Leste (SP), Mães da Rocinha (RJ), Mães Pela Paz (GO), these groups are important social actors who have been pressuring the Brazilian State over the years to promote a change in its institutions, so that there is an end to the thousands of intentional violent deaths, as well as implementing actions, programs and public policies of the State that guarantee full assistance to those who suffer the sudden loss of a relative, often with the State itself being responsible for the death of the loved one.
As a result of these struggles, the then acting president, Geraldo Alckmin, sanctioned Law number 14.987 of July 25, 2024, which amends art. 87 of Law no. 8.069 of July 13, 1990 (Child and Adolescent Statute), to extend the right to psychosocial care to children and adolescents who had either of their parents or guardians victimized by serious violence or imprisoned in a closed regime.
Data from the Brazilian Public Security Forum indicate that in 2023, there were 852 people in Brazil as convicted and provisional prisoners, a number that represents an increase of 2,4% compared to the previous year. The 18th Brazilian Public Security Yearbook recorded 46.328 intentional violent deaths in 2023, a number that represented a decrease of 3,4% compared to the previous year, which can be explained by several factors. However, the concrete fact is that the country has a rate of 22,8 intentional deaths per 100 inhabitants.
This number is four times higher than the average number of homicides, calculated at 5,8 deaths per 100 inhabitants by UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime). In other words, this means that although Brazil demographically represents 3% of the world's population, the country is responsible for approximately 10% of all homicides committed in the world.
The law originates in the PL 1.151 / 2023, presented by Congresswoman Laura Carneiro (PSD-RJ), and was approved in the Senate on September 10. Before the vote in the Plenary, the text passed through the Social Affairs (CAS) and Human Rights (CDH) Committees, receiving favorable opinions before going to presidential sanction and should come into force in 2025. In addition to the debate on the importance of the measure, one question that remains is to think of the State as a manager of the psychological and social suffering of children who are victims of violence.
This violence ends up being produced by the State or even by its absence, thus contributing to “death setting life on fire as if it were tinder”, as Conceição Evaristo wrote in the short story “A gente combinamos de não morrer” (We agree not to die), and for now we say goodbye by saying that the traumas that sudden absence produces give rise to several heads in this Lernaean Hydra, called violence.
*Edergênio Negreiros Vieira is a PhD candidate in sociology at the University of Brasília (UnB).
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