Brazil: Photos from the “Different People’s” Big Barbecue Protest · Global Voices
Paula Góes

Just over a week after Brazil's “barbecue protests” [en] against class prejudice and in defense of quality public transport in Sao Paulo City, it is time to take a look back at the event's highlights, as it continues to inspire and bring laughter to the country's blogosphere.
It is estimated that the event attracted a crowd of between 200 (according to the mainstream media) and more than 4,000 (according to the blogosphere) people. Here are some of the more “different” videos and photos produced by citizen reporters. [All the links in this post lead to Portuguese language posts except when otherwise noted; the videos have English subtitles].
Subway protest
The following photo, taken at the beginning of the protest, shows the place where the Higienópolis subway station was originally planned to be built. The barbecue protest was a response to the withdrawal of permission by the government of Sao Paulo for the station's construction, following a petition signed by 3,500 residents from the upscale neighborhood of the capital of Sao Paulo.
Corner between Angélica and Sergipe streets. Photo by Marcel Maia, on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
At the end of the night, the streets were still full of people. In the following photo a clothes line hangs at Angelica Avenue, giving the posh neighborhood the feel of the poorer outskirts:
Angelica is the new Augusta: a reference to the neighbor area that have long been taken by “different people”. Photo by luddista on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
Humor, sarcasm and glamor (or not)
As expected, the event was marked by an ironic tone and there was plenty of good-natured criticism of the exclusive behavior of Sao Paulo's elite. The satire was well recorded in the following photos:
“Enough of cars 1.0 in Higienópolis”. Photo by Patricia Melendi, on Flickr. Published with permission.
I only take the tube in NY, Paris and London! Photo by Luís Eduardo Catenacci, on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
Change now! – A protester holds poster suggesting that some streets should have their names changed: instead of poor northeastern states, they should be called after chic French regions. Photo by Luís Eduardo Catenacci, on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
Pop (music) is the closest the middle class gets to popular. Photo by Patricia Melendi, on Flickr. Published with permission.
A protester holds a post saying “Down with the poverty of spirit!”. Photo by Fernando Baldan, on Flickr. Published with permission.
The photos below show the color and creativity of the “multi-differentiated” crowd:
Photo by Eduardo Catenacci, on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Photo by Eduardo Catenacci, on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
And, of course, the protesters were never short of food and drinks, all brought to the event which began as Facebook joke:
Farofa at Angélica. Farofa is a very popular toasted manioc flour mixture. Twitpic by @amanda_rossi.
A “different cat” barbecue (the name given to any street barbecue with meat of doubtful origin, not necessarily cat though!). Photo by Luís Eduardo Catenacci, on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
“Differentiated peoples. We are in the area.” Photo by Marcel Maia, on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).
The protest in videos
In the first video report from his blog, Rafael Castilho interviewed protesters and residents alike to hear different perspectives on the issue. The resulting video shows people who commute two to three hours to work in Higienópolis, as well as representatives of the residents association:
The whole controversy was well explained in this documentary by @carolthome and @ducamendes:
Barbecue outcome
Nearly 5,000 people have signed an online petition as opposed to the 3,500 signatures of the original petition promoted by the association of dwellers that led to a reassessment of the construction of the subway station. The protest has inspired a computer game and other movements, such as Different Front for a Different Brazil:
Parabéns a toda galera que fez parte de alguma forma do evento “Churrascão da gente diferenciada” os inspiradores do nosso movimento Frente Diferenciada, graças a vocês ficou refletida a idéia clara que podemos e queremos um Brasil diferente. Afinal de contas somos todos diferenciados, somos brasileiros por um Brasil melhor!
It is not clear whether the protest will result in concrete action by the government, but if in the National Parliament everything “ends in pizza” [en], in the streets of Higienópolis, the different people protest ended in Samba. The song is by Márcio Lugó and Dre Nascimento:
Elitist Government of Sao Paulo. A graffit protest on the wall where the Higienópolis subway station was planned. Twitpic by @mundano_sp.
Gente Diferenciada
Eu sou diferenciado
Gosto de churrasco de gato
Pão com pão sem queijo coalho
Cerveja gelada só no bar do lado
Alguns dizem “não preciso de metro
Tenho carro, dinheiro que levo aonde eu vou”
Mas e a gente tão igual e diferente
Que pelos trilhos descarrila a cantar
Alguns dizem que não precisa de metro
E o governo aceita sem nenhum pudor
Mas a gente que é diferenciada
Nesse churrasco mostra a cara pra cantar
Eu sou diferenciado
Pego ônibus lotado
Morumbi ou Eldorado
Porque o metrô foi inapropriado
Pra quem?
Different people
I'm different
I like cat barbecue
Bread with bread and no cheese sandwich
Cold beer only at the bar next door
Some say “I don't need metro,
I have a car and money to take me wherever I go”
But what about us, so equal and so different
who derails at the tracks when singing
Some said they need no metro
And the government shamelessly accepted it
But we people who are different
Come together to this barbecue to sing
I'm different
I ride crowded buses
to Morumbi or Eldorado
Because the metro was unbecoming
Who for?
It is not yet clear whether the Higienópolis subway station will come to be built in real life. On the Internet, meanwhile, a mock design for a metro line that will serve the so-called “different people” is already doing the rounds on Twitter, where it was “portrayed” in a twitpic by @rogertunes:
The “different people” metro line. Twitpic by @rogertunes.