VIDEO: Memories of the Violent Eviction of Brazil’s Pinheirinho Community · Global Voices
Raphael Tsavkko Garcia

Screenshot of SomosTodosOFilme.com website
Two years after the violent eviction of the Pinheirinho community in the city of São José dos Campos in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, a short documentary “Somos Todos“(We Are All), which collects testimonies from activists involved with the cause and victims of the episode, has been released online. The eviction became known as the Massacre of Pinheirinho.
The synopsis of the film on YouTube reads:
Eram seis horas da manhã, em janeiro de 2012, quando oito mil pessoas, assustadas, começaram a chorar. Pinheirinho dali em diante não seria mais o lar que construíram há cerca de oito anos. Somos Todos dá rosto aos Pinheirenses e voz a dor de quem até hoje espera solução para uma reintegração de posse repleta de contradições judiciais e humanas.
It was six o'clock in the morning, in January 2012, when 8,000 people, frightened, began to cry. Pinheirinho henceforth would no longer be home of those who built it eight years ago. Somos Todos gives a face to the Pinheirenses and gives a voice to the pain of those who today are still waiting for a solution to the repossession, which was full of legal and human contradictions.
The documentary was screened in Recife one year after the eviction in January 2013, and has won awards at several festivals, including Visões Periférias (Peripheral Visions) in Rio de Janeiro in the Imaginary Borders category and the Porta Curtas jury. “Somos Todos” can now be viewed in full on YouTube or on the website of the project.
According to the film's directors and producers, Bruna Monteiro and Nathália Dielú:
Sobre nós, muito mudou depois do Pinheirinho. Crescemos tanto depois de ouvir os pinheirenses, depois de sentí-los. Hoje, olhamos para o lado com muito mais força, muito mais vontade de transformar. Olhamos também para as nossas lutas pessoais de um jeito diferente, mais maduro. As casas do Pinheirinho foram destruídas. Os sonhos dos Pinheirenses, não. E para que haveríamos de nos emudecer, se os sonhos, tão grandes, transformam a vida, o mundo? Nós, Bruna Monteiro e Nathália e Dielú, escrevemos cada um dos textos que vocês acabaram de ler. Nós, fizemos as entrevistas nos abrigos, na associação. Nós seguimos nessa direção pelo simples e enorme desejo de fazê-lo nos acompanhar. Não só no Pinheirinho de São José dos Campos, mas nos tantos que estão muito perto dos nossos olhos. Nós só conseguimos porque pessoas especiais nos ajudaram nessa missão. Esse site é resultado de um sonho, o de inspirar pessoas, o de lembrar o Pinheirinho como um episódio triste, que não pode ser abandonado. Nem por você, nem por nós.
About us, much has changed after Pinheirinho. We grew so much after hearing from the Pinheirenses, after we felt them. Today, we look to our surroundings with more strength, with more willingness to transform. We also look at our personal struggles in a different, more mature way. The houses at Pinheirinho were destroyed. The dreams of the Pinheirenses were not. And why should we mute ourselves if big dreams change lives, change the world? We, Bruna Monteiro and Nathália Dielú, wrote each of the texts you just read. We did interviews in shelters, at the association. We follow this direction because of the simple and overwhelming desire to make it follow us. Not only in Pinheirinho in São José dos Campos, but in the many that are very close to our eyes. We only succeeded because special people helped us in this mission. This website is the result of a dream, one to inspire people, to remember Pinheirinho as a sad episode that cannot be abandoned. Not by you, not by us.
Take a look at the teaser trailer below:
Also check out Global Voices coverage of the eviction:
22 Jan, 2012 – Brazil: Occupation dwellers surprised by violent illegal eviction
25 Jan, 2012 – Brazil: “Massacre of Pinheirinho” Causes an Uproar
27 Jan, 2012 – Brazil: Military Police Asks “Understanding” on Pinheirinho Eviction by E-mail
27 Jan, 2012 – Brazil: A View from Aboard on Pinheirinho Eviction
03 Feb, 2012 – Brazil: Pinheirinho Videos ‘Cover-Up’ Leads Activist to Hunger Strike
10 Feb, 2012 – Brazil: “We Are All Pinheirinho” Spreads Around the World
22 Feb, 2012 – Brazil: “Massacre of Pinheirinho”, One Month Later
22 Feb, 2012 – Brazil: Global Act “We Are All Pinheirinho”
19 Mar, 2012 – Brazil: Should Pinheirinho Eviction go to the International Criminal Court?
25 Jan, 2013 – Brazil: Families Evicted from Pinheirinho Still Without a Proper Home
28 Jan, 2013 – Brazil: “Massacre of Pinheirinho”, One Year Later