Accumulation by multiple dispossessions: The case of Porto Maravilha, Rio de Janeiro

This paper views the transformation of Rio de Janeiro for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games as exemplary of current trends of neo-liberal governmentality (Swyngedouw). As urban politics are held hostage to the dictates of unrepresentative organizations like the FIFA and the IOC, and looming event deadlines provide the pretext for planning by state of emergency (Stavrides) and for the imposition of the state of exception (Vainer) in order to reconfigure the urban territory to serve the needs of capital, a series of dispossessions are taking place.

            This presentation is based on David Harvey’s concept of accumulation by dispossession, to explain the need of capital to colonize new territories and appropriate common goods in order to fructify. It examines the case of the planned dispossession of Rio de Janeiro port area with the Porto Maravilha project. The paper will focus on the multiple dispossessions that characterize this project: 1. A territorial dispossession, marked by planned gentrification and the expulsion of poor residents; 2. A historical dispossession, resulting from the combined effects of cultural instrumentalization and the silencing of the area’s slave history; 3. A symbolic dispossession, with the appropriation of the identity and representation of local neighborhoods, such as Morro da Providencia and Morro da Conceiçao in their touristic commodification; and 4. A legistlative dispossession with the passing of exceptional measures and legislative innovations that accelerate the redevelopment process while dismissing the democratic rights of the residents. The article concludes with a discussion of the diverse modes of resistance and social movements that seek to reappropriate the city and its public spaces.