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Olympics media village built on 'sacred' mass grave of African slaves
Source: The Guardian
Olympics media village built on 'sacred' mass grave of African slaves
Daniel Gross and Jonathan Watts in Rio de Janeiro
Thursday 21 July 2016 11.00 BST
Journalists covering the Olympic Games may find themselves caught up in a row over one of the darkest periods of Brazilian history, following claims that part of the media village has been built on a mass grave of African slaves.
As reporters and cameramen start to arrive ahead of the opening ceremony next month, a community of descendants of runaway slaves, known as a quilombo, has said the site of the Barra Media Village 3, close to the Olympic Park, was built on land where their ancestors were buried – and which they consider sacred.
Adilson Batista Almeida, the leader of Camorim Quilombo, accuses developers of riding roughshod over the history of slavery in the area by destroying archaeological remains at the site of an old sugar mill, and depriving the community of a public space for cultural activities that celebrate its Afro-Brazilian heritage.
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The media village is a condominium – Grand Club Verdant – that will be sold to private buyers after the Games. The land was acquired in 2013 by the real estate developer Cyrela which felled hundreds of trees, destroyed a community football pitch and demolished the remains of the old slave owner’s house and the slavery-era sugar mill in order to clear the area for construction.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Daniel Gross and Jonathan Watts in Rio de Janeiro
Thursday 21 July 2016 11.00 BST
Journalists covering the Olympic Games may find themselves caught up in a row over one of the darkest periods of Brazilian history, following claims that part of the media village has been built on a mass grave of African slaves.
As reporters and cameramen start to arrive ahead of the opening ceremony next month, a community of descendants of runaway slaves, known as a quilombo, has said the site of the Barra Media Village 3, close to the Olympic Park, was built on land where their ancestors were buried – and which they consider sacred.
Adilson Batista Almeida, the leader of Camorim Quilombo, accuses developers of riding roughshod over the history of slavery in the area by destroying archaeological remains at the site of an old sugar mill, and depriving the community of a public space for cultural activities that celebrate its Afro-Brazilian heritage.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
The media village is a condominium – Grand Club Verdant – that will be sold to private buyers after the Games. The land was acquired in 2013 by the real estate developer Cyrela which felled hundreds of trees, destroyed a community football pitch and demolished the remains of the old slave owner’s house and the slavery-era sugar mill in order to clear the area for construction.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/21/olympics-media-village-sacred-grave-african-slaves-rio-games
