The Resistance Memorial of Sao Paulo

A space to remember those who resisted abuse and repression as well as being one to inspire the new generation to value solidarity, democratic principles and the respect for differences – This is  the Resistance Memorial in Sao Paulo. Walking through it you get the anger, sadness and depression that people can be so tortured but then as you watch the curators talk the students through the history of the place, you get hope that these students will ensure there is no repetition of the old.

The Memorial, housed at the former offices of the Department of Social and Political Order of São Paulo State (DEOPS/SP), one of the most gruesome political police forces in the country during the military regime, is dedicated to the memory of the resistance and repression that took place in Brazil at the hands of the DEIPS/SP. Going through the cells of the Memorial one goes through the incarceration room, through one that has masks depicting the thousands of prisoners, the disappeared and deceased from the operations of the DEOPS/SP. Another cell presents signatures and reenactment of memories by former political prisoners while the last has a stool and a bottle holding a flower, a sign of solidarity and hope to the prisoners by the people outside. 

The Building and the entrance to the cells

Masks depicting the thousands of prisoners, the disappeared and deceased   from the operations of the DEOPS/SP  

                        

The entrance with the pictures    

                          

Signatures and reenactment of memories by former political prisoners

            A sign of solidarity and hope to the prisoners by the people outside

                                                                                                                                    

As part of the activities of the 15 Colloquium on Human Rights that took place in Sao Paulo from the 1^st to the 6^th October, 2017, visiting the memorial and listening to the history of resistance and detentions makes you recognize and appreciate the fact that abuses against human rights come in many forms and at all social levels and that we of today are continuing a fight started way back. While The Memorial reminds one of what happened, the 15 Colloquium was an opportunity to energize us to stand-up against any form of oppression in our own social, political, and cultural spheres.

The 15th International Human Rights Colloquium served as a space to rethink the strategies adopted by the human rights movement and to increase the participation of activists from other movements in an effort to diversify the alliances of the movement. The 15th Colloquium was organized by Forum Asia (Thailand), the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria (South Africa), Dejusticia (Colombia), and Conectas Human Rights (Brazil). The Colloquium is one of the most expected human rights events of the world and its main objective is to promote the integration and exchange among human rights activists from the Global South through the socialization of knowledge and practices that are capable of advancing the human rights agenda.