Suddenly Sao Paulo's upmarket area of Higienópolis, whose shopping mall features such obscenely high prices, is all over the news and social media networks. It's powerful residents have prevented a metro station being built there so they can keep the riff raff out. But Facebook campaigns are already underway to stage counter-protests. Someone has mentioned that these NIMBY residents are quite happy to use public transport during their frequent travels to cities like New York or London. Will this be a social media milestone in Brazil, as the optimists hope ? I am not so confident. But it certainly throws into stark relief the massive challenges in trying to create a real middle class in this country.
Update: on further reflection, I don't entirely blame the campaigning residents of Higienópolis. The country and culture is to blame. There has been absolutely no feeling for the Greater Good instilled in people, just a dog eat dog world of private, paranoid bubbles. You can't expect any one group to buck such a strong trend. It needs vision and leadership and a belief in society as more than just an empty word. All the talk of Socialism in Latin America but still no real understanding of how a functional society works. It begins with the sidewalks and the street lights and the metro stations. It's about interconnection, the whole being more than the sum of it's parts. Slogans and cheerleading do not a society make.
Also, Higienópolis is well-known as a Jewish area. There is no excuse for antisemitism, which sadly seems to be creeping into some of the comments on Facebook and Twitter. Dysfunctional societies will always look for scapegoats rather than looking in the mirror.
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