Realpolitik, Reality and Rhetoric in Rio

Abstract

As Rio prepared for the 1992 Earth Summit by paving the road to the airport and placing in detention the young street kids regularly assassinated by death squads, the inhabitants of Rio, one of Brazil's most depressed cities in a disintegrating economy, positioned themselves for the windfall of 30000 participants in need of services ranging from taxis to transvestites. The Rio conference was one where the average citizen was excluded in no uncertain terms from the formal conference by a phalanx composed of Brazilian troops and UN peace-keeping forces. The ‘cordon militaire’ and spatial isolation of the Rio Centro conference site reflected the larger social and economic contours of the current environmental arena.