Android users, help us test our Mobil-Eyes Us app on June 6 at 8 p.m. ET. Mobil-Eyes Us is a WITNESS’ initiative that connects frontline human rights defenders with distant supporters in real time.

On June 6, join us for a debate on state violence in Brazil centered around the “Auto de Resistência,” a documentary on homicides committed by Rio de Janeiro’s military police. The debate will be livestreamed from Brazil via the app with community leaders and victims of police violence joining in and sharing their experiences. The debate will be in Portuguese and translated into English by volunteers via the app.

Here’s how you can get involved:

• If you’re an Android user, download the app here;
• Share the event details with partners, friends, and activists who you think may be interested in the Brazilian context of police abuse, and those thinking of ways to better document those abuses;
• Tune-in June 6 at 8 p.m. ET to watch the debate and share your support;
• Help us improve the app by noticing any glitches or if you have suggestions, you can post your comments in real time via the app.

For more information about the app, click here.

This Thursday, August 31, the state government of Rio de Janeiro will make the call for bids for the construction work on the land known as Favela da Skol, located in Complexo do Alemão. The event will be broadcast live, at 12pm UTC time (9am RIO; 8am NY), by one of the most prominent and inspiring community leaders, Camila Moradia from Quero minha casa. The livestream will include English translation and additional local context through the support of WITNESS’ Mobil-Eyes Us project.

Since 2009, about 500 families who occupied the land – where the Skol brewery was once located – have been removed on the grounds that the homes were at ​​risk because of the presence of the abandoned brewery building.

During his time as deputy governor of Rio, Luiz Fernando Pezão (who is now governor) promised that he would deliver new homes within nine months. Seven years have gone by and the residents still remain without adequate housing. And they receive insufficient rent assistance to be able to afford the city’s high cost of housing.

This Thursday, we have a great opportunity to change the way this community has been treated in the struggle for housing rights. Your support is urgent and fundamental, as well as the support from the people around you, so that this victory does not become another empty promise in this history of resistance and fight. Now it’s more important than ever to show that we’re on their side and that there are a lot of people watching!

Show support by sharing the Facebook event, invite your friends to do the same and on August 31st, make yourself present wherever you are! We will be documenting everything, providing English translation and offering links with contextualization of all the other promises made and not fulfilled by the Brazilian State.

This livestreaming event is a continuation of our pilot Mobile-Eyes Us project during the Rio 2016 Olympics. The project brings ‘distant witnesses’ into livestreams and offers context, translation and other meaningful ways to take action. Learn more about the pilot here.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 31

WATCH (with translation & local context – no registration needed): http://mobile-eyes-us.itp.io:8000/

REGISTER (receive notifications & give feedback on our Mobil-Eyes Us project): email claramedeiros@gmail.com

SHARE: Invite others to attend via this Facebook event