MNMMR-Pernambuco
When the national Movement of Street Boys and Girls institutionalized its efforts in 1994, the militants in Pernambuco resisted. Today, Pernambuco is one of the few states where the Movement is at it was at the end of the 1980s: militant, grassroots, and unapologetically political.
The Pernambuco chapter of the MNMMR is made up of 19 grass roots groups, about 400 children. Each group works within its own community (you can read about some of these local groups in Semente de Amanhã and Ruas e Praças), but they also work together on city-wide, state-wide, and national issues. Each year, the MNMMR takes half a dozen buses to Brasilia to lobby Congress on important issues -- in 2002, they helped to defeat an initiative to prevent prosecutros from trying children as adults.
The MNMMR is also a cultural space. Each week the militants meet downtown; the children talk about their life on the street or in the favelas, but they also do something artistic. When Shine a light visited, the kids took to the street to perform a Maracatú, a carnavalesque event full of drums, dance, and costumes.
MNMMR-Pernambuco
Rua da Aurora 127, Edificio Santa Alice, Apto 402
Boa Vista, Recife, PE
Brasil
81 3221 5691
fax 3423 5397
cfpolo3@elogica.com.br
www.mnmmr.org.br
