Thank you, good afternoon. Let me first see how it works so that it won't... there...
Folks, to me, as well as for all and as everyone said here, it is a great honor
to be here with you. Especially because I feel like a super responsibility
after such wonderful women have been on this stage today, and because
I'll talk about two very important things, which have to do with the very place
we are. We're at an educational institution and at an educational institution
that works with communication, which develops professionals to this area and which is bringing
Today the theme "Communication Lighting Minds. " So we're looking at
communication not only from a technical point of view, but communication as something that is inherent
to us. Something we are born with. We hve this potential and we have also, the same
way, the potential to multiply and exchange and always learn in any environment. Independently
of being an educational environment,officially educational, and we have to be aware
that we are always in a process of exchange, of learning. So this project
I came to present to you is a story which touches me deeply, I am, I follow and take
part of this story from the beginning, but I was not the one who started this story
and I need and I think it is of great importance and it is one of the values ​"VIRAÇÃO" brings, It means
giving name and value to people because ideas come from somewhere and that person,
is not here, but I want you to know a little of the story to understand
"Viração" has all that strength. Please Gabriel
As an idea inside ​​someone's mind and heart can turn into action?
The child was born in 1967,
in a place known as "Favela do Lagamar" in Fortaleza - Ceará.
She was very ashamed to be black. ashamed of her curly hair which she cut up to the
root leaving a shaved head, as she had been taught by her father. Also ashamed
of her origin, her social position. It was then that the first fertile ground emerged: a group
of young people connected to the movement of "Renovação Carismática" and Freedom Theory, from the
Progressive Catholic Church. Learned that the word "Favela" comes from the honeycombs, which
are all close together. Her hair started growing like sprouting flowers,
as the ideas in her head, seeding the world. Her shame turned into honor and respect
to be part, to belong and have her origin in the great Mother Africa. She learned from "Paulo Freire"
Method to literate youth and adults. The look at and listen to human beings. She decided
to devote full time to improve the world. At the age of 16, she produced various forms
of alternative communication, such as "Fanzine", "Jornal Mural" and "Jornal Diálogo". In 1995
She began to get in touch with "ECA" and the stories of violation of children's and teenager's
rights in Brazil. She started a campaign with postcards saying "Save the Children
from Maranhao". This postcards were sent to the Ministry Justice requesting the case to be investigated.
With that, in November 2002, the now adult, won the Child-Friend Journalist Award.
Title provided by UNICEF, the ANDI and ABRINQ Foundation to journalists who excel
by their story and set of works in defence of children and adolescents.
The prize, like heavy rain, counted. When invited to give lectures, it was evident
that something was missing. There was nothing. No communication way to speak of the place
of children, adolescents and young adults. It was then that the sun came and the little flower began
lighting up a Comboni missionary appeared and believed in the idea and watered it with
other individuals and organizations. Also the World Social Forum was being sown
in a political context, providing land for abundance. Thus, "VIRAÇÃO" started:
a magazine made with, to and from adolescents and young people from all over Brazil. A printed social
project. And in order to grow and flourish, it needed to work hard and keep the courage. Every "no" that
it received, the adult would buy a plant to ease the frustration and transform
the feeling left by the door closed. This is the story of Paulo Lima, who is this journalist
represented there. All, all I am going to show you, is ... was made in the "VIRAÇÃO"
way. In a collaborative manner, made with young people participating in the project, including
this animation. So I thank you all, since... to say the name of everyone here.
Paulo, he went through a transformation process. A process we go through individually.
But he acknowledged, in the process, values. He acknowledged that having support, when counting on
others, he managed to overcome and review the values ​​that he had individually.
And he, in the process, he notes that just as he, as a young person, was looking for
references, he was, he needed support, all other young people and adolescents, also
are going through a very special moment. A moment that they are vulnerable, but
also have much potential. A huge potential of change, to change life
and impact the community, the society and with this in mind, Paul proposes
the creation of "VIRAÇÃO". Which at first is ... constitutes itself as a magazine that
Instead of being made to the young, it is made by the young. Bringing in the process of
producing a magazine, the participation of the one that would be the target audience, is by itself an innovative
idea. Only he did not stop there. Yes... By calling the young and the young
who have a voice, you know, I was listening last week to lecture that the director of "VIRAÇÃO"
Liliam, who, by the way, speaks very well, she put it this way: we start with... a look, not
of the active, which has the quality, the potential the young. We usually look
by the side that lacks something,and he has a lot to give. So, he already has
a voice, but he may not have, perhaps, an environment that allows him to say what
he thinks freely, where he feels free to build and express himself.
It is not only to create connections, not just make a magazine, simply, but to create a helping environment
for him to express himself and help him not to miss the one thing we have, when
we are kids, that we often lose over passing time, which is curiosity. The ability
to doubt and always ask and always will to know more. So this project,
it went through a second phase. It was in 2009, "VIRAÇÃO" was no longer just a social project
and it took the role... of a social organization. It, it became
an NGO. And in this process of change, it broadened its job and
turns into a social youth movement. To work with articulation
of youth networks, with what the yoth is ... has an interest and the issues
related to communication and democratization of communication. When we talk about communication
democracy here, we're talking not only about the right to information, but the right
to appropriate and communication features. To make communication and to learn to do it,
not willing to become a journalist, but aiming to bring you, for your life, to keep
the flame of the ques ... the question, the questioning and participation flame on. And then "VIRAÇÃO"
this second time, it also assumes in its name, the word "EDUCOMMUNICATION" that
actually was something we provided since 2003, when "VIRAÇÃO" began. The "EDUCOMMUNICATION"
is the practice, it is not a methodology itself, it is the practice of this environment in which
communication is a means to allow people to exchange, for people to seek
Knowledge. In this learning process, the training process takes place in these spaces
and through exercises to learn to make even a vehicle, take a picture of each
having freedom to speak the way they want to talk, using the tool they want to use,
but using our potential to continue this learning, keeping on questioning. To speak,
by the time I have here to talk about it I'll call a video I want
young people to speak a little of what "VIRAÇÃO" has been through and the projects, please
There was a group at school and then I started meeting with young students
from my region and the North Zone area and then there was
the invitation by the Youth Department for us to participate in a ... a Youth
Core, a youth group, no one knew how to explain very well what it was and then I got
to "VIRAÇÃO" through it. And Paulo was creating, he had created the magazine and
my mother pushed me to him. She said: talk to him. And Paulo referred me. He said: He said: I work
for a social magazine called "VIRAÇÃO". He explained all the project was, didn't try to force me in any
moment to came here. He just said: go for an interview. And I fell in love because
the first interview I had was in "Galera Reporter" and was with Fernando Meirelles.
There is no way out of here and "VIRAÇÃO" is a... is an exciting place.
It's unlike anything you know.
I... from the organization, I come from, have been already working with communication.
There was even a channel, a ... Cable TV channel...but "VIRAÇÃO" brought me the collectivity,
we never had there. And the... collectivity from "VIRAÇÃO" is very interesting, especially
because soon after I joined, a few months later then it started, I began to interview young
people from other states and we started working with information from other places and other
people we barely knew. And... a lot of people you do not know, can
do something nice.
The question of group labor is also the issue of... participation
of young, right. Active participation in "VIRAÇÃO" processes. Either from decision,
or participation, writing materials, anyway, working with various media,
show that the young people, they are capable of producing, do something of quality, you know. Taking, breaking
this stereotype that young people are lost, this sort of thing. And "VIRAÇÃO" is a very important
vehicle to break this idea. I think this is what most influenced me
and it made me believe more in myself and in my work on the things that I trust
and that I'll take forever within.
"VIRAÇÃO" caused critical mass, you know. Shaped me with this process of
questioning, opened me to, horizons really. I saw that it didn't need to be one
only thing, there were millions of possibilities, until I found my way. Today
I do something totally different I did in life, but ... in a certain
way still related to communication. I do trade and it also relates to
communication, only in a different way. Perhaps in a more formal way, so to speak.
You come to know journalism in its pure way, not simply what you see people
say. You're there, you can produce, you can interview, you can, you see the
magazine coming out, this is absolutely important to a young person. So do not just see the final project:
wow! It came out, this is good, I'll read it here. To be part of this process, for a young person
who most often do not have access to anything, it is very important. This space
that "VIRAÇÃO" is, gives it to us. Of being able to do something and being able to feel important, to be part
of something so important as "VIRAÇÃO" is today.
To give you an idea of the dimension of the project,
"VIRAÇÃO" today, is all over Brazil, in 22 states
and "Distrito Federal", with youth councils, that we call "VIRAJOVENS". These councils
have, as if making an analogy to a publishing council, right, of a publication, but
young people are there, just to go straight to production. They go to chat, to
talk about the issues and make a move, and... even evaluate, have a critical look at
information coming to them today, what we have today is... in the communication market
and then they'll really talk about what they want, what they want another young person...
to know, from their point of view, which is itself a diverse point of view in a single
group that has a "VIRAJOVEM", has an average 20 young people, there is there already a great diversity.
If you add that, in fact multiply by 44 councils throughout Brazil
to close a magazine that is now with you there, the one you received, is ...
this process is incredible. It is really a process participation is a complicated word
if we don't mention what type of participation it's, it's ... we hav... they have the power to say no.
No, i didn't like it, we want to change it. They participate and have a voice, decision
there. They have the power to decide. So it's a much harder process of production,
but the richness of the magazine that you have with you, is not, precisely it's not in the product itself,
it's in the process, right. A process that moves the story of their lives from that
moment on, regardless of whether they will follow or not in this area of ​​communication. It's... impact.
I wanted to, hum... also always bring their voice, right. We did research over
almost nine years, with young people, and they... indicate that by participating in projects
in "VIRA", they developed skills to work in team, and... began to participate,
actively in the community, looking at the local issues and propose solutions for them and keep,
what I said that is most important of all, that, that question, that question
always there, right. never miss it, that essence. And the future for "VIRAÇÃO", I,
We... observe and say that "VIRAÇÃO" is self sustainable, it is sustainable by its own
action, you know. The world, with plenty of information that we have, with plenty
of channels that now we also have, is... missing something that can bring this to...
qualify it. So it's not worth it... we have to engage and look at, at
education ahm... using the communication strategy to qualify our conversations, our
exchange. Yes... we get a lot, but we need to... create spaces for discussion
in order to learn from other world views and achieve consensus, but it is not consensus,
it's agreeing with each other, for example, to be able to produce some work, we have to be together
with many other young people. It may be yours, or another one's whose idea? Yes... you
take responsibility and you assume that as also yours in the process. So, "VIRAÇÃO"
brings a new way to engage young people, right. And the communication there, it is a strategy
and it has everything to do with it, with a strategy to illuminate it, a strategy to call
those who normally are seen as ahn, it's difficult to talk to them. With them it is difficult.
In fact it is difficult to talk to us too, right. So I actually
I invite you all to participate of "VIRAÇÃO", to do "EDUCOMMUNICATION" in
any environment. It doesn't have to be a school environment a Social Organization, any
place is right for us to learn and exchange and use our potential of communicators
for that, we already have, within. Thank you.