Living in Bubbles

Paulo Arantes wrote an interesting article about the riots in May 2006 in São Paulo. It’s a very critical article that states that in the end the poor are the most vulnerable people in a society of fear, simply because the cannot afford the ‘commodities of fear’. Arantes makes the comparison between the poor Paulistanos and poor blacks of New Orleans after Katrina; in both situations the they seem to be forgotten by the government. About the wealthy middle classes he writes:

‘… [they] are the principal consumers of the main product of the industry of fear, namely the phantasmagoric “security bubble.” “Every morning cars leave their gated condominiums (bubble 1) to go to private schools with guards at the entrances (bubble 2); later, they continue on to entertainment zones or private leisure areas (bubble 3).” It is not surprising that the basic concept of the city has disappeared, and that the cordon sanitaire formed by such bubbles externalizes the latent insecurity.’ [1]

Paulo Arantes, Panic Twice in the City, 2007.