If Housing is a Right, Squatting is a Duty: Social movements against selective implementation of Human Rights

Abstract

The aim of the research is to explore how the homeless movement in Brazil uses squatter practices as a form of expression of political values and performative enjoyment of housing rights. The point of departure is the analysis of the Workers’ Party populist government institutionalisation of the right to adequate housing according to international obligations and historical national claims, expressed in its official human rights policy and legislation. It goes on to show how that recognition is intrinsically attached to an official meaning of the disputed right​ s​ , with a convenient level of progressive realization and the validation of the state apparatus as the only possible mean for the precariat to fight for said rights, thus attempting to curb the grassroots activism that marked the country’s urbanisation and democratisation process. The intended result is to generate a body of qualitative data that will reevaluate the importance of activism beyond the official channels opened to civil society, pointing to the dual dimension of squats, as immediate solutions to housing issues and carriers of a political message from those who lack access to said channels. Moreover, construct an advocacy strategy that counters the government’s monopoly over the human rights language that takes legitimacy away from this praxis of resistance.