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Gangs.

We鈥檒l be crossing continents again tonight but first off a text from Lubna in Iraq:

Hi guys. You want to learn about gang violence? Then you should see the iraqi experiment, here killing is like chewing gum.

Brazil

Felipe is in Rio: 鈥淧eople from poor communities tend to work for drug dealers.鈥�

Rob is asking: 鈥淪hould I be scared in Rio?鈥�

Felipe: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like that. There are nice neighbourhoods like Copacabana. But it鈥檚 not Baghdad. The police are corrupt. The new governor has made some promises.鈥�

Paulo Sotero: 鈥淕angs operate from inside prisons. It happened in May last year in Sao Paolo. 150 were killed in retribution by police. I don鈥檛 believe that bringing the army to the favelas will solve anything. It鈥檚 no substitute for public policy to address the root causes which may be poverty.

Mauro is in Sao Paolo: 鈥淚 deal with people in the slums but you don鈥檛 see the violence every day unless you are there.鈥�

James Morton is in the studio: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 interesting because it鈥檚 true, for the general public it鈥檚 just like watching the news.鈥�

Mexico

Luiz is in Tijuana: 鈥淭he streets of Tijuana are in a false tranquillity. The troop arrival has been well-received by the community. We need to break the circle of impunity around the gangs that allows them to operate freely on the streets.鈥�

James Morton: 鈥淕angs have only got big because the police turned a blind eye.鈥�

Luiz: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not only up to the Mexican government it鈥檚 up to the US and Mexican governments to work together and break apart the drug cartels. Lately we鈥檝e seen Mexican authorities back down on the cartels.鈥�

Greg is in California and has just come back from Mexico City: 鈥淚 was struck by the military on display. I saw cars being modified with Kevlar and bullet proof windows. It鈥檚 the drug cartels.鈥�

Some texts are coming in:

Karina, Switzerland
It maybe true that Rio is a little dangerous, but no more than any other big city in the world. Why not report the beautiful parts of Rio instead of adding to the fear and panic of tourists over here?

Jimmy
Why are Rio, Sao Paulo and many other Brazilian cities so violent? They contain desperate poverty but there are proportionately poorer places elsewhere in the world and even within Brazil that are not nearly as violent.

Father Luiz is in Tijuana: 鈥淲e welcome the arrival of the troops.鈥�

A text from Nigeria:

GANG WARFARE WORLD WIDE!.GANG'S ARE PART OF ORG CRIME IN EVERY NATION!(U SHOULD CHECK OUT NIG CAMPUSE'S) THEY AREN'T ABOVE THE LAW. IF GOVTS HAVE WILL, THEY MUST TAKE OFF GLOVES AND FLATTEN THEM BADAND HARD WITH MAX POLICE POWER (SOLDIERSTOO!). Frank Obie, Onicha

Greg is a former policeman from Dallas: 鈥淏ack in the 80鈥檚 and 90鈥檚 we saw a major decrease in gang activity because of more pro-active policing. The citizenry was behind it 鈥� we built a lot of prisons and locked up a lot of people.鈥�

James Morton: 鈥淚sn鈥檛 one of the problems the fact that gangs are now in prisons?鈥�

Greg: 鈥淚t鈥檚 how you survive in prison. You get affiliated once you鈥檙e in prison. There has to be some self-policing. It鈥檚 what they see as macho and what they see as leaving their mark on society.鈥�

Ras Baraka is from Newark: 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 want to be in a situation where they can鈥檛 be children. They wanna live a normal live. The whole culture of violence has to be addressed first 鈥� it鈥檚 part of a greater American culture. 鈥�

UK

Spanner is from Birmingham in the UK: 鈥淚nitially it was not for violence or crime 鈥� it was just to hang out with mates. A lot of it comes down to drugs. I didn鈥檛 really have a criminal mind but once the gang gets bigger the criminal element slips in. I was probably the joker of the pack but there were guys into serious things. You can be in a gang and you like the money, girls and notoriety. They recruit as young as 11 or 12 in secondary schools.鈥�

Raul Archer works with the Latin American youth centre in Washington: 鈥淲e are experiencing the same. We have kids form elementary school who wanna live this life. We go into the schools back to the communities. We offer help to the families and a lot of times when you do that they like it. You build the nucleus of the family back. We become problem solvers for them and get calls at any time of night.鈥�

Spanner: 鈥淢ore time needs to be taken out on guys that show no interest. Sometimes just spending that time make them feel loved but even though they鈥檙e hardened gangsters they like it. There has to be a challenge. Years ago it was a case of the community helping kids growing up. Nowadays it鈥檚 more closed. Nobody looks after each other鈥檚 kids.鈥�

James Morton: 鈥淕angs provide the family now. Like the Vietnamese in Australia. They provide the love, affection and structure. It may be a malevolent structure but it is a structure.鈥�

Some more texts:

Amir
Whenever I hear of a gang there are two things I think of: -Disconnection with society and - Loose application of the law and order by governments.

TING-HAN TAI - TAIWAN
My life is closely related to gang violence. Over here it's the power of the local gangster that controls the region. Heads of gangs even run for positions in local government to get some legitimacy for their illegal activities.

Two e-Mails just in:

What is the difference between a club and a gang? I was part of many clubs as a child. Some people might have called them gangs. We called it a club. It was all good natured and we did good things. I see a gang as all bad, violent, and doing nefarious things. Clubs are social activities. People need this associations where they learn to socialize. The problem is our societies are learning/condoning violent activities as romantic. We need to address this via our media and entertainment concerns. They are the ones who are glamorizing these activities.
Skip 鈥� Chesterland, Ohio

Was the Boxing day shooting in Toronto in 2005 gang related? It was a group of thugs who just randomly shot at people shopping. Did anyone look into if they were gang members or not?
Steve USA