Sanitary Arguments, Authoritarian Actions: The Case of Mobilization Against a « Neo-Hygienist » Municipal Policy in the City of Rio de Janeiro
Based on cartography research conducted at the Rio de Janeiro branch of the Brazilian anti-asylum movement, the article analyzes the mobilization against a « neo-hygienist » municipal policy: the forced internment of large numbers of homeless people under the pretext of drug abuse, notably crack. Presenting the construction of mental health and drugs-related policies in Brazil, the article also analyzes the militants’ debates and perspectives as well as multiple assertions found in the contestation of a state tool which renders fringes of society invisible within the contemporary urban space.