Social networks and resilience in the fight for the right to the city: the Movimento Ocupe Estelita, Recife, Brazil

Online social networks have played a key role in the struggle for rights and for more sustainable, less unequal cities. In Brazil, this movement is relatively recent, and has tended to increase in the face of threats or crises that might adversely affect the rights, welfare or life of a city’s residents, or the public interest. The Movimento Ocupe Estelita fights against the interests of capital, symbolised by the Projeto Novo Recife, a project destined for the Cais Estelita. The movement started in 2012 and shows signs of resistance and resilience. This article aims to identify the theoretical and empirical basis of this resilience. The research was based on participatory online and offline observation and interviews at the encampment, with a chronology of the occupation process and subsequent campaigns of resistance and struggle. Finally, the movement’s capacity to reinvent itself and grow stronger despite continual disputes is analysed.