Nothing by Accident:
Brazil on the Edge
by Damian Platt (2011)

In this talk, Damian will discuss the impact of organised crime on politics, the rule of law and democracy in Brazil. In "Nothing by Accident", which began life as a Cambridge thesis, Damian challenges stereotypes about gangs from poor communities, offering a new narrative to explain chronic violence and corruption in the country. Damian lived and worked in Rio between 2005 and 2019. In 2011 he received an MBE for "services to community development and human rights." 

Damian Platt was born in 1972 in Nairobi, Kenya. Growing up in London, he studied modern languages at Edinburgh University. He subsequently spent eighteen months working with Redemptorist Catholic missionaries in Tocantins, in the northern interior of Brazil. There followed eight years at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International in London. In 2005, he relocated to Rio de Janeiro to work for AfroReggae, a favela-based youth and culture organisation, which he described in his book Culture is Your Weapon, co-authored with Patrick Neate. Later he teamed up with TED prizewinning French artist JR to work on his Women are Heroes project in Rio. In 2019, he mobilised a team of local and international volunteers to build a world-class skate park in the Maré favela complex. In 2011, he completed a Master of Studies in International Relations at Cambridge University – the same year in which he was awarded an MBE by the Foreign Office of the British Government, for “services to community development and human rights” in Rio de Janeiro.  He is a qualified teacher in the UK, since completing the Teach First leadership programme in 2018. He currently lives in Nairobi.