Abstrac: Brazil is not at war, but the indicators of violent death in the main urban centres are similar to those in countries that are involved in armed conflicts. In 2002, 49.695 citizens were murdered. In Brazil, when we study specific poor urban areas and focus on youth, we find rates of 230 killings per 100,000 inhabitants. In the middle of the last decade, in the context of responses to violence from civil society, a widespread movement has begun to emerge among young people in favelas and marginal outlying neighbourhoods. This consists of projects, programmes, or local initiatives based on cultural and artistic activities, which in many cases are undertaken and co-ordinated by the young people themselves. Some examples of these initiatives are the Olodum group in Salvador; and the Afro Reggae, Nós do Morro and Companhia Étnica de Dança groups in Rio de Janeiro, as well as hundreds of local groups that have mobilised around the hip hop culture on the outskirts of São Paulo, in the shanty towns of Porto Alegre, and in neighbourhoods in Recife, Brasilia and São Luís.

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