Street Art Cities

This mural is a tribute to our dearly missed brother Odair Moniz, murdered by a PSP officer on October 21, 2024, in the Bairro Alto da Cova da Moura.

The murder of Odair Moniz is not an isolated case. On the contrary, it is part of a list of dozens more Black and impoverished people killed by the Portuguese police. The same mural also includes the figure of Carlos Reis (“PTB”), 20 years old, also a resident of Zambujal, murdered in 2003 by the PSP.

The barbaric murder of Odair Moniz, like that of others, is the fatal consequence of organized violence—whose state euphemism is “Sensitive Urban Areas” which a wealthy, racially privileged minority carries out daily against the working class of peripheral neighborhoods. Other manifestations of this violence include labor exploitation, public disinvestment in the social infrastructure of our communities, the denial of the right to decent and quality housing, adequate nutrition, the lack of recognition of occupational diseases, and inadequate healthcare provision, all of which result in silent premature deaths that workers once wisely called “social murder.”

This tribute seeks to mark, in the public space of Zambujal, the memory of our dearly missed companions, particularly Odair Moniz. At the same time, it calls on our communities and on all people who love justice to remain vigilant and to unite in the fight against a culture of impunity, striving for justice.