{"id":38844,"date":"2017-09-21T13:20:09","date_gmt":"2017-09-21T16:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=38844"},"modified":"2020-10-20T10:41:05","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T13:41:05","slug":"complexo-da-mares-gizele-martins-receives-rios-highest-honor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=38844","title":{"rendered":"Complexo da Mar\u00e9’s Gizele Martins Receives Rio’s Highest Honor"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

On Saturday, September 16, activist, community communicator, and Complexo da Mar\u00e9<\/a> resident Gizele Martins<\/a> received the Pedro Ernesto Medal at a ceremony at the\u00a0Museu da Mar\u00e9<\/a>\u00a0(Mar\u00e9 Museum). The Pedro Ernesto Medal is the highest honor<\/a> awarded by Rio de Janeiro’s City Council, and recipients are individuals who have made stand-out contributions to Brazilian or international society.<\/p>\n

Approximately one hundred people were in attendance on the day for a series of activities organized to commemorate Martins. Martins has worked as a journalist and as Managing Editor for\u00a0O Cidad\u00e3o<\/a>, a newspaper dedicated to the sixteen North Zone<\/a> favelas that make up Mar\u00e9, but that is just one of her many projects. She has organized\u00a0communications conferences<\/a> and courses for Mar\u00e9 residents and led workshops to educate residents about their rights<\/a>, as well as gender<\/a> and racial inequalities<\/a>. She is also a part of\u00a0Rio de Janeiro’s Youth Forum<\/a>\u2014which was responsible for creating the\u00a0\u201cN\u00f3s por N\u00f3s\u201d<\/a>\u00a0(Us for Us) app to help report police brutality\u2014and has guided\u00a0tours to destigmatize favelas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The first activity of the event was a panel discussion titled, \u201cMilitarization of Life and Resistance in Rio’s Favelas.” The panel featured community communicator Dr. Renata Souza, street vendor\u00a0Maria dos Camel\u00f4s, specialist on the prevention of torture Patr\u00edcia Oliveira, and Justi\u00e7a Global coordinator Glaucia Marinho.<\/p>\n

They discussed the militarization and occupation of favelas<\/a>, with a particular emphasis on their impacts on education<\/a>. Renata informed the audience: \u201cOperations have been so constant that a researcher from Mar\u00e9 found that Mar\u00e9 students missed twenty days of classes in 2016. Now let’s do a quick calculation\u2014twenty days without classes means students missed a month of class. In twelve years this same student… is going to lose one year of the twelve years of education he or she is supposed to have.” The panelists also criticized mainstream media<\/a> for their role in the criminalization of poverty<\/a> through one-sided reporting<\/a> of military operations in favelas.<\/p>\n

After the discussion, food and drinks were provided before actors from the Grupo Atiro e Mar\u00e9MoTO<\/a> (part of Mar\u00e9’s Theater of the Oppressed<\/a>) performed scenes depicting racism, health, and faith.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then, turning the focus to the woman of honor, community members took turns praising Martins for her many accomplishments. Speakers shared personal stories involving Martins’ triumphs and resilience, and described her as a beacon in the community. From mothers who lost their children to pastors and local organizers, all were in agreement that Martins represented not just herself and her family but all of Mar\u00e9. She was a “warrior,” they said.<\/div>\n

These sentiments were echoed throughout the following days on social media. One comment on Martins’ Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0read: “You are so deserving [of this award] and as a favela resident I feel represented by your achievement!” Another stated<\/a>: “Thank you Gizele Martins for all your work shining a light on the persecution and genocide of black favela residents.” One commentator described her<\/a> as “tireless,” pointing out that the day after receiving her medal, Martins was marching against religious intolerance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before presenting the medal, city councilor Renato Cinco echoed the idea that Martins is representative of a larger group, explaining that to celebrate Martins’ work was to celebrate favelas and their resistance<\/a> more broadly.<\/p>\n

During her acceptance speech, Martins spoke of her struggles as a student from Mar\u00e9 attending the Pontifical Catholic University of\u00a0Rio\u00a0<\/span>(PUC<\/span>–Rio<\/span>), a prestigious university located in the wealthy South Zone<\/a>. She reminded the audience that “here in Mar\u00e9, we don’t have a bus that goes directly to the South Zone.” Moreover, she spoke of the way she was treated and made to feel as a favela resident at university<\/a>, recounting that “the faculty treats us like garbage because we’re not rich,” and describing how other students judged her clothing. Still, challenging these attitudes<\/a> has become part of her struggle: “We don’t have to be ashamed…It’s them who have to be ashamed, the ones who don’t respect us.”<\/p>\n

Exemplifying why so many people view her as a representative, throughout her speech Martins repeated: “I am favela, I am gay, I am indigenous…,” each time acknowledging and declaring solidarity with a range of marginalized groups in Brazil.<\/p>\n

She dedicated the award to the favelas of Mar\u00e9 as a symbol of all residents of Mar\u00e9 finding their voices and resisting oppression. She called all to action, declaring that \u201cthe favela lives, exists, and resists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Museu da \u200bMar\u00e9, venue for Saturday’s awards ceremony, was created by Mar\u00e9 residents who realized there were broad misconceptions about the history of the area<\/a> and how it came to be<\/a>. With the opening of the museum eleven years ago<\/a>, they aimed to inspire a more positive image of favelas and amplify the voices of its residents. As such, it was a perfect location for Martins to be honored.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas On Saturday, September 16, activist, community communicator, and Complexo da Mar\u00e9 resident Gizele Martins received the Pedro Ernesto Medal at a ceremony at the\u00a0Museu da Mar\u00e9\u00a0(Mar\u00e9 Museum). The Pedro Ernesto Medal […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":38872,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1294,1668,1288,1333,1284,1329],"tags":[255,2068,1585,977,1102,779,1653,280,1399,3000,1160,37,1990,2540,2541],"writer":[2539],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-38844","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-communitymedia","8":"category-participationwatch","9":"category-highlight","10":"category-event-reports","11":"category-interviews-profiles","12":"category-by-international-observers","13":"tag-activism","14":"tag-award","15":"tag-celebration","16":"tag-citizen-journalism","17":"tag-community-leader-profile","18":"tag-community-leaders","19":"tag-community-media","20":"tag-complexo-da-mare","21":"tag-jornal-o-cidadao","22":"tag-justica-global","23":"tag-museu-da-mare","24":"tag-north-zone","25":"tag-nos-por-nos","26":"tag-pedro-ernesto-medal","27":"tag-renato-cinco","28":"writer-sidney-magana"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38844"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=38844"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=38844"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=38844"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=38844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}