{"id":45665,"date":"2018-08-06T09:52:59","date_gmt":"2018-08-06T12:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=45665"},"modified":"2018-08-10T13:34:38","modified_gmt":"2018-08-10T16:34:38","slug":"marielle-franco-seminar-recognizes-black-womens-struggle-for-representation-resistance-against-oppression-mariellelegacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=45665","title":{"rendered":"Marielle Franco Seminar Marks 26th Int’l Day of Afro-Latin American and Afro-Caribbean Women"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

On Wednesday, July 25, a different type of fight took place in the martial arts gym of the nonprofit organization Fight for Peace<\/a>:\u00a0a fight against violence and discrimination against Afro-Brazilian women. In a seminar entitled “Marielle Franco, Afro-Brazilian Women: Representation and Resistance<\/a>,” residents of\u00a0Complexo da Mar\u00e9<\/a>\u00a0in Rio’s North Zone<\/a> gathered to discuss female Afro-Brazilian identity and the diverse struggles that black women face. The seminar concluded a two-day series of events sponsored by Fight for Peace, reflecting on Marielle’s legacy<\/a> and celebrating Afro-Brazilian culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy today?\u201d moderator Juh Machado began the seminar. \u201c[Because] July 25 celebrates the\u00a0International Day of\u00a0<\/a>Afro-Latin American and Afro-Caribbean Women<\/a>, which commemorates black women’s international struggle and resistance against gender oppression.\u201d<\/p>\n

The day of celebration was established 26 years ago (in 1992) by the Afro-Latin American and African-Caribbean Women’s Network<\/a>. The multinational group of women activists gathered in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and created the holiday to bring attention to the\u00a0unique intersectionality of sexism and racism<\/a> faced by Afro-Latin American and Afro-Caribbean women. Fight for Peace chose to hold the seminar on this specific date as a way of standing in solidarity with social movements across the region fighting against the same systems of oppression against black women.<\/p>\n

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

Like the intentional choice to hold the seminar on this date, Machado explained that the title of the seminar was no coincidence. \u201cThe seminar is named after Marielle because she is a force here in our community.\u201d Marielle\u00a0Franco\u2019s enduring legacy<\/a> as a black feminist and champion for favela communities was honored at the seminar with a brief compilation of some of her most fiery speeches<\/a> about issues of police brutality, public security in favelas, and sexual violence against women. Her campaign slogan \u201cI Am Because We Are\u201d lingered on the screen after the video concluded as seminar attendees shouted together: \u201cMarielle, presente<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the video, Marielle Franco\u2019s partner M\u00f4nica Ben\u00edcio was invited to the front to give a short speech. Ben\u00edcio thanked Fight for Peace for honoring Marielle with the title of the seminar and also thanked the residents of Mar\u00e9 for their efforts to further the political movements for which Marielle fought. \u201cIt is beautiful to see the posters in the street in response to the act of violence that happened to Marielle,\u201d she stated. Ben\u00edcio stressed the power of activism and hope for political progress in spite of the many dangers involved. She held back tears while giving her final remarks, emphasizing to the group that in terms of “resistance, it is very important that you continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The proceeding discussion was as eclectic and inspiring as the women leading it. With perspectives ranging in age, profession and national origin, the seven panelists discussed challenges they have faced because of their gender and race.<\/p>\n

Dr. C\u00edntia Mariano, born in the favela of Nova Holanda<\/a> in Mar\u00e9, detailed how she was always told that academic spaces were not for people like her<\/a>\u2014women from favelas. \u201cI grew up saying, ‘No, this space is<\/em> for me,\u2019\u201d recounted Mariano, who now holds three degrees. She furthered this sentiment by voicing her frustrations with the structural inequality perpetuated by racist attitudes: \u201cMy son and I do not have the opportunity to change our story because we live in this racist country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Capoeira instructor Cristina Nascimento reiterated the message that black women\u2014especially those from favelas\u2014are denied opportunities because society leads them to believe they are not capable of activities outside of traditional domestic roles. When asked to give an example of an Afro-Brazilian woman that inspires her, she spoke about the lack of representation of black women in her capoeira classes. \u201cThere are few women, even fewer black women… always fewer opportunities to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

One of the most moving anecdotes of the night was that told by 32-year-old Julia, a current biology student who immigrated to Brazil. When asked to identify a black female role model in her life, she chose herself. She explained that she could have chosen her grandmother or mother\u2014both of whom overcame challenges of their own\u2014but that she is truly her own greatest role model. She came to Brazil without any knowledge of Portuguese and with no friends or family in the country. Over the years, she overcame numerous obstacles before arriving at the university. \u201cI have a story, I have a name.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the spirit of Marielle’s life, these women are challenging the notion that there is a single space, occupation, skin color, or narrative that collectively defines them. They are as diverse as they are capable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas On Wednesday, July 25, a different type of fight took place in the martial arts gym of the nonprofit organization Fight for Peace:\u00a0a fight against violence and discrimination against Afro-Brazilian women. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":45888,"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":[2689,1288,1333,1268,1329],"tags":[399,662,169,280,910,506,221,436,878,2449,2598,37,281,2481,809,124,1189,270,1393,2076],"writer":[2790],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-45665","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mariellelegacy","8":"category-highlight","9":"category-event-reports","10":"category-favelaculture","11":"category-by-international-observers","12":"tag-access-to-higher-education","13":"tag-afro-brazilian-culture","14":"tag-capoeira","15":"tag-complexo-da-mare","16":"tag-creative-organizing","17":"tag-exclusion","18":"tag-favela-culture","19":"tag-gender","20":"tag-international-comparison","21":"tag-marielle-franco","22":"tag-networks","23":"tag-north-zone","24":"tag-nova-holanda","25":"tag-police-violence","26":"tag-public-security","27":"tag-race","28":"tag-racism","29":"tag-resistance","30":"tag-sexism","31":"tag-violence-against-women","32":"writer-jack-morris"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45665","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\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45665"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=45665"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=45665"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=45665"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=45665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}