{"id":60973,"date":"2020-07-28T11:57:12","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T14:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=60973"},"modified":"2020-07-29T10:15:12","modified_gmt":"2020-07-29T13:15:12","slug":"marielle-franco-would-be-turning-41-her-struggle-continues-and-her-memory-celebrated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=60973","title":{"rendered":"Marielle Franco Would Be Turning 41: Her Struggle Continues and Her Memory Celebrated"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

A show with singer Elza Soares<\/a> and rapper Fl\u00e1vio Renegado<\/a> marked the birthday celebrations for Marielle Franco<\/a>, who would have turned 41 on Monday, July 27. The livestreamed concert \u201cElza for Marielle,\u201d<\/a> held on Sunday, July 26, was broadcast<\/a> on the channel of the Marielle Franco Institute<\/a>, an organization established by the lawmaker\u2019s family to fight for justice, grow her legacy, and preserve her memory.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are leading several campaigns with many black women, because the Institute\u2019s focus, beyond wielding Mari\u2019s name, which is no easy task, is incorporating and inspiring other black women,\u201d explained Anielle Franco, the councilwoman\u2019s sister and executive director of the Marielle Franco Institute<\/a>. In addition to Anielle, Marielle\u2019s parents Marinete Silva and Ant\u00f4nio Francisco, her daughter Luyara Franco, and two of her nieces participated in the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho ordered Marielle\u2019s murder? Today is a day for celebrating the life of this great woman, but this question needs an answer: who ordered the murders of Marielle Franco and Anderson Gomes?\u201d asked Elza Soares, who turned 90 last month. Both on- and offstage, the singer is a powerful voice against racism, sexism, and other forms of oppression. Soares and Renegado sung against gender-based violence and the genocide of black people<\/a>, themes deeply present in Marielle Franco\u2019s fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is very sad to see our people\u2019s stories ending so early, so young. Like her, many, so many young people have their lives exterminated before they even begin. It\u2019s a very unfair course of events. Because of this, it is necessary for Brazilians to understand that it isn\u2019t enough to not be racist. It is extremely important and urgent that we be antiracist,\u201d Renegado emphasized.<\/p>\n

The show, which had nearly 7,000 people watching at once, was also among the ten most-discussed topics on Brazilian Twitter<\/a>. In addition to celebrating the councilwoman\u2019s life, the show raised funds for the Marielle Franco Institute\u2019s projects.<\/p>\n

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Marielle\u2019s Fight Lives On<\/h3>\n

If she were alive, Councilwoman Marielle Franco would finish her first term this year. Of the four years that democracy guarantees to elected officials, Marielle and the team that composed her collective mandate worked together for 15 months, a little over a year. With Marielle, black women, people from Rio\u2019s peripheries, and the LGBTQI+ community made it<\/a> to the Rio de Janeiro City Council<\/a>, with the power to propose public policies that directly affected the existence of their bodies and their territories.<\/p>\n

A little more than two years after the councilwoman\u2019s assassination, the Marielle Franco Institute works to plant new seeds. With the launch of the Antiracist Electoral Platform (PANE)<\/a> this month, the institution began a series of actions to support the candidacies of black women<\/a> in the next municipal elections, which will be the first following Marielle\u2019s death. In the 2016 elections, black or brown women made up only 5% of elected councilmembers<\/a>\u00a0nationwide. Marielle\u2019s victory, with the fifth-most votes in the city, brought the only black woman to the current session of City Council.<\/p>\n

The seeds planted by Marielle blossomed in the 2018 elections, when three of her former aides were elected<\/a> to the state legislature<\/a>, where they are now the only three black women. Throughout Brazil, the number of black candidates, especially women, grew, but it remains a long road to changing the typical profile of a legislator. According to the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), in the last elections, black men and women made up only 4% of elected candidates<\/a> across Brazil.<\/p>\n

PANE arose with a mission to change the structure of Brazil\u2019s political system, mobilizing society to pressure political parties and the TSE to adopt policies that guarantee greater equity in elections. The platform aims to promote more black women into positions of power, where they can change the structures that historically have kept away and violated black, peripheral, and LGBTQI+ communities. In doing so, they keep Marielle Franco\u2019s struggle and memory alive<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Raised in Complexo da Mar\u00e9<\/a> in Rio\u2019s North Zone<\/a>, the councilwoman fought for the right to life, especially that of black and peripheral youth, as her primary political issue. Marielle began her activism in human rights after enrolling in a community-based college entrance exam preparatory course and losing a friend, victim to a stray bullet during a shootout in Mar\u00e9. Publicly, she positioned herself against police operations in favelas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the day before she was assassinated, in response to the death of yet another young black person at the hands of the police, she asked on Twitter: \u201cHow many more will need to die for this war to end?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mais um homic\u00eddio de um jovem que pode estar entrando para a conta da PM. Matheus Melo estava saindo da igreja. Quantos mais v\u00e3o precisar morrer para que essa guerra acabe?<\/p>\n

\u2014 Marielle Franco (@mariellefranco) March 13, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n