Statement on the second anniversary of the assassination of Marielle Franco
¡Marielle present as a seed woman!
It germinates and multiplies in hundreds of thousands of female leaders around the world
Two years after the assassination of Marielle Franco, the Black councilwoman, feminist, and sociologist, we continue her fight for social justice and for the restoration of dignity to the most vulnerable people and communities. Her voice rose from the favelas, and it has not been, and will not be, silenced.
Vilely murdered during the International Decade for People of African Descent, Marielle stands as a "seed woman," germinating and multiplying into hundreds of thousands of other leaders worldwide. Her assassination in Rio de Janeiro was a renewed call to action for Afro-descendant women around the globe.
Since 2018, we have been united in actions that help promote greater visibility for the situation of Afro-descendant women in Latin America and the Caribbean. In her honor, the International Seminar on Black Feminisms (Havana, 2018 and 2019) was created, bringing together activists, students, academics, and public policy leaders from different countries. This Seminar is one of the emerging spaces for anti-racist struggle, where the debate on Afro-feminist emancipation and politicization is central to forging, on new foundations, the connection between academia and the Afro-descendant movement. Marielle was also a symbol of the need for this connection and the path to achieving it.
All of us who act as promoters of justice believe that these events teach us about other grammars of Afro-diasporic confrontation.
The undersigned organizations and entities sign this manifesto against all forms of social injustice, with our thoughts and hearts focused on the fight against racism and patriarchy. Knowing that when one woman acts, she moves all of society.
We are still waiting for answers from the bodies responsible for investigating the crime against all women who exist, while they promote other community-based technologies. But Marielle's story is repeating itself.
Femicides of women and women leaders of social movements are on the rise in Our AmericaIn the fight against racism, for the rights of indigenous peoples, ecogenocide, and poverty, among many other ills that plague our communities. But saying "enough" is not enough; what is decisive is political action.
March 2020
CLACSO Working Groups
Afro-descendants and counter-hegemonic proposals
Epistemologies of the South
Anti-capitalisms and emerging sociability
Other signatories
South-South Programme (CLACSO)
Nelson Mandela Chair (Cuba)
Carioca Network of Black Ethnoeducators (Brazil)
Association of Black Researchers of Latin America and the Caribbean
International Graduate School Beyond the Decade for People of African Descent (CLACSO/CIPS)
Xangó Group (Argentina)
UNIAFRO Research and Extension Program on Afro-descendants and Afro-diasporic cultures (IDAES/UNSAM)
Postcoloniality, Border and Transborder Thinking Program in Feminist Studies (IDAES/UNSAM)
Afro-Latin American Women's Gathering -TEMA (Argentina)
Afro-Mexican Museum Petra Morgan (Mexico)
Network of Decolonial Feminisms of the South
Chair of Sociology and Postcolonial Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Buenos Aires (Argentina)
