Every now and then you get gut punched.
Marielle Franco: Brazil’s favelas mourn the death of a champion
[this post was started a week ago and has since been updated as more information comes out and many insighteful articles are written – some linked here]
City Councellor, activist, gay and inspiration for thousands of disadvantaged black kids, Marielle Franco, was executed together with her driver Anderson Pedro Gomes.
(For once some of the comments in the above link are worth reading)
I am so proud of my two young friends who helped decorate this wall
Belíssima homenagem à amada Marielle Franco no Estácio. Mari, você é semente, você é força, você é raça. Marielle vive! Anderson vive! <3
Posted by Marcelo Freixo on Saturday, March 17, 2018
This political assassination has caused great consternation, not only throughout the country, with spontaneous demonstrations in all major cities but also abroad. (Pt.)
The execution has been described as an attack on Democracy, which is a bit rich considering that since the dictatorship the favela communities have been excluded
and ignored. Indeed very few white middle class Brazilians have ever entered into one, preferring to pretend that that they are just areas where poor people and bandits live. As in America it is a social crime to be poor and black.
Marielle Franco’s death has helped galvanise the left into a showing of solidarity not seen since the demonstations before the world cup.
The far right either did´t repond to this atrocity, (Jair Bolsonario’s son deleted his tweet of semi condolence) or invented slander in an attempt to smear the
reputation of this remarkable and courageous woman. She was a marijuana smoker – who cares; she had a child at 16 , she was actually 19, she was married to a known gangster and drug traffiker – false. This rumor was being spread by Marilia Castro Neves, a Rio judge who is being sued (Pt)
Pictured in the article Marila is seen seated in first class or a private jet so many worlds away from the person she is slandering.
Marila in case anyone forgets is the magistrate that freed the infamous Raymond Whelan
Meanwhile the rabidly right wing MBL is trying to persuade people that the assassination of an activist politician is not a political event. Go figure.
The Intercept has a good round up of the frothing and bile (Pt).
It should be noted that Glenn Greenwald and David Miranda were both close friends of Marielle, and David had the sad duty of helping carry the casket of his friend and political companion.
Hopefully Greenwald and his team will continue to shine light on this murkey underworld that is corruption and crime not just in Rio but the rest of Brazil.
A country ranking 154 out of 190 with women in parliamentary positions.
1 in 6 of all human rights activists murdered globally are from Brazil and more than 20 leftist leaders have been assassinated in the last two years, black, white and indigenous. The Assassination of Human Rights Activist Marielle Franco Was a Huge Loss for Brazil — and the World.
As human rights watch states: The climate of near total impunity in Rio de Janeiro needs to end once and for all
Meanwhile the Elephant in the Room
Marielle’s Assasination and Military Death Squad Tactics
There is little I can find written in Eglish about the penetration of the Militias into Rio de Janeiro which has more power than the drug traffickers (Pt)
Known Militia associates were seen (Pt) in the parlimentary building the same day as the execution. The Intercept seem to be one of the few publications running with this story because the militia political influences run deep and the repercussions tend to be terminal. Approximately 2 million people live in areas controlled by milícias.
The other is El Pais and a translated page follows:
Appointed as suspects for Marielle’s execution, militias operate in Rio without being disturbed.
So this is the real challenge that faces General Walter Braga Netto, head of the Military intervention force in Rio. Whilest there are consumers there will always be drug trafficking but the parallel criminal state that is arising due to militias also needs to be ruthlessly quelled. It is an election year but many have openly called for the experiment now taking place in Rio de janeiro to be extended nationwide.
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