Marielle Franco Assassinated (2018)
Wed Mar 14, 2018
Image: A photo portrait of Marielle Franco. Photograph by Mídia Ninja [The Guardian]
On this day in 2018, Marielle Franco, a queer feminist and socialist politician in Brazil, was assassinated by police. The day before her death, she tweeted "How many others will have to die for this war [with police] to end?"
Marielle Franco (1979 - 2018) was raised in Maré, a slum in northern Rio de Janeiro, where she also resided for most of her life. Franco began working to support her family at eleven years old and raised her daughter while working as a preschool teacher for minimum wage.
As an adult, Franco earned a master's degree in public administration from the Fluminense Federal University. Her master's thesis was titled "UPP: The Reduction of the Favela to Three Letters", dealt with a law enforcement program to retake control of Rio's favelas from gangs.
In 2016, Franco ran for Rio de Janeiro City Council and won her seat with more than 46,500 votes. As a city council member, Franco fought against violence against women, for reproductive and gay rights, and for the rights of favela residents.
On March 14th, 2018, Franco attended a round-table discussion titled "Young Black Women Moving [Power] Structures" (Portuguese: Jovens Negras Movendo Estruturas). Two hours after leaving the talk, Franco and her driver were assassinated by two men driving another car. Franco had been planning to marry her partner Mônica Benício that September.
Two former members of the military police were arrested for the murders in March 2019. All presidential candidates in Brazil during the 2018 campaign condemned the crime, except for Jair Bolsonaro, who repeatedly refused to condemn the assassination.
"Though we may earn lower salaries, be relegated to lower positions, work triple workdays, be judged for our clothing, be subjected to sexual, physical, psychological violence, killed daily by our partners, we will not be silenced: our lives matter!"
- Marielle Franco, from a speech she was preparing to give days after her assassination
- Date: 2018-03-14
- Learn More: www.opendemocracy.net, en.wikipedia.org.
- Tags: #Assassinations, #Queer, #Fascism, #Feminism, #Socialism.
- Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org