Marielle Franco's legacy: "I'm a Black, feminist woman, daughter of the favela"
A few days ago, Brazil's Public Prosecutor's Office sentenced former military police officer Ronnie Lessa and four other people for destroying evidence of Marielle Franco's murder. A day before her murder, she had tweeted about the homicide of a Black young man at the hands of the Rio de Janeiro police: "How many more must die for this war to end?". Although all theories point at an assassination, her femicide remains without justice.
International demands for justice after her death are still going strong. In 2018, Rio de Janeiro Council Member Marielle Franco and her driver were murdered in her car during a shooting that is still under investigation.
Franco was a sociologist known for denouncing institutional violence and for being an outspoken critic of federal intervention of the safety enforcement services in her city. She was also president of the City Council's Women's Defense Commission. She was a passionate feminist and anti-racism advocate. In the wake of her death, her partner started being threatened and had to request protection from international organizations.
Franco grew up in a favela. The murder of a friend during a shooting between the police and drug dealers awoke in her the need to fight against inequality and militarization.
Five months after her femicide, the City Council Chamber in Rio de Janeiro passed five bills that had been presented by her. Among them were a nighttime childcare program to assist care providers who work or study, the establishment of Black Women’s Day and an awareness campaign about harassment and sexual violence in public spaces and transport.
Don't even think of killing me: Brazilian feminists against femicides
The number of femicides grows daily in Brazil. The fifth largest country in the world is also one of the countries that show the highest rates of murdered women in Latin America. According to Afroféminas, a woman is murdered every two and a half hours for gender-related reasons in Brazil.
During the first half of 2020, 648 women were killed. Most of them were Black women. In this context and amidst the hateful legislation passed by Jair Bolsonaro's administration against minorities, Brazil's most prominent feminist organizations came together last May to demand #NiUnaMenos ("Not One Woman Less").
The new campaign was called #NemPenseEmMeMatar ("Don't even think of killing me"). It consists of a statement demanding the State take responsibility for these femicides: it collected over 27,000 signatures. Since 2015, Brazil has considered femicide as a specific type of crime under criminal law. However, the rates of gender-related violent deaths are not going down.
Tradoctas news for July!
To strengthen our commercial ties with Brazil, our website is now available in Portuguese. There, you can find information about our services, our portfolio including translation samples for our fields of expertise as well as our Managing Partners' professional bios.
In this line, we are also thrilled to share with you that, a few weeks ago, Lía and María Leticia attended #Abrates2021. They focused on presentations connected to Tradoctas' line of work, to learn more about the latest reflections and researches on the topic of professional translation practices as approached in the context of an international conference.
They would like to highlight the importance given by Abrates to the subject of non-binary language and congratulate their colleagues who dedicated their presentations to it, as it is a highly relevant topic in every day translation work.
Lastly, as witness and promoter of these visibility strategies to raise the voices of minority communities, Tradoctas celebrates the incorporation of this subject matter into professional conferences.