Marielle presente!

At the end of the international socialist youth camp, more than 130 days of the murder of the Brazilian councilwoman Marielle Franco and the driver Anderson Gomes are completed. On Friday, 27 of July, she would have completed 39 years. Marielle represented the best of us: a Black woman, feminist, from the favela, LGBT, single mother, socialist, human rights activist.

Marielle was a strong voice against police brutality, racism, sexism and LGBTQIphobia. In 2016, as a member of Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL), she was elected for the city council of Rio de Janeiro, being the fifth most voted candidate.

In the context of military intervention in the public security of the State of Rio de Janeiro, decreed February 16 of 2018, by illegitimate president Michel Temer, Marielle was essential in fighting all the human rights violations that were intensified. Two weeks before her execution, Marielle had been elected as rapporteur for the commission investigating the consequences of this intervention.

Fighting against the brutal war that the Brazilian State undertakes as a repressive policy to drug trafficking, Marielle gave direct assistance to victims of institutional violence in the favelas and assisted families of police officers killed, as coordinator of the human rights commission in the city council of Rio de Janeiro.

Her murder has a clear political character, and is a serious attack on Brazilian democracy. Marielle’s execution, as well as the increased number of murders of social movement leaders, and demonstrations by sectors of the military asking for military intervention in the country, is part of the attempt to present a reactionary alternative the deep economic, political and social crisis that we live in our country.

However, those who tried, with the elimination of her body, to silence Marielle’s voice and eliminate her struggle, were wrong. Her assassination has aroused a growing popular mobilization in Brazil and in various parts of the world. They tried to bury ideas, but they planted seeds. We are millions multiplying the legacy of Marielle’s resistance. We emphasize that the solidarity of the sections of the Fourth International, which echoed our indignation, was very important, keeping alive the ideas that our comrade represents.

Marielle presente!

28 July 2018