Upcoming Event: Justice for Marielle Franco: A Black Feminist Mandate - An IG Live with Lígia Batista
Promotional flier for forthcoming IG Live with Lígia Batista.
Join us for an upcoming IG Live with Lígia Batista, executive director of the Marielle Franco Institute.
On Thursday, March 28th at 6:30 PM ET/7:30 PM Brasília Time, join us for an IG Live (@blackwomenradicals) with Lígia Batista, executive director of the Marielle Franco Institute, to discuss the global campaign for justice for Marielle Franco, a Black Brazilian bisexual feminist, activist, and councilwoman who was assassinated on March 14, 2018. During the conversation, we will discuss the current stage of the campaign for justice for Marielle; what justice for Marielle means for Black Brazilian victims and survivors of state-sanctioned violence and for Black communities across the Diaspora; why justice for Marielle is a Black feminist mandate; and more
About the Featured Speaker: Lígia Batista (she/her) is a human rights lawyer and executive director of Instituto Marielle Franco, a Brazilian organization created by the family of the former politician and human rights activist murdered in March 2018. Batista is a Master’s candidate at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro in Public Policy and Human Rights, investigating strategies to overcome the barriers posed to political representation of Black women in Brazil. For six years, she was part of the Research and Advocacy Team at Amnesty International Brazil, addressing human rights violations in the context of police operations, conflict over land and natural resources, forced evictions and repression to peaceful protests. She previously led impactful initiatives as racial justice program officer for Latin American at Open Society Foundations, aimed at strengthening Black women’s movements in the region. Batista has ten years of experience in promoting racial and gender justice in Brazil and Latin America through research, advocacy, network-building and philanthropy.
Collage of Marielle Franco. Collage by Doriana Diaz.
About Marielle Franco: Marielle Franco (July 27, 1979–March 14, 2018) was an Afro-Brazilian bisexual feminist, activist, politician, and human rights defender. Known for her steadfast commitment to Brazil’s most peripheral communities––Black, LGBTQ+, women, and poor, Franco was born and raised in the Complexo da Maré, one of the largest shanty towns in Rio de Janeiro. Working with civil society organizations such as the Brazil Foundation and the Center for Solidarity Actions of Maré, she later became the coordinator of the Commission on Human Rights and Citizenship of the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro (Alerj). In 2016, she was elected city councilor of the Municipal Chamber of Rio de Janeiro as a member of PSOL with 46,502 votes. She received the fifth highest vote count out of the 51 vacant seats and was the second woman with the highest number of votes. She was the only Black woman city councilor from Rio de Janeiro.
Franco was also the president of the Commission for the Defense of Women’s Rights for the Rio de Janeiro City Council and was assigned to lead the city council’s committee to oversee military interventions in the city. Prior to her death, she spoke out against the police murders of three young Black men. On Wednesday, March 14, 2018, shortly after speaking at the event “Young Black Women Moving Power Structures” at Casas das Pretas in Rio, Franco was shot and murdered while sitting in the backseat of a car. Her driver, Anderson Pedro Gomes, was also shot and murdered as well. In honor of Franco’s life, leadership, and legacy, countless Black women in Brazil ran for political office.
About the Marielle Franco Institute: The Marielle Franco Institute is an organization created by Marielle's family, with the purpose to fight for justice in Marielle's murdering case, protect Marielle's memories, spread Marielle's legacy and water the seeds that Marielle had inspired after that coward murdering on March's 14th, 2018.