Two years after her tragic death, we reflect on the life and work of the Afro-Brazilian political activist.
Similar to its relatives, el barrio, la banlieue, and the ghetto, favelas are widely viewed by Brazilian elites as necessary for the containment, surveillance, and policing of the nation’s undesirables—a social status determined largely by race, religion, gender, sexuality, and socioeconomic status. With minimal levels of political incorporation and regulation, favelas are stigmatized, fetishized, and treated by the nation’s ruling class and institutions of law enforcement as spaces where only urban violence and intergenerational poverty prevail. Subsequently, negative associations with criminality (e.g. drugs, gangs, murder) that build on centuries of intersecting oppressions and discrimination form the basis for the criminalization of its inhabitants, faveladas/os.
But for political activist Marielle Franco, favelas were so much more than the stereotypical media portrayals found in Cidade de Deus (City of God) and Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad). Favelas were the epicenter of political creativity and were honored as integral to the Afro-Brazilian political movement and served as the base for political organization, education, and mobilization. Women inhabitants of favelas—known as faveladas—were the co-creators and co-facilitators of this political transformation.
A daughter of Maré, a favela located in northern Rio de Janeiro, Franco’s political radicalization was born and developed in one of the most marginalized of Brazil’s administrative subdivisions. She was a politician, political theorist and strategist, and human rights activist who lived and breathed her intersectional, Black feminist politic. In her role as city council member, Marielle centered poor people, Black women, and the LGBTQ community with every project proposed and every statement delivered on the council floor.
She entered into and navigated within multiple spaces as a queer Black woman from the favelas and was uncompromising and unapologetic. She earned a master’s degree in public administration from Fluminense Federal University. Her master’s thesis was an indictment against the punitive, often lethal tactics and operations of Pacifying Police Units (UPPs) of Rio de Janeiro. Her time as city councilor was spent defending the rights and amplifying the narratives and needs of poor Black women and the people of the favelas, resulting in several posthumous legislative victories and noteworthy campaigns such as Assédio Não É Passageiro (Harassment is Not a Passenger).
Centering and privileging the knowledge, experiences, and activism of poor Black women in Brazil, Franco modeled the solidarity network building of faveladas as a means of “sustaining lives and reinforcing dignity.” She went on to emphasize that even in the midst of centuries of unequal societal formation and stratification in Brazil, faveladas were “the ones who produce the means for transforming it, expanding mobility in every dimension.”
She walked with pride as uma negra, feminista, favelada e mãe and was unwavering in her defense of her community and people. It’s no surprise that her last moments on earth were spent in dialogue with young Black women on moving power structures to meet the needs of all people, as everything about Marielle aligned. Her thoughts, philosophies, words, and actions all embodied and manifested an audacity that were in service to the most marginalized of Brazilian society. She took a seat at the table, invited her community to sit alongside her, and laid out the blueprint for a new house, made with new tools, based on the needs of those who had long been neglected by the government.
A giant force of radical political thought and praxis, Marielle’s commitment to societal transformation was frequently met with opposition that would escalate to her assassination on March 14, 2018. Her murder leaves us wondering what it would mean to live in a world that embraced the political vision and leadership of Black women—wondering if those responsible for her physical demise understand that the fight continues on in her honor and in honor of human rights defenders slained throughout the Americas.
Two years later our hearts still ache; the world continues to mourn. Two years later, the legacy of Marielle lives on. Agora e sempre, now and forever.
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Nana Brantuo is an educator, policy strategist, and scholar. She can be found on Medium, Instagram, and Twitter.
