On this March 8th, International Women’s Day, Brazilian women will hold unified demonstrations all over the country.
The marchers will protest for rights and against the recent attacks by the Jair Bolsonaro administration, such as the proposed pension reform, which would hurt especially peasant women.
The women will also march to denounce the increasing number of cases of femicide and the loosening of gun ownership rules, call for national sovereignty and land reform, and remember and demand answers regarding the murder of councilwoman and black activist Marielle Franco and the driver Anderson Gomes, a crime committed one year ago on Mar. 14 that is still unsolved. The legacy of the Rio de Janeiro councilwoman will be remembered in the slogan “For women’s lives, we are all Marielle.”
The demonstrations will also include criticism of the family of president Jair Bolsonaro for their alleged connections with militia groups against which councilwoman Franco fought. Flavio, the eldest son of the president, employed in his office, when he served as state representative, the mother and the wife of a militia chief who is wanted for the murder of Franco and Gomes.
The organizers of the women’s marches across the country expect to bring back the environment of unity of the #EleNão massive demonstrations staged last year against Jair Bolsonaro’s proposed policies, when protests in all Brazilian states on Sep. 29 became one of the largest spontaneous mobilizations in the country’s history.
This year’s women’s march in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, will also include the theme “Profit is not Worth Life,” to protest against Vale’s environmental, labor, and social crime in Brumadinho earlier this year.
The demonstrations will take place in 23 states around the country, and the Federal District.
*With reports by the Women’s Department of the Workers’ Party.
