July 25th: On the International Afro-Latin American and Afro-Caribbean Women’s Day, tens of thousand
Black Women's March in June of 2017 in Rio de Janeiro
Note from BW of Brazil: Spread the word. It’s July 25th, the International Day of Afro-Latino and Caribbean Black Women, and black women in various cities across Brazil will be on the march! In days, months and years that have passed since the 1st national Back Women’s March in the nation’s capital city in November of 2015, Afro-Brazilian women remain organized, in force and galvanized. Of course, some may ask why there is a necessity for black women to have their own specific day considering the global popularity of the March International Women’s Day.
A look at just a few of the issues that have been covered on this blog for nearly eight years should answer that question. In a recent satirical video, for example, a white woman is not going to automatically be assumed to be a maid if she opens the door of her own home. But that’s just one difference that exemplifies the differences in the ways in which white and black women are seen in Brazil. I could point to the advertising industry, magazine stands, or the standards of beauty that everyone knows exists in Brazil. But even these areas don’t tell the full story.
Having black skin also plays an influential factor on one’s chances of living or dying in Brazil. According to Dossiê Mulher 2019, of each 100 thousand black women, 6.8 had been victims of intentional homicide, more than double verified for each 100 thousand white women, which came to 2.7 victims. This data verified for the territory of Rio de Janeiro is in line with other studies of national scope, such as the Atlas of Violence of 2018. According to this publication, in 20 Brazilian states the homicide rate of black women grew in the period between 2006 and 2016, and in 12 of them, the increase was greater than 50%.
1st National Black Women’s March in Brasília in November of 2015
In the official release for the 2019 March, organizers issued this statement on the precarious situation of black Brazilian women in terms of work and their very lives that are two major issues at stake that will take tens of thousands of black women to the streets today:
“The growing violence directed at black women, which is aggravated if they are trans or lesbian, increasing the number of cases of feminicide, must be denounced, fought, investigated and punished,” warns the organization of the march. According to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), 39.8% of black women make up the group, being submitted to precarious conditions of work – black men make up 31.6%; white women, 26.9%; and white men, 20.6% of the total.”
It is for these and numerous other reasons that they will take to the streets today. Stand back and feel the power!
Black women’s March taking place in different capitals of the country
By Nataly Simões
March of Black Women in São Paulo, 2017
The march of black women takes place in Belém, Salvador, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo this Thursday, July 25. In Rio de Janeiro, the mobilization will be on Sunday the 28th.
The act will bring together a diversity of black women to scream against racism, femicide, LGBT phobia, maternal mortality, obstetric violence, and religious and environmental racism.
The protest also criticizes the cuts in education, pension reform and the public safety package of the Minister of Justice Sérgio Moro. According to the protesters, these are the measures that most affect black women.
“The march demands not only for us, black women, but for society as a whole, decent living conditions at the municipal, state and federal levels,” says the journalist, a master’s student in communication at USP and one of the movement’s organizers, Cinthia Gomes. In São Paulo, after gathering more than 7 thousand people last year, the act will take place in Praça da República. The program will feature artistic and political interventions by the bloco afro Ilú Obá de Min and black singers and poets.
Black Women’s March in June of 2017 in Rio de Janeiro
There will also be a public class by Nilma Bentes, founder of the Centro de Estudos e Defesa do Negro (Center for Black Studies and Defense) in Pará and creator of the march that took 50 thousand women to Brasília in 2015.
She will address the concept of Bem Viver (Well Being) – an indigenous philosophy that proposes another form of social organization, contrary to capital accumulation and exclusion – and how it fits into the lives of black women.
To encourage the participation of mothers and strengthen the bond and belonging with black ancestry, in the São Paulo march there will also be a marchinha (litle march) of black children, with gathering a 5pm. The march alludes to July 25th, the date on which International Black Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Day is celebrated. The National Day of Black Women and National Day of Teresa de Benguela, important quilombola leader who lived in the eighteenth century, is also celebrated.
Mobilization in each capital
4th March of Black Women in Belém, Pará
With the motto “Amazon black mothers fighting the genocide of the povo negro (black people)”, the act will take place on the streets of the Guamá neighborhood on Thursday, July 25. Gathering begins at 4 pm on Avenida Rio Tucunduba.
3rd March of Black Women in Salvador, Bahia
Under the motto “For a Bahia free of racism”, the act will be in the Bahian capital’s downtown area on Thursday, July 25. Gathering starts at 1pm at Praça da Piedade.
4th March of Black Women in São Paulo
The motto chosen is “No violence, racism, discrimination and hunger! With dignity, education, work, retirement and health!” and the act will be on the streets of the downtown region also on Thursday,
By Jamile Menezes
On July 25, in Salvador, the March of Black Women for a Free Bahia takes place in Salvador, in order to highlight the importance of the black population of the Northeast region against fascism and the reversal of rights. This year is the 3rd Edition of the July 25 March in Salvador. Gathering at 1pm, at Praça da Piedade, the march will continue to Praça da Sé, where a Cultural Political Act will be held.
All states in the Northeast will promote activities on the day in celebration of July 25 – the International Day of Latin American and Caribbean Black Women and National Day of Tereza de Benguela and Black Women.
The march is the main activity on the agenda of the 7th edition of the Julho das Pretas (July of the Black Women) that this year aims to highlight the region’s vanguard in the struggles for freedom, against racism, patriarchy, pluriracial democracy and Well Being. However, throughout July more than 150 activities are being carried out in Salvador, the Metropolitan Region and other municipalities in the interior of Bahia.
In order to focus on the country’s political conjuncture and direct paths, the Julho das Pretas articulation is organized by black women’s activists and organizations from all over the Northeast region of the country. That this year reaffirms the political strength of black women in the Northeast, as well as our narratives of struggle for freedom throughout history. The action mobilizes thousands of people from the region throughout July through a collective agenda of activities.
The 5th March of Black Women of Rio de Janeiro 2019
Black Women resist: in movement for rights, against racism, sexism and all forms of violence.
The Black Women’s March is one of the activities that alludes to the July 25th International Day of Black Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, a date recognized by state law 5071/07.
The March of the Black Women of Rio de Janeiro is in its fifth year and is being held on the last Sunday of July. Last year took 10 thousand black women to the streets of Copacabana and this year that number that number is being estimated to triple.
For the mobilization to be effective and the black women of the municipalities can participate in the event, we need the partnership and the commitment of all and in order that the participation materializes, no doubt this goes through the guarantee of transport. We believe it is important to make every effort to guarantee the presence of black women from the municipalities in the 5th March, at this moment of visibility of the agendas of black women, as well as the strengthening of the organization, achievements and advances that will reflect in the agendas and struggles of black women in our state, strengthening the discussion, the racial and gender agenda of the policies of the municipalities and the councils.
