#8M #WomenFightingForLife
06 de March de 2021This 8 March, neither the streets, nor the alleyways, neither the dirt roads nor the paved ones, will feel the impact of the firm steps of black women, female peasant workers, fisherwomen, indigenous women, female domestic workers, female residents of city peripheries and all the other women who every year mobilize to denounce injustice and demonstrate the political force of women.
The hustle and bustle of trade will not come to a halt in the face of the drumbeats, the music of the struggle, the words of (dis)order and the cries of women for a life free of violence and injustice. The COVID-19 pandemic, powered by the historic inequalities of class, race and gender and the federal government’s death project, has already killed more than 250 thousand people in Brazil and will not permit the presence of women on the streets.
However, it would be wrong to think that women remain immobile in the face of the daily attacks on their rights. In all the rural and urban communities, in every quilombo and in every village, in every settlement and on every hillside, women are mobilizing to guarantee their collective livelihoods and for the dignity of each and every one. In every coalition in defence of health, for universal basic income or for vaccinations, women are working intensely. In every gesture of indignation and in each proposed policy to confront domestic violence and femicide, religious fundamentalism, racism and police violence, LGBTphobia, the genocide of indigenous people and the black population, and political violence, women are there, organized in collectives, networks, unions, movements. Despite the empty streets, if we attune our senses, we can feel in our hearts the vibration of these millions of women, fighting for life.
What the Women’s Forum of Pernambuco says, in posters all around the city, is really true: “with or without the pandemic, women are on the frontline!” And it is in recognition of this that CESE reasserts its commitment to the defence of rights and aligns itself with the struggles of women, working harder than ever to be present in every corner of the country, joining forces, alleviating pain and nurturing the dream of “the days of women” which, yes, will come.
SEE WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT US
Over these 50 years, we have received the gift of CESE’s presence in our communities. We are witness to how much companionship and solidarity it has invested in our territories. And this has been essential for us to carry on the struggle and defence of our people.
You have to praise CESE’s capacity to find answers so as to extend support to projects from traditional peoples and communities, from family farming, from women; its recognition of the multiple meanings of the right to land, to water and to territory; the importance of citizenship and democracy, including environmental racism and the right to identity in diversity in its discussion agenda, and its support for the struggles and assertion of the values of solidarity and difference.
I am a macumba devotee, but I love being with partners whose thinking is different from ours and who respect our form of organization. CESE is one such partner: it helps to build bridges, which are so necessary to ensure that freedom, diversity, respect and solidarity can flow. These 50 years have involved a lot of struggles and the construction of a new world.
When we hear talk of the struggles of the peoples of the waters, of the forests, of the semi-arid region, of the city peripheries and of the most varied organizations, we see and hear that CESE is there, at their side, without replacing the subjects of the struggle. Supporting, creating the conditions so that they can follow their own path. It is this spirit that we, at ASA, want you to maintain. We wish you long life in this work to support transformation.
In the name of historical and structural racism, many people look at us, black women, and think that we aren’t competent, intelligent, committed or have no identity. Our experience with CESE is different. We are a diverse group of black women. We are in varied places and have varied stories! It’s important to know this and to believe in us. Thank you CESE, for believing in us. For seeing our plurality and investing in us.
CESE was set up during the most violent year of the Military Dictatorship, when torture had been institutionalized, when arbitrary imprisonment, killings and the disappearance of political prisoners had intensified. The churches had the courage to come together and create an institution that could be a living witness of the Christian faith in the service of the Brazilian people. I’m so happy that CESE has reached its 50th anniversary, improving as it matures.





