"Who's that in your avatar?" you might ask.
That's Marielle Franco, Brazilian researcher, socialist, & human rights activist murdered yesterday in Rio de Janeiro, likely by the police whose brutality she opposed.
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marielle_Franco

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#LeftPOCoftheWeek
#MarielleFranco
Let's learn about the #LeftPOCoftheWeek Marielle Franco, Brazilian activist, socialist city councilmember, and beloved member of her community who was assassinated last week.

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#LeftPOCoftheWeek
#MarielleFranco
I am going to do this profile a bit differently in that I will be featuring the sources as I go along so you can follow direct links to the information. I will also include video and quotations from Marielle herself.

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#LeftPOCoftheWeek
#MarielleFranco
To begin, I am just going to connect some of the threads I have written here at @LeftPOC or on my personal account @MuseWendi about Marielle Franco. Feel free to refer to them for reference as needed.

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#MarielleFranco
1. A thread on some contemporary political issues in Brazil & the significance of Marielle's political leanings:
https://twitter.com/LeftPOC/status/974754525293707265

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#LeftPOCoftheWeek
#MarielleFranco
2. A thread on PSOL (the Party of Socialism and Liberty), the party Marielle was a part of and through which she served as a city council member in Rio.

https://twitter.com/MuseWendi/status/976064480131076096

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#LeftPOCoftheWeek
#MarielleFranco
3. Addtl context on the recent military occupation in Rio & police & military operations in Brazil over the past few years:
- https://twitter.com/MuseWendi/status/975079735788220416
- https://twitter.com/MuseWendi/status/975079927568588803
- https://twitter.com/MuseWendi/status/975080804106817536
- https://twitter.com/MuseWendi/status/975082455593086977
4. Note: several of the links I provided above and will provide below are in Portuguese. If you need help with translations, please feel free to ask here or via DM.
5. Also see: https://twitter.com/MuseWendi/status/974309724714913792
as well as 6:
on US msm response to the coup vs. murders of activists: https://twitter.com/MuseWendi/status/976249676281327617
&finally 7: a conversation on Marielle's work,Brazilian activism,BLM & media
- https://twitter.com/MuseWendi/status/976255377011544064 (thread)
- https://twitter.com/MuseWendi/status/976259308009684993
- https://twitter.com/MuseWendi/status/976260073851846657
- https://twitter.com/MuseWendi/status/976261225653956609 (addtl resources)
https://twitter.com/MuseWendi/status/976231371470528518 (thread)

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#MarielleFranco
Now onto Marielle herself...her life, her work, the circumstances surrounding her murder,& the legacy she leaves to other activists fighting for a better Brazil.

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#MarielleFranco
Marielle Francisco da Silva was born in 1979 in Complexo da Maré, a poor neighborhood (slum or, in Portuguese, "favela)" in the northern part of the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Two expressways cut through the neighborhood - one named after the democratically-elected president who was overthrown by a U.S.-backed military coup in 1964,João Goulart,& the other named after Carlos Lacerda,the man who lauded the coup until its leaders antagonized him as well.
I mention this to bookmark what will become relevant later regarding the history of political and physical violence committed toward the Brazilian people and their elected leaders. But for now, keep the aforementioned issues in mind.
Maré, the neighborhood where Marielle grew up, is actually a conglomeration of several neighborhoods built over a period throughout the 20th century to absorb residents of Rio's outskirts (known as "subúrbios,though it does not mean "suburbs" in the US English sense).
Like other favelas, Maré was made up of poorer residents of the city, many of whom who worked in a variety of sectors (often informal) as maids, construction workers, drivers, waitstaff, etc that kept Rio running smoothly.
They often worked for the city's elite (incl. members of the government) responded to their needs with negligence, austerity, & abuse that only increased over time, leaving residents to fend for themselves, built & repair their own homes & implement neighborhood infrastructure
Many of these populations were the descendants of slaves from Rio who had been pushed out of the city center in the 1800s or were people from other parts of Brazil (often also descendants of slaves) who had moved to Rio for a better life.
(You can learn more about the history of Maré here: http://www.rioonwatch.org/?p=29572 )
A Dive Into History: The Birth and Formation of Complexo da Maré - RioOnWatch

Clique aqui para Português Time of fear What are our fears? In the time of fear there were rotten planks, Children falling into the water, gales, storms, rats, removals… In the time of fear there is...

http://www.rioonwatch.org/?p=29572
Marielle began to work at an early age in hopes of saving money for school - working as a day care attendant & later as a back-up dancer at Furacao 2000, a popular funk carioca show in Rio ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk_carioca)
an example of the old school stuff:
(A note on funk carioca: The musical genre has a complex history in Brazil as it has long been demonized, much like rap in the US, for its lyrics that involve sex,violence,& drug/alcohol consumption, & for its origins in favelas. +
What's important to note here, however, is a large degree of the panic surrounding the early stages of the genre related to the political meaning of the genre's earlier connections to black music of the US (funk and later hip hop) & the economic background of its performers/fans)
Marielle continued to save up for school,& at 19, joined the 1st group of students to participate in a community prep course for the vestibular (Brazilian college entrance exam). That same year, she became a mother to Luyura, her daughter & only child. https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/2018/03/feminista-negra-e-cria-da-mare-quem-foi-a-vereadora-marielle-franco.shtml
Da Maré, vereadora fazia parte do 'bonde de intelectuais da favela' - 15/03/2018 - Cotidiano - Folha

Marielle Franco começou a militar por direitos humanos depois que perdeu amiga em tiroteio 

https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/cotidiano/2018/03/feminista-negra-e-cria-da-mare-quem-foi-a-vereadora-marielle-franco.shtml
Two years later, in 2000, Marielle's life would change forever when a childhood friend was murdered while being caught in the crossfire of a police raid targeting neighborhood drug dealers. For Marielle, the idea of "the personal is political" took on particular importance.
She would go on to be one of few black students at one of the highest ranked private universities in Brazil, PUC-Rio, where she received a full scholarship. Despite this support, Marielle had to continue working during her studies in order to support herself & her daughter.
(a note on Brazilian universities: public - state & federal - universities are free in Brazil, and highly competitive in terms of admission. Of private universities, the PUC system is one of the best in the country. Access,hwvr,to higher education remains a challenge to the poor+
Black activists in Brazil have fought for greater access to higher education & for improving education in neglected public schools where poor POC are overrepresented+
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a movement for affirmative action on the basis of race and class kicked off, with Rio's colleges being some of the first to implement pilot programs based on activists' demands. They are now implemented nationwide,but remain controversial.)
Marielle majored in social sciences and later went on to get her MA in public administration at UFF (Universidade Federal Fluminense). It was around this time that she met her future fiancé, Monica Tereza Benício.
Marielle openly identified as bisexual,which may appear less significant to the casual observer of Brazil's supposed openness,but the rates of abuse & murder of LGBTQ Brazilians (as well as general social conservatism) are high.Marielle - as a bisexual woc was already a target...
Adding to this was Marielle's unabashedly left politics,which she began to pursue w/greater fervor during her MA.
You can find her thesis (entitled "UPP (police "pacification" operations in favelas) - The reduction of the favela in three letters: an analysis of public security policy in the state of Rio de Janeiro") here: https://app.uff.br/riuff/handle/1/2166
Here is the abstract of her thesis in English:
While attending school,it was difficult for Marielle to be as closely involved in politics simply because of time (again, she was raising her daughter on her own and working two jobs on top of attending university), but after she graduated, she went on to do as much as she could.
Marielle put her degrees & her experiences into practice in various stages - starting first with her work in the campaign of Marcelo Freixo, socialist candidate for the Rio Legislative Assembly, who named her as one of his advisors.
Part of the Human Rights Commission of the assembly,she pushed for counseling & legal assistance for the families of police brutality victims. She also helped the family of a policeman who was murdered by a colleague:
https://g1.globo.com/rj/rio-de-janeiro/noticia/mae-de-policial-assassinado-relembra-ajuda-de-marielle-franco-no-caso-foi-imbativel.ghtml
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