Our Comrade Marielle Franco Murdered

International Viewpoint

March 16, 2018

Solidarity-U.S. deeply mourns the death of Marielle Franco (27 July 1979 – 14 March 2018), assassinated in a targeted drive-by shooting in Rio de Janeiro. A Brazilian bisexual, feminist, sociologist and political and human rights activist, Marielle was an elected councilwoman and prominent member of PSOL, the Party of Socialism and Liberation. For her tireless work against police brutality, she was beloved in the favelas and hated by the repressive abusers. Her murder has brought a mass outpouring of grief and rage in Brazil and internationally. Marielle’s loss is a terrible blow to her comrades, the Brazilian people, and all of us who strive for a socialist and sustainable future for humanity. Her work and memory will live on.

We reprint here an article from International Viewpoint: News and Analysis from the Fourth International.

Our comrade Marielle Franco murdered

Friday 16 March 2018

Activist of the LGTB movement, the World March of Women, City Councilor of the Party Socialism and Liberty (PSOL) in Rio de Janeiro and in charge of the commission of inquiry into the violence perpetrated by the army and the police against young people Afro-descendants in Rio, Marielle Franco,was murdered the night of March 14, 2018. Our comrade Marielle was a member of Insurgencia, an organization of the Fourth International in Brazil.

She was 38 years old and, according to political scientist Maurício Santoro, she “embodies a hope of renewal, at a time when most political leaders in Rio are in prison or about to be,” for corruption.

On Saturday, March 10, she relayed on her Twitter account accusations of the inhabitants of the favela of Acari against the 41st police battalion, one of the most brutal of Rio. “This week, two young people were killed and thrown into a pit. Today, the police threatened the inhabitants. It has always happened but it got worse with the intervention. “Marielle Franco was investigating assassinations apparently committed by police who wanted to eliminate people who knew too much about their actions,” said Liberation Zeca Borges, coordinator of Rio’s Disque-Denúncia, a service that allows people to denounce acts of violence anonymously.

She was returning from a public meeting of black women “making things happen”. The car she was traveling in was riddled with bullets by killers. She and the driver were murdered.

This is obviously a summary execution of the style practiced by death squads: the only question that arises is who is the sponsor.

That is why, in many cities of Brazil as well as in other countries gatherings are organized to demand that all the light is made on this summary execution of an activist who did not stop fighting the militarization of the city of Rio imposed by the putschist government of Michel Temer. “Those who believe that we can silence the voices that defend the poor and the victims of injustice,” said Ivan Valente, PSOL MP.

One of Marielle Franco’s articles, which retraces the struggle since 1975 for the social rights of black women, was recently published by Le Monde Diplomatique Brasil.

Which reminds us that their “democracy” does not recoil, even from murder.