Announcement! “Black Women’s March Against Racism and For Well Being – 2015” announced in the nation’s capital!

Note from BW of Brazil: Last week’s third annual CONAPIR conference in the capital city of Brasília brought together various representatives of black Brazilian women’s organizations from all over Brazil. This year, a key theme was equality and representation in the nation’s mass media. If you’ve followed this blog for any amount of time you know that black women specifically and black Brazilians in general are all but completely invisible in the mass media; ridiculous for a country where almost 50 million women are considered Afro-Brazilian. At the CONAPIR conference black women’s organizations also took advantage of their gathering to announce the organizing of the BLACK WOMEN’S MARCH AGAINST RACISM AND FOR WELL-BEING that is being schedule to take place in Brasília in 2015! Back in December, BW of Brazil brought the original announcement of this march that earned the full support of African-American icon Angela Davis and last week’s conference only solidified the event on a national level. Keep on moving black women of Brazil!! Special thanks to the women of Blogueiras Negras for the article and excellent photos! More photos here. Here’s the official announcement!

“THE MARCH IS FOR ALL, WITH ALL AND OF ALL”

At, 5pm, November 7^th, was the official release and announcement of the BLACK BRAZILIAN WOMEN’S MARCH. The Blogueiras Negras (Black Women Bloggers), that support and is participating in the movement, invites everyone for this construction and publish below the full text of the commitment letter taken from the recent Third CONAPIR conference (November 5-7, 2013 in the capital city Brasília).

LETTER FROM BRASILIA

COMMITMENT TO THE PROCESS OF CONSTRUCTION OF THE BLACK BRAZILIAN WOMEN’S MARCH

We, black Brazilian women belonging to different social movement organizations of black women and of the black social movement, participants of the III Conferência Nacional de Promoção da Igualdade Racial – CONAPIR  (or the Promotion of Third National Conference on Racial Equality) held in the period of November 05 to 07, 2013 in Brasilia – DF (Distrito Federal/Federal District) with the theme “Democracia e Desenvolvimento sem Racismo: Por um Brasil Afirmativo (Democracy and Development without Racism: for an Affirmative Brazil)”, declare our recognition and our commitment to the construction process of the Marcha das Mulheres Negras Contra o Racismo e Pelo Bem Viver – 2015 (Black Women’s March Against Racism and for Well Being)- 2015 in Brasilia.

We are 49 million Black Women that build wealth in this country daily, and yet we are the poorest and most discriminated against parcel of the population with limited access to education, health care, decent housing, basic sanitation, work and decent income, to security for ourselves and our families. We are those who die in life because of engendered genocide against our family members.

So we march towards Brasilia in 2015:

• To demand the Brazilian State and the different sectors of society to end racism, racial discrimination and all forms of violence against black women;
• For the reparation of the historic debt that Brazil has to black women;
• For the end of the genocide of black women, children, young people and black men;
• In order to have knowledge of the Brazilian genetic heritage respected and patented by the holders of knowledge communities;
For democracy and the inclusion of the black population and for other models of development;
• For a new democratic , secular, diverse and egalitarian country, with social justice and without corruption;
• For the free expression of faith and religiosity;
• For the end of sexism, and homophobia lesbiphobia ;
• For cases like Aline Pimentel, Beatriz Nascimento, Yá Mukumby , Amarildo, Douglas Rodrigues and so many other people exterminated by the Brazilian State, in its various forms, do not go unpunished;
• To promote the creation and strengthening of organizations of Brazilian black women, give greater visibility to the situation of secular oppression of black women in every corner of the country, in order that we may fully exercise our rights as citizens and historic builders of Brazil.
Brasilia, November 7, 2013.

Brazilian Black Women march firm and cohesive.

Come construct the Black Brazilian Women’s March against Racism and Well Being – 2015!

Organizing Committee:

Articulação de Organizações de Mulheres Negras Brasileiras – AMNB (Articulation of Black Brazilian Women Organizations)
Fórum Nacional de Mulheres Negras  (National Forum for Black Women)
Agentes de Pastoral Negros – APNs (Represenatatives of Black Pastors)
Coordenação Nacional de Articulação das Comunidades Quilombolas – CONAQ  (National Coordination of Quilombo Communities)
Coordenação Nacional de Entidades Negras – CONEN (National Coordination of Black Entities)
Federação Nacional das Trabalhadoras Domésticas – FENATRAD  (National Federation of Domestic Workers)
Movimento Negro Unificado – MNU (Unified Black Movement)
União de Negras e Negros pela Igualdade – UNEGRO (Union of Black Women and Black Men for Equality)

Black women announce march against racism, violence and for well being

By Rivane Guilherme Gil Arantes

III CONAPIR was not only a stage of a meeting against black militancy or of the negotiation of policies for racial equality. Black women, individual activists and members of black women’s organizations from around the country gathered to discuss strategies for the Black Women’s March Against Racism, Violence and Well Being. The act, which takes place in 2015 in Brasília, has already been announced in Maranhão, Salvador (Bahia) and Rio de Janeiro. “Making the announcement in Brasilia is the opportunity to make the march a reality for many others,” said Valdeci, a member of the organization Odara of Bahia.

“The march is a strategy for bringing together black women for an action of impact and to stimulate self-organization in the states,” said Vera Baroni, of the coordinating board of the Articulação de Organizações de Mulheres Negras Brasileiras (AMNB – Articulation of Organizations of Black Brazilians Women). Analba Brazão, the executive coordination of AMB – Articulação de Mulheres Brasileiras (Articulation of Brazilian Women), also believes that “the march will be a great pretext for us to organize black women in the states.”

The march is being thought of as a process of plural formation, mobilization and articulation of black women, including those that are not organized in states and municipalities. The peak will be in 2015, when the black Brazilian women will march under the sky of Brasília and submit proposals for collective well being. According to Vera Baroni, “we will define non-negotiable issues for black women, put forth our black identity to the society and occupy our place in history. We want to defeat invisibility! We want to be political subjects that continue to construct this country’s history,” she said.

Source: Comunicadoras Negras (Facebook page), Blogueiras Negras