06/16/2021 – 18:32

Councilors across the country condemned the threats and aggression and asked for support from the federal legislature. The topic was discussed at public hearings organized by the Commission on Human Rights and Minorities of the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday (16).

Young, black and bisexual, Belem, PA, counselor Bia Kaminya was one of those who reported the attacks on social media and intimidation by a colleague. She asked for a defense network to be created so that council members and advisers could condemn the violence and have institutional responses. “We need this protection so that we are not Mariel Franco,” he said, referring to the Rio de Janeiro adviser killed in March 2018.

homosexual and feminist, Florianopolis (South Carolina) adviser Carla Ayres, in turn, asked the Federal House to notify city councils of the attacks and approve a bill criminalizing gender-based political violence.

Alderman of the city of São Paulo, Juliana Cardoso, added other demands: legal support and security for those who were attacked, monitoring by the federal government ministry, research on political violence, and campaigning against political violence in networks.

Commission support
The panel’s chairman, Deputy Carlos Veras (PT-PE), said the panel had already been involved in nine incidents of political violence since last December by sending formal letters to public security secretaries, governors and prosecutors. Justice – to the Ministry of State, the Presidents of the Legislative Chambers, the Federal Police and the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights. He asked for a written submission of the incidents so that the commission could continue to work.

Veras recalled that the Chamber of Deputies has already approved bill 349/15 by Congressman Rosangela Gomes (Republicanos-RJ), which fights against political violence against women. The case is pending before the Federal Senate. And he also stressed that bill 78/21 by MP Alexander Froth (PSDB-SP), prohibiting political violence in elections against LGBTQIA + candidates, is under consideration by the commission.

Deputy Professor Rosa Neide (PT-MT) added that Women’s Secretariat The Chamber is building an Observatory on Political Violence against Women to receive complaints.

Preferred targets
Ribeirão Preto (SP) Councilor Duda Hidalgo emphasized that violence mainly affects women, blacks, youth and LGBTQIA + people who occupy political spaces that they have traditionally been denied.

“When a transvestite body decides to step out, it rebelles against the patriarchal, misogynistic, transphobic system, it is at this point that this political transvestite body begins to suffer from the sanctions from the system,” said the first trans woman elected counselor in Ararakuar (SP), Philipa Brunelli. In the last municipal elections, 30 transsexuals were elected.

The first homosexual to allegedly take a seat on the Santarem (Pennsylvania) city council, Biga Kalahari said he was attacked not only because of his sexuality, but also because he was from the periphery.

Silence
Uberlandia (MG) advisor Dandara noted that the attacks are “an organized, planned action, way of working“, With clear goals:” First, try to silence the enemy, and our body was the enemy they want to fight; it is all the time an attempt to scare us, to make us lack the courage, the power to speak in certain places, to convey our beliefs, our projects and our ideas, and also an attempt to continue to maintain hierarchy and privileges. “

The first black woman to be elected to Joinville, South Carolina’s City Council, Ana Lucia drew attention to the mental health impact of political violence. Research by the Mariel Franco Institute shows that eight out of ten black women who ran for elections in 2020 have experienced virtual violence, such as sexist and racist messages.

MP Erica Kokay (PT-DF), who requested a hearing, recalled Mariel Franco’s speech: “Peripheral woman, black, bisexual, she said, ‘I will not be interrupted.’ And he repeated: “This level of aggression will not silence us.” Several federal deputies also reported suffering from political violence.

Other Topics
Deputy Delegate Eder Mauro (PSD-PA) requested that other categories be heard by the Commission on Human Rights. “I wish there were more multiple topics covered,” he said. President Carlos Veras explained that hearings are approved by the members of the panel.

Report – Lara Haje
Edition – Marcelo Oliveira