{"id":5919,"date":"2017-10-13T17:22:39","date_gmt":"2017-10-13T20:22:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antigo.soscorpo.org\/?p=5919"},"modified":"2017-12-13T17:24:49","modified_gmt":"2017-12-13T20:24:49","slug":"feminismo-contra-explosao-consercadora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antigo.soscorpo.org\/?p=5919","title":{"rendered":"Feminismo contra explos\u00e3o conservadora"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Brazil\u2019s Feminist Activists Find New Strategies Under Conservative Crackdown<\/h1>\n

Publicado originalmente em Global Fund For Woman<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Following the 2016 removal of Brazil\u2019s first woman president in what many refer to as a coup, women\u2019s rights have come under fire<\/a>. The new administration, under conservative president Michel Temer<\/a>, seeks to eliminate a woman\u2019s right to choose by criminalizing abortion in all circumstances. Additionally, new proposals by the government would restrict sex education and contraceptive-access, criminalize LGBTQI people, and limit women\u2019s access to basic health care. The anti-woman agenda has a particularly harsh impact on the rising number of women in poverty which disproportionately affects Afro-Brazilians.<\/p>\n

In this hostile context, Global Fund for Women grantee partner SOS Corpo\u2014Feminist Institute for Democracy, a leading defender of human rights and democracy since 1981, is building on its vast experience in promoting women\u2019s rights while at the same time adapting its strategies to face new challenges. The organization has had to shift gears from pushing for advances in reproductive and sexual rights, to mass mobilization to prevent a rollback of women\u2019s rights. While the threats have intensified, they\u2019ve achieved major breakthroughs in building grassroots women\u2019s movements, linking organizations, and supporting new expressions of feminism in Brazilian society. Veronica Ferreira of SOS Corpo explains, \u201cWe face a contradictory situation. On the one hand, we have these strong expressions of misogyny and conservatism in society, but at the same time we\u2019re seeing a very powerful surge in feminist organizing, especially among groups of young people.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOS Corpo trains, informs, and strengthens this feminist organizing. Based in the capital city of Recife, the organization works mainly with women from poor urban and rural areas of the state of Pernambuco. It concentrates efforts on supporting women who suffer the most from inequality and attacks on women\u2019s rights\u2014black women, youth, lesbians, and indigenous women.<\/p>\n

This focus on popular sectors stems from their concept of feminism. \u201cWe believe in feminism for social transformation, what you could describe as \u2018popular feminism\u2019\u2014anti-systemic, anti-racist feminism\u2014and from there we focus our work on movements in the most marginalized sectors,\u201d Ferreira notes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

To effectively defend and exercise sexual and reproductive rights, SOS Corpo combines support for local grassroots organizations with actions and networking at the state, national, and regional levels. They also carry out critical research, organize local and national protests and campaigns, push for legislation that guarantees women\u2019s rights, and promote feminist values through popular education and social media.<\/p>\n

Since conservative forces came to power, SOS Corpo has had to rethink traditional political strategies centered on pressuring the government to expand and guarantee women\u2019s reproductive rights. The Temer administration and its allies, including fundamentalist churches and conservative politicians, have gone on the offensive against these rights. Current legislative proposals would further criminalize abortion and declare a \u201cStatute of the Unborn\u201d to establish a legal definition of \u201clife from conception.\u201d These restrictions are proposed even as the country is still contending with the Zika epidemic<\/a>, limiting women\u2019s choices even further.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a huge step backwards, in the name of the unborn,\u201d Veronica notes. \u201cWomen\u2019s lives\u2014women who are here now, who live, who suffer pain, who have so many problems\u2014are considered of no value to these sectors.\u201d She also notes that the 20-year freeze on spending levels<\/a>, including public health care, denies resources that are essential to well-being and the exercise of sexual and reproductive rights.<\/p>\n

SOS Corpo recently published a list of pending national legislation that would effectively wipe out women\u2019s right to choose, along with a blunt warning: \u201cThe attacks on women are terrifying, and aim at eliminating the hard-fought gains of the organized movement in our fight for full reproductive self-determination.\u201d<\/p>\n

While fighting to stop the legislative offensive, the challenge has been to develop new practices and strategies. With conservative gains in local, state, and federal governments, machismo has risen in a political atmosphere that legitimizes attacks on women.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This has obliged the organization to shift the battlefield from the halls of power, where women are increasingly barred, to the streets. \u201cWith the coup, we have to build grassroots resistance, deepen dialogue with the population, build day-to-day organization, create more links, and do more political training to understand what\u2019s happening in the country and the world,\u201d Ferreira states.<\/p>\n

SOS Corpo meets the challenge head-on by going out and talking to people openly about abortion and women\u2019s rights and offering information to counter lies and prejudices. One big challenge is the stigma surrounding these issues. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of prejudice and stigma, especially around abortion. We\u2019re seeing a situation that forces the issue underground, people don\u2019t talk about abortion,\u201d Ferreira reports. \u201cWith the advance of the right in Brazil, it\u2019s more clandestine than it was 20 years ago. And that makes it a more solitary experience for the women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their approach to overcoming that stigma is simple, explains Ferreira. \u201cWhen we hold our workshops and courses with groups, we start out with: \u2018OK, let\u2019s take a look at who are the women who abort. Do these women deserve to be in prison?\u2019 When we start by reflecting on daily life and the specific situation of women close to us, we can see the potential of education for changing attitudes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another challenge is that more stigma and criminalization means more risk for activists. SOS Corpo has developed workshops on personal security, taking care of oneself and others, and protection. Sharing practices and information with women\u2019s organizations in other parts of Latin America has been especially helpful. They work with several regional organizations, like the Marcosur Feminist Network where they\u2019ve launched a new campaign against fundamentalism.<\/p>\n

SOS Corpo reaches thousands of Brazilian women through their workshops, talks and classes, research and publications, and online forums. They believe fighting for reproductive and sexual rights is inseparable from the broader resistance taking place in Brazil today. It\u2019s this resistance that has given the feminists new energy. \u201cThere\u2019s been greater unity among us now,\u201d Ferreira concludes. \u201cAnd there\u2019s power in these new expressions of feminism that\u2019s very encouraging.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photography by Mabel Feres Cavalletti for Global Fund for Women.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brazil\u2019s Feminist Activists Find New Strategies Under Conservative Crackdown Publicado originalmente em Global Fund For Woman Following the 2016 removal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[108],"class_list":["post-5919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conjuntura","tag-sos-corpo"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antigo.soscorpo.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/SOS-corpo_header-2-1920x450.jpg?fit=1920%2C450&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5mcIC-1xt","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antigo.soscorpo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antigo.soscorpo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antigo.soscorpo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antigo.soscorpo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antigo.soscorpo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5919"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/antigo.soscorpo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5921,"href":"https:\/\/antigo.soscorpo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5919\/revisions\/5921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antigo.soscorpo.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antigo.soscorpo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antigo.soscorpo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antigo.soscorpo.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}