The 8th of March commemorated International Women’s Day. It provides a moment for society to reflect on the struggles, the advances and the continued fight for the liberation of women and girls around the world. At FiLiA, we marked this date by highlighting the work of feminist campaigners or organisations around the world who dedicate their lives to tackling structural discrimination and oppression against women. 

In this interview, FiLiA Spokeswoman Raquel Rosario Sánchez interviews Brazilian feminist collective Perseguidas (Persecuted). Coletivo Perseguidas was founded by black and brown women aligned with radical feminism. Present in several regions of Brazil, they are united in search of the visibility of the Brazilian women who are not white and attribute their existence to the constant feeling of struggle for female liberation and racial liberation within the abolitionist context of gender and anti-racism.

Raquel Rosario Sánchez: You are a women’s rights advocate. When and how did you personally decide that this was a struggle you wanted to dedicate your life to?

Coletivo Perseguidas: We are all women of color, therefore our urgencies and difficulties are visible in our everyday lives. Brazilian women who suffer from racism and misogyny face struggles since colonization and recently we’ve seen these struggles get worse. This way, by seeing ourselves in this situation, we've made the decision to take action and face the struggles through activism, politics, and radical feminism.

Many women in Brazil don’t have access to information and political education. Because of this, it is our duty to fortify ourselves and give positive feedback to our sisters. Radical feminism is our way to do it and it will always be. By becoming women’s rights advocates, we learned to never shut up again.

RRS: How and why did Coletivo Perseguidas start? Tell you about the moment when you had the vision to create this women’s rights organisation. You could explain to our UK audience the context of the original women here.

CP: Coletivo Perseguidas started from the union between black and native women who used to dialogue in a radical feminist group. At the first moment, we planned on offering translated materials about radical feminism, lesbianism, racism and women’s urgencies around the world.

Later, Perseguidas rose up as a radical feminist group in social media, talking with women in real-time and amplifying our activities, such as producing campaigns with other organizations and activists. We created Coletivo Perseguidas because we had the opportunity to unite women who wanted to fight actively for women’s liberation. 

RRS: From your point of view, what are the top three priorities that we should all be advocating about right now when it comes to women’s rights?

CP: In Coletivo Perseguidas, we all agree on three urgent demands right now: Anti-pedophilia Movement (by revoking the Parental Alienation Law in Brazil and fighting child trafficking, for example); Pro-abortion Movement; and Anti-pornography & Anti-prostitution Movement (which, together, contribute to the massive exploitation of female bodies and worsen women’s living conditions).

RRS: There is a lot of movement worldwide when it comes to women's rights. What is your opinion regarding the state of women’s rights in Brazil right now?

CP: The situation of Brazilian women is at harmful and worrying levels for our existence and survival. Problems such as mass prostitution, femicide, lesbocide, pedophilia, exploitation of domestic work, early pregnancy and rape are increasingly alarming and are destroying our lives.

Radical feminism in Brazil needs to be strengthened and that is why we are running against time. Currently, radical collectives and autonomous feminists are growing in the Brazilian scenario. However, we are dealing with government policies that strengthen misogyny and the role of patriarchy that reigns over our bodies.

RRS: On March 8th, 2020 the world was about to enter a global pandemic that has had a distinct impact on women and girls lives. One year later, what has COVID-19 taught us about women’s status in society?

CP: COVID-19 situation brought many risks for women’s and girl’s lives all around the world. Talking about Brazil’s situation, a lot of women are financially vulnerable and the domestic violence rate in the country has been growing. Furthermore, pedophilia cases and rape cases have also been growing — we’ve reported several cases of rape and murder of native and black girls on our social media during the year.

The Brazilian government is using the pandemic as a genocide tool against native people, while black people face growing inequality and racism as well. Rising up in the pandemic context, Coletivo Perseguidas vision is that women’s and girl’s needs are more serious than the way they are being treated by the government. The fact that women are in danger by spending more time at home with their abusers shows that men will take every opportunity given to destroy our lives.                                                                                                                                                                        

RRS: How has Coletivo Perseguidas coped with the pandemic?

CP: Coletivo Perseguidas emerged during the pandemic period. This way, we started to act online, by translating materials about radical feminism that were originally in English. In addition, we’ve operated in anti-pedophilia campaigns and we’ve also supported native women, with fundraising and collaborative work with other collectives.

We have always made it clear to all women that even in the face of COVID-19, we, radical feminists, can continue fighting. Studying and organizing politically can be done in parts over the internet. Thus, we hope that our content production work will motivate women to educate themselves and unite in the radical struggle, waiting for the day when we can advance on the streets and raise our voices together all over the world.

RRS: What does International Women’s Day mean for your organisation?

CP: International Women's Day represents, for Perseguidas, the need to call for revolution. Much is "celebrated" on this date, and because we believe that we are very far from women's liberation, in a world co-opted by liberalism (and racism and misogyny), March 8th needs to break with the idea of celebration. We should be closer to revolting due to women and girls’ situation than celebrating false freedom.

The fact is that, today, Women's Day represents a distorted and fanciful idea that we are already advanced on feminist revolution, when we actually still need to join forces and educate our sisters for the radical feeling of liberation and emancipation. We, from Coletivo Perseguidas, made March 8th a moment of calling and instructing women that need to strengthen practices to get into the radical feminism's fight, besides our protests on urgent Brazilian struggles, such as anti-pedophilia and breaking up with the beauty industry.

RRS: Do you have any projects around International Women’s Day, or this year, that you would like to share with our audience?

CP: On International Women’s Day, Coletivo Perseguidas is promoting a campaign about breaking with femininity and with harmful beauty practices, inspired by the South Korean feminist movement Escape the Corset (탈주 코르셋). We understand that Brazilian women’s submission to femininity is still growing, therefore, we remain victims of the beauty industry. To break with practices like makeup, shaving, weight-loss dieting and to confront the high plastic surgery rates, we present a campaign inviting women to distance themselves from these practices, to break their makeup and to reflect on femininity in their behavior.

You can learn more about the work of feminist organization Coletivo Perseguidas by visiting their website. Or follow their work on their social media accounts like Facebook and Twitter.