Radio Mundo Real

Thousands of people took to the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Monday in a march called by feminist organizations to expose that capitalism oppresses women, exploits their work force while it ignores them and promotes the commodification of their bodies. Women demand respect and equality.

The demonstration took place within the Peoples’ Summit being held in Aterro do Flamengo, in Rio de Janeiro, in parallel to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. The feminist organizations qualified capitalism as “male chauvinistic and patriarchal” and denounced “green economy” as a new phase of this system. They called for a new “feminist, grassroots” and environmentally sustainable model.

The World March of Women, a network of feminist organizations from different countries around the world was one of the main organizers of the demonstration. At the end of the march there was an action outside the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), a State-owned bank that was exposed for “funding sexual exploitation of women”. The bank is the main funder of many megaprojects in Brazil that have serious environmental and social impacts.

At the end of the action, when the women were leaving, thousands of representatives of indigenous peoples from different regions of Brazil suddenly showed up and entered the bank’s premises. The feminist activists joined the protest. Several indigenous tried to enter through one of the doors to submit their complaints and demands to the authorities. After the direct action and a negotiation with the security guard and a BNDES spokesperson, a group of 12 indigenous went inside the bank to be assisted by a bank representative.

Real World Radio recorded the whole mobilization, the World March of Women’s action and the indigenous protest until the moment when the indigenous leaders were notified they would be assisted by the BNDES authorities.

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