Republished from CSP Conlutas Brazil website
Last weekend in Brazil, two black activists – Igo Ngo and Felipinho were arrested accused of a robbery that happened in the region of Pinheiros, neighborhood of São Paulo. The two friends were in the region of Largo da Batata eating yakisoba from the street food vendors who are always there, in a walk they always do. When they finished, they returned home from the Pinheiros subway station. On the way, near from Campo Limpodistrict, the bus was intercepted by the police, who ordered the two of them and some other passengers to get off, and the two were arrested for supposedly having the characteristics of the suspects indicated by the victim and witnesses of the robbery. They were not even allowed to be properly heard.
IGO AND FELIPINHO ARE INNOCENT! They did not participate in the robbery that they did not even know had happened. From the information obtained, they didn’t even pass by the street where the crime happened. On the way they walked, they stopped to get money at the terminal, missed the bus and were waiting for the next one, in the tranquility of those who owe nothing and were just returning home.
In the victim’s account, two young black men would have stolen his bag with their belongings inside. She would have called a driver from Uber, who would have followed the suspects to the terminal, when they called the police, who went after two other black youths, who had not committed any crime. This operation resulted in an illegal, arbitrary, random and racist arrest! But for the criminal justice system, which involves everything from the police commanded by the State Government, to the judges at the top of their chairs in the courts and their pens, it does not matter!
We know that in Brazil, racial and class bias makes us the third country across the world in arrests. The target are black, poor, young people from the favelas and outskirts. 40% of those in prison were not trialed. This is the same target of the killing and genocide perpetrated by the state, which causes every 23 minutes a young black man to be murdered in our country.
In São Paulo, almost 500 young people were killed by the police in 2020, they also arrest innocent people or people who don’t even have the right to actually defend themselves, like the recent case of the musician of the String Orchestra from Grota of Niterói, Luiz Carlos Justino, 23 years old, arrested “by mistake”, like so many others. Meanwhile, the real criminals, politicians, businessmen, bankers, corrupt who steal money from health, food, transportation, education, who divert money from works that we so badly need for the improvement of life of the population, remain at liberty to continue take off everything they can from us!
This real policy of death and injustice destroys the future of many and makes thousands of families go through pain, suffering, anguish, besides the humiliation, torture and injustice that we suffer every day for more than 500 years because we are black, poor and workers. And this is what is happening to Igo and Felipe and their families right now!
Igo Ngo is a rapper, from the group Resistência du Gueto, percussionist, music producer and filmmaker at 2as Marias Produções. A young black from São Paulo who has dedicated his life and art to fighting against racism, defending indigenous peoples and families who do not have adequate housing, through the Popular Struggle Movement – Luta Popular.
He is currently one of the main leaders of the Hip Hop Quilombo Brazil Movement, a national Hip Hop organization that has affiliated groups from various regions of the country. In São Paulo, the organization affiliated to the MHMQB is called O3 (Ouvir, Ousar, Organizar – Listen, Dare, Organize), a movement that Igo helped found and spread throughout the peripheries.
It is also one of the organizers of the mobilizations named “Periphery March” in São Paulo, an event of a political and cultural nature that takes place during the month of November in reference to black consciousness and the antiracist struggle. In the south zone, he also helped build the Comitê Mestre Môa do Katendê and builds mobilization works in several communities, such as in the Olaria slum, where he makes movies for youth and children.
In the last national meeting of the CSP-Conlutas Igo participated in one of the most exciting cultural presentations that drew tears from the eyes of hundreds of fighters present there, singing and protesting together with representatives of the Guarani Mbya indigenous people of the Tenondé Porã village, extreme south of São Paulo city.
Igo has a series of video published on YouTube, among them the clip “Nhanderu” which he recorded precisely with members of this indigenous community, with whom he builds daily relationships of exchange, learning and solidarity.
In 2020, before the pandemic, he collected images and testimonies of indigenous peoples by several countries in America, particularly in Chile, which was experiencing one of the most important popular uprisings in our continent’s recent history. During the pandemic, he helped organize a solidarity action in the village Sapukaí, in Bracuí, Angra dos Reis, which he coordinated for the Luta Popular, with the support of CSP-Conlutas, Sindsef-SP and the Oilworkers Union of Angra dos Reis city. Recently he was organizing together with activists of the Baixada Santista and member of the Oilworkers Union of Santos city a new action of solidarity in the villages of the region. Also, with the volunteers of Project Overcoming Challenges they were able to support with food to 11 villages in the State of Sao Paulo.
Igo was planning his son’s birthday party and planning also – once again – to be present at the beginning of the year planning meeting of the Luta Popular movement, of which he is an old and important member and leader.
Felipinho is also a social and cultural activist, having participated via Luta Popular of the last National Congress of the CSP Conlutas, supported several initiatives in the communities where the movement operates and participated in the musical productions of the Resistência du Gueto. He is a martial arts fighter, champion of Muay-Thai, a teacher of boxing struggles, and makes this work a way to involve young people from his community in paths that point to self-discipline and a sense of community, having helped many to build prospects for the future. He, like Igo, is deeply loved by friends and family and in his neighborhood.
In this way, we want to say loud and clear that Igo’s and Felipe’s history and work is to offer knowledge, hope, self-esteem, culture to his people and not to steal material goods.
Igo Ngo and Felipe are deprived of freedom, deprived of being next to their own. The racism that rules our country kills and imprisons the black and peripheral youth. It was not the color of the shirt (supposedly identified by the victim) that arrested the two friends, it was the color of the skin under the shirt. All solidarity is needed with our brother and with all the black and peripheral youth unjustly imprisoned in Brazil.
Those from the peripheries of São Paulo, particularly the capital’s South Zone or Praia Grande, know the qualities of these young black activists and know that their journey has always been for the right, for the humiliated and oppressed, for the right to expression, diversity and life. His walk has always been for freedom and there is no stain on it, nor will there be.
The defense team of our two comrades is requiring an habeas corpus to try to get their freedom, collecting evidence and camera images about their journey and the crime scene, to prove their innocence. But we know that justice, for those below, is not always fair.
That’s why we count on everyone’s support and solidarity, to support them and to promote a campaign for their LIBERTY! And for JUSTICE, so that all those involved who are making them and their families go through this INJUSTICE, fruit of a clear case of RACISM, are also accountable.
Freedom now for the brothers Igo and Felipe!
Sign the pettion:

• Central Sindical e Popular Conlutas (CSP-Conlutas) – Brésil.
• Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) – Etat espagnol.
• Union syndicale Solidaires (Solidaires) – France.
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• Confédération Générale Autonome des Travailleurs en Algérie (CGATA) – Algérie.
• Batay Ouvriye – Haïti.
• Unione Sindacale Italiana (USI) – Italie.
• Confédération Nationale des Travailleurs – Solidarité Ouvrière (CNT SO) – France.
• Sindicato de Comisiones de Base (CO.BAS) – Etat espagnol.
• Organisation Générale Indépendante des Travailleurs et Travailleuses d’Haïti (OGTHI) – Haïti.
• Sindacato Intercategoriale Cobas (SI COBAS) – Italie.
• Confédération Nationale du Travail (CNT-f) – France.
• Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya (IAC) – Catalogne.
• Union Générale des Travailleurs Sahraouis (UGTSARIO) – Sahara occidental.
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• Sindicato Autorganizzato Lavorator COBAS (SIAL-COBAS) – Italie.
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• Confederación de la Clase Trabajadora (CCT) – Paraguay.
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• Union Nationale des Syndicats Autonomes du Sénégal (UNSAS) – Sénégal.
• Unión Nacional para la Defensa de la Clase Trabajadora (UNT) – El Salvador.
• Solidaridad Obrera (SO) – Etat espagnol.
• Confederazione Unitaria di Base (CUB) – Italie.
• Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) – Grande-Bretagne.
• Ogólnopolski Związek Zawodowy Inicjatywa Pracownicza (OZZ IP) – Pologne.

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• Fédération Générale des Postes, Telecom et Centres d’appel – Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (FGPTT/UGTT) – Tunisie.
• Trade Union in Ethnodata – Trade Union of Empoyees in the Outsourcing Companies in the financial sector – Grèce.
• Syndicat national des travailleurs des services de la santé humaine (SYNTRASEH) – Bénin
• Sindicat dos Trabalhadores da Fiocruz (ASFOC-SN) – Brésil.
• Organizzazione Sindicati Autonomi e di Base Ferrovie (ORSA Ferrovie) – Italie.
• Union Nationale des Normaliens d’Haïti (UNNOH) – Haïti.
• Confederazione Unitaria di Base Scuola Università Ricerca (CUB SUR) – Italie.
• Coordinamento Autorganizzato Trasporti (CAT) – Italie.
• Syndicat des travailleurs du rail – Union Nationale des Travailleurs du Mali (SYTRAIL/UNTM) – Mali.
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• Asociación Nacional de Funcionarios Administrativos de la Caja de Seguro Social (ANFACSS) – Panama.
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• Union Syndicale Etudiante (USE) – Belgique.
• Sindicato dos Trabalhadores de Call Center (STCC) – Portugal.
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• Alianza de Trabajadores de la Salud y Empleados Publicos – Mexique.
• Canadian Union of Postal Workers / Syndicat des travailleurs et travailleuses des postes (CUPW-STTP) – Canada.
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• Türkiye DERİ-İŞ Sendikasi, Tuzla et Izmir (DERİ-İŞ Tuzla et Izmir) – Turquie.
• L’autre syndicat, canton de Vaud (L’autre syndicat) – Suisse
• Centrale Générale des Services Publics FGTB, Ville de Bruxelles (CGSP/FGTB Bruxelles) – Belgique
• Arbeitskreis Internationalismus IG Metall, Berlin (IG Metall Berlin) – Allemagne
• Sindicato Unificado de Trabajadores de la Educación de Buenos Aires, Bahia Blanca (SUTEBA/CTA de los trabajadores Bahia Blanca) – Argentine
• Sindicato del Petróleo y Gas Privado del Chubut/CGT – Argentine.
• UCU University and College Union, University of Liverpool (UCU Liverpool) – Angleterre.
• Sindicato di base Pavia (SDB Pavia) – Italie.
• United Auto Workers local 551 Ford Chicago (UAW Ford Chicago) – Etats-unis.
• Sindicato Uno Prodinsa, Maipú – Chili.

• Organizaciones sindicales internacionales
• Industrial Workers of the World – International Solidarity Commission (IWW).

Corrientes, tendencias o Redes sindicales

• Transnationals Information Exchange Germany (TIE Germany) – Allemagne.
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• Globalization Monitor (Gmo) – Hong Kong.
• Courant Syndicaliste Révolutionnaire (CSR) – France.
• No Austerity – Coordinamento delle lotte – Italie.
• Solidarité Socialiste avec les Travailleurs en Iran (SSTI) – France.
• Basis Initiative Solidarität (BASO) – Allemagne.
• LabourNet Germany – Allemagne.
• Resistenza Operaia – operai Fiat-Irisbus – Italie.
• Workers Solidarity Action Network (WSAN) – Etats-Unis.
• United Voices of the World (UVW) – Grande-Bretagne.
• Unidos pra Lutar – Brasil.