{"id":10674,"date":"2021-01-12T01:12:17","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T01:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lavozlit.com\/?p=10674"},"modified":"2021-01-12T01:12:17","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T01:12:17","slug":"free-igo-and-felipe-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/2021\/01\/12\/free-igo-and-felipe-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Free IGO AND FELIPE Now!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republished from <\/strong><\/em>CSP Conlutas Brazil website<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/a>
\nLast weekend in Brazil, two black activists \u2013 Igo Ngo and Felipinho were arrested accused of a robbery that happened in the region of Pinheiros<\/em>, neighborhood of S\u00e3o 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.
\nIGO AND FELIPINHO ARE INNOCENT!<\/strong> They did not participate in the robbery that they did not even know had happened. From the information obtained, they didn\u2019t 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.
\nIn the victim\u2019s 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!
\nWe 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.
\nIn S\u00e3o Paulo, almost 500 young people were killed by the police in 2020, they also arrest innocent people or people who don\u2019t even have the right to actually defend themselves, like the recent case of the musician of the String Orchestra from Grota of Niter\u00f3i<\/em>, Luiz Carlos Justino, 23 years old, arrested \u201cby mistake\u201d, 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!
\nThis 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!
\nIgo Ngo is a rapper, from the group Resist\u00eancia du Gueto<\/em>, percussionist, music producer and filmmaker at 2as Marias Produ\u00e7\u00f5es<\/em>. A young black from S\u00e3o 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 \u2013 Luta Popular<\/em>.
\nHe is currently one of the main leaders of the Hip Hop Quilombo<\/em> Brazil Movement, a national Hip Hop organization that has affiliated groups from various regions of the country. In S\u00e3o Paulo, the organization affiliated to the MHMQB is called O3<\/em> (Ouvir, Ousar, Organizar<\/em> \u2013 Listen, Dare, Organize), a movement that Igo helped found and spread throughout the peripheries.
\nIt is also one of the organizers of the mobilizations named \u201cPeriphery March\u201d in S\u00e3o 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 Comit\u00ea Mestre M\u00f4a do Katend\u00ea<\/em> and builds mobilization works in several communities, such as in the Olaria slum, where he makes movies for youth and children.
\nIn 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 <\/em>indigenous people of the Tenond\u00e9 Por\u00e3<\/em> village, extreme south of S\u00e3o Paulo city.
\nIgo has a series of video published on YouTube, among them the clip \u201cNhanderu<\/em>\u201d which he recorded precisely with members of this indigenous community, with whom he builds daily relationships of exchange, learning and solidarity.
\nIn 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\u2019s recent history. During the pandemic, he helped organize a solidarity action in the village Sapuka\u00ed, in Bracu\u00ed, Angra dos Reis, which he coordinated for the Luta Popular<\/em>, 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<\/em> 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.
\nIgo was planning his son\u2019s birthday party and planning also \u2013 once again \u2013 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.
\nFelipinho 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 Resist\u00eancia du Gueto<\/em>. 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.
\nIn this way, we want to say loud and clear that Igo\u2019s and Felipe\u2019s history and work is to offer knowledge, hope, self-esteem, culture to his people and not to steal material goods.
\nIgo 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.
\nThose from the peripheries of S\u00e3o Paulo, particularly the capital\u2019s South Zone or Praia Grande<\/em>, 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.
\nThe 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.
\nThat\u2019s why we count on everyone\u2019s 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.
\nFreedom now for the brothers Igo and Felipe!<\/strong>
\nSign the pettion:<\/strong><\/p>\n