Sofia Etges, like many other Brazilian women, woke up in that day knowing that something would be different. In her head, the feeling of indignation and the desire to transform a future of intolerance, which was fast approaching in the country, prevailed. Early in the afternoon, she went to one of the largest parks in Porto Alegre, the city where she lives. When she got there, holding her rocar (a percussion instrument that resembles a rattle), she realized that the frustration was not only felt by her, but also by lots of other women who were standing together at the Farroupilha Park.

In the next hours of that hot spring afternoon, Sofia saw that amount of people turn into a sea of women, together with their friends and families, for one same purpose: have their voices heard in a country where discourses of sexism and violence were trying to silence them. In a Brazilian funk rhythm, Sofia and her colleagues from As Batucas (female drum and percussion orchestra) began to shout, next to the approaching crowd, the cry Ele Não!, Ele Não!, Ele Não! (Not Him). Quickly, women who were around them, their companions, children and friends joined the group in protest.

Sofia's story was repeated at the same time in hundreds of cities in Brazil and in the world. September 29, 2018 had just entered the country's history as the day when women took to the streets to protest against hate speeches and ideals of the former presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro.

But after all, why did Brazil's reality lead to the origin of this movement?

In the last years, Brazil has been suffering from a strong economic, political and social crisis. Its origin, often seen as related only to the economic crisis faced since 2014 and to government corruption schemes, is much more complex.

In an article published in August 2016 by Portal G1 it was explained that, since the nomination of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in January 2003, Brazil ruled by the Workers' Party (PT) experienced years of economic growth with job creation, expansion of social programs and reduction of poverty. However, it also faced severe corruption scandals involving the party's top management.

While the leftist government reduced poverty in the country, provided access for poor communities to universities and, as a consequence, to the labour market, the conservative class showed dissatisfaction with sharing these spaces. From this moment on, as Luis Felipe Miguel relates in Hate as politics: the reinvention of rights in Brazil, there was a mobilization of the Brazilian right-wing. According to him, allegations of the "incompetence, ignorance or venality of the poorest electorate, which became current after Lula's re-election, flowed into the open defence of disrespect for electoral results when they challenged supposedly superior rationality".

Luis Felipe also explains that, from Lula's second term, the middle-class bad-will was first channelled to repulse against corruption. But "the narrative of moral decadence, however relevant, does not explain the unfolding, which is the singularization of the PT as the sole responsible for the ethical deviations in Brazilian politics," he says.

At the same time, newspapers and television, court cases, police investigations and rumours on the internet were generating a "cloud of truthful, doubtful or undoubtedly false information that stigmatized the party – and, consequently, the whole left-wing politics – as an incarnation of dishonesty and evil".

While the population's dissatisfaction with corruption schemes excluded other parties in their accusations, the second term of the government Dilma Rousseff went into crisis. And so, it remained until its end. With Dilma's impeachment in 2016, considered by many people as a coup, PT left a legacy of recession, inflation above target and disruption in public accounts. From that point on, hatred against the party gained even more power among the conservative middle class and elite, which encouraged the arrival of a new political figure in the Brazilian spotlight: someone who promised to fight against corruption – besides being involved in many scandals himself – and had strength in his speeches, causing "respect" (to what many call "fear", instead) to the population.

And thus, the extreme right-wing Brazilian political figure emerges: the former army captain Jair Bolsonaro.

When reading this sentence, it is impossible not to identify the similarity of the facts. A recurring speech that occurred in 2016 in the United States and that was repeated in Brazil in 2018. Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro, two caricature characters of the extreme right-wing politicians who, despite the initial unbelief of the population, reached the highest position of their countries.

In relation to the most recent case, Bolsonaro enjoyed the fear that the Brazilian population has about the growing levels of violence in the country to mark his territory as the strongest candidate. As pointed out by Juan Arias, in an article from El País Brasil, Bolsonaro presented himself as the guarantor of population security with drastic speeches: "violence is fought with violence," "the police have the weapons to kill," he said. And at the same time, he took advantage of his speaking spaces to also acquire another social group: the extremist face of the far right. Even before the beginning of the electoral period, in April 2018, the Attorney General's Office (PGR) sent a complaint to the Superior Federal Court (STF) against Bolsonaro for the crime of racism, alleging that in a lecture held in Rio de January, he "manifested himself in a negative and discriminatory manner about quilombolas, natives, refugees, women and LGBTs." However, this was only the beginning.

According to an article published by El Pais Brasil in October 2018, among the statements that Bolsonaro made were: "I rather lose my son in an accident than for him to appear with a 'man in a moustache'", "Stay there, Maria do Rosario (congresswoman), stay. A few days ago you called me a rapist in the Green Room, and I said I would not rape you because you do not deserve it", "Through the vote, you will not change anything in this country, nothing! Absolutely nothing! We're only going to change, unfortunately, when we go to a Civil War in here. And doing the work that the Military Regime did not do: killing about 30,000!".

Legitimate by the candidate's speeches, far-right groups felt the right to act violently (physical and verbal, face-to-face and online) during the elections. A survey published by the Exame magazine in October revealed that in a period of 10 days at least 50 attacks happened, most of which were carried out by supporters of Bolsonaro. In another study, published by the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper and carried out by the Getúlio Vargas Foundation, from 7 pm on October 7 until 3 pm the 11th, 2.7 million tweets reported on episodes of physical violence, offences and virtual threats related to the elections.

At the same time that these events were taking on gigantic proportions in Brazil, people who did not agree with the extremist groups decided to take action.

In the first week of September 2018, while the feeling of indignation grew inside her, Sofia was invited to join a new Facebook group. The name, Mulheres Unidas Contra Bolsonaro (Women United Against Bolsonaro), indicated that there were other women, just like her, wishing to stop the hatred that would possibly govern Brazil. What seemed to be just a small group, quickly became something much bigger. In just one week, Sofia found herself sharing a virtual community with 1 million women. In two weeks, they were already 2 million. In one month, 3 million. They were Brazilian women from every city in the country and in the world, sharing stories, frustrations, fears and, above all, the desire to change the electoral scenario.

"The moment was very confusing. We were not understanding what was happening in the country, nor how there were people who agreed to these barbarities. We felt the need for unity, of having the feeling that we belonged to something far greater than just our 'bubble'", said Sofia.

Created by Ludimilla Teixeira on August 31, after a night of anxiety and uneasiness about the elections, the group was initially intended to "alert the population of the dangers of voting for a sexist, misogynist, racist, homophobic and xenophobic candidate".

Ludimilla is a black woman, northeastern (poorest region of the country), feminist and activist. Her struggle began well before the elections since she had learned to fight and not accept the male oppression most of the times so naturalized among those who live in humble regions in Brazil. When questioned whether her feminist struggle increased during the elections, she explained: "In my childhood I witnessed men attacking women and girls being sexually harassed on the bus. I would say that I gained greater visibility for my struggle, which is actually the struggle of most Brazilian women, so I was able to share my story and encourage other women to do the same, becoming protagonists of their own stories".

Meanwhile, while the administrators received about 10,000 requests per minute, once again the intolerance tried to quench the fight. Still, in September, the group was hacked by Bolsonaro supporters. For Ludimilla, this action was "another attempt to silence the sexist and patriarchal society, because they [hackers] bothered with women debating politics, a sign that we were and continue on the right path". In a short time, the group was recovered. And until the end of October, the month when the votes for the Brazilian Presidency took place, the MUCB had 4.2 million women participants.

"Women found a secure democratic space to discuss politics, share fears, anguish, and strategies. In this collective way, they realized how much we have in common with each other and discovered the power of unity and true sorority. The group has become a link between us, a place where we can support each other", she added.

Almost a month after the creation of the MUCB group and one week before the first round of the 2018 elections, the strength of these millions of women no longer fit only in social media. During weeks of much dialogue, empowerment and collective organization, Brazilian women from all corners of the country and from countless cities around the world decided that September 29th would be a milestone in Brazil's history. Throughout social media, they shared posters, photos and texts calling people to the streets with the purpose of joining the #EleNão (#NotHim) movement, which was spreading and gaining more and more strength among the groups opposed to Jair Bolsonaro.

According Joanna Burigo – Master in Gender, Media and Culture and Founder of the Casa da Mãe Joanna, a feminist experiment in communication and gender education – the women-led political demonstration #EleNão, composed mostly by feminists, took place as a counterpoint to "the candidate's speeches and proposals, which corresponded to the annihilation of women and the genocide of the black and indigenous people as a method of making his time of management".

Among all the repercussion, the act can be considered as the largest manifestation of women in the history of Brazil, according to Céli Regina Jardim Pinto, Professor of the Department of History of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.

The greatness that the movement has gained in the streets can be illustrated with data published by CartaCapital. According to the magazine, more than 160 cities were participating, being at least 90 of them in Brazil. In São Paulo, for example, the event counted more than 150 thousand demonstrators, organizers said. In Rio de Janeiro, were about 200 thousand participants.

In an interview by BBC Brazil, Céli Regina said that what happened in September was a "popularization of feminism. It is spreading in society, no one else can say that it's against the women rights". In addition, the movement embraced guidelines that go far beyond feminism. "It did not become a meaningful signifier. This is very important in the political struggle. It began with women because Bolsonaro said low-level phrases about them, and later it covered a lot more, such as the defense of democracy and human rights", she affirmed.

For Joanna Burgio, everything that happened in the last semester of 2018 in Brazil represents a good future for the feminist movement. "From now on, we have to know how to put the dominant feminist narrative on the agenda. We are living a moment that favours feminist speech, both in Brazil and in the world. What we need, in fact, is to find a great and strong narrative that places feminism in dialogue. I am confident that it will not be long before this resistance finds possibilities of collective constructions, to keep up the fight and to accelerate its work".

Sofia, the main character of this story, after actively participating both at the MUCB group and the demonstrations, is hopeful about the future. "I think those who are going to change things are the children who are learning not to repeat sexist and hate speeches. I want the current situation to change, but I have no perspective on short-term changes. Sometimes we have to reach the bottom of the well to begin a healing process. That's when we really look for something. I am hopeful that this bad period will not be so long in the end".



Cover Photo: Eduardo Nunes