Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

BRAZIL: Thousands March For Legalization of Marijuana and Against Racist Drug Laws

100,000 took the streets in Sao Paulo and dozens of thousands in Rio at the annual “Marcha da Maconha” (Weed March).

Victor Mariutti

May 10, 2017
Facebook Twitter Share

The 15th annual Rio de Janeiro Marijuana March took place on Saturday, May 6 with the participation of tens of thousands of protesters. In São Paulo, the sixth edition of the march drew over 100 thousand onto the streets.

legaliza.jpg
The weed march in Sao Paulo

The demonstrations in defense of marijuana and other psychoactive drugs also addressed the so-called “war on drugs”, mass incarceration of Black people and the racist police and judicial system. Speakers defended the medicinal, recreational and religious use of marijuana and condemned the structural racism that lies beneath the enforcement of drug laws in Brazil today.

Presently, drug laws in Brazil, which forbid certain psychoactive substances under the premise of upholding morals and public health, engender a vast corruption network that includes the police and all three branches of government. In addition to illegally benefiting politicians, drug laws serve to enrich the arms industry and intensify the genocide of black Brazilians under the guise of fighting organized crime. Politicians and their family members who have been caught with vast amounts of drugs are never prosecuted, while the war on drugs is an excuse for police operations in the favelas.

Marcha da maconha no Rio!
A guerra as drogas mata e encarcera os negros!
Legalização das drogas sob controle dos trabalhadores e usuários!
Pelo fim da Guerras às drogas: chega de cadeia, chacina e repressão.
Liberdade imediata a Rafael Braga!

Publicado por Faísca – Anticapitalista e Revolucionária em Sábado, 6 de maio de 2017

The weed march in Rio de Janiero

These policies result in police intervention in Brazil’s slums, namely the so-called “pacifying police units”, which, under the guise of the war on drugs, murder the black and poor people daily. In Rio de Janeiro’s slums, homes are often taken over by the police and turned into military bases.

Furthermore, the racist and reactionary judicial system plays a crucial role in the mass incarceration of black people, making it clear whom the target of the “war on drugs” is. Racial discrimination by Brazil’s courts is egregious and has been highlighted by last week’s fraudulent sentencing of Rafael Braga to eleven years in prison. Allegations brought against him were based on forged evidence of drug trafficking after police arrested him for carrying a bottle of cleaning material, Pine-sol. The police claimed the cleaning solution was a weapon amidst the historic protests of June 2013 that shook São Paulo and the rest of Brazil. He was also carrying .6 grams of weed. After his sentencing protests erupted around the country.

The struggle for drug legalization cannot be limited to a struggle for individual rights; it must also take into account the racism and corruption that are inherent to the enforcement of drug laws in Brazil. To effectively oppose the structural racism of the capitalist state we defend the nationalization of all drugs under the control of workers and users. We also struggle for the end of the police who defend the capitalist system and attack workers and people of color.

war_on_drugs.jpg
War on Drugs? Racism and Repression. For the Legalization of Drugs and an End to the Police

Facebook Twitter Share

Latin America

Pro-abortion activists hold up banners reading "Legal abortion" and "Forcing gestation is torture" during a protest against abortion named "For the Life", a week after the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) decriminalized abortion, in Monterrey, Mexico September 12, 2021.

Mexico Moves Closer to Decriminalizing Abortion, but the Fight Isn’t Over

The new ruling is an important step in advancing the decriminalization of abortion in Mexico. But we must fight for fully legal, free, and safe abortion across the country.

Joss Espinosa

September 14, 2023

The 1973 Coup in Chile, 50 Years Later: Lessons of a Revolutionary Process

50 years ago today, a U.S.-backed military coup overthrew the government of Salvador Allende in Chile, installing the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Here, we share a series of articles to think about the lessons from the defeat of one of the most profound revolutionary processes in Latin America.  

Left Voice

September 11, 2023
Argentine presidential candidate of the La Libertad Avanza alliance, Javier Milei, reacts with Ramiro Marra, candidate for head of government of Buenos Aires, and Victoria Villarruel, candidate for vice-president, on stage at his campaign headquarters on the day of Argentina's primary elections, in Buenos Aires, Argentina August 13, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer

What Explains the Rise of the Far Right in Argentina?

The Peronists’ “lesser evil” strategy has failed to stop the rise of Javier Milei, the most reactionary major candidate Argentina has seen in decades.

Robert Belano

August 22, 2023

Building “A Real Alternative to the Bosses’ Parties”: Interview with Argentinian Socialist Congresswoman Myriam Bregman

Socialist feminist leader, congress member and presidential candidate Myriam Bregman spoke with Jacobin Latin America about the record of the Peronists in government, the new far right, and the necessity of a true alternative for working people.

Myriam Bregman

August 13, 2023

MOST RECENT

President Biden visits striking UAW workers in Michigan.

Biden’s Picket Line Visit Doesn’t Mean He Is On Our Side

President Biden’s visit to the UAW picket line shows the strength of the strike — and why it should remain independent from him and the Democrats.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

September 27, 2023

Toward a Revolutionary Socialist Network

In this article Warren Montag and Joseph Serrano respond to our call for a network for a working-class party for socialism. 

Warren Montag

September 27, 2023

Scabs Will Not Pass: Defend the UAW Strike With Organized Grassroots Power

The Big Three are escalating their use of scabs. The rank and file are fighting back.

Jason Koslowski

September 27, 2023

China’s Rise, ‘Diminished Dependency,’ and Imperialism in Times of World Disorder

In this broad-ranging interview, originally published in LINKS, Trotskyist Fraction member Esteban Mercatante discusses how recent global shifts in processes of capital accumulation have contributed to China’s rise, the new (and old) mechanisms big powers use to plunder the Global South, and its implications for anti-imperialist and working-class struggles today.

Esteban Mercatante

September 22, 2023