{"id":35197,"date":"2022-03-28T16:23:19","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T16:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/?post_type=noticia&#038;p=35197"},"modified":"2022-04-04T15:04:43","modified_gmt":"2022-04-04T15:04:43","slug":"interview-dandara-rudsans-struggle-for-trans-rights-in-the-amazon","status":"publish","type":"noticia","link":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/interview-dandara-rudsans-struggle-for-trans-rights-in-the-amazon\/","title":"Interview: Dandara Rudsan\u2019s struggle for trans rights in the Amazon","content":"<div class=\"tts_content_wrapper_1\" ><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dandara Rudsan\u2019s life cannot be dissociated from her struggle for the defense of human rights. \u201cIt was my struggle for the defense of human rights that rescued me and brought Dandara into the world,\u201d said the activist, who is a spokesperson for the Black Initiative for a New Drug Policy and founder of the Amazon LesBiTrans Group and Nepaz (Strategic Center for Human Rights and the Promotion of Peace).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2012, after graduating in law in the city of Aragua\u00edna (in the state of Tocantins), she had to return to Altamira (in the state of Par\u00e1) to help her parents who were at risk of being evicted ahead of the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam. During this time, she was going through a gender transition process and was thrown out of her parent\u2019s house.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Read more:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/what-drives-political-violence-against-women-in-brazil\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What drives political violence against women in Brazil<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today, at the age of 32, studying for a master\u2019s degree in anthropology in the state of Bel\u00e9m, Dandara is fighting for the rights of transexual women, transvestites and cisgender women who are literally marginalized. For nearly two years, she was homeless herself, attempting to feed herself during the day in the city and then crossing the Xingu River by ferry to spend the night in the forest.&nbsp;\u201cIt was devastating mentally and I still struggle to recover to this day. Survival was a major challenge, not only externally but internally as well. I had to fight to not stop believing in myself,\u201d she said, recalling the importance of the black movement for her recovery. \u201cThe black movement viewed me in another way, as a woman who works with the law. It was through being part of this movement that I understood what my mission was: to put my life and my efforts behind what rescued me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The activist spoke to Conectas about the importance of networks and the difficulties raising the visibility of the issues of trans women and transvestites who live in the Amazon.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Conectas \u2013 Until the start of the year, you were living in Altamira. According to the Atlas of Violence of Brazilian Municipalities, between 2000 and 2019 the murder rate per 100,000 inhabitants rose from 11.3 to 133.7 in the region. What\u2019s it like to be a human rights defender in one of the most dangerous cities in Brazil?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>Dandara Rudsan \u2013<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;The word that best describes it is challenge. It\u2019s a huge challenge, a challenge for life itself. But that\u2019s the risk we take. As a black transvestite woman, I have no other choice, because defending human rights is to defend my own life.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Being part of this group represents a greater challenge, because we don\u2019t have strong legislation that protects us. All we have as transvestite and transsexual women are decrees, resolutions and precedents that are very difficult to enforce. They are things that can collapse from a tremor in democracy. While cisgender women also face challenges, they have, for example, the Maria da Penha Law and international conventions that address them specifically, since the concept of women held by society is a cisgender concept. This puts us in a position of vulnerability and invisibility in terms of legal protection. And when it comes to the issue of defending human rights, it gets even worse.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A very clear example is the protests. The number of cisgender women at a protest like the one on March 8, for example, is much higher. Imagine if an event like this was repressed. Cisgender women have a different mechanism than transgender women. We are practically unprotected. This is why defending human rights as a transvestite woman is much more challenging.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Conectas \u2013 Do you think the situation is even more challenging for people who do not have an academic background and have less access to information?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>Dandara Rudsan \u2013<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;When society sees a transvestite body, it doesn\u2019t care if it is educated or not. The lethality is the same. I\u2019ve got a law degree and a postgraduate, and I\u2019m still scared to leave home and I have my own safety procedures. I\u2019m 32 years old and I live in a country where the life expectancy of a transvestite is 35. I am very afraid of not even reaching that age. The challenge is general, regardless of schooling.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those of us who make up this small percentage of achieving a place in higher education have an additional challenge, which is to create mechanisms to call for changes in public policies, and to mobilize our companions who do not possess these tools so they can do the same. Having a political presence is very important for us to achieve improvements.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Conectas \u2013 What are the main difficulties to raise the visibility of the issues of trans women and transvestites in the Amazon?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>Dandara Rudsan \u2013<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;The main challenge is to communicate what is happening here to the rest of Brazil, to expose the reality of trans women and transvestites who live by the rivers and in the forest. This is why I emphasize the importance of networks. When we think about transvestite and transsexual women, we imagine them in urban contexts, we don\u2019t imagine the lives of those who live along the banks of the river, who are fisherwomen, who work in family farming to feed the country, who are extractivists or artisans.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For the 14th consecutive year, according to Antra [National Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals], Brazil is the country with the most murders of transvestites, transsexuals and transgender people in the world. Imagine if we counted those who were killed anonymously along the rivers and in the forests? Visibility in the Amazon is an issue that is directly related to survival.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But, in general, the main difficulty both in the Amazon \u2013 in the state of Par\u00e1 \u2013 and in the rest of Brazil is awareness. Because transvestites and transsexuals are not just murdered, they are killed with particular cruelty. Last year, three had their bodies burned in the public square. There are never any mass protests or demonstrations. Sensitivity over a transvestite body that perishes is very shallow, it barely exists.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Conectas \u2013 Is that why the Amazon LesBiTrans Group was created, in 2018? To help give visibility to this issue?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>Dandara Rudsan \u2013<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;Exactly. This was the genesis of LesBiTrans, because Altamira is a very religious city, a city in the countryside where even the feminist movement does not address issues such as abortion or drug use, because the main movements were founded by ecclesiastical communities in the 1990s. So, today, conservatism is very deep-rooted and this is reflected in our struggles. LesBiTrans is the first LGBT+ group in Altamira to work exclusively on the human rights agenda of the LGBT+ community. There have been other movements, but they only worked on the cultural part, they did not address human rights issues in any depth. Our main goal is to build bridges and work on issues that are often ignored. It\u2019s an enormous challenge.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Conectas \u2013 What are the bridges that have been built by the group since its creation?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>Dandara Rudsan \u2013<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;The first major bridge that we built was with the Elas Fund. I\u2019m not talking about just the financial support, but also the resulting collaboration, through the \u2018Women on the Move\u2019 event, which brings together rights defenders from various parts of the world. Thanks to this, LesBiTrans has managed to engage in networks that are in place to this day. We have also received the support of the Brazil Fund, which is also ongoing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More recently, we are proud to have contributed to the creation of Comunema (Maria-Maria Black Women\u2019s Group), a group of cisgender black women we work together with. We are revolutionizing the agenda because it\u2019s the first group of cis and trans women to come together to address sensitive issues that other movements don\u2019t even want to touch. We joined forces and only managed to survive in Altamira because of these alliances we built. This is why I emphasize the importance of networks.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Conectas \u2013 What are the most recent achievements?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>Dandara Rudsan \u2013<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;Through the bank Ita\u00fa Unibanco and the +Diversity Institute, we set up a course for four groups on employability exclusively for LGBT women. LesBiTrans is also one of the organizations that forms the Black Coalition for Rights, and throughout the pandemic we distributed, in Altamira, over the past two years, more than 3,000 boxes of food staples to LGBT people, as well as kits to protect against Covid.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another recent achievement was the creation, in partnership with Comunema, of the Strategic Center for Human Rights and the Promotion of Peace (Nepaz), an organization that won the 2021 Republic Award from the National Association of Federal Prosecutors (ANPR).&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Conectas \u2013 What does Nepaz do?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>Dandara Rudsan \u2013<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;Nepaz is a center that receives, reviews and forwards complaints of rights violations against transvestite, transsexual and cisgender women who live along the rivers and in the forest. We can even receive complaints via amateur radio and we forward them to the appropriate public bodies. Overall, Nepaz has proven to be a major success as a bridge for all these companions. What\u2019s more, after joint dialogue between women\u2019s movements and LGBT movements, we set up the first Municipal Council for Women\u2019s Rights, in Altamira.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Conectas \u2013 How has the struggle for the rights of these women strengthened you?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b>Dandara Rudsan \u2013<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;I am a reflection of my companions. When I see one of them being inspired by something I say or a project I participated in, it emboldens me. I see myself in them. When a woman who has been violated finds herself, she is empowered, and that\u2019s amazing, it strengthens me a lot because I find myself too. It\u2019s us connecting and affirming ourselves as women.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><div class=\"tts__custom-position_bottom_fixed\" ><\/div>","excerpt":"<p>In the month that marks the celebrations of International Women\u2019s Day, the activist Dandara Rudsan talks about trans visibility in the Amazon and th&#8230;<\/p>\n","author":26,"featured_media":35137,"parent":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"tema":[12278],"class_list":["post-35197","noticia","type-noticia","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tema-democracy-and-human-rights-movement"],"acf":{"subtitle-pt":"In the month that marks the celebrations of International Women\u2019s Day, the activist Dandara Rudsan talks about trans visibility in the Amazon and the defense of women\u2019s rights in one of Brazil\u2019s most dangerous cities","links_para_referencia":false,"author":{"ID":26,"user_firstname":"Gabriel","user_lastname":"Guerra","nickname":"gabriel.guerra","user_nicename":"gabriel-guerra","display_name":"Gabriel Guerra","user_email":"","user_url":"","user_registered":"2021-03-15 20:54:31","user_description":"","user_avatar":"<img alt='' src='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g' srcset='https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=192&#038;d=mm&#038;r=g 2x' class='avatar avatar-96 photo avatar-default' height='96' width='96' loading='lazy' decoding='async'\/>"}},"yoast":{"focuskw":"trans","title":"","metadesc":"The activist Dandara Rudsan talks about trans visibility in the Amazon and the defense of women\u2019s rights in one of Brazil\u2019s most dangerous cities","linkdex":"60","metakeywords":"","meta-robots-noindex":"","meta-robots-nofollow":"","meta-robots-adv":"","canonical":"","redirect":"","opengraph-title":"","opengraph-description":"","opengraph-image":"","twitter-title":"","twitter-description":"","twitter-image":""},"featured_image":{"original":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/DandaraRudsan2.jpg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/DandaraRudsan2-150x150.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/DandaraRudsan2.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/DandaraRudsan2-768x575.jpg","large":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/DandaraRudsan2.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/DandaraRudsan2.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/DandaraRudsan2.jpg","post_slider_img":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/DandaraRudsan2-350x262.jpg","storyform_xlarge":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/DandaraRudsan2.jpg","storyform_xxlarge":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/DandaraRudsan2.jpg","storyform_xxxlarge":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/DandaraRudsan2.jpg","noticia":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/DandaraRudsan2.jpg"},"terms":{"acoes_categorias":[],"acoes_tags":[],"category":[{"term_id":7,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":7,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":1520,"filter":"raw","term_order":"0","permalink":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/category\/news\/","relative_link":"category\/news\/","langs":{"en":"news","br":"noticia-conectas"}}],"post_tag":[]},"author_name":"Gabriel Guerra","author_nicename":"gabriel-guerra","protected":false,"langs":{"en":"interview-dandara-rudsans-struggle-for-trans-rights-in-the-amazon","br":"entrevista-a-luta-de-dandara-rudsan-pelos-direitos-trans-e-travestis-na-amazonia"},"permalink":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/interview-dandara-rudsans-struggle-for-trans-rights-in-the-amazon\/","relative_url":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/noticias\/interview-dandara-rudsans-struggle-for-trans-rights-in-the-amazon\/","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias\/35197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/noticias"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/noticia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35197"},{"taxonomy":"tema","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conectas.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tema?post=35197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}