invited by Chrissy Thirlaway
Vanete Almeida
In 1970 during Brazil’s violent repressive military
dictatorship, risking arrest, torture and assassination
Almeida the Gentle Warrior initiated and led
workshops and support groups in Brazil’s arid,
famine ridden Northeast. She empowered rural
women to gain ownership of their bodies, land and
production, health and education. This developed
into a nationa l network and in the 1990s the Women
Rural Workers of Latin America and the Caribbean
was formed. Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize
in 2005. Vanete, a courageous, generous and gentle
feminist, lived in her beloved Northeast and remained
unmarried and brought up three adopted children.
South London Women Artists I’m Inside, Ring The Bell
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