THE Brazilian activist Clara Charfwidow of Carlos Marighella, died this Monday (3), aged 100, of natural causes. She had been hospitalized for a few days and was intubated, according to a statement from the Women for Peace Association, of which she was founder and president..
For the organization, Clara “leaves a legacy of fights for human rights and gender equality”. And it continues:
“Clara was great. She was the size of her 100 years old. It’s hard to say that she has faded. Because a life with such luminosity is engraved on each and every one who had the enormous privilege of learning from her. Go in peace, dear warrior.”
Clara was a woman ahead of her time and had to reinvent herself and overcome enormous obstacles throughout her life, especially those linked to her partner, who was persecuted and killed by the military dictatorship.
In the 1940s, Clara became a flight attendant, but from a very early age – at the age of 16 – she actively participated in the country’s political life. He joined the Brazilian Communist Party and, in 1947, married Marighella. Like him, she was also persecuted and imprisoned by the dictatorial government..
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After her husband’s death, Clara went into exile, initially in Cuba. Due to persecution, she lived outside the country for ten years, returning in 1979, during the amnesty. Upon returning to Brazil, Clara was strongly involved in the fight for women’s rights, freedom and a more just and egalitarian society.
In 2005, Clara Charf began to coordinate the Women for Peace Around the World movement in Brazil, which was born in Switzerland. The idea was to promote the collective nomination of a thousand women for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. In Brazil, it would be necessary to choose 52 women activists.
Carlos Marighella, Clara Charf and family – Photo: by pCarlos Mariguella/Personal Archive
Clara was the eldest of three siblings, born in Maceió (Alagoas), after her parents, Russian Jews, fled Europe. His father, Gdal, worked as a peddler. Even so, Clara managed to learn English and piano. The family moved to Recife where the Jewish community had already established itself. In the capital of Pernambuco, matriarch Ester died of tuberculosis at just 40 years old.
Faced with the family’s difficulties, the eldest daughter went to Rio de Janeiro at the age of 20. He joined the Communist Party in 1946, where he met Marighella. Clara went to sell newspapers on a tram, but her father did not look favorably on this activity, nor later on her relationship with the non-Jewish communist. Thanks to her knowledge of the English language, she got a job as a flight attendant.
The couple’s union meant that they both fought together for the ideals of transforming Brazil during the dictatorship.
After exile, she was a candidate for state deputy in 1982 for the Workers’ Party. She received 20 thousand votes, but was not elected, which did not stop her from continuing her fight for a more equal and fair Brazil.
Clara Charf leaves an immense legacy with projects to raise awareness for women’s rights, a battle she fought throughout her life.
