"In Brazil, we see alarming data that show an escalation in violence and murder of trans populations (transvestites, transgenders, and transsexuals). The public policies of the different governments that have passed through the country, moved by so-called right-wing and left-wing ideologies, have done little or nothing to change this scenario.
"Geni e o Zepelim" is a Brazilian song composed in 1978 by Brazilian composer Chico Buarque to be part of the musical Ópera do Malandro. The character Geni is described as being a transvestite who is constantly harassed by her community, "who can give it to anyone", who is "made to be beaten" and "good for spitting". The song's catchphrase: "Throw a stone at Geni" has become well known in the popular songbook and is repeated jokingly whenever someone is spoken of who is the target of public execration."
"Forty years later, the situation remains the same and the catchphrase is a very up-to-date description of the physical and psychological violence suffered by the trans community in Brazil. And the school space, which should be a space for changing this history through education for citizenship, is precisely one of the spaces in which this violence is most manifested, subjecting trans people to invisibility, violence and evasion. Meanwhile, in the neighboring country, it seems that some steps in respecting the citizenship of this excluded community are being consolidated.
"Vamos por más" is the Argentine catchphrase chosen by researcher Luana Molina to show precisely the resistance of the neighboring community. The author's work describes her passionate immersion in the trans community of the Bachillerato Popular Mocha Celis, created in 2012, in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, as a way of rescuing the citizenship rights of trans people through education. A careful and courageous ethnographic work that will certainly inspire similar experiences in Brazil. The author's writing, passionate and at the same time critical, invites us to look with more interest at the educational experiences of the neighboring country. Happy reading! Prof. Dr. Nilson Dinis (Associate Professor at the Federal University of São Carlos)"
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