When Marielle Ramires disclosed her diagnosis of cancer in December 2024, she chose honesty without despair, revealing vulnerability but emphasizing resilience. Her approach was pragmatic, yet deeply hopeful.
“I embraced my destiny,” she wrote, taking each step “one drop at a time.”
For a woman who dedicated her life to articulating collective struggles, her illness became another front where she championed the importance of community, solidarity, and mutual care.
Ms. Ramires co-founded Mídia NINJA in 2013, Brazil’s influential network of independent communicators that defied traditional media paradigms. From the mass protests of June 2013 to the turbulent years under Presidents Michel Temer and Jair Bolsonaro, NINJA’s cameras and microphones brought unseen narratives from the streets directly to the public. Its unapologetic partiality was a guiding principle, rooted in the belief that journalism should amplify marginalized voices rather than claim neutrality. Ms. Ramires herself epitomized this ethos: always present, quietly orchestrating the dissemination of critical stories, particularly from the frontlines of environmental justice and Indigenous rights.
Though understated, her contributions were profound. Friends and colleagues describe her as gentle yet fiercely effective, often working quietly behind the scenes to build bridges between disparate groups—from Indigenous communities in Brazil’s Amazon to global movements in Indonesia and Latin America. She was integral to initiatives like Peoples For Forests, a global gathering of environmental activists aimed at finding solutions to the ecological crises of our times. Her writings around this event spoke of collective healing, insisting that the path forward lay in collaboration rather than isolation.
“Monoculture suffocates, monoculture kills,” she wrote. “The solution must be collective.”
Born in Cuiabá, Ms. Ramires began her activism in culture and human rights early, eventually shaping policy through positions with Brazil’s Ministry of Culture and the UNDP. She was central in organizing the groundbreaking 2018 presidential campaign of Sonia Guajajara, the first Indigenous woman to run for national office in Brazil, an event emblematic of her commitment to intersectional justice.
Her recent years saw increasing international recognition, engaging audiences in Mexico, Honduras, and beyond on the importance of free, decentralized media. But the heart of her work remained the same: to empower communities to tell their own stories, leveraging technology not as an end but as a means to transform society.
Ms. Ramires leaves behind a legacy not only of movements and organizations but also of a deeply humanist vision.
She once described hope as a “stubborn girl” that insists upon renewal, organically growing “with us, or despite us.”
Her departure was mourned as deeply as her life was celebrated, marking a profound loss for Brazil’s activist communities.
Yet, as she herself often reminded her followers, “the grass will grow again. With time.”
