{"id":73107,"date":"2019-01-09T13:17:18","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T13:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/?p=73107"},"modified":"2019-01-18T08:38:20","modified_gmt":"2019-01-18T08:38:20","slug":"batekoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/batekoo\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the LGBTQ+ party collective fighting fascism in Brazil’s clubbing 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There\u2019s a resistance brewing in the bass-shaken walls of Salvador. It\u2019s here, in the capital city of Brazil\u2019s northeastern state of Bahia, that a party collective called Batekoo<\/a> has risen up within the LGBTQ+ community. Armed with a creed of sweat, sex, and collective empowerment, Batekoo has emerged as a symbol of freedom in the face of Brazil’s slide towards fascism. But their story doesn\u2019t begin with the rise of a new president, who somehow out-Trumped his American counterpart.<\/p>\n

Years before a 63-year-old former military captain named Jair Bolsonaro became the \u201cTrump of the Tropics” and was sworn in as president of Brazil last week, Batekoo mobilised party goers to stand against systemic racism. It was only 130 years ago that Brazil became the last country in the Western hemisphere to abolish slavery, and, in the time since, the socioeconomic divide between Euro-centric and African-descended Brazilians has remained an open wound. From black people making significantly less money than white people to the flagrant structural and societal racism, these issues have stretched from the highest structures of Brazilian society all the way down to the parties that young Brazilians go to for a night of escapism.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s here, on the dimly lit dance floors of clubs across Salvador \u2014 where discrimination against its 80 percent black population runs rampant \u2014 that the idea for Batekoo was born from the minds of co-founders Wesley Miranda<\/a> and Maur\u00edcio Sacramento<\/a>. \u201cIn the past, most parties, regardless of location and theme, only placed people with European standards in their event page pictures and releases. There was no representation of dissident or black bodies,\u201d Sacramento tells SLEEK over email of life before Batekoo. For the two, creating a party for black people by black people wasn\u2019t just a clap-back against the light-skinned, thin-bodied ideal of Brazilian beauty, it was a cultural revolution long overdue.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":73115,"id":73115,"title":"JuJu","filename":"JuJu.jpg","filesize":536944,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/JuJu.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/batekoo\/juju\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"juju","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":73107,"date":"2019-01-04 15:26:13","modified":"2019-01-04 15:26:13","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1280,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/JuJu.jpg","thumbnail-width":64,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/JuJu.jpg","medium-width":1280,"medium-height":1920,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/JuJu.jpg","medium_large-width":1280,"medium_large-height":1920,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/JuJu.jpg","large-width":1280,"large-height":1920,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/JuJu.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/JuJu.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":1920,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/JuJu.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":8,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/JuJu.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1280,"wpvr_mobile-height":1920}},{"ID":73120,"id":73120,"title":"Maurico3","filename":"Maurico3.jpg","filesize":430701,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Maurico3.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/batekoo\/maurico3\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"maurico3","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":73107,"date":"2019-01-04 15:27:22","modified":"2019-01-04 15:38:55","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1273,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Maurico3.jpg","thumbnail-width":64,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Maurico3.jpg","medium-width":1273,"medium-height":1920,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Maurico3.jpg","medium_large-width":1273,"medium_large-height":1920,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Maurico3.jpg","large-width":1273,"large-height":1920,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Maurico3.jpg","1536x1536-width":1018,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Maurico3.jpg","2048x2048-width":1273,"2048x2048-height":1920,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Maurico3.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":8,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Maurico3.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1273,"wpvr_mobile-height":1920}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"4","caption":" Juju \u201cJujuzl\u201d Andrade and Mauricio Sacramento. Photography by Rebeca Figueiredo. Courtesy of Red Bull Media House."}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"

Almost overnight, Batekoo rewrote the narrative for nightlife by creating a space for people of all shapes, sizes, and ethnicities to dance until dawn down to the very last detail. Drink prices and entrance fees were lowered to account for economic limitations, anti-black security staff were replaced, and black DJs and organisers were brought in as the collective became a disruptive force, prompting a newfound embrace of blackness. It\u2019s a seismic shift that Wesley was particularly proud of as the subject of Batekoo\u2019s influence was broached. \u201cEither by actually believing in historical reparation and inclusion or by the \u2018hype\u2019 of following this trend of compulsory representativeness, the LGBTQ community has increasingly attempted to embrace the black cause.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Batekoo grew and cemented its status as one of the city\u2019s biggest party collectives, it soon surpassed the outer limits of Salvador and made the journey south to S\u00e3o Paulo. Here, in the cultural capital of Latin America, Batekoo joined other pro-black collectives like the visual art group, Coletividade Namibia<\/a>, in creating a \u201cblack revolution\u201d within the city\u2019s nightlife scene. For a new generation of LGBTQ Brazilians, it became more than just a party. The sweat-soaked dance floors and pulsing beats became the backdrop they needed to explore and embrace their identities.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":73404,"id":73404,"title":"batekoo analogico - fb -24","filename":"batekoo-analogico-fb-24.jpg","filesize":513791,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/batekoo-analogico-fb-24.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/batekoo\/batekoo-analogico-fb-24\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"batekoo-analogico-fb-24","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":73107,"date":"2019-01-18 08:36:03","modified":"2019-01-18 08:36:03","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1339,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/batekoo-analogico-fb-24.jpg","thumbnail-width":67,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/batekoo-analogico-fb-24.jpg","medium-width":1339,"medium-height":1920,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/batekoo-analogico-fb-24.jpg","medium_large-width":1339,"medium_large-height":1920,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/batekoo-analogico-fb-24.jpg","large-width":1339,"large-height":1920,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/batekoo-analogico-fb-24.jpg","1536x1536-width":1071,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/batekoo-analogico-fb-24.jpg","2048x2048-width":1339,"2048x2048-height":1920,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/batekoo-analogico-fb-24.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":8,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/batekoo-analogico-fb-24.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1339,"wpvr_mobile-height":1920}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":"Photo courtesy of Matheus Thierry."}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"

For DJ Kiara Felippe<\/a>, who began to attend the parties as she was transitioning, it impacted her self-esteem and became a place of recognition for her blackness \u2014 a place where \u201ccultural references about fashion, aesthetics and experience\u201d were everywhere. \u201cBatekoo gave me autonomy to be myself completely,\u201d recalls dancer Juju \u201cJujuzl\u201d Andrade<\/a>, who began attending as an escape from the fat-phobia she faced from her community. \u201cI found myself with the aid of that space free of any judgment. Batekoo introduced me to freedom,” admits Andrade. It was here that Artur Santoro<\/a>, the party\u2019s S\u00e3o Paulo-based producer, found an outlet to bend and break the fragile confines of masculinity that he\u2019d long outgrown. Often dressed in a singlet and sporting a shock of purple hair, he\u2019s become one of the movement\u2019s most transfixing figures on and off the dance floor.<\/p>\n

What had begun as a clap-back against nightlife\u2019s anti-black racism has become a bass-heavy bastion for blackness, freedom, and sexual expression. It has become a safe haven free from a wave of violence that claimed the lives of 445 LGBT Brazilians in 2017, and last year, saw the murder of 38 year-old black, lesbian councilwoman Marielle Franco \u2014 a killing that sent thousands to the streets in protest. Batekoo had already become as much a cultural movement as a party collective but, with the election of Jair Bolsonaro to the presidency two months ago, the stakes have never been higher within the LGBTQ+ community.<\/p>\n

As the country lurches forward into a new reality where their president is a man who has proudly proclaimed that he\u2019d rather have a dead son than a gay one and that women who are raped somehow deserved it, the organisers of Batekoo are preparing for whatever comes next. \u201cWe will not fail to celebrate our existence and our bodies,\u201d promises Miranda, \u201cbut it will be a very complicated political season.\u201d Rights may be curtailed or watched by the new administration but, with this unease, the collective\u2019s passionate vigilance has positioned them as the booty-shaking freedom fighters their community needs right now. It is as Santoro says: \u201cThere are many uncertainties in the air, but we are creating new worlds, new possibilities of being, valuing black cultures; the certainty we have is that we will not take steps back, only ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0See an episode of\u00a0Inspire the Night\u00a0on BATEKOO here:\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n