In 2008, during her studies in Social Sciences and while participating in the "Polos de Cidadania" program, she initiated contact with local social movements. She actively engaged in the struggle for land regularization using the legal instrument of collective usucaption of the Vila Acaba Mundo favela. She also contributed to discussions and cooperatives in the Vale do Jequitinhonha region, focusing on women's rights.[7]
In 2009, she joined the Brigadas Populares, a "militant, popular, and mass organization" that operates with a socialist, class-oriented, feminist, antiracist, anti-imperialist, anti-punitivist, and nationalist-revolutionary approach. The organization is active in diverse locations such as occupations, peripheries, neighborhoods, community organizations, collectives, unions, schools, and universities. It currently has a presence in states including Bahia, Ceará, Distrito Federal, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, São Paulo, and Pará.[8] She was one of the founders of the "Comitê Popular dos Atingidos pela Copa" (Popular Committee of Those Affected by the World Cup), which played a key role in organizing the resistance of families affected by the construction works related to the 2014 FIFA World Cup.[9] She supported various housing struggles, including the Dandara Occupation and the Izidora occupations, among others, in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte.[10][11] She also supported the resistance of workers at the Feira do Mineirinho (Mineirinho Market) and the Barraqueiros do Mineirão (vendors near the Mineirão Stadium), who were affected by the hosting of the World Cup in Brazil. She was also a member of the "Fora Lacerda" movement, which opposed the business-oriented administration of Mayor Márcio Lacerda between 2009 and 2016.[12]
She participated in the popular protests of June 2013 in Brazil.[13]
Bella was part of the "Muitas (Pela Cidade que Queremos)" movement, which in 2016 launched various candidacies for municipal elections. This movement combined a diversity of perspectives to create a space for political engagement in Belo Horizonte.[14][15] Under the motto "Votou em Uma, Votou em Todas" (Voted for One, Voted for All), she was the third most voted candidate in the PSOL/PCB coalition, making her the first alternate. She was subsequently invited to join the "Gabinetona" as a co-councilor, along with the elected councilors Áurea Carolina and Cida Falabella.[16] In 2018, with the election of Áurea Carolina to the Chamber of Deputies, Bella Gonçalves assumed the position of councilor.[17]
In the municipal elections of 2020, she was reelected to the municipal council with 6,954 votes.[18]
As a councilor, she was part of the CPI (Parliamentary Inquiry Commission) on BHTrans in 2021, which uncovered the formation of a cartel in the bidding process for public transportation in Belo Horizonte, established in 2008. She later served as the chairwoman of the Human Rights Committee in the Belo Horizonte Municipal Council.[19]
In the 2022 elections, she was elected as a State Deputy of Minas Gerais for PSOL, receiving 43,768 votes.[20][21]
