Very moving.
And yet, Oldham are poised to sign a rapist.
Posts Tagged ‘violence’
Delhi gang rape capital of the world
December 29, 2012
three blind monkeys
corrupt Indian police brutally attack peaceful protesters
Today the Land of Mahatma Gandhi protested at Jantar Mantar in a Gandhian way – Peace and Non violence. — Dr Pooja Tripathi
We think of countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan being bad for women.
Delhi is the gang rape capital of the world.
23 December 2012, a 23-year old woman was brutally raped on a bus by six men, beaten with iron bars, then thrown off the bus. The bus driver let it happen. He drove round and round to let it happen. Today she died. The six men have now been charged with murder.
- Protests in India after Delhi gang-rape victim dies
- Girl gang raped
- Delhi gang rape victim dies in Singapore hospital
- ‘Girl was shifted abroad to divert responsibility’
- A raging battle
One is even more shocking than the gang rape, if anything could be more shocking, the woman’s naked body lay on the street for an hour, no one cared, people passed by.
Gang rapes, dowry murders, honour killings, witch lynchings, sexual violence in the home, all part of everyday life in India.
For days men and women have taken to the streets, not only to protest rape, but also the failure of corrupt police, the failure of corrupt politicians.
The response of the state, the response of the police, to brutally beat the protesters with batons, tear gas and water cannon.
Those corrupt police officers who beat peaceful protesters are a disgrace to the uniform they wear. They should be prosecuted for assault and kicked out of the police force.
Could it be many corrupt politicians are silent because they have criminal records for rape?
Could it be police attack protesters because they cover up the rapes, if not active participants?
The first female chief police officer chief Damayanti Sen, the IPS officer who punctured Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s claims and cracked the Park Street rape case was persecuted by the state government for acting for a rape victim.
70% people involved in rape cases are from the police.
The response of the corrupt politicians, many of who are rapists, is that girls should be married off early, forced marriage, so that they can be raped in the privacy of their own homes behind closed doors.
In Delhi, rape capital of the world, a woman is raped every 14 hours. 3406 rapes have taken place in one of the states in 1 year (Madhya Pradesh) and more than 600 in the national capital alone.
Please sign the petition by Common Causes.
Please ensure this is widely distributed.
Hurried Steps
November 27, 2009
Hurried Steps by Dacia Maraini
“Our goal is clear: an end to these inexcusable crimes – whether it is the use of rape as a weapon of war, domestic violence, sex trafficking, so-called “honour” crimes or female genital mutilation/cutting. We must address the roots of this violence by eradicating discrimination and changing the mindsets that perpetuate it.” — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
“With hurried steps these women flee from pain and discrimination. Inspired by real facts reported by Amnesty International, the text is a testimony, an accusation, a gesture of solidarity and acknowledgement of all those women who are still prisoners of a forced marriage, of a violent family, of a hustler, of tradition or of age-old discriminations which are so difficult to overcome.” — Dacia Maraini
Written by Dacia Maraini and directed by Nicolette Kay, Hurried Steps had its world premier at the Mill Studio in Guildford on Thursday evening.
The performance by New Shoes Theatre is based on eight Amnesty International cases of violence against women. As the director was to say after the performance, it matters not culture, class or country, the violence is the same. And so the little vignettes showed, whether it was cultural violence against women in Muslim or African countries, or violence against women in the West in a domestic situation, or violence against women who are trafficked as modern-day slaves, the violence is the same, whatever the situation, it is violence against women.
The performance was unusual. Instead of enacting the little scenes, the actors, three women and two men stood behind music stands, but this was to make the drama even more powerful. And powerful it was. It left one numb.
Dacia Maraini who wrote the play has been a feminist since the 1970s. She wished to bring to a wider audience violence against women, and this play was her means of doing so. She asks that a discussion takes place afterwards on the issues raised, and after a short break, a discussion took place led by the director Nicolette Kay, together with a lady from Amnesty International and a lady from a local support network.
I will not cite the figures here, but the statistics on violence against women is truly appalling. Equally appalling is that such violence is tolerated.
Hurried Steps is a very powerful and moving drama. If you get the chance to see the performance by New Shoes Theatre, please go as you will not regret it. New Shoes Theatre are currently on tour in the UK with Hurried Steps.
The performance was to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
http://www.un.org/en/events/endviolenceday/
Amnesty International are running a Stop Violence Against Women campaign.
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=10220
A couple of days before I saw Hurried Steps I had been notified by Paulo Coelho of the launch by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the tenth anniversary of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (24 November 2009) of the UN network of men leaders to combat violence against women. The network brings together politicians, activists, religious and community leaders. Members of the network include Brazilian writer and UN Messenger of Peace Paulo Coelho and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2009/11/24/un-network-of-men-leaders-to-combat-violence-against-women/
The next Amnesty event in Guildford will be a play on political prisoners at the Electric Theatre on Monday 14 December 2009.
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