It’s not often we pull together two apparently unconnected stories. The one, a tragedy that has befallen a single family in Bradford in the north of England. The other a series of mass protests in far away India, What is the connection? Violence against women of course, a common theme on this blog.
Let’s start with Bradford.[1] Jane Dalton, Independent ; A poor mother and her three children have been murdered, by fire, in the home where they should have felt safe and secure. The suspect? (for that is all he is at this stage1 ) A man, of course. Does that surprise you, gentle reader? Even if a different culprit is apprehended, we bet it ‘ll be a man. Come on. how often do women set fire to homes with children in them?
On to India. A lady Doctor ( a Doctor, goddammit-what profession is more useful than a Doctor?) was raped and murdered while on duty in a hospital in Kolkata. And finally, after centuries of patriarchy, patronising and all round oppression, Indian women have had enough. To their credit, so have many men too. Now they have risen in a series of furious protests which threaten to change that country forever. [2] Kathryn Armstrong, BBC. Yet amid all the outrage, there is hope here, at least for us.
For what is hope? In the twentieth century it was supposed to have something to do with advanced nations like the USA or USSR building huge numbers of big bright shiny things and making everyone happy and radiant. Poorer nations, and women, were somehow also rans, extras in a Big White Male movie. But what if real hope is when the poor and the oppressed begin to pull themselves out of their pit and cast off their chains? There’s more of them. That’s a lot more hope to go round.
1 LSS is a firm believer in the principle of innocent until proven guilty
[2]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c89wgzkdw1vo
#feminism #femaale emancipation # violence against women #patriarchy
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