One Billion Rising to End Violence on Women
February 17, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
One in three women on the planet will be raped or beaten in her lifetime.
Just think about this horror: one billion women who are viciously violated in today’s world. As Sunsara Taylor, writer for Revolution, says: “The cold truth is that today there is not a single place on the planet where it is safe to be female.
Women in Manila, Philippines, launch One Billion Rising on December 19, 2012.
Photo: AP
“There is no place—on the street or in one’s home, in a rural Third World countryside or in the major cities of the imperialist citadels, from Delhi to Congo to Ohio and everywhere else—where women and girls are not in danger of being raped. Where women and very young girls are not then blamed and devalued for being raped. Where women and girls are not told to ‘get over it’ when they are raped. Where women are not reduced to breeders of children—shamed, coerced or forced into bearing children against their will. Where abortion and even birth control is not either illegal or seriously under attack. Where women and very young girls are not oppressed, beaten, imprisoned, insulted, molested, abused, harassed, exploited, murdered, spat upon, thrown acid at, groped, shamed or otherwise systematically diminished.” (Excerpted from “From Delhi to Ohio and Around the World: If You Are Not Fighting Rape, You Are Condoning It! We Need a Revolution and a Whole New World,” Revolution, January 13, 2013)
On Thursday, February 14, people across the U.S. and around the world will be responding to a call from the V-Day movement for “ONE BILLION women and those who love them ... to WALK OUT, DANCE, RISE UP, and DEMAND an end to this violence.” (Info online at onebillionrising.org)
We call on our readers to join these events in your area, and bring the understanding of communist revolution as BA has re-envisioned it that is necessary—and makes it possible—to rid the world of the scourge of rape and violence against women. Good materials (all available at revcom.us) are: A Declaration: For Women’s Liberation and the Emancipation of All Humanity; palm cards of quote 3:22 from BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian; promotional material about film premiering in March, BA Speaks: Revolution—Nothing Less!
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