Revolution Online, March 30, 2009
"The Burning of Women in India and 'A Declaration: For Women’s Liberation and the Emancipation Of All Humanity'"
Dear Revolution,
The day after I read “A Declaration: For Women’s Liberation and the Emancipation of All Humanity” in Revolution newspaper, I came across an article in the health section of the New York Times. Buried in the back section, a very short, but profoundly gut wrenching title hit me—“Fires Are Big Killer of Indian Women.”
It stated that “more than 100,000 young women were killed in fires in India in a single year, and many of those deaths were tied to domestic abuse.” The women’s ages ranged from 15 to 34. The source of this horrific exposure was from The Lancet, a British medical journal.
According to the NYT article, the abuse of women in India stems from disputes over dowries and domestic abuse, where women are doused with gasoline and set on fire, then reported as kitchen accidents. According to the NYT this was the first time this kind of survey has been undertaken.
Women’s rights activities have confronted the Indian government about these crimes against women. According to the Women’s Rights Initiative of the Lawyers Collective in New Delhi, the authorities dealt with the issue with nothing more than lip service, “Once the death takes place they are willing to investigate, but then it’s too late.”
I thought about how critical it was for “A Declaration: For Women’s Liberation and the Emancipation of All Humanity” to reach these women around the world. How the Declaration stated, “In every corner of the globe women live knowing they can be the victims of violent attacks—most often from men in their family. What does that say about the kind of global system we live under?” To think that half of humanity is forced to live like this is unbearable and doesn’t need to be this way—women beaten and abused, doused with gasoline and set on fire, sold as sex slaves, tied to machines in sweatshops, covered in burkas or head coverings, crowded into jails, held up as sex objects or married to their fathers pledging “purity” so they can be virgins when they marry and become breeders, makes me want to scream.
“To live like this on this planet in the 21st century cannot be justified and should not be accepted. None of this can be tolerated or excused away with counsel of patience.”
WE NEED REVOLTION—A REAL REVOLUTION, THE MOST RADICAL AND LIBERATING REVOLUTION IN HISTORY.”
Lets make some big noise—shake things up and get this issue of Revolution into the hands of thousands.
From a Reader who WILL be in the streets with Revolution newspaper!
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