Sunday, February 10, 2013

South African Rape Protests




Following with the trend in New Delhi, South Africa is now joining the countries that are standing up against rape. 
According to Thedailybeast.com, about a week ago 17-year-old “Anene Booysen was brutally gang raped. Her throat was slit; her fingers and legs shattered. The attackers had stuck a broken glass bottle inside her body and left her for dead on a construction site in the small, quiet Southern Cape town of Bredasdorp, about 120 miles from Cape Town. A security guard found her near lifeless body. She identified and named at least one of the alleged rapists, but died soon thereafter.”
To give you some statistics on the country, "Medical Research Council estimates that up to 3,600 rapes happen daily in this nation of close to 52 million people. This places South Africa among the countries with the highest incidences of rape worldwide and, outside of war zones, makes it one of the most violent societies, especially towards women." The radio has even decided to bring extra awareness by playing a beep on  Primedia's four radio stations for 12 hours today, every four minutes to symbolize the number of rapes taking place in South Africa each day."
This horrifying story much like the one in New Delhi has propelled people into action. Reports of radio talk shows, news, and other media outlets have been giving the most voice to this injustice. Encouraging words like these from Eusebius McKaiser give me hope during such dark times: 
“I’ve lost count of the number of stories listeners have shared with me on my daily chat show on Talk Radio 702. One married man is grappling with the memory of a woman who molested him when he was very young. She was his mother’s friend. Another man stopped his car while driving to call in to the show and publicly, for the first time, talk about criminals who had hijacked him years ago but only drove off with his car after gang-raping him.
 Throughout the day on Friday, the media created a space on social media platforms, in the newspapers and on the airwaves for South Africans to share their stories of being victims and survivors of rape. Every group is affected: girls and boys, women and men, old and young, rich and poor, black and white.”
Reports of several officials and even criminals alike are standing up and speaking out too, each with their own interpretation on how we, as a society, can help prevent these attacks and essentially change the world.

“President Jacob Zuma released an unusually emotional statement on Thursday, calling the attack on Booysen “inhumane”.   
“This act is shocking, cruel and most inhumane. It has no place in our country. We must never allow ourselves to get used to these acts of base criminality to our women and children,” the presidency's statement read.   
A senior executive at Soul City, Dr Sue Goldstein, said rape could not be tolerated in the public sphere or media.  
“It’s not about how we sexualise, but how we demean women in the media.”  
While rights and gender activist Lisa Vetten has urged men to stop venting their rage and resentment on women.  
“Because woman, I think, occupy an inferior status still in South Africa; they are an appropriate vehicle in which they (men) can displace their rage, their resentment and their sense of disappointment and dissatisfaction with life.”  
Vetten said women needed to be empowered in society.  
Convicted bank robber and member of the Stander gang, Allan Heyl, has meanwhile said existing laws must be enforced.  
"It’s almost a call to arms. I think enough is enough.”
Despite the horrible circumstances that opened people up to talk I’m glad that real dialogue, real anger, real fighting for a better, safer, future can no begin in these countries because the silence is finally being broken.


More info about the protests:
Check out more about R.I.S.E. at any of the following:

Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)