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Public Rape in Brazil: More Signs of the Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/world/americas/rapes-in-brazil-spur-class-and-gender-debate.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Insanity. The great readying...

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"RIO DE JANEIRO — The attacks have stunned this city. In one, an assailant held a gun to the head of a 30-year-old woman while raping her in front of passengers on a bus as the driver proceeded down a main avenue. In another, a 14-year-old girl from a hillside slum was raped on one of Rio’s most famous stretches of beach.

A women's-only subway car in Rio de Janeiro. A wave of rapes in Brazil has cast a spotlight on the conflicted attitudes toward women in the country.

One woman was raped in front of passengers on a public bus that traveled along a main road in Rio. Other sexual assaults have occurred on smaller private vans that are common in the city.

In yet another case, men abducted and raped a working-class woman in a transit van as it wended through densely populated areas. The police failed to investigate, and a week later the same men raped a 21-year-old American student in the same van, pummeling her face and beating her male companion with a metal bar.

“Unfortunately, it had to happen to her before anyone would help me,” said the Brazilian woman raped in the transit van. “I was like, ‘Could this have been avoided if they had paid attention to my case?’ ”

A recent wave of rapes in Rio — some captured on video cameras — have cast a spotlight on the unresolved contradictions of a nation that is coming of age as a world power. Brazil has a woman as president, a woman as a powerful police commander and a woman as the head of its national oil company — and yet, it was not until an American was raped that the authorities got fully involved and arrested suspects in the case.

In some ways, Brazil’s experience echoes recent events in India and Egypt, where horrific attacks have prompted outrage and soul searching, revealing deep fissures in each society. In Brazil, it has unleashed a debate about whether the authorities are more concerned about defending the privileged and Rio’s international image than about protecting women at large.

In India, the recent death of a student, who was gang-raped as her male companion was beaten on a bus under similar circumstances, has highlighted a prevailing view that women, no matter how much progress they make, are still fair game, unprotected by an ineffectual government..."

How long will Love be mocked?

Hard Work

The Gestapo Comes Out of Hiding

Here is You Are The Hope from by Paul Craig Roberts

"A plea issued to his readers by one of the most authoritative voices in the United States, as he sees his country hurtling towards a Gestapo police state."

Peace and War, Love and Hate, Justice and Oppression

Two events: The New Pope Francis calling for a unified hour of prayer

and the people of Turkey rise up: stunning Pictures Click here

The pope says if we will not speak up now for love, who then, and when?
For such intentions as
“For those around the world who still suffer slavery and who are victims of war, human trafficking, drug running, and slave labour. For the children and women who are suffering from every type of violence. May their silent scream for help be heard by a vigilant Church so that, gazing upon the crucified Christ, she may not forget the many brothers and sisters who are left at the mercy of violence. Also, for all those who find themselves in economically precarious situations, above all for the unemployed, the elderly, migrants, the homeless, prisoners, and those who experience marginalization. That the Church’s prayer and its active nearness give them comfort and assistance in hope and strength and courage in defending human dignity.” Video HERE

The Reflections on a Revolution
blog hasmany  links:

Police forced to retreat from Istanbul’s Taksim square as protests against the authoritarian neoliberalism of Erdogan’s proto-Islamist government grow.

For more background, read a solidarity statement here. For an update on the situation on the ground in Istanbul, check our latest article here.

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