Say NO to VIOLENCE…

“Thou shalt not be a victim, thou shalt not be a perpetrator, but, above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.”

Yehuda Bauer

“In an extraordinary tribute to the 23-year old rape victim 600 guitarists play John Lennon’s Imagine, in Darjeeling, India. Five men accused of gang-raping the student on a bus in New Delhi are to be formally charged in court….”

Glad to see that this crime got noticed. Unfortunately, there are many places in this world where victims can be quietly dumped with the matter never resolved or reported…

However it is sad to see that while this story resulted in a huge uproar against sexual violence, not much notice has been given to this lady’s male companion who was beaten unconscious with a metal bar. Where is the crowd of people with posters ‘NO TO VIOLENCE’ against men? Where is the crowd of people supporting male victims of violent crimes?

Glad to see a call for action to protect women. However where are the calls for action to protect men from violence? How about a call for action to protect all people (male and female) from any form of violence? Surely it is not OK for this lady’s companion to be beaten unconscious with a metal bar – why no one pays any attention to that side of the story?

This story also led to some claims about ‘the rise in assault’ on women that ‘comes as women gain greater freedom and empowerment. Clearly, someone wants to stop them.’ Well, it is not that clear to me. Unfortunately, no evidence is provided to prove such claims and other factors, such as sexual revolution, sexual objectification of women, changing moral values and attitudes in the societies, changing life style, general level of violence in the society, collapsed social order as the result of wars or other events, dysfunctional police and system of justice, alcohol and drug abuse etc. are not been taken into consideration.

Such claims also deny the fact, that with a greater freedom and empowerment, women got a ‘louder’ voice in the society. As the result, those crimes against women that have never been reported in the past are getting more attention in the modern society. Assaults on women were very common in the past with lots of examples and stories provided in literature, art and historical accounts. However only now society matured enough to start dealing with such problems.

Let’s keep talking while keeping our ears, eyes and hearts open to different perspectives and sides of the story. And let’s reinforce the same message over and over again: “NO TO VIOLENCE”, no matter whether the victim is male or female; no matter whether the victim was raped, beaten, tortured, stabbed or shot.