Meet The Red Brigade: formed in November 2011 to fight back against a growing number of sexual attacks on women in the city of Lucknow, India
The male tormentor of the young women of the Madiyav slum did not spot the danger until it was too late. One moment he was taunting them with sexual suggestions and provocations; the next they had hold of his arms and legs and had hoisted him into the air.
Then the beating began. Some of the young women lightly used their fists, others took off their shoes and hit him with those. When it was over, they let him limp away to nurse his wounds, certain that he had learned an important lesson: don’t push your luck with the Red Brigade.
Named for their bright red outfits, the Red Brigade was formed in November 2011 as a self-defense group for young women suffering sexual abuse in the northern Indian city of Lucknow, 300 miles south-east of Delhi. Galvanised by the gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old medical student in Delhi last December and the nationwide protests that followed against a rising tide of rapes, they are now gaining in confidence.
From a core membership of 15, ranging in age from 11 to 25, they now have more than 100 members with a simple message for the men who have made their lives a misery: they will no longer tolerate being groped, gawped at and worse. Their activities are a lesson in empowerment.
Men who fall foul of the Red Brigade can first expect a visit and a warning. Sometimes the Red Brigade will ask the police to get involved, but if all else fails they take matters into their own hands. Their leader, 25-year-old teacher Usha Vishwakarma, has her own experience of the daily danger faced by many young women in the country. She was just 18 when a fellow teacher tried to rape her. “He grabbed me and put his hands round me and tried to open my belt and trousers,” says Usha, sitting in the bare-brick front room of her small house. “But I was saved by my jeans because they were too tight for him to open, and that gave me a chance to fight, so I kicked him in the sensitive place and pushed him down and ran out of the door.”
No one at the school took her accusations seriously, telling her to forget it and stop causing trouble. The experience left her traumatized and for two years she did nothing. But little by little her confidence came back. In 2009 she set up her own small school for local girls in an outbuilding next to her family home. Yet all around her, she says, she saw more and more young women suffering the same abuse she had faced. And it was threatening to wreck the chances of her young female students.
“Parents were telling girls to stay in their homes so there would be no incidents. They said, ‘if you go to school, boys will be troubling you, so stay home and there will be no sexual violence’,” says Vishwakarma. “But we said no, and we decided to form a group to fight for ourselves. We decided we would not just complain; we would take a lead and fight for ourselves.” They bought red kameez (shirts) and black salwar (trousers) and began to plan the fightback. “We chose red because it means danger and black for protest,” says Vishwakarma.
There is much to fight back against. “It is in the minds of men that girls are objects and it has been like that always,” says Vishwakarma. “Religion shows women as very powerless and that whoever is strong can do anything.”
They have started martial arts training so that the men do not have a physical advantage over them. Pooja, Vishwakarma’s 18-year-old sister, laughs as she recalls the reaction of the boy they grabbed in the street when his taunts became too much. “We all stopped and turned round and we surrounded him and grabbed his arms and legs and he thought it was a joke, but we were not kidding and four of us lifted him in the air and the others started to hit him with their shoes and fists,” she says.
The rough justice the Red Brigade metes out might seem extreme to western sensibilities, but many Indian women are making it clear that they are no longer prepared to put up with endemic abuse. That much is clear from the crime figures: reports of molestation in Delhi are up 590% year on year and rape reports by 147%. The rape cases have hit tourist numbers, which were down 25% in the first three months of the year – 35% fewer women are travelling to India. The Red Brigade say sexual abuse is a part of daily life for young women like them. They all have stories of abuse, attempted rapes and daily harassment. “This is what happens in India,” says 16-year-old Laxmi, one of Vishwakarma’s lieutenants. “These things happen all the time. All of us know this, so don’t let anyone say otherwise. This is why we have formed the Red Brigade.”
Seventeen-year-old Preeti Verma nods in agreement. Her family are too poor to have a toilet in the house, so she has to go out into the fields, she says. Every time she went out, the man in the neighbouring house threw stones at her to try to scare her into jumping up. “He wanted to see my body,” she says. “I told him: ‘What are you doing? You are shameless, don’t you have a mother and sister in your house?’ But he replied that his mother is for his father, his sister is for her husband and that I was for him.” She told Vishwakarma, and the man received a visit from the Red Brigade and another from the police. She has had no trouble from him since.
“We’ve caught a lot of men recently,” says 17-year-old Sufia Hashmi. “I joined up because men always used to pass comments on me and touch my body, but now we beat them the men cannot do anything and they run away. You feel powerful and you feel good.”
On the way back to the slum, the rickshaws pass a public park and for a moment these tough young women show themselves for what they really are – children forced to grow up fast. They beg and plead to stop. “Please, please,” they say, their eyes gleaming in excitement. Shrieking gleefully, they race off towards the swings, slides and roundabouts. Later they stroll back through the market, eating ice-creams, heading for their homes. The sun is low in the sky, the shadows long. The men watch sullenly as they pass. No one risks a word.
Saw this on Al Jazeera this morning. I’m sure it’s gone around Tumblr in some form before.
Last year 23-year-old Pedro Aguilar left his home in Honduras to take the perilous journey north to the United States. His dreams for a better life in the north ended in central Mexico when the dilapidated freight train migrants refer to as “the beast” ran over him. Aguilar was saved by a fellow traveler from El Salvador who called an ambulance. Doctors were able to save Aguilar’s life, but he lost his left leg below the knee.
Aguilar and 25 other travelers, including Father Alejandro Solalinde, arrived in Austin Wednesday to raise awareness about the dangers that migrants like Aguilar face as they travel north. They are also advocating for immigration reform in the United States that they say will lessen the suffering of immigrant families. The travelers arrived in Austin in a caravan of several cars and vans they call the “Caravan of Hope.” It’s modeled after Mexican peace activist Javier Sicilia’s highly publicized“Caravan of Peace,” which traveled through the United States last summer.
Aguilar said that he, like thousands of other Central Americans, left his country because of growing poverty and violence. Aguilar said his 29-year-old sister was robbed and killed for a pair of tennis shoes in 2011. His 35-year-old brother was killed that same year by gunmen. “ I don’t know why they killed him. The authorities did nothing,” he said. “There’s so much impunity.”
Their murders finally convinced Aguilar that he should leave Honduras. “Since I was 9 years old, I had the idea of wanting to be in the United States,” he said. “I had seen how people who went to the United States, if they worked hard, they could get somewhere. In Honduras you kill yourself working from dawn to dusk, and you have nothing to show for it.”
The caravan arrived at the Mexican American Cultural Center in downtown Austin Wednesday evening for a screening of the documentary “El Albergue” about the migrant shelter run by Father Solalinde in Oaxaca that offers refuge to Central American and South American migrants. The screening was followed by a panel that included Aguilar and other caravan members as well as a brief speech by Father Solalinde, whose work protecting migrants has resulted in several death threats. The priest now travels with four bodyguards in Mexico.
Sixty-four-year-old Mercedes Moreno left El Salvador shortly before civil war broke out. She left behind two young sons in the care of her mother. “I had always thought I’d go back but then the war started,” she said.
After several years, Moreno was finally reunited with her sons in Los Angeles. Her oldest son, Jose, was deported after being ticketed for jaywalking. He was returned to El Salvador but had no identification. The police picked him up, and he was tortured for several months, Moreno said. When he was finally released, her son fled El Salvador to reunite with his mother in California. He never made it. Her 22-year-old son disappeared in Mexico in 1991 and was never heard from again.
“There’s no closure,” Moreno said. “I don’t know if he’s alive or dead. At night, I wonder if he’s gotten something to eat or if he’s been hurt. I’ve searched everywhere for him in Mexico.”
Father Alejandro Solalinde urged the audience of more than 200 people at the cultural center to embrace humanity instead of material wealth. Greed and corruption fuels organized crime, which preys on the poor, he said. “We are living through one of the worst crises in humanity because we have put God to the side and put money in his place.”
On Wednesday, Pedro Aguilar said he still couldn’t believe that he had finally made it to the United States. Just 11 months ago, he had been lying in a Mexican hospital at the lowest point in his young life. He never could have imagined that he would be an invited speaker on a caravan crossing the United States to promote immigration reform. Now Aguilar works in a nonprofit bakery in central Mexico that employs migrants who were maimed during their journey north. “I am trying to do my part. I feel like I carry the weight of other immigrants. Those who never made it. So I try to carry on with bravery and courage. I know that in this life you can make it. Under whatever circumstance you have to keep going.”
In this video I evaluate a confused young lady with nasatol as well as serial killer Creepy dude http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BUYfXwoqh8 New videos every …this is the video making fun of me. i can’t watch it because i’m not in the state but this is the second i am aware of and i’m sure their are more. for those interested. i can’t do any of this shit anymore. i would have written some bullshit or whatever but i just don’t have the energy and everyone just wants to suck off me and take take take and build off it while putting me down and giving me nothing.
Actually guise, just go flag and report this video. If enough people do, youtube will force him to take it down. Especially since he seems to be a youtube partner. Report it as bullying/harassing/encouraging violence. Take it down.
thank you. i reported it and flagged it and if my followers can do so as well i would really appreciate it.
Report and Flag this video!!
NC Dream Team was founded in 2010 and we’re an organization composed of undocumented youths and allies working to empower the communities of North Carolina. We do many trainings on Know Your Rights and Secure Your Own Community for people, which are to know what to do in case of a deportation case.
We have done several civil disobedience actions in Charlotte and our members have participated in other states. Currently we are working on several deportation cases. We do not have sponsors or receive any government funding for our work. The money would be going towards our bail fund for future actions, trainings, supplies, renting out meeting spaces and expenses such as gas, as we are constantly on the road in and out of state.
Thank You. Anything you can donate is much appreciated, and if you can’t, we would appreciate spreading the word about our organization and what we do.
The State Department, still with “egg on its face” from its statement that Keystone XL would have little impact on climate change, sunk a little lower today as the most respected elders, and chiefs of 10 sovereign nations turned their backs on State Department representatives and walked out during a meeting.
The statement released by the tribal elders is below:
On this historic day of May 16, 2013, ten sovereign Indigenous nations maintain that the proposed TransCanada/Keystone XL pipeline does not serve the national interest and in fact would be detrimental not only to the collected sovereigns but all future generations on planet earth. This morning the following sovereigns informed the Department of State Tribal Consultation effort at the Hilton Garden Inn in Rapid City, SD, that the gathering was not recognized as a valid consultation on a “nation to nation” level:Southern Ponca
Pawnee Nation
Nez Perce NationAnd the following Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires People):
Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate
Ihanktonwan Dakota (Yankton Sioux)
Rosebud Sioux Tribe
Oglala Sioux Tribe
Standing Rock Tribe
Lower Brule Sioux Tribe
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
Crow Creek Sioux TribeThe Great Plains Tribal Chairmans Association supports this position, which is in solidarity with elected leaders, Treaty Councils and the grassroots community, and is guided by spiritual leaders. On Saturday, May 18, the Sacred Pipe Bundle of the Oceti Sakowin will be brought out to pray with the people to stop the KXL pipeline, and other tribal nation prayer circles will gather to do the same.
Pursuant to Executive Order 13175, the above sovereigns directed the DOS to invite President Obama to engage in “true Nation to Nation” consultation with them at the nearest date, at a designated location to be communicated by each of the above sovereigns. After delivering that message, the large contingent of tribal people walked out of the DOS meeting and asked the other tribal people present to support this effort and to leave the meeting. Eventually all remaining tribal representatives and Tribal Historic Preservation Officers left the meeting at the direct urging of the grassroots organization Owe Aku. Owe Aku, Moccasins on the Ground, and Protect the Sacred are preparing communities to resist the Keystone XL pipeline through Keystone Blockade Training.
This unprecedented unity of tribes against the desecration of Ina Maka (Mother Earth) was motivated by the signing on January 25, 2013, of the historic International Treaty to Protect the Sacred Against the Tar Sands. Signatories were the Pawnee Nation, the Ponca Nation, the Ihanktonwan Dakota and the Oglala Lakota. Since then ten First Nations Chiefs in Canada have signed the Treaty to protect themselves against tar sands development in Canada.
The above sovereigns notify President Obama to consult with each of them because of the following:
The nations have had no direct role in identifying and evaluating cultural resources.
The nations question the status of the programmatic agreement and how it may or may not be amended.
The nations are deeply concerned about potential pipeline impacts on natural resources, especially our water: potential spills and leaks, groundwater and surface water contamination.
The nations have no desire to contribute to climate change, to which the pipeline will directly contribute.
The nations recognize that the pipeline will increase environmental injustice, disproportionately impacting native communities.
The nations deplore the environmental impacts of tar sands mining being endured by tribes in Canada. The pipeline would service the tar sands extractive industry.
The nations insist that their treaty rights be respected⎯the pipeline would violate them.
The nations support an energy policy that promotes renewables and efficiency instead of one that features fossil fuels.
The nations regard the consultation process as flawed in favor of corporate interests.
The sovereigns of these nations contend that it is not in America’s interest to facilitate and contribute to environmental devastation on the scale caused by the extraction of tar sands in Canada. America would be better served by a comprehensive program to reduce its reliance on oil, and to invest in the development and deployment of sustainable energy technologies, such as electric vehicles that are charged using solar and wind power.If the Keystone XL pipeline is allowed to be built, TransCanada, a Canadian corporation, would be occupying sacred treaty lands as reserved in the 1851 and 1868 Fort Laramie Treaties. It will be stopped by unified resistance.
Hi everyone,
I’m getting over my shame and internalized ableism and asking for help. I’m a chronically ill unemployed trans gurl who just left sex work (as in, yesterday) because I finally lost my shit. I’m also moving out of my abusive household in June, around the 15th or so. I don’t have a place to stay yet so the more money I have saved up, the more likely someone is going to trust me to move in with them.
Thanks to sex work and friends donating, I’ve saved up $2,000 for deposits, first/last month’s rent, housing applications, etc. I’m trying to raise another $2,000 to get me through the summer. Starting September/October, I should be receiving financial aid from my university, so that will help.
To give you an idea of where the money is going:
- Rent for a shared room is $500-$550/month
- Utilities are anywhere between $20-$60/month
- I’m limiting myself to $100-$125/month for food
- Gas is $40 a full tank, so about a $80/month if I do this rightI’ll also be looking for a job at this time. I have an open interview tomorrow so hopefully I’ll get called for a second interview!
Important to note! My memoir, Trauma Queen, is aiming to be published on May 31st, 2013. It’s going to cost $20, so if you want to hold off donating to buy the book, that’s totally understandable. I have a collection of writing and art here (x) that you can read/watch, and a zine here (x). I’ll also be selling various articles of clothing, shoes, collector’s items, etc. in the next week or so.
Signal boosting would be appreciated, and any donations would be very helpful. <3
¡Gracias! / Thank you!,
Lovemme/Sirena-
P.S. (if the link doesn’t work, there’s a donate button on my page.)
oh really? how else you gonna try to pimp our cultural practices…..?
Disney stays fucking everything up lord jesus
tráguense un kilo de vergas pinches demonios
UGH WTF -____-
Infographic: Growing Up American and Undocumented
Information design about undocumented students. Based on the research findings of Dr. William Perez, author of Americans by Heart: Undocumented Latino Students And The Promise of Higher Education. This research focuses on undocumented students’ academic and civic involvement throughout their academic years.
Power Structure of Oppression
Yes. Yes. YES.
(Source: mycypherkeepsmoving)
Hey y’all come on out Sunday May 19th @ 1:00 pm
We’re meeting at Amelie’s NoDa inside the atrium.
Free Wi-fi! Free snacks!2424 N Davidson St
Charlotte, NC 28205
STOP THE DEPORTATION OF JOSE ORTIZ!
En ocho dÍas, el 23 de mayo, José Ortiz un padre de tres niños pequeños se verá obligado a volver a Mèxico debido a que tiene orden de salida del país. Usted puede ayudar a evitar su deportación firmando una petición, cuyo link compartimos http://bit.ly/noljosenc. Además llamando al Director de ICE, John Morton @ 202-732-3000 or 202-732-3100 . Usted puede decir lo siguiente:
“Hi, I was calling to ask that ICE stop the deportation of Jose Guillermo Ortiz (A# 205-213-818). Jose has been living in the U.S. for 13 years, he has 3 US citizen children who depend on him, and he has no criminal record. He is a low-priority for deportation. Please don’t deport Jose Ortiz!”
In 8 days, on May 23rd, Jose Ortiz, a father of three children will be forced to return to Mexico due to an order to leave the country. You can help stop his deportation by signing the following link http://bit.ly/noljosenc. You can also call ICE Director, John Morton at 202-732-3000 or 202-732-3100 and say the following:
“Hi, I was calling to ask that ICE stop the deportation of Jose Guillermo Ortiz (A# 205-213-818). Jose has been living in the U.S. for 13 years, he has 3 US citizen children who depend on him, and he has no criminal record. He is a low-priority for deportation. Please don’t deport Jose Ortiz!”
I was recently diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic, it runs in my family. Unfortunately, I’ve been removed from my family’s insurance plan and they won’t pay for the insulin, or the doctor’s appointment/tests that diagnosed the diabetes.
I have 30 days to pay for the appointments, which I’ve already partially paid for out of savings.
My insulin, which I need two vials of per month, costs 45 USD a month. I’ve already dipped into my savings and used all the graduation money I’ve gotten so far, but still need money to buy for the next six months (I am a broke ass college student).
If you could, any amount of money you could send would help. You can either send by money order (message me for address) or through PayPal. Even a dollar helps. Thanks in advance, and please boost this. :(
Omg. Even if you don’t have the funds, please seriously boost this. Insulin is SERIOUS business.
My “white privilege” is negated by this little problem called SEXISM, wherein I still receive less money for the same job that a man has.
Not it isn’t. If you are white you have white privilege. Not only are white females the primary beatifically of affirmative action but they still make more money than other women who are People of color.
So needed to bold that.
(Source: odontocetii)
“Nakba” by Remi Kanazi
“An intimate reflection on the realities so many Palestinians faced, including my grandmother: ‘She was scared. 7 months pregnant. Guns point at temples. Tears dropping, stomach cusped, back bent, dirt pathways leading to dispossession…’ Please repost if you enjoy the piece.”
“Her home mandated, occupied, cleansed, conquered
Terrorizers sat on hills sniping children…
Word gave of massacre…”
