violence against women Archives

Mexican Feminist Collective Mourns Their Compañera Isabel Cabanillas

Hijas de su Maquilera Madre are demanding justice for Isabel Cabanillas' killing and reminding authorities that this crime cannot go unpunished. This essay discusses gender violence, sexual violence, and the systematic murder of womxn By Chantal Flores The rage dissipates from their voices

Feb 7, 2020

News & Politics

Kashmir: Caught between Hindu Nationalism and Freedom

Modi’s Hindu nationalist government has escalated forces and has created a vacuum of mystery around what exactly they could be doing in Kashmir. TW: mention of sexual assault and ethnic cleansing By Manaal Farooqi Kashmir is a region well known to those

Aug 16, 2019

Race

Black Youth Project 100 Launches Campaign Against Gender-Based Violence

Black women, girls, gender non conforming people and femme folk need options beyond the police when dealing with gender-based violence. This essay contains discussions of sexual violence. On April 8, the Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) launched “She Safe,

Apr 15, 2019

Feminism

How Men Can Be Slightly Less Trash

Cisgender men need to intentionally open themselves up to more than just their own perspectives, opinions and experiences. Cisgender men often ask me what they can do as “allies” or “accomplices” to women, femmes, trans and GNC/nonbinary people. I am

Mar 4, 2019

News & Politics

There is no Justice for Asifa Bano Without Freedom for Kashmir

To do justice by Asifa would be to recognize that in her tragedy lies the story of thousands of women and girls in Kashmir who have experienced the same crimes fueled by the same ideologies.

[CW/TW: mention of r/pe or sexual assault, and murder.] By Manaal Farooqi When news of an abduction, rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl in India broke loose earlier this month, the response was polarizing within the nation and amongst its diaspora. Asifa Bano was sexually assaulted for days then murdered by several men, also happened to be a Muslim Kashmiri in Indian occupied Kashmir. The Hindu men who tortured and murdered Asifa were found and arrested, but have received sympathies and demonstrations for their release from Hindu nationalists across the country. The men allegedly committed the crime to drive away Asifa’s family and community, the nomadic Bakarwal tribe members. The injustice has been framed as isolated from the overall occupation and atrocities that have been committed in the past decades in Kashmir, but the history of violence, sexual assault and more in the region has been an intrinsic part of this cycle of violence. Hindu nationalism has been on the rise since the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014, which is the political extension of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) who are committed to creating a Hindu nationalist state. While these changes in government and policies have swept the nation since 2014, these issues have affected the people of Kashmir for far longer. Indian occupied Kashmir has dealt with clashes and insurgencies since 1965, at times with the help of the Pakistani state as well. In current times, the insurgency continues on a different scale with alternative tactics since 2017 — dubbed as the “year of the student uprising”— including mass protests and rallies. This particular generation has been raised in occupation for their entire lives and with the BJP in power they are experiencing the national shift with a deeper sense of estrangement from the state. With comments from both the BJP and Modi asking Kashmiri youth to choose between “tourism and terrorism”, the already established lack of faith in the state and government has deepened.