VIOLENCE:
Sexual Violence
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Story
Thursdays in Black is part of an international movement to demand a world without rape and violence. It has originated from Women in Black groups, which have formed over the past twenty years in Argentina, Bosnia and Israel. These groups include Argentinean mothers who gather every Thursday in silence to protest the loss of loved ones under the military dictatorship, women who expressed outrage at the rape-death camps in war torn Bosnia, and women who opposed the Israeli occupation of West Bank and the abuse of the Palestinians.
The Thursdays in Black campaign is not only confined to countries officially at war, in fact, a war against women is being waged all over the world, and has continued for centuries. Its weapons include domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, incest, murder, female infanticide, genital mutilation, sexual harassment, discrimination, sex trafficking. In short, sexism.
The voices of Women in Black groups, alongside other peace and women’s groups, have become part of a worldwide movement which enables the despair and pain about rape and other forms of violence to be transformed into political action. Wearing black on Thursdays indicates that you are tired of putting up with rape and violence in your community. It demonstrates a desire for a community where we can all walk safely without the fear of being beaten up, verbally abused, raped, of being discriminated against due to your sexual orientation, political affiliation, gender or ethnicity.
Links
Women in Black
Amnesty's Stop Violence Against Women campaign
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