Peace Corps Rape Victim Jess Smochek Honored By Congress - ABC News: "Smochek was attacked while serving as a volunteer in Bangladesh in 2004. She says that a group of men began to stalk her from the very first day she arrived in the city where she was assigned. The men tried to kiss her and touch her, and ultimately gang raped her.
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Jess Smochek had repeatedly reported that she felt threatened, but the Peace Corps didn't relocate her.
Bangladesh used to be a very safe country. I remember when my cousin's American girlfriend came over in the '80s, she was comparing Dhaka with cities in Latin America. She said that she would never think of going out casually in those cities, whereas she felt perfectly safe in Dhaka.
This was before our, and after Latin America's, democratic transition.
Violence was very low in Latin America under military rule; when we reverted to democracy, rapes rose from 250 in the '80s to over 900 in 1992, and soon reached four digits. I'll never understand why the Peace Corps didn't relocate Smochek. They must have known that Bangladesh was a dangerous country. Adding insult to injury, during counseling she was made to write out all the things she had done to create the rape situation - meaning, it was her fault.
Showing posts with label Latin America. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Latin America. Show all posts
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
"God Damn America" (2)
Postscript: one would imagine that America's southern neighbours would have been electrified at the prospect of a black person running their northern neighbour. Guess what?
Only 29% thought a Barack "biofuel" Obama victory would be good for their country; 8% thought the other cove would be better; and – wait for it! – 30% believed there would be no difference whatsoever, while – and I love this! – fully 31% were totally ignorant of the proceedings. That means a whopping 61% were indifferent to the so-called "epochal" election (The Economist, October25th 2008, p 52).
Being so close to Uncle Sam, these guys know that nothing changes for them; indeed, after 9/11, when Europe, Canada and even Iran were crying rivers, Latin Americans did not mount a single vigil; they felt that America deserved it.
One more observation: a few years ago the first Amerindian president, Evo Morales, was elected Bolivia's president – the world did not even notice! Why? For one thing, persecution of both slaves and natives was less intense in the Iberian colonies than the Anglo-Saxon one up above; secondly, Bolivia hurts nobody but itself, while America hurts everybody, including some of its own people.
As a Latin American leader once lamented: "so far from God, and so close to America".
Only 29% thought a Barack "biofuel" Obama victory would be good for their country; 8% thought the other cove would be better; and – wait for it! – 30% believed there would be no difference whatsoever, while – and I love this! – fully 31% were totally ignorant of the proceedings. That means a whopping 61% were indifferent to the so-called "epochal" election (The Economist, October25th 2008, p 52).
Being so close to Uncle Sam, these guys know that nothing changes for them; indeed, after 9/11, when Europe, Canada and even Iran were crying rivers, Latin Americans did not mount a single vigil; they felt that America deserved it.
One more observation: a few years ago the first Amerindian president, Evo Morales, was elected Bolivia's president – the world did not even notice! Why? For one thing, persecution of both slaves and natives was less intense in the Iberian colonies than the Anglo-Saxon one up above; secondly, Bolivia hurts nobody but itself, while America hurts everybody, including some of its own people.
As a Latin American leader once lamented: "so far from God, and so close to America".
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Reflections on Democracy and Violence
Reflections on Democracy and Violence
http://unlikelystories.org/sayeed0207.shtml
The second section of this article establishes a correlation, witnessed by evidence and the testimony of S. E. Finer and Stanley J. Tambiah, between democracy and violence, a correlation that is strengthened in the third section by John Keane and Robin Blackburn's observation that civil society tends towards violence; but correlation is not causation, and section three is dedicated to establishing a causal link between the Forum-type polity and violence.
http://unlikelystories.org/sayeed0207.shtml
The second section of this article establishes a correlation, witnessed by evidence and the testimony of S. E. Finer and Stanley J. Tambiah, between democracy and violence, a correlation that is strengthened in the third section by John Keane and Robin Blackburn's observation that civil society tends towards violence; but correlation is not causation, and section three is dedicated to establishing a causal link between the Forum-type polity and violence.
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