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Latin@ stars support child rapist

1 Oct 2009

roman Roman Polanski is a child rapist, right? He gave drugs and alcohol to a 13-year-old girl, and then molested and raped her vaginally and anally (trigger warning, transcript of court hearings at link).

And yet, even as he raped a little girl, Polanski can’t seem to get enough support from stars everywhere–including a whole slew of the top rung of Hollywood Latin@s. A petition of support of Polanski has been making the rounds the past few days:

On September 16th, 2009, Mr. Charles Rivkin, the US Ambassador to France, received French artists and intellectuals at the embassy. He presented to them the new Minister Counselor for Public Affairs at the embassy, Ms Judith Baroody. In perfect French she lauded the Franco-American friendship and recommended the development of cultural relations between our two countries.

If only in the name of this friendship between our two countries, we demand the immediate release of Roman Polanski.

And everyday, more Latin@s are signing on, including:

Pedro Almodovar (Spanish),
Penelope Cruz (Spanish),
Guillermo del Toro,
Gael Garcia Bernal,
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Richard Pena (who is the director of the NY film festival, which VL has promoted)
Harold Alvarado Tenorio

Now, technically, the point *could* be made that the petition is calling for international film festivals to be “neutral” sites that exist outside of legal jurisdictions:

Filmmakers in France, in Europe, in the United States and around the world are dismayed by this decision. It seems inadmissible to them that an international cultural event, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers, is used by the police to apprehend him.

By their extraterritorial nature, film festivals the world over have always permitted works to be shown and for filmmakers to present them freely and safely, even when certain States opposed this.

The arrest of Roman Polanski in a neutral country, where he assumed he could travel without hindrance, undermines this tradition: it opens the way for actions of which no-one can know the effects.

But there are two things that keep me from buying that:

This section:

His arrest follows an American arrest warrant dating from 1978 against the filmmaker, in a case of morals.

and this:

Filmmakers, actors, producers and technicians – everyone involved in international filmmaking – want him to know that he has their support and friendship.

Is drugging and raping a 13-year-old child really a case of morals? Does it show the best morals in the world to support and give friendship to a man who drugs and rapes a child? To advocate for that man’s freedom? Is a rapist’s freedom really more important than recognizing the crime of rape? Is friendship with a rapist really more important than standing in solidarity with women and girls (and men and boys) worldwide that are raped, have been raped and/or will be raped?

Do these “stars” have no responsibility at all to the young girls that watch their films?

On a different note, the girl that Polanski raped was also a worker–she was raped by him while on a shoot. Her career was finished the moment she told what happened–why is it more wrong to be arrested for a crime you admitted to committing while at a work party, than it is to be raped by your boss while at work? Why does Polanski have more right to a career than that girl did? Why do the careers of women seem predicated on their ability to keep their mouths shut about the violence and power male colleagues and bosses exert over them?

Do no workers owe their solidarity to a fellow worker who was assaulted and then blacklisted?

What is most disappointing about the list of Latin@ stars is that Gael Garcia Bernal is on it. Coming from a background of radical activism, and having appeared in several movies with leftist politics, I expected more of him.

But when has a belief in radical politics ever made men more inclined to stand against gender based violence?

Violence against women and girls, and sexual violence against children is endemic throughout the world. It is not progressive, radical or liberatory to stand in support of a rapist–it is the norm. It is saying it is ok for child rape to be a normal part of the world.

Latina women and children deserve more, and expect more.
The survivor of Roman Polanski’s assault deserves more.
These “stars” should be ashamed of themselves.

Is Decriminalization Enough to Stop the “War on Drugs” Violence in Latin America?

28 Aug 2009

Marijuana Two Latin American countries recently have made moves to decriminalize the possession of certain drugs for personal use, a move that some are touting as a positive new direction in the “war on drugs”.

In Argentina:

Argentina’s Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that it is unconstitutional to prosecute cases involving personal marijuana use as long as it does not harm others. It did not, however, set a weight limit for what it considers personal use.

The judges’ decision urges the Argentine government to “create policies against illegal drug trafficking and adopt preventive health measures, with information and education against drug consumption directed at the most vulnerable groups.

And in Mexico:

Under the new law, a police search that turns up a half-gram of cocaine, the equivalent of about four lines, will not bring any jail time. The same applies for 5 grams of marijuana (about four cigarettes), 50 milligrams of heroin, 40 milligrams of methamphetamine or 0.015 milligrams of LSD.

Mexico City : Hate Crimes Laws Won’t Bring Back the Dead Pero It’s More than the U.S. Has

8:11 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · GLBT| Justice| Violence| crime| mexico · Comments Off

27 Aug 2009

mexic2 I have a pretty radical stance towards hate crimes legislation. I’m not the type of person who likes to push legislation as an answer to way communities are brutalized. Laws certainly won’t bring back the dead and a society with hate woven into the fabric of its narrative isn’t going to stop attacking people it sees as “imperfections” in that weave.

That being said, in Mexico City there have been at least 6 murders of gay men that have not been classified as hate crimes. Instead, authorities in the D.F. label the deaths as “crimes of passion”. From vecino Blabbeando:

LGBT advocates have already claimed that homophobia might be at play in the murders of six gay men during the last year, even if authorities have said otherwise. The latest, they say, occurred on August 15th, when 24 year old Victor Galán, who had moved to live in Mexico City a month earlier, was stabbed 12 times and found dead in his apartment. Advocates say that robbery was not a motive in the crime and that they suspect he was killed based on the fact that he was gay. Authorities, on the other hand, say that they have not ruled out a “crime of passion.”

When sex workers aren’t white and beautiful

14 Aug 2009

NC Women Slain Remember the Craig’s List Killer? The one who was hiring women to perform sex acts, and then killing them? Remember what big news that was?

Today I read the news of a small town in North Carolina where at least 9 women who were sex workers have been murdered and/or are missing.

Since 2005, nine women who lived at the edges of the poor community in this small North Carolina city have disappeared. Six bodies were found along rural roads just a few miles outside town, most so decomposed that investigators could not tell how they died. At least one of the women was strangled, and all the deaths have been classified as homicides. Three women are still missing.

Police will not say whether they suspect a serial killer, but people in the community about 60 miles northeast of Raleigh do, and they’re impatient with law enforcement efforts to investigate the slayings.

This is a small town, so nine women gone is something that is noticed by a lot of people. As one of the women who used to work with the missing women said:

“I used to walk these streets and jump in and out of cars. But then when that first girl Melody got killed I stopped that because I knew he would kill another,” said Johnson, 41. “I hate for that to happen to her, but it probably saved my life. I have five babies.”

Counting the names on one hand, she added, “There’s probably five or six girls left around here that will jump in and out of cars. He really did kill the whole neighborhood.“

I knew without being told several aspects of the story: namely, the police didn’t really investigate what was going on until more women wound up dead. And even then, the families are frustrated because police don’t seem to really care. And the media isn’t really covering it all that much. And national pressure is non-existent, and money for body recovery is hard to come by.

And from what I can see, every single one of the women who are missing are black.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that sex work is any safer for white women then it is for women of color–but I DO think that people *care more* when the women who are killed or missing is beautiful, young and white rather than old or older, a mother of multiple kids and black. How the media has covered these separate crimes is evidence of that. When the Craig’s List murder happened, the media was stalking the court rooms, running police images of the suspect, talking to the murder victim’s families, contemplating over and over again–what would make such a beautiful woman *do this* (i.e. sex work)? She had her whole life ahead of her! She could’ve done anything! Oh, the tragedy of women being forced to sell sexual acts so they can survive!

Compared to nine women black women now missing or dead–and ONE article about in the national news.

Whose lives does the media find important? Whose PUSSIES does the media find important? Whose neighborhood’s does the media find important?

While I’m not a fan of the netroots nation conference–the one thing I am really glad of is that la Mala is repping. We must ALL feel the emptiness of a table with women not there because of violence and erasure. And for some reason, I don’t see many people at the “nation” caring much about these women, unless somebody is there to “remind” the nation about who isn’t there.

How nationalism overrides and hides violence against women

7:57 pm By la Macha · Immigration| Violence| crime| society · 2 Comments

11 Aug 2009

I started reading this article about a Mexican man who attempted to set his wife on fire with a sense of horror in my guts. Not because I can’t believe any man would send set his wife on fire, but because Jesus CHRIST, how many times is this shit going to happen?

I was so pleased to read that the woman managed to escape that horrible fate (the man couldn’t find a way to set her on fire after he poured gasoline on her, so he left the house)–but then I got to this part of the article:

The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was contacted. Police Chief James Horvath said he has been told by ICE that they only will become involved if the alien is being charged with a crime. He did not receive a response from ICE on Monday.

“We are finding more Mexicans living in the area,” Horvath said.

The arrest comes five years after North Strabane Township police arrested five Mexican nationals for assaulting a countryman. Three of those arrested also worked for Tatano Wire. The five did not face trial but were released to ICE.

Um…what? First off, what does “finding more Mexicans living in the area” have to do with spousal abuse? This could’ve been an article about how another woman was set on fire by a man claiming to care about her–but for the grace of god it’s not. But just because it’s not, that doesn’t mean that the spousal abuse then becomes not news worthy.

Secondly–since when do “non-biased” reporters use completely biased words like “countrymen?” That sentence very clearly assumes that all readers are “fellow countrymen” (aka good ol’ americans with good ol’ american birth certificates like you and me). Is that a valid assumption for reporters to have?

And if it is, why do I, a queer macha, have to be a countryman? Why can’t I be a cuntryboi?

All joking aside, this is what happens when people (more than likely men, although the author of that article was a woman), decide that “citizenship” and “questions of citizenship” are more important than understanding and dealing with violence against women. The women who are violated are completely erased from the story or become little more than the vessels that carry the more important story of “how are we going to catch us some alienz?”

article found via twitter

The U.S. Supports Mexico’s War on Drugs

8:25 pm By la Macha · Drugs| U.S.-Mexico Border| Violence| crime| economy · 3 Comments

10 Aug 2009

barack-obama2 Ok, remember how Mexico caught a whole bunch of drug traffickers a few weeks back? And how they were paraded in front of national Mexican television, and how it was the U.S. that basically funded the capture with money and weapons?

Well, the U.S. government doesn’t have a problem with any of that, and it wants us all to know that.

President Obama said Monday the United States remains Mexico’s partner in the fight against drug cartels, despite some calls in the United States to delay counter-narcotics aid because of alleged human rights violations by Mexican soldiers.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon reaffirmed his commitment to transparency and human rights in his offensive against the cartels, Obama said.

Some $100 million in anti-drug aid, known as the Merida Initiative, could be delayed because of concerns about human rights violations, it was reported last week.

“We have been very supportive of the Merida Initiative, and we remain supportive,” Obama said.

Obama also said the United States would work to reduce demand for drugs and stop the illegal flow of weapons south to Mexico.

The remarks came at a summit of North American leaders in Guadalajara, Mexico.

As I said earlier, I don’t really see this “war” ending until there is 1. either drug legalization efforts and/or 2. a national policy in the U.S. enacted whereby drug addiction is recognized as a disease needing treatment rather than a crime needing imprisonment.

So it’s incredibly disappointing to see that Obama, the liberal almost communist dictator, declaring the U.S.’s continued support of military options to Mexico–while also speaking out of both sides of his mouth on “ending U.S. demands for drugs.” If Mexico’s drug trafficking is a matter of national security, why isn’t treatment here in the U.S.? If Mexico can get millions and millions of dollars for military supplies, why can’t your local rehab clinic get some new chairs and a computer?

Oh, I forget, we have to use that money to imprison drug users.

Violence in Prince William County Continues

10:29 am By la Macha · Controversia| Violence| crime| society · 1 Comment

4 Aug 2009

Prince William County, Virginia has never been in danger of becoming a pro-immigrant sanctuary city. But it never really hits home exactly how violently anti-immigrant a city truly is until you understand that people who “fit” what an “immigrant” should look like (think: latino, speaks with an accent, etc), are often brutally violated in their own fucking homes simply for fitting that profile.

I know a lot of our libertarian friends will scream right now about how this family shouldn’t have been playing their music so loudly and if the woman didn’t want to be deported she shouldn’t have come here illegally and the cops were just doing their jobs and a whole bunch of other justifications.

But I have to ask those libertarians. Does it not terrify them that you can be sitting at a party with your family and have the police show up and tase you? That your pregnant wife could lean over to help you, and she could be tased too? Sure, yeah, it’s great, yay, we caught us a few more illegals, hooray for us. Now, what rights, what protections, did U.S. citizens just give up so that it could be totally legal and justified to tase a grandfather and a pregnant “illegal” in their own home because they played their music too loudly?

I am not thanking my fellow citizens for allowing their hatred to trample on my rights. Just as I am sure people like Henry Louis Gates is also not doing any thanking.

via bfp on twitter and womanist musings

A Transgender Person is Murdered Every 3 Days in the World…Mostly in Latin America

29 Jul 2009

transmap Here at VL we have covered lots of stories about violence against transgender people, and unfortunately many of these cases of violence end in death. What I didn’t know was that the rate at which transgender murders occur worldwide was so high; a recent report by non-profit organization Transgender Europe (TGEU) shows that a transgender person is killed every 3 days. And another disturbing fact is that the majority of these murders are happening in Latin America:

The cases have been reported from all six World regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The majority of cases have been reported from Latin America and North America. On these continents the majority of cases have been reported from Brazil (59) and the U.S.A. (16) for 2008 and from Brazil (23), Venezuela (20), and Guatemala (10) for the first six months of 2009. Moreover, the preliminary results show a total of 11 murdered trans people reported for Colombia followed by 5 for Honduras and 4 for Mexico and Venezuela for 2008, and 6 for Mexico and 3 for Argentina, and the Dominican Republic for the first six months of 2009.

In total 91 murders of trans people were reported in 11 Latin American countries in 2008, and 73 murders of trans people in 11 Latin American countries in the first six months of 2009. The reported murders of trans people in Latin America account for 75% and 88% of the world wide reported murders of trans people in 2008 and the first six months of
2009 respectively.

The map associated with the study (image above) for 2009 to date shows the highest concentration of murders in South America, particularly in Brazil.

Spain’s Ambiente G reports on another chilling statistic: in Peru, a gay or lesbian person is killed every 5 days.

Via / Ambiente G and TGEU

Latina Cleaning Woman Vanishes While on the Job in NYC

2:34 pm By Maegan la Mamita Mala · New York City| Violence| Women| crime · 3 Comments

10 Jul 2009

10missinginline I see many women going to and from their overnight jobs cleaning ofice buildings in Manhattan from my ‘hood. I know some of these women personally. Overwhelmingly they are Latina immigrants, who start their shifts just when the sun starts to set and return in the early pre-dawn before the sun has risen again. Safety is always an issue when they travel via subway, especially when they return home. This is why many travel in groups and are met at the subway by a relative. Eridania Rodríguez never got that far.
Read more…

Strange Rape Case Rocks Bolivian Mennonite Community

7 Jul 2009

The Mennonites are a religious group akin to the Amish that was driven out of Europe by persecution over centuries, eventually landing in North and South America, mostly in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. There are thousands of Mennonites all over the Americas, with large communities in Mexico and Bolivia. And it is from Bolivia that comes a strange story that has shocked the country and rocked its Mennonite community to its core. A mass rape of the community’s women, with up to 100 victims. Spain’s El Periódico reports:

The first accounts, which are pending investigation, indicate that at nightfall some men sprinkled a sleep inducing [susbtance] around the homes of the residents and when they were sure that everyone was sleeping, they came in through the windows and raped women and girls. There are suspicions that this had been going on for 9 years, which would make the initial victim count fall short. But what is more terrifying and shameful for the Mennonites is that the rapists are people from their own community. Blood of their blood.

The Mennonites have kept the names and surnames of their ancestors. Their names are Ham Neostater and Cornelio Wal and Abraham Blats and Daniel Martens. Their native language is German and they speak Spanish with an accent. “Here people are afraid, because they say that it was our own friends who committed the sin,” Wal, a farm worker (like almost everyone in Manitoba) told a Bolivian newspaper. 8 community residents were arrested this week, which means that in a community of around 2000 people, most of them are related to the suspects: cousins, nephews, son-in-laws. Ultraconservative Christians, the Mennonites see the suspects as more sinners than criminals. Because to them, sin is much more serious.

The Mennonite community is calling the rapes “an act of the devil” and is ordering the medical examination of teenage girls to confirm which ones are victims. El Periódico reports that the results of these exams could have sinister implications, as the Mennonite community requires that its women remain virgins until marriage in order to retain the respect of their peers.

Via / El Periódico and VideoBolivia

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