January 13, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
The eyes of the world are on India, where thousands of women, and men, have poured into the streets in outrage over the brutal rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman. It is a horror that could have happened anywhere in this world. But this time people are rising up in righteous rage. This is a moment, worldwide, when the usual, everyday workings of the capitalist-imperialist system, the way it destroys women physically and in spirit, is not being accepted as “just the way it is.”
And in fact, this is NOT the way the world needs to be. As the “Call to Action, End Pornography and Patriarchy: The Enslavement and Degradation of Women!” says: “Women are not objects. Women are not things to be used for the sexual pleasure of men NOR are they breeders of children. WOMEN ARE HUMAN BEINGS CAPABLE OF FULL EQUALITY IN EVERY REALM!” (The full Call to Action is available at revcom.us.)
This struggle is a critical element in the need, and basis for revolution in today’s world. In the talkUnresolved Contradictions, Driving Forces for Revolution, Bob Avakian says:
The question of the status—the oppression and the struggle for the liberation—of women is objectively coming to the forefront in today’s world and posing itself ever more profoundly and acutely.
This moment, and beyond that, the great need and potential indicated in this quote from BA poses an urgent challenge to revolutionaries. To help readers meet that challenge, there is a special page at revcom.us dedicated to updated coverage, analysis, correspondence, and providing quick access to critical material to take into the mix wherever people are stirring in outrage and protest. Find it atrevcom.us/movement-for-revolution/india-rape/.
