‘Rape’, the word itself boils your blood, doesn’t it? While the nation is still furious over gruesome cases such as the rape and murder of the Hyderabad veterinarian or the brutal act against the 3-year-old girl in Aligarh, a global moment has now begun to protest against this heinous crime.
From quiet beginnings just a few weeks ago, ‘The Rapist is You’ – the creation of four performing artists from a Chilean feminist group called LasTesis, has now turned into a global uproar against sexual violence, reports the Independent.
First performed in the port city of Valparaiso, thousands of women, dressed in black and wearing red scarves and blindfolds, mobbed the city’s national stadium to protest against sexual violence.
“The fault is not with me, nor where I was, nor how I was dressed… The rapist is you!” the women sang, stomping their feet and waving their arms in a choreographed routine. “Patriarchy is a judge who punishes us for being born and our punishment is violence that you don’t see,” went the rhythmic chant.
Watch the video here:
According to News 18, initially planned as a small part of a bigger artistic event about rape, LasTesis decided to release the performance early after complaints of police abuse of women emerged during a crackdown on recent social protests in Chile.
Since then, the song has been replicated hundreds of times around the globe, and videos of flashmob performances have gone viral. The LasTesis team was surprised that their protest anthem and its powerful message against macho violence were so quickly echoed in faraway places such as Paris, Barcelona and Mexico City.
With its far-reaching global impact, the song will now be performed in India as well. The Indian chapter of it — ‘A Rapist in Your Way Intervention India Chapter In Solidarity’, is scheduled to take place today. It calls for women to join the flash mob to be a part of the global movement. The song surely resonates with us, how about you?