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coochiequeens · 3 months

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Thousands protest against increasing violence against women in Kenya as they march to the parliamentary building and supreme court in the capital Nairobi [Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency]

Published On 27 Jan 202427 Jan 2024

Thousands of people have gathered to protest in cities and towns in Kenya against the recent slayings of more than a dozen women.

The anti-femicide demonstration on Saturday was the largest event ever held in the country against sexual and gender-based violence.

In the capital, Nairobi, protesters wore T-shirts printed with the names of women who became homicide victims this month. The crowd, composed mostly of women, brought traffic to a standstill.

“Stop killing us!” the demonstrators shouted as they waved signs with messages such as “There is no justification to kill women.”

The crowd in Nairobi was hostile to attempts by the parliamentary representative for women, Esther Passaris, to address them. Accusing Passaris of remaining silent during the latest wave of killings, protesters shouted her down with chants of “Where were you?” and “Go home!”

“A country is judged by not how well it treats its rich people, but how well it takes care of the weak and vulnerable,” said Law Society of Kenya President Eric Theuri, who was among the demonstrators.

Kenyan media outlets have reported the slayings of at least 14 women since the start of the year, according to Patricia Andago, a data journalist at media and research firm Odipo Dev who also took part in the march.

Odipo Dev reported this week that news accounts showed at least 500 women were killed in acts of femicide from January 2016 to December 2023. Many more cases go unreported, Andago said.

Two cases that gripped Kenya this month involved two women who were killed at Airbnb accommodations. The second victim was a university student who was dismembered and decapitated after she reportedly was kidnapped for ransom.

Theuri said cases of gender-based violence take too long to be heard in Kenyan court, which he thinks emboldens perpetrators to commit crimes against women.

“As we speak right now, we have a shortage of about 100 judges. We have a shortage of 200 magistrates and adjudicators, and so that means that the wheel of justice grinds slowly as a result of inadequate provisions of resources,” he said.

People gather to protest in an anti-femicide demonstration, the largest event of its kind ever held in Kenya. [Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency]

Kenyan media outlets have reported the slayings of at least 14 women since the start of the year. [Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency]

A protester holds a Palestinian flag during a march to protest against the rising cases of femicide, in downtown Nairobi. [Brian Inganga/AP Photo]

Women and feminists in Kenya took to the streets to march against the rising cases of femicide. [Brian Inganga/AP Photo]

In Nairobi, protesters wore T-shirts printed with the names of women who became homicide victims this month. [Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency]

Protesters react against the rising cases of femicide. [Brian Inganga/AP Photo]

A human rights activist reacts as she attends a protest demanding an end to femicide in the country. [Monicah Mwangi/Reuters]

Protesters gather during the anti-femicide demonstration. [Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency]

The crowd, composed mostly of women, brought traffic to a standstill. [Gerald Anderson/Anadolu Agency]

#Kenya #Femicide #Nairobi #There is no justification to kill women #The court systems taking too long to hold perpetrators accountable #The power of women standing together #Please reblog #Western media isn't going to give this the coverage this deserves

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metalheadsforblacklivesmatter · 2 years

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So... you're not going to post anything in support of people in Ukraine? Anything against the Russian imperialism?

I already did. Several times.

But western countries only give a fuck because it's white people. Shit like this happens in the middle east? Maybe an hour of news coverage. Happens in Africa? No news coverage.

But it's WHITE PEOPLE that are the victims? Gods forbid. Months of 24/7 news coverage.

Look. You've been a follower since I've started this blog, so I understand. You wanted me to be a constant source of info against this injustice.

But I stated day one that I couldn't watch it. I have a friend that lives in one of the Baltic states (countries that Putin would go after if he's given the opportunity to escalate) so I just just watch this all the time and see what could happen to her.

Furthermore, I don't see what this constant doomscrolling is helping. We feed and feed and feed on negative media like this until it makes us apathetic. You see so much trauma until you're numb to it. Much of the millennial generation has already dealt with this from the constant watching of the 9/11 footage every year for years.

Lastly, there's only so much I can do. Constantly ranting about what's happening in Ukraine isn't helping anything. What can I add that's not already being said? More importantly, what can I add that's not obvious? "What Russia is doing is bad. I don't agree with it." Thank you captain obvious. But pointing out the obvious isn't going to help shit.

But you know what is going to help shit? Raising awareness for what's happening at home. Parents are being charged with child abuse in Texas for supporting their trans children. Teachers are being arrested in Florida for supporting their gay students. Black men are still being killed by police.

As much as I don't like how Chelsea is handling this situation with modern warrior on tiktok because she's being shitty, it still opens up the discussion to issues like how white women can't hold men of color accountable for assaulting them without being called racist. It opens us up to discussions about how yes, it is all men. Even our loudest advocates and allies are still susceptible to assaulting women.

So I made my few posts about Russia and Ukraine. But I'm sick of everyone caring because it's white people. I'm sick of this constant news coverage taking air time away from shit that we can actually help with at home. I'm sick of how no one is talking about Black men being killed by police anymore. I'm sick of admitting how Ukraine will get more news coverage and sympathy than the BLM protests.

If people want to talk about Ukraine? That's their prerogative, but I want to focus on the minorities that everyone is forgetting about with this Ukraine news coverage.

(Also I should point out that there's a huge accountability issue with discussing Ukraine. Russia is posting anti-Ukrainian propaganda and with this constant news cycle and this constant news for new information, no one is checking sources before posting shit.

So this desire to be a constant flood of information about Ukraine is actually doing more harm than good for the Ukraine situation because it's forcing people to push Russian propaganda through.)

-fae

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