Cologne 1st January 2016 – what price freedom?
I was appalled by the events in Cologne on New Year’s Eve – and in Finland, Sweden and Switzerland – and London. That women were specifically targeted, that the Police did nothing, that they tried to cover it up (although with social media they must have realised that was impossible) and then that women were told ‘to go out with chaperones and carry rape alarms’. I therefore decided to do a social media campaign on International Women’s Day this year to highlight these issues. I am no feminist, but I feel very strongly that if we had more women in positions of power the world would be a better and safer place.
All children deserve access to education and this education needs to include the teaching of respect. Anyone choosing to live in Europe must demonstrate that they respect our culture – and that includes respect for women. Emmeline Pankhurst would be turning in her grave if she was watching Cologne on New Years Eve.
At a recent co-operative Ways Forward 4 Conference #WF4 www.cbc.coop Alan Semo was one of the final speakers. He spoke about the Middle East Crisis, and the people of Rojava in Northern Syria, a community with a mix of ethnic and religious people – Kurds, Christians, Jews – living together, supporting gender equality, and setting up co-operative projects. Cath Muller from www.radicalroutes.org.uk summed this up at the end:
“We are inspired by you, the people of Kobane and Rojava – by your determination, by your sense of solidarity and by your commitment to fairness, to ecological sustainability and to freedom for all. We have much to learn from you and to share with you. We look forward to developing mutually beneficial links between our co-operatives and your co-operatives and contributing together to the development of truly co-operative economies.”
All women deserve the right to education, the freedom to choose who they marry,what they wear, where they work, where they live, what they say and where they go. We sometimes forget how lucky we are living in this Western world where these things are taken for granted.
Please join me in a social media campaign on International Women’s Day, 8th March by sharing my posts on
https://www.facebook.com/barbara.rainford
www.twitter.com @strawfields