Being a westerner it's taken for granted there are certain rights a person has, to an oppinion, to freedom of expression, to not suffer from torture, rape, murder without there being a consequence. For a civil society and laws which the masses abide by and respect. If they don't respect then they are made to account for their actions. Yet these rights do not exist in the entire world, it is different in some places and the most recent countries in the news are India, Pakistan, Sudan and Nigeria.
India in Uttar Pradesh state has been the recent report of 2 young girls who were gang raped and murdered. Their bodies were then hanged in a tree. These girls were part of the low caste called dalit. Some Indian news reports use the term "alleged" however there is video on the internet of these young girls hanging from a mango tree and crowds of hundreds of people, mostly men I should add. In this caste system, murder, rape, thuggery is used to keep lower caste people in their place. The girls were only 14 and 16 years old, they were cousins and had to go out to the fields to toilet.When one of the fathers of these girls went to the police he was first asked what caste he belonged to and when they found out it was the lower "other backwards classes" they just made fun of him. One of the abusers was also with the police.
In Pakistan this week a woman was stoned by her own relatives after she left a Lahore court building. She was 30-year-old Farzana Bibi, and had attended court to confirm she got married to the man she loved rather than to a man her family wanted her to marry. She went against the societal norms. This type of killing is called a honour killing, but there is certainly nothing honourable about it. About 20 relatives crowded around her, they pulled her to the ground and then bashed her with rocks in their hands. In this case, there were Police in the vicinity and the husband went to them begging for help and they did nothing.
In Sudan a woman has been sentenced to be hung until she is dead, because she was in their eyes a Muslim woman who committed apostasy by saying she was Christian. Even though she argued she had been Christian all her life. She was pregnant at the time of the sentence so was allowed to have her baby and will be allowed two more years of life before the sentence is carried out. What I don't particularly understand here is why she and her husband didn't leave the country and seek asylum before this happened. Meriam Ibrahim has also been sentenced to receive 100 lashes because she committed adultery. Another trumped up charge because she'd married a Christian in a Christian ceremony.
Lastly the news continues with headlines of the 230 school girls who were kidnapped by a Nigerian fundamentalist group called Boko Haram. It would be misleading to think Nigeria known to be the wealthiest and most prosperous developing African nation has civility. As we see yet another instance of religious right wing and power crazy enthusiasts flexing their muscles. The Nigerian army we are told are barely paid a living wage and have very little in the way of weapons, they are effectively demoralised. In radio broadcasts by Nigerian officials we hear blatant lies told, you can tell because they had not been rehearsed and don't hold up to questioning or any kind of logic. It is the result of institutionalised corruption which I have been told runs through the veins of Nigeria.
Just when you think the world is coming to some kind of intelligent state you realise it never will. Lack of education, poverty and social systems seem to all get together to keep subgroups of people in their place. If it's not these factors then it is religion and religious leaders using biblical texts to their own needs. A shepherd can only be followed if there are sheep.
