TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: Violence Against Women Martyrs

Friday, November 30, 2012

Violence Against Women Martyrs - Stang, Gorrosteita, and Malala

VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN MARTYRS
by Cecilia Brainard

I'm thinking of some of the women who have been killed for defending what they believed was right.

Sister Dorothy Stang, an American nun, was murdered in Anapu, in Brazil, for her efforts in protecting the poor and the environment. She had received death threats from loggers and land owners, and was gunned down on February 12, 2005. There is a documentary, They Killed Sister Dorothy, about her death and her brother's efforts to find justice. Unfortunately the rancher suspected of ordering the killing, even though convicted in 2010 and sentenced to 30 years in prison, was granted a Habeas Corpus by the Brazilian Supreme Court and freed in 2012.

For more information, click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Stang

A few days ago, Mexican Mayor Dr. Maria Santos Gorrostieta became still another victim of the Mexican drug cartel. She had survived two assassination attempts, but the third attack left her beaten, burned, tortured and dumped by a roadside. She had been driving her child to school at 8:30 in the morning when she was ambushed in the city of Morelia. In front of witnesses, she was physically assaulted; she had begged for her child to be spared; they took her away, leaving the child wailing. This happened on November 12, 2012.

For more information, click here:
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2012/11/28/mexican_cartels_violently_beat_and_kill_female_mayor

There are many other instances of violence against women who have stood up to what they believe is right, including the young Pakistani girl, Malala Yousafrai, who was shot in the head and neck by the Taliban, simply because Malala spoke up for women's education. She survived and is recovering in London with her parents.

For more information, click here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malala_Yousafzai

When will this violence end?

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.