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Old 01-19-2014, 12:26 PM
  #46
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Yup.

Obviously, I have nothing solid to base myself on and so this may be massively wrong and offensive If so, my apologies.

But, basically, it's very suspicious to me that the suspects are all homeless.

Maybe India has a different notion of homelessness than I do, so maybe there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for that.

Barring that, I'm left with the impression that there must be a certain element of scapegoating here and we're going to start seeing gang-rape dismissed as a crime poor people commit in India.
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Old 01-20-2014, 03:32 AM
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until the rich people get caught with their pants down before they can pay off officials to turn a blind eye. Sad more effort isn't being done to correct this. Homeless people are still people...people can learn
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Old 01-20-2014, 03:12 PM
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Sunny, I'm pretty sure you're onto something there.

Too often it's no plaintiff, no judge for rich people.

And I'd expect this to hold especially true in countries where there's so many poor people that a few wrongdoings by the more privileged can be 'overlooked' even more easily.
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Old 01-20-2014, 08:07 PM
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Well, that's it.

It's either that India's got a real big problem with the disenfranchisement of its homeless men, leading to pretty specific types of violence, or there's at least some element of scapegoating going on.

Either way, the problem is nowhere near being solved, is it?

Especially if they're too busy masking the "symptoms" and not treating the root causes.

I mean, if it's all "blame the homeless," the women of India (and who travel to India) are not at all safer.
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Old 01-21-2014, 08:00 PM
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Also goes to say that homeless people are dangerous sometimes. A lot kill, steal, etc... because that's what they know. Institutions needs to be made available for education, health coverage, sheltering, feeding and job placement. That will NOT fix the problem alone but could get something going!
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Old 01-22-2014, 03:56 PM
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Also, if there's so many poor and homeless people in India, the education system's probably pretty much a wreck, too.

Education is the key part of getting people off the streets and into jobs. I can't imagine that an economy like India, from which you keep hearing how its steadily on the rise, can't do better than that.
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Old 01-22-2014, 04:54 PM
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Well, this story does feed into the notion that the homeless are violent and dangerous.

And while I can't say that it's entirely wrong, I would argue that the homeless (of Montreal anyway) are mostly a threat to themselves and, if anything, tend to be the victims of mass and police brutality because people are so afraid that they'll interpret any sign of "aggression" as a physical threat.

So I do think the fact that they're blaming homeless people for these gang-rapes has an element of convenience to it inasofar as it plays into an already well-established perception of a certain segment of society.

Certainly, education could probably go a long way in resolving some of these issues.

But India still has other problems. I'm sure the caste system isn't still in place all over India, but it certainly remains in certain areas, and I have a feeling it contributes to a certain cycle of poverty.

Again, though, that does not make homeless people more likely to rape as far as I'm concerned.
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Old 01-23-2014, 03:33 PM
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I guess a positive link between poverty and crime would hardly come as a surprise to anyone.

But there may be actual political will to make it seem like the poor are the only ones committing rapes.
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Old 01-23-2014, 07:55 PM
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Or, they could just remember that this also happens, apparently, in India:

Quote:
India: Woman gang-raped on orders of 'kangaroo court'

Police in India's West Bengal state have arrested 13 men in connection with a gang rape of a woman, allegedly on orders of village elders who objected to her relationship with a man.

The 20-year-old woman has been admitted to a hospital in a critical condition.

Unofficial courts in India's villages often sanction killings of couples deemed to have violated local codes.

Scrutiny of sexual violence in India has grown since the 2012 gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus.

The government tightened laws on sexual violence last year after widespread protests following the attack.

But violence and discrimination against women remain deeply entrenched in India's staunchly patriarchal society.

The suspects were produced in court and have been remanded in custody. They have not yet made any public comment.

Police said the latest incident on Monday night was prompted by the relationship between a woman belonging to the Santhal tribal group and a non-tribal man from a nearby village in Birbhum district.

Clan-based village councils made up of local elders wield great influence over life in large swathes of rural India and often mete out punishments for offences deemed to contravene local traditions and mores.

Although honour killings, sanctioned by unofficial courts that are common in parts of northern India, are unheard of in the tribal Santhal community, women are still treated as second class citizens.

'Crime of falling in love'

"The relationship was going on for almost five years. When the man visited the woman's home on Monday with the proposal of marriage, villagers spotted him and organised a kangaroo court. During the 'proceedings', the couple were made to sit with hands tied," Birbhum police chief C Sudhakar told the BBC.

He said the headman of the woman's village fined the couple 25,000 rupees ($400; £240) for "the crime of falling in love".

The man paid up, but the woman's family were unable to pay, police said.

The headman, who is a distant relative of the woman, then allegedly ordered the rape, Mr Sudhakar said.

"Her family could not pay, so go enjoy the girl and have fun," the headman reportedly told villagers, according to a complaint filed by the woman's family.

The 13 men arrested in connection with the incident include the headman.

Although the attack took place on Monday night, the family of the woman gathered courage to go to the police on Wednesday afternoon. The woman was admitted to a hospital only on Wednesday night.

She is currently being cared for by a five-member medical team in hospital, local officials say.

The incident has led to outrage in India with some describing it as "inhuman and completely outrageous" and many calling for a quick trial and punishment for the rapists.

"In a democratic country, based upon the rule of law, no vigilantism can be permitted," India's Information Minister Manish Tewari said.

"The West Bengal police must thoroughly investigate the alleged gang rape... and bring to justice those responsible. Authorities must also ensure that the woman and her family receive immediate and adequate police protection," Amnesty International's Divya Iyer said.

Correspondents say rape is a common occurrence in India with many cases still going unreported, despite the heightened media attention in recent months.

Although India has tightened its anti-rape laws and society is more openly discussing cases of violence against women, women across India still live with the daily fear of sexual assault and victims still often have to deal with police apathy.

In 2010, village elders in Birbhum ordered at least three tribal women to strip and walk naked in front of large crowds in West Bengal, police say.

The women were being punished for "having close relations" with men from other communities.
The article further mentions other cases:
  • July 2012: Asara village in Uttar Pradesh state bans love marriages and bars women under 40 from shopping alone, using mobile phones outside, and orders them to cover their heads when outdoors
  • May 2011: Eight people arrested in Uttar Pradesh for stoning to death a young couple who had a love affair
  • September 2010: A Dalit (formerly "untouchable") woman in Madhya Pradesh is ordered to pay 15,000 rupees ($330) compensation to the high-caste owners of a dog for feeding their pet. The owners say the dog became "untouchable"
  • August 2010: Village elders in West Bengal order a woman to walk naked in front of large crowds for having "an illicit love affair with a man from a different community"
  • June 2009: A Muslim woman and her Hindu husband kill themselves after the local village council orders them to annul their marriage or face death
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Old 01-24-2014, 07:38 PM
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That is terrible repression there. No wonder so many from that region emigrate to the US or Canada.
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Old 01-25-2014, 11:28 AM
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And here I thought immigration has more to do with economic opportunities as opposed to sanctioned gang rape.
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Old 01-25-2014, 02:24 PM
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This is plainly disgusting...
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Old 01-25-2014, 06:14 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sunnykerr (View Post)
And here I thought immigration has more to do with economic opportunities as opposed to sanctioned gang rape.
No doubt the rape is a part of it clustered into "violence and other horrible acts". An old coworker of mine was from Palestine. Her family came here for a stable job. However, a huge factor of them looking for different opportunities was all the violence and the uncertainty of being alive when you wake up.
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Old 01-26-2014, 10:20 AM
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In light of the gang rape accusations, a couple of things have come to light.

Firstly, the villagers are denying there was a gang rape.

Apparently, they claim that the women was tied to a tree for continuing to pursue a relationship with the boy from the neighbouring village and a fine was imposed. But, had she been truly raped, could she have been able to ride a bike to report said gang rape, they argue?



Meanwhile, another woman, in another village, had her daughter kidnapped by her paternal grandparents.

The father refused to marry the mother after she got pregnant, so she became a single mother. The father never married, never had any other children, so his parents decided they wanted their granddaughter. The mother doesn't have a father or a brother to defend her... so her daughter was taken away from her.

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Old 02-01-2014, 11:24 AM
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Quote:
The 70-year wait for primary school

It will be more than 70 years before all children have access to primary school, says a report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).

World leaders had pledged that this would be achieved by 2015.

The report says 57 million remain without schools and at the current rate it will be 2086 before access is reached for poor, rural African girls.

Report author Pauline Rose describes these as "shocking figures".

The lack of education for all and the poor quality of many schools in poorer countries is described as a "global learning crisis".

In poor countries, one in four young people is unable to read a single sentence.

Greatest need

The study from Unesco, published on Wednesday in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, is an annual monitoring report on the millennium pledges for education made by the international community.

But it warns that promises such as providing a primary school place for all children and increasing the adult literacy rate by 50% are increasingly unlikely be kept.

It also warns that aid for education is declining rather than increasing and is not being targeted at the poorest countries with the greatest need.

It reveals that the single biggest recipient of aid for education is China - which receives aid worth a value 77 times greater than Chad.

The report, based on the latest data which is from 2011, shows that there are still 57 million children who do not even get the first basics of schooling.

More optimistically, this represents an almost 50% drop in out-of-school children since 2000.

The report shows that if the early momentum had been sustained the goal could have been achieved. But since 2008, progress has "all but ground to a halt".

Conflict zones

Countries such as India, Vietnam, Ethiopia and Tanzania have made considerable progress in expanding the reach of education.

There are also improvements in quality, with Vietnam now among the most impressive performers in the OECD's Pisa tests, overtaking the United States.

The greatest problems are in sub-Saharan Africa, with particular weaknesses in parts of west Africa.

Nigeria has the single greatest number of children without a primary school place - a higher figure now than when the pledges were made at the beginning of the century.

About half of the lack of access to school is the result of violence and conflict.

But Afghanistan, which has faced 35 years of conflict, is managing to reopen schools and the country's education minister told the BBC that a grassroots campaign will see all children having primary school places by 2020.

Gender gap

The report, produced by the Paris-based educational arm of the United Nations, highlights the inequalities in access to places.

Girls are more likely to miss out on school than boys and this is accentuated more among disadvantaged, rural families.

As such, poor, rural girls are forecast to be the slowest to have school places, with Unesco projecting it will take until 2086.

It means that the five-year-olds who are now missing out on beginning school will be grandmothers before universal primary education is achieved.

It will not be until the next century, 2111, before poor rural girls will all have places in secondary school, at the current levels of progress.

Within countries there are big differences in access to schools.

And the ability to provide places for better-off children and for boys shows what should also be achievable for girls and the poor, says Dr Rose.

"It shows the importance of focusing on the marginalised," says Dr Rose, director of the global monitoring report team.

The study also raises concerns about the quality of education in many poorer countries.

There are 130 million children who remain illiterate and innumerate despite having been in school.

It means that a quarter of young people in poorer countries are illiterate, which has far-reaching implications for economic prospects and political stability.

Wasted spending

The report estimates that in some countries the equivalent of half the education spending is wasted because of low standards, which it calculates as a global loss of $129bn (£78bn) per year.

There are practical barriers to learning. In Tanzania, only 3.5% of children have textbooks and there are overcrowded class sizes of up to 130 pupils in Malawi.

The study calls for more support in raising the quality of teaching. In west Africa, it warns of too many teachers who are on low pay, temporary contracts and with little training.

The quantity of teachers would also need to be increased, with an extra 1.6 million needed to provide enough primary school places.

The report says to reach the goal of universal primary education would require an extra $26bn (£16bn) per year.

But aid to education has declined at a greater rate than overall aid budgets, says the report.

"One of the things that we found shocking was that low income countries faced the biggest losses in aid," says report author, Dr Rose.

The biggest recipient, China, gains from support for scholarships, mostly from Germany and Japan.

Moves are already underway for setting post-2015 targets.

The report says that the next goals must include an awareness of the quality of education and teaching.

"We must also make sure that there is an explicit commitment to equity in new global education goals set after 2015, with indicators tracking the progress of the marginalised so that no-one is left behind," said Unesco director-general Irina Bokova.
When we talk about education being the solution to most societal ills... this is the problem we're facing.

Yes, the article speaks of the problem as a whole, but notice how it also goes into why it's so much worse for girls.

Saying that we have to wait until 2111 until all the world's girls have access to a high-school education is, frankly, unacceptable.

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