While one impact of terrorism during war time, is destroyed buildings. Terrorism by men, effects every single internal bodily system. Women start to crumble, breakdown, from the inside out. A silent killer, you won’t always see the scars on her body, or the terror she lives with.
It felt different on the train this morning, I noticed it fuller as soon as I stepped in- the 10am to Adelaide on a Saturday, never looked like this. There were lots of women of all ages, men with families, children, some had home-made painted signs. I would see they were also going to the What Were You Wearing? - Australia No More National Rally Against Violence.
As I stood up high on the steps of Parliament House, it was the first time I had not felt embarrassed – ashamed for us, due to a paltry number of supporters. Something had been stirred, as the swelling of the crowd stretched up and down the pavement and spilled onto North Tce. It was full of men, young and old, with partners, on their own.
The courage of some of the speakers who had lost their daughters was profound, their resolve to make a difference visceral, the beyond belief injustice by so many systems, supposed to be there to protect.
The MC called this violence against women, terrorism.
A basic check on a definition of terrorism. ‘The unlawful use of violence and intimidation ✅ especially against the pursuit of political aims. ❓
I wondered about this last part.
Defending and keeping Australian civilians safe - women are a part of this- is clearly a political aim our government is perusing, given they have just announced a 50 billion boost to the defence budget.
So if male perpetrators of violence are messing with the government’s aim to keep us safe, where is the action? Surely keeping women safe on our land- in our homes and in public spaces, comes before possible threats from afar, and that may never occur.
Does the safety of civilians only matter if we are at war, or a threat is imminent? As the government is so concerned with keeping our waters, air space and shores safe from intruders, why don’t they resource in the same way, keeping women safe in their homes?
Clearly the threat against possible invasion of our country is more important to them than protecting the women that actually live and work in it.
This seems counterintuitive to me. Happy to let you die at the hands of a man, due to lack of political will, but will resource the ---k out of, a possible airstrike from an external weapon of war.
#women #men #leadership #womenssafety
Image by r_o_n_e
