In the beginning of November in a village in West-Bengal India a underaged girl was raped and murdered. She was a Member of the Adivasi community in North Dinajpur in West-Bengal. There is often written about gang rapes and murders of women in India but all to often we never get to know that many of the women are part of the Adivasi people. Although in many, like in that one, the victims are members of oppressed minorities such as the Adivasi, who are well-organized and have a long and strong tradition of struggling against the oppression by the old Indian state. Immediately after this brutal crime several Adivasi organizations organized a protest, in which over 2500 people participated. They demanded the punishment of the responsibilities, as often crimes against Adivasis is not even worth to investigate on, in the eyes of the police. The Adivasis also protested against this and the general oppression of the Adivasi people. Police attacked the Demonstration in order to suppress the issue.
This hole crime is merely another step in the continued oppression of women. Sexualized patriarchal violence is often used as a tool of oppression, especially against women. But it is just one part of the oppression of the women which has many faces. The women in India have learned to struggle. Besides others their is a strong women’s organization which is led by the Communist Party of India (maoist), with counts more than 100.000 members and is illegalized by the old Indian state. Thousands of these women are part of the armed struggle, the peoples war, to smash down imperialism and patriarchy, the roots of reactionary violence against women. On November 25th, the international day against violence against women, is a good possibility to popularize these struggles as an high expression of the worldwide struggle of the oppressed women.
