In the beginning of August there were 19 demonstrations, where women struggled against rapes and murdering of women. The reason, why so many thousands attended at the demonstration was first the murder of a women: he student Khensani Maseko killed herself, after she was raped. This case brought the women to struggle for their demands on the streets all over South Africa.
In August it is "women's month" in South Africa. The women in the protests show, that even if it is called "women's month" South Africa has one of the highest number of rapes in the world, as well as the number of murder of women. On a poster was written "63 women killed in the last 30 days". One protester said: "August is the woman's [month] but women in this country are not happy. We have nothing to feel, we have nothing to celebrate.(...)" Violence against women is not even a legally defined crime in South Africa. The women struggle against the state violence and the violence in their home.
Violence against women is an important form of suppression of women. But the women all over the world show that they struggle against patriarchy and the imperialist system, which keeps them oppressed and exploited, for example the women who struggle in the peoples war in India. They show that there is no way to smash patriarchy, and within it violence against women, than to smash the imperialist system in a revolution. In the struggle the women show that they are a mighty force in this struggle.
