A group of grassroots women yesterday held a picketing exercise in front of the Parliament Buildings calling for an end to all forms of violence plaguing the society.
The hour-long exercise included women from Red Thread locations countrywide who had met to discuss the issues affecting their livelihoods. The agenda included price increases, education, the increasing number of deaths by road accidents, domestic violence, child abuse and police brutality and torture. A decision was later taken to picket about these forms of violence under the headings economic violence, education violence, traffic violence, domestic violence and child abuse and police violence.
Co-coordinator of Red Thread Karen De Souza told Stabroek News after the protest that it was designed to target those in authority as well as the members of society. She said the response from the public during the exercise was good. De Souza also pointed out that the meeting which was ongoing, was part of a good governance campaign.
According to a paper titled ‘Grassroots women say: too much talk, we need results’ and issued by the network of Grassroots Women Across Race, which informed the protest action, “price increases are killing poor people”. It described this situation as “Economic Violence”. The organization said that a family of four comprising two adults and two children would need $54,110 monthly to cover essential expenses: rent, cleaning supplies and toiletries, transportation and light bill. And, based on “a very basic list of food items for a month” worked out by a nutritionist, the same family would need $44,678 for food. This means, the group said, the family would need $98,788 every month to survive and that figure does not include the costs for school supplies, medicine, extra transportation fares to attend PTA meetings, for example, or an emergency fund.
The organization said it was concerned about the take-home salaries for two brackets of public servants: teachers, who get $44,962 and police corporals who get $37,000. It pointed out too that old-age pensioners get $3,675 and recipients of public assistance get $2,740 per month. The paper said, “We know from our own experiences that in order to stretch the scarce money, we cut on food. This means that health suffers. Our health, and our children’s health. These are the figures the economists and policy makers must look at when they are talking about VAT and wage increases.”
As regards education, the group said grassroots women cannot afford the increased cost of books, school supplies, uniform and transportation. This issue, dubbed “Education Violence”, is the reason that children are leaving school illiterate. “This general failure is being hidden by the publicity given to the minority who are passing exams with high grades,” the network said, adding that schools were under-staffed and lacked furniture.
On the issue of “Traffic Violence”, the women said they were concerned about the number of persons who continue to die on the roadways and pointed out that they “are still seeing signs that people with connections are not subject to the law.” The present police campaign, they said, was only a short-term solution, adding that the focus needed to be on enforcing proper certification procedures for drivers and changing people’s attitudes toward road safety. The group said “a public transportation system, at least for school children” was needed.
On the subject of “Domestic Violence and Child Abuse”, the network said police must enforce the law on domestic violence and Parliament must urgently address the rape laws and other child protection laws. The group also said it was hopeful that “the changes to the law proposed by ‘Stamp it Out’ are approved and passed with the urgency the situation deserves.”
The women also said they were distressed by the numerous reports of police brutality and torture.
“While we need protection from the criminal violence in our society, justice cannot be built upon injustice,” the group said. It added that it will not accept, “as the Minister of Home Affairs and the Police Commissioner seem to be suggesting that effective policing requires the police to break the law. We are not saying that the police should not do their job but we demand professional conduct.”
In closing the group urged citizens to “stand up and demand an end to all forms of violence.”
