Politics was always a scene for the braves. A lot of courage and a fierce attitude is necessary to survive and thrive in the political scene. How do women behave in such circumstances? Can a woman have equal rights and be treated accordingly as a politician? Is there still a war of the sexes?
I was absolutely shocked and disgusted to read that even in 2019 horrible acts of violence still happen towards women in politics. The story of Maria Patricia Arce Guzman, 48 years old, has to be told.
In november 2019 there was a fire trapping the entire building of the city hall in Vinto, Bolivia. A hostile crowd put the fire and there were massive social outbursts which forced Evo Morales, the president, to quit. Maria Guzman, a member of the Morales' socialist party, tried to run from the building, also avoiding the angry crowds. She was running, losing her shoes, continuing to run barefoot, scared of the war happening outside. Unfortunately, the rebels caught her and wanted to take their vengeance on her because she was belonging to the wrong side of the political scene. They poured diesel fuel on her which smelled like sanitiser and urine. She was hit with rocks, legs and bats. She was dragged to a place where a 20 years old young man died, just to be taught a lesson. A man poured red paint on her and a woman from the rebel group chopped her hair. A woman! Through a miracle of fate, a group of strangers on bikes managed to rescue her and get Guzman to the police station for protection. This is animal behaviour at its worst. How can this still happen in 2019?
Maria Guzman will surely suffer a lot of trauma after this. Living with the memory of being afraid to die by being caught on fire and knowing that at every point death can catch you by your feet must be a terrible feeling. Bolivia is one of the most dangerous places for women in South America. It is estimated that 70% of the women here have been physically or sexually abused. Less than 4% of the cases when women were killed just for being women end up with a conviction. Just 4%! In the 339 administrative divisions of Bolivia there are only 33 female mayors and only 11 of them filed a complaint for acts of violence. It is irrelevant if the victims are women or men. They are human and it is wrong for humans to treat other humans like garbage. It was wrong in 1100, in 1800 and it is wrong in 2019.
I will always look at a person who is violent towards another one like it would be a monster. The worst kind of an animal. Violence of any form should be punished. Verbal, physical, sexual. The political scene should not be about vendettas, it should be about creating a better society for the citizens. Lost in the war of the sexes, the politics become just a weapon of frustrations and violence. No matter which are your personal political beliefs, you are still a human. And there is no morality behind dragging a human being in the worst conditions possible. It is the lowest form of degradation of yourself to commit such acts towards another one of your kind. This shows we are still far from being a civilised society. This shows that there is still a lot of work to be done for educating some of the angry ants of the Planet: humans.
There is still hope. At the opposite side of the dark corners there is New Zealand. The first country which granted women the right to vote in 1893 and which is on 20th place in the world regarding the inclusion of women in the parliament. USA occupies the 81th place, just so you know.
This is a map of the most democratic countries. Green is where over 35% of the parlament people are women, red is for 25%, blue is for 21% and orange stands for the least democratic countries.
Spain has a 67% rate of including women in local executive functions,followed by Finland with 61%.
The human brain still has a lot of growing up to do. Eliminating the primitive reactions of violence emerging from the reptilian side of our mind has to happen. Not because we should look better, but just because we will only manage to self destruct. Even if we take our enemy down with us. This is not the point of living here on Earth. We will all die, one way or another. Rich or poor. Woman or man. The point is leaving it a better place than we have found it. This is the sign of a true civilisation: leaving gold where once was dust. In 2020 there is still a lot of dust flying in the air around...Time to make it into gold. Slowly. It is the only way to leave Earth with our head held high.
The case of this woman was presented in the issue nr. 206 of National Geographic magazine and it intrigued me, together with the statistics. I have made an almost 2h review of this magazine, watch it here
Have a splendid day and toodle loo!
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