July 28, 2016
There's a couple
disturbing things that may have escaped everybody's attention amid all the
excitement this week.
Federation Council
deputy Yelena Mizulina has just submitted draft legislation to Russia's
parliament that would decriminalize domestic violence.
And days earlier,
Anton Tsvetkov, a senior official with Russia's Civic Chamber warned women that
they could face criminal charges if they use excessive force in resisting rape
attempts.
Yeah, you heard
that right.
So Vladimir
Putin's regime long ago declared war on gays and lesbians. And now, it appears,
it's declaring war on women.
But this isn't
happening in a vacuum. The Kremlin's moves to decriminalize wife beating and
prevent women from resisting rapists is happening amid rising awareness of
sexual violence.
Earlier this
summer, Ukrainian social activist Anastasia Melnichenko shared her experience
with sexual violence under the hashtag #янебоюсьсказати -- Ukrainian for
#IAmNotAftaidToSay.
And she
encouraged others to break taboos and do the same.
The hashtag took
off, not just in Ukrainian but in its Russia version -- #янебоюсьсказат --as well.
The online
campaign sparked widespread public discussion and exposed the extent of the
problem in both countries.
But such
discussion has not been welcomed by the Russian authorities, who profess to
champion so-called traditional values and distrust civic activism of any kind.
And they probably
weren't enamored with the fact that the #IAmNotAftaidToSay movement originated
in a Ukrainian civil society the Kremlin abhors.
So rather than
deal with the problem, the Kremlin has apparently opted to double down on the
status quo.
Brian Whitmore
