The world is mad!
Read this article and tell me if you agree with me.
Russia is decriminalising
domestic violence that does not cause serious bodily harm. Speaking
anonymously, one young mother tells Sky's Moscow correspondent John
Sparks why the change is "very dangerous".
"During the Soviet period it was difficult for women.
A battered wife could go to a representative of the Communist Party,
tell them about domestic violence inside the family, and a few
representatives of the party could try to put pressure on her husband.
"Of course, you could also put pressure on the police - not too much pressure - but it was something you could do.
"That
was one part of the reality facing women. Another part related to
women's mental state. Sometimes in the Soviet Union women tried to hide
domestic violence in the family. That's because they understood that
people would laugh in court. They knew that colleagues would gossip,
'oh, she allows her husband to beat her'.
Sometimes women just closed their mouths and lied to everybody. She
would say she was injured when she 'cleaned the room' or 'went down the
stairs'. I have to tell you those things have not really changed today.
"The destruction of the Soviet Union was an interesting moment.
Everybody thought life would be better than before, but violence in the
home got worse. Women were not protected.
"It was difficult to make police do their job and when the new law comes in I think it will be like returning to the 1990s.
"I
grew up during this period. Adults didn't know what to do or how to
live. Some men were broken by alcohol. That happened to my neighbours.
The wife was very angry at her husband because he didn't bring back
money for the family and they had two little children.
"He worked
in the police at the time and often went unpaid. He was disappointed
with his life and started to drink. This man beat his wife and his kids
every single day.
"He did a lot of strange things too - for example, he threw the TV
set out of the window. The wife filed a lot of reports with the police,
but they didn't pay any attention. They told her only, 'you must get a
divorce'.
"However, the truth about domestic violence is that 80% of the Russian people are not really interested.
"If
fact, some Russian women who dream of money and property have been
taking advantage. They scratch and spank themselves, go the police, make
a report and be happy.
"The husband goes to prison and the lover comes to bed. In this regard, maybe the new legislation is not so bad.
"Of
course there is another point of view: this new law could be very
dangerous to women. If the husband starts to beat his wife, he'll only
get a fine. But that might make him angry and he might start to beat
wife again.
"At that moment, he could injure a woman very
seriously or even kill her. Unfortunately this is human psychology.
That's why I think Russian politicians need to think about the
consequences of their law.
"In my country we have a lot of cases
with aggressive teenagers ganging up on other girls because they have
bad make up, or clothes, or something else. And these girls don't get a
normal punishment - because they are teenagers.
"Personally, I
think that the government should think about how to stop all violence -
particularly when they are teenagers. If a son sees how his father beats
his mother this pattern will be repeated when they are older. I think
the politicians should start here."
The Guardian, Wednesday
08
February
2017