India punishes rapists

After the brutal rape of a New Delhi woman by four men lead to massive protests that inspired the eventual passage of legislation to crackdown on sex crimes and violence against women, justice has been served through four death sentences while democracy has responded to the needs of the weak.  That said, this one tragedy and all those that have gone unheard in the world’s second most populous country over years should remind us in the developed world that the fight for basic human rights and civil protections is far from over.  We still live in a brutal world that thoroughly neglects the interests of most people.  India is a place where women are thoroughly mistreated and viewed as second-class citizens, at best.  Given the number of women in India and the great injustices forced upon these women, as well as the myriad of individuals in lower castes, this is probably the most significant win for women’s rights in the past few decades.  Western feminists and other civil liberties advocates should be focusing their attention on countries like India, because these places are where the greatest good can be done; whereas, countries like America are places where discrimination largely rests in inherited economic disparities that must be addressed as part of a larger socioeconomic struggle.

Furthermore, we too often take for granted the many civil liberties we enjoy on a daily basis while we continually threaten the stability of our extremely safe and prosperous society over arbitrary “ideological” stances that lack any degree of prudence.  Where our democracy fails to pass a budget that actually recognizes what it costs to run our country and pay for those costs, which we are about to drop the ball about, the Indian democracy and judicial system has yielded something that actually reflects the needs of the Indian People.  Clearly, America is a far more functional nation than India, but it is important to recognize India is growing more functional as we grow less functional.  Where India is learning to serve the interests of its People, America must relearn what we are forgetting.  Moreover, this is example of government serving its People and its People’s most basic interests.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/13/india-gang-rape-case-deat_n_3919601.html