Global Roundup: Ireland Anti-GBV Protests, Serbia Wartime Survivors, Uganda's Queer Christians, Brazil Queer Black Activist, Innu Women Trailblazers
Curated by FG Contributor Samiha Hossain
A protest in support of Ms O'Brien was also held in Dublin [PA Media]
The case of a soldier who brutalised a woman in a random street attack and walked free from court has prompted protests across Ireland. Thousands of people marched in Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick last weekend to show solidarity with Natasha O’Brien, 24, who has become a symbol of the legal system’s handling of gender-based violence.
I chose to speak up because I couldn’t imagine the impact on other victims. This is enough. This is the time for it to end. -Natasha O’Brien, at the Limerick rally
Last week, O’Brien condemned a suspended jail sentence that allowed her attacker, Cathal Crotty, 22, to avoid prison and said the court case had caused fresh trauma. Crotty assaulted O’Brien in Limerick city centre in 2022 after she asked him to stop shouting homophobic slurs to passersby. The army private was off-duty and had been drinking – he inflicted a broken nose, swelling, bruising and a concussion on O’Brien. Hours later he boasted to friends via Snapchat: “Two to put her down, two to put her out.” Crotty initially claimed the victim instigated the violence but admitted guilt after CCTV footage showed it was unprovoked.
Crotty’s superior told the court Crotty had acted out of character and was an exemplary and disciplined soldier. The judge gave him a fully suspended three-year sentence and ordered him to pay €3,000 compensation. He called the assault appalling, cowardly and vicious but took into account Crotty’s guilty plea, lack of previous convictions and the end of his army career if given a custodial sentence. Prosecutors may appeal against the sentence. The defence force said it had begun internal proceedings. O’Brien told the media the sentence reflected a broken system because other assault cases also resulted in non-custodial sentences, which deterred victims from seeking justice. Women’s rights groups organised the protests under the banner “not one more” and called for sweeping legal changes.
A violent soldier’s career is not more important than women’s safety. Our justice system sides with violent perpetrators every day of the week. -ROSA, a feminist group
Women displayed posters with slogans like “Rape is an act of genocide”, “We remember the women raped in the war!” and “Rape is a form of hatred towards women”. Photo: BIRN
Marking the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, activists gathered in Belgrade to urge the Serbian authorities to grant legal recognition to survivors of wartime rape. The symbolic protest was staged last week by the Serbian feminist organisations Women in Black and the Autonomous Women’s Centre. Women displayed banners with slogans declaring: “Rape is an act of genocide”, “We remember women raped in the war!” and “Rape is a form of hatred towards women”.
Serbia is the only country in the former Yugoslavia that doesn’t recognise survivors of wartime sexual violence as civilian war victims. The two NGOs are seeking a change to the Law on the Rights of Veterans, Disabled Veterans and their Family Members to address this omission.
Sanja Pavlovic, an activist from the Autonomous Women’s Centre wants to highlight the sexual violence that happens all over the world during wars and conflicts, but above all wants to emphasise that even though 30 years have passed since the 1990s wars, victims of sexual violence are not officially recognised as civilian victims by the Serbian authorities. They want the law amended to recognise victims of sexual violence, regardless of nationality, allowing them to receive welfare benefits and support from the state,
They use that money, above all, for medicine, to take care of their physical and mental health precisely because of the consequences left by this crime. It is also, on a symbolic level, important for the state of Serbia to recognise the war crime of rape as such. -Sanja Pavlovic
The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, in The Hague classified sexual violence as a war crime and a crime against humanity. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, women who survived wartime rape were recognised for the first time in the world as civilian victims of war in the country’s Federation entity in 2006. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo have also established legal reparation mechanisms for survivors. Last year, in a world first, Bosnia’s Federation entity recognised children born as a result of wartime rape as civilian victims of war too. Croatia and Kosovo also recognise survivors of sexual violence in war as civilian victims of war who are entitled to various types of compensation and welfare services.
Photo: Random Institute
An article on Fair Planet explores the life of 20-year-old Mark, a gay man living in Uganda. For the longest time, Mark knew who he was: a queer Christian. He had reconciled his sexuality with his faith. Whenever the conversation came up at church or within his family circles, he was slightly bothered but overall unfazed. He had perfected the art of segmenting his life into two distinct parts. To him, every queer person in Kampala lived that way. Mark knew exactly when to switch his queerness on and when to switch it off. Still, Mark has had numerous incidents where people have tried to out him against his wishes.
I feel like one day it is all going to come out into the light. I feel like one day, I'm not gonna be able to hide it as much as I have all this time. -Mark
In Uganda, societal attitudes toward LGBTQ+ persons remain predominantly negative, a sentiment echoed by the government. Gatherings of LGBTQ+ individuals are frowned upon and often raided, as they are considered to be "promoting" homosexuality. These attitudes have been codified into various laws, such as the repealed Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2014 and its successor, the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2023.
Fridays and Saturdays are when Mark would go out with his queer friends. Mark loved the bar. He met his first boyfriend there. In fact, he met everyone he knew, including the closeted church gays, at that bar. There was no class or social hierarchy.
All queer people from all these different places would meet and feel like themselves. I remember we used to come with changing clothes; you would arrive in your 'straight' outfit and then go to the washroom and change so you could feel like you are in a different part of the world. You know, a place where you’re not judged, where you belong. -Mark
Mark recounts a police raid at the gay bar he attended in 2016 and the fear he experienced. A closested gay church acquaintance ultimately bailed him out. After the incident, Mark wanted to lie low – but ultimately he didn't. Within a few weeks, he was at another gay bar, feeling more confident than ever that he could overcome whatever challenges the intersection of his faith and sexuality might bring in the future.
Mark claims he is "even more queer now than ever," and that he has a harbors a new appreciation for "church gays." He said they are his "lifeline," and that they have strengthened his faith. During challenging moments, Mark reminds himself that there is another queer family, though hidden, awaiting him as he leads worship at church. He doesn't feel like he's leading a double life any longer, though. Instead, he sees life as having hundreds of facets yet to be explored. Faith and sexuality are just two of them, he said.
POZ spoke with Alberto Pereira Jr. about storytelling, the impact of self-expression, and the power of queer Black joy. Alberto is a journalist, director, and actor, and leading voice on issues relating to blackness, LGBTQ and living with HIV in Brazil.
Alberto was asked about his performance piece in 2019 entitled, “Please Touch Me” which was part of his coming out about HIV. He mentions how it was the first year of Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency, resulting in the rise of the extreme right wing to the top of national power in the country. Bolsonaro stated that antiretroviral drugs were a “waste” of public money and wanted to cut funds for HIV policies.
We were in a museum, full of “Do not touch” written signs. Suddenly, I was inspired by that and created “Please Touch Me”. The performance piece consisted of me offering my self-declared black, queer and HIV-positive body to the audience’s touch, in hopes that it would produce empathy, and, purge and cure social stigmas. -Alberto Pereira Jr.
Alberto discusses being aware of his Blackness and what that means in Brazil since he was a child. He adds that his homosexuality and being a person living with HIV further separated him from the status quo. Being aware of his identity made him “want to break out of all the closets and talk openly about it.” However, he also believes in the importance of demonstrating queer Black joy.
Just like living, loving is a political act. An active choice made daily. Experiencing gay, black and serodiscordant love in Brazil is a daily choice. I believe the impact is positive because it is the expression of a real and possible love. We are all entitled to this. -Alberto Pereira Jr.
According to Alberto, people in Brazil need to talk more openly about HIV to build a community of queer people living with HIV. He notes that there is still a lot of misinformation and prejudice. Alberto has created a festival in Sao Paulo, Domingo Ela Não Vai, celebrating queer people of African descent.
As a black man (and also a gay and positive man), the right to celebration, joy and pride in being who we are, in our bodies and in our loves is the reaffirmation of our existence, challenged daily by various forms of violence. Being able to be part of the production of a cultural event of this magnitude is fulfilling. -Alberto Pereira Jr.
Laurie Rousseau-Nepton (left) at a Canadian Astronomical Society conference in Toronto. (CBC)
Laurie Rousseau-Nepton is the first Indigenous woman in Canada to earn a PhD in astrophysics. Rousseau-Nepton received her PhD in 2017 from Université Laval in Quebec City, but at the time she wasn't aware she was the first Indigenous woman in Canada to do that. But she said she did realize that ancestral knowledge from her community was missing in the study of the stars. She found a story that showed evidence of her Innu ancestors observing solar eclipses.
I made it a quest to find it back, to retrieve that knowledge and reconnect it. I started looking and found a beautiful story about eclipses and those stories really highlighted the fact that our ancestors really had a deep understanding of those phenomena, and to me it was like, eye-opening. I wanted to know more. -Laurie Rousseau-Nepton
Rousseau-Nepton, who is Innu and a member of Pekuakamiulnuatsh First Nation in the province of Quebec, said Indigenous ancestors had a passion for learning and understanding physical concepts of the world around them. She said this dedication to the natural world can contribute to new discoveries in science today.
Valérie Courtois, who is also Innu from Mashteuiatsh in Quebec, became the third person to receive the Shackleton Medal, and the first Indigenous person, when she was awarded the prize earlier this year. The Shackleton outdoor clothing company launched the medal and £10,000 prize in 2022, awarding it for "courage, determination, ingenuity and leadership" in protecting the world's polar regions.
Valérie Courtois (left) receives the Shackleton Medal. (Canadian Geographic)
Courtois is the executive director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, a national network for strengthening Indigenous leadership as a means to protect land and water. She said she thinks there should be more Indigenous leaders receiving these types of recognition. Courtois sees two urgent and ongoing environmental crises underway: biodiversity loss and climate change, and one way to address them would be to include more Indigenous perspectives.
The best avenue for that action is the empowerment and recognition of the nationhood of Indigenous peoples and the contributions that we can make in decision making and bringing in our values and knowledge systems. -Valérie Courtois
Samiha Hossain (she/her) is an aspiring urban planner studying at Toronto Metropolitan University. Throughout the years, she has worked in nonprofits with survivors of sexual violence and youth. Samiha firmly believes in the power of connecting with people and listening to their stories to create solidarity and heal as a community. She loves learning about the diverse forms of feminist resistance around the world.