Empty gestures: The hollow reality of 16 Days of Activism Against Violence

I find the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children so gimmicky.

This the same government that moves at a snail’s pace in advocating and changing the narrative on the plight women face in the surviving rape and domestic abuse.

This is our struggle and this is the government that wants to acknowledge our reality once a year for two weeks.

We live in a place and time where crime is repetitive because we have become a society that bends the rules.

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To dress up a couple of days as moments of activism, to shout and declare outrage and anger, only to carry on with business as usual.

It is this very same government that quickly moves from 16 days to days of reconciliation… back to the archives we go as victims of abuse and femicide.

Our government and law enforcement agencies are every bit fleeting; they are inconsistent, especially on matters that they feel they are compelled to act upon.

There is no eagerness to find a solution, no measures put in place to find refuge for fleeing women and children, no safety net to guide and protect them as they embark on the treacherous road of the court system to attain justice.

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With an apathetic social department and policing department, I can understand why many women opt to remain silent.

Funeral parlours remain busier because more and more women are being buried more than being rescued – then this very government declares that enough is enough?

How did this government of our time quantify that enough is enough, did they count the body bags, did they tally the costs of foreign discernment as tourists were too sceptical to touch our shores in fear of their lives?

Were the costs counted as social media made it trend that government was quick to act in accordance to the expectations of its constituents? How do they declare that enough is enough? Did they not take too long to reach this destination that the rest of us arrived at aeons ago?

I cannot gather enough sentiment to take part in the activities of 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children. Like most of the initiatives, it’s all window-dressing.

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