Thoughts of Eggcup

It was in the news yesterday that two Indian girls, aged 14 and 15, were gang-raped, murdered and hanged from trees. It was said that two police officers and two civilians were the perpetrators and initially the police were going to take no action. It was only when the villagers staged a protest below the girls's hanging bodies that they were forced to act.
Such terror and horror for them and for their families and friends; and a warning to other girls everywhere that men have the power to do this. Is there to be no end to this sexual violence against women and girls?
My young teenage daughter was just this week writing an essay for a Spanish exam. The question was whether 'la violencia machista' is the main worry for women today. I gave her my opinion, which is that while it will be a terrible reality for millions of girls and women in the world, women also had other pressing worries, such as how to feed their children or get them medical help when they are ill. 
Of course many of these women will face these challenges without a supportive (if any) partner to help them. They may also be facing these more economic issues within a family and/or community context of violence against women.
My daughter finished her essay by saying that such sexist violence has always existed and will always exist.
But how can we accept this? In the West there have been some invidious developments, especially related to the internet, in terms of tolerance of sexism and sexist violence against women (an excellent programme by Kirsty Walk was broadcast on this theme this week). We must combat these trends for the sake of society in general, for the sake of our daughters (for whom it is so upsetting and confusing) and also for our sons (so that they can lead more decent lives and not become brutalised with twisted notions of gender relations). 
Clearly, the issue of sexist violence is much more serious in countries like India, where rape is endemic and on another scale to that in the West. But we should be leading the way and exerting pressure on these countries, while at the same time tackling the increasing tolerance of sexism in our own countries. 
Is it so much to ask that women and girls be treated with the same respect accorded to the male of the species?

When I lived in Spain I found that most of our British friends knew very little if any Spanish or Hispanic pop music. They often tended to write it off as rubbish compared to the fantastic and brilliant British and American stuff.
Through listening to Canal Fiesta Radio (and the lovely, bubbly-sounding D.J Api Jiménez), we discovered some amazing Spanish pop music. Off the top of my head I'm going to name some of my favourite songs and post Youtube links so that you can see and hear these people in action (you'll have to cut and paste). 

You may want to add some of your favourites in the comments section. I'd like to find out about some more good stuff (especially as I don't really discover new Spanish music now that I'm mostly back in the UK).
Here are my favourites:
1. Antonio Carmona and Alexander Sanz singing: Para Que Tu No Llores:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH66acLpd3k
I'm not actually a fan of Alexander Sanz (who is a massive star). He has one of those gritty, gypsy voices. In this though I think he's even better than the lovely Antonio Carmona. This is the only song I can ever remember where I felt the 'honda.' (I think that's what it's called, but if any of you know I've got that wrong, let me know and I'll correct it here - I don't want to teach people the wrong word). What I'm referrring to is that shivery feeling you get at a very special moment in a song (not promising you'll get it and I won't tell you where in the song; I don't suppose you can force these things.
2. Antonio Carmona, singing Vengo Venenoso.
If you liked the first one, try this other Antonio Carmona favourite of mine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi8dG7ChVYo
3. Juanes, singing Tengo La Camisa Negra.
I've chosen a more boring video, which just shows photos of Colombiano Juanes  (because I find the main video a bit sexist with the scampily-clad skinny women etc.)
My sister tells me this was a big hit in Germany. I think it was a big hit all over the world, but I don't follow that kind of thing. This song is undoubtedly not his best, but it's got something and is very catchy. The lyrics are also very clear, so you could learn a bit of Spanish studying these and other lyrics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh9BbalDxRE
4. Juanes, singing Par Tu Amor.
This is probably more of a favourite of mine by him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWkQbrfSvfs&index=5&list=AL94UKMTqg-9DFLFZsUzwkvlI1o9t38_ag
5. Chambao, singing Papeles Mojados.
This one is incredibly moving and really brilliant. It's about the Africans who drown trying to get to Europe. Worth watching, especially at a time when many of us are so anti-immigrant and can be pretty heartless. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oj8aNCtTHW4
Okay. That's enough for this morning. Got to walk the dog. When I think of more, I'll post them.

We still have vacancies for this year at the following two casas, if you know anyone who might be interested, maybe you could let them know: 

http://www.homeaway.co.uk/p86636

And:

http://www.homeaway.co.uk/p475271

In my third year at University, my friend and I set up boxes outside our rooms above the college bar. We had publicised the fact that we were collecting sanitary towels for women in war-torn parts of Africa and asked that students make donations. Over the period of a month we collected a lorry-load and another student's father paid for the lorry to take them to Africa. 
We were quite pleased with our initiative; however the London Evening Standard caught wind of it and reported how hilarious this evidence of the 'loony left' was.
Well, I just came back from a trip, where I stopped in a service station and while using the loo read a poster on the inside door - 'Do something amazing today!' All I had to do was send a text to donate £3 and the Government would match the donation. It didn't even prolong my visit.
What for? For sanitary towels to be sent to women fleeing the fighting in Syria and the Congo. Luckily, this is no longer seen as some 'mad' cause, but instead a matter of helping women preserve their dignity and not suffer terrible embarrassment and discomfort in addition to all the other dreadful things going on for them.
P.S. We all like to name drop now and again and I am no exception. I used to see Sam Mendes now and then outside my room (I don't know if he made a donation - probably, as he was a very nice boy). We used to say 'hi' to one another, while Sam waited for his friend who lived opposite me in the corridor to open his door. I had no idea he would one day become so famous and that I would go and see his National Theatre production of King Lear and also his James Bond film...
To donate £3 to ActionAid, you text KIT to 70111.
(you don't have to do it from the loo)
Also, those of you on FaceBook might like to spread this cause and get friends to donate.

I love writing. I don't know what it is about it; something about getting all my thoughts out on paper. It's so therapeutic. Maybe I'd go mad without it. 
And then I think of the countries in the world, past and present, where people can't or haven't been able to do this simple thing - express what they're thinking, either verbally or on paper. And because they're not allowed to express a thought, sometimes that will stop them from even having that thought.
Where do all these thoughts go when they're trapped and suffocated inside a person with no way of getting out? That terrible lack of freedom. Many people in modern democracies take our freedom for granted. I don't. I appreciate it and I'm grateful for it. I give thanks especially to all of the people between 1939 and 1945 who lost their lives, lost family members, lost their limbs, lost their homes... And I also will never forget the price paid by the Jewish people, when tyranny was allowed a free reign. Totalitarian regimes are always ruthless with any people they perceive to be the enemy. It happened in Spain, too, of course. Indeed, Franco's massacre of the opposition has been likened to a Holocaust.
If people hadn't fought against these various forms of Fascism and if we hadn't defeated Hitler, in particular, many of us could now be living under dictatorships and I wouldn't have walked down through my town this morning for my latte in the carefree way I did, not giving a damn what anyone thought of how I looked, what I wore or what I was thinking.
Instead, we could be in a dictatorship resembling North Korea or a pseudo-democracy like Russia (where no viable opposition is allowed to exist). A country where you express your views at your peril and you behave in a uniform way that you hope draws no attention to you.
I thus get particularly furious when in the Western world Islamists and other lovers of authoritarian regimes take advantage of our hard-won freedom to try and impose their anti-democratic beliefs on us. For example, the current conspiracies to take over some of our schools must be attacked aggressively by our Government. We cannot afford to be complacent.
I have also recently heard expressed the idea that these authoritarian leaders, past and present (specifically, Hitler and Putin), enjoyed or enjoy massive public support. How does anyone know what genuine support Hitler enjoyed in the Third Reich, especially towards the end, when there were several brave murder attempts on him, by his own 'supporters'? And the same goes for Putin.
Look at North Korea - all the population smiling and marching in unison, seemingly in adoration of their beloved leader. Some are brainwashed enough to think they do love him, but many will harbour very different thoughts and have to spend their lives acting when they are in public. What a terrible strain and burden to bear in life.
It's very easy for apologists from free countries where they don't have this dreadful experience to say these leaders enjoy massive public support. The same people never actually want to permanently go and live in these countries that they admire so much.
It is my belief that we must always be on the look-out and not tolerate any attempts to erode the freedoms won for us by the struggle of many in the last century and also now on various fronts, at home and abroad. However ugly it is to think about it, we must remember the evils committed by totalitarian leaders - the brutal tortures and murders of millions of innocent people - so that we can be sure it will never happen again.