Think globally and act locally (9 Oct)

Act against GBV

By Micheline Tusenius, a dual citizen of South Africa and the United States, and a writer living in Washington, D.C.

Gender-based violence is a global scourge. In any country or society, famous people can be perpetrators, celebrities can be survivors; regular people can be perpetrators, everyday people can be survivors. Few escape it.

More often than not though, it’s the powerful who abuse the less powerful, those whom the powerful assume aren’t positioned to resist them or hold them accountable.

 

 

The Managing Director vs the cleaner

A famous example of this dynamic is the case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn. On 14 May 2011, Strauss-Kahn was the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a strong candidate for the next presidency of France. He was departing New York City that morning for Paris. Before leaving for John F. Kennedy International Airport, he encountered Nafissatou Diallo, a housekeeper at the Sofitel Hotel where he was staying. Diallo, an immigrant asylee from Guinea in West Africa, was going about her job—cleaning hotel rooms.

What happened between them is disputed, but what is indisputable is that there was a sexual encounter, which she alleged was sexual assault.

She reported being assaulted to her supervisor and Strauss-Kahn was arrested minutes before his plane took off.

He was indicted on four felonies, including attempted rape and sexual assault, and three misdemeanors, including a charge of unlawful imprisonment. He pleaded not guilty.

The playbook for the powerful in situations like this is always the same: to try to destroy the credibility and dependability of the witness, and to suggest that the charges are a setup or scam, usually to extract money from the alleged perpetrator.

In August 2011, all charges against Strauss-Kahn were dropped as Diallo’s credibility and dependability as a witness were called into question.

Diallo was vulnerable in this regard as she gave different stories about exactly what she did before, during, and immediately after the alleged attack, and her asylum application for the United States was found to contain untruths. She was also taped discussing monetary compensation in a phone call with her Guinean boyfriend who was then in an immigration detention center.

But there were incontrovertible facts: Diallo picked out Strauss-Kahn in a lineup, and DNA tests of semen on Diallo’s shirt corresponded to a DNA sample from Strauss-Kahn.

Clearly, some kind of sexual encounter took place between them, but force or non-consent couldn’t be proven.

Strauss-Kahn resigned as IMF chief four days after his arrest, and he never ran, as it was expected he would, as the Socialist candidate for the French presidency.

Diallo filed a civil suit and the parties settled in 2012, without any admission of liability.

 

On the way up to Blockhouse

The annual Blocktober initiative supporting the Saartjie Baartman Centre (SBC) for Women and Children is an inspiring example of “thinking globally but acting locally.”

I, and many like-minded global citizens, stand in solidarity with you as you support women and children who are made even more vulnerable due to gender-based violence, a universal malady.

 

Read other blogs in the series

October Walk Details in Cape Town

• Next walking day: 10 October 6am.
• Difficulty: Moderate
• Duration: 2 / 2.5hrs, 7.5km
• Jeep Track Route: From Vredehoek (mountain end of Chelmsford Rd), to Blockhouse and back. Click this PIN for starting point.
• Click here to join future walks.  
• Record your walk, run, cycle or swim in support of Blocktober on Strava.