Day 13 of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Against Women The Official 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign

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When I think about violence against women the acts that come to mind are rape, physical violence and verbal abuse. There are forms of abuse that may, on the surface, not look like violence but they are. I witnessed one of these subtler acts of violence at the El Paso airport last year.

I know we are all wondering how things will change for people waiting and arriving at the southern border. We have been promised an immediate end to MPP, the remain in Mexico policy that has stranded thousands who have been kept, impoverished, in limbo, in camps and scattered along the borderline. The line protected by guns and fortifications to defend the wealth of a nation against those seeking sanctuary.

Day 12 of 16 Days of Action Against Gender-Based Violence Against Women#16DaysOfActivismAgainstGenderBasedViolence#OrangeTheWorld #RatifyILO190 #generationalequality

In the midst of busy days caring for the mamas and 5 new babies that have been born in recent weeks, Haznos Valer writes: We hope the stories we share from Haznos Valer will lead people to greater empathy and a call to action. Gender-based violence against women has severe and maternal health consequences. In Ciudad Juarez, under MPP, women are even more vulnerable to gender-based violence in many ongoing ways and specifically in the area of maternal health.

Day 11 of 16 Days of Action Against Gender-Based Violence Against Women The Official 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign

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Sarah Towle is a London-based US expatriate author who has been sharing her journey from outrage to activism one tale of humanity and heroism at a time on Medium. She joined the Witness at the Border vigil in Brownsville/Matamoros and shares here information on Rainbow Bridge Asylum Seekers.

Day 10 of 16 Days of Action Against Gender-Based Violence Against Women The Official 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign

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Dr. Yolanda Layva, an acclaimed associate professor at the University of Texas El Paso, is a Chicana historian and writer who was raised on the Texas border. She listens compassionately to and documents the history of people on both sides of the border. She also stood witness outside the gates of Tornillo and gave voice to the children imprisoned there through their art at the exhibit, Uncaged Art, at UTEP (https://tinyurl.com/y55sb2cpl). Today she shares some of her impressions, observations and experiences.

Day 9 of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Against Women The Official 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign

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Jenny Sevilla with Austin Border Relief grew up on the border and regularly travels back to volunteer. She shares some of her experiences working with asylum seeking women.

Day 8 of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence The Official 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign

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Before MPP, in my volunteer work at an immigrant shelter in El Paso, I welcomed women after their release from the hieleras, described in the article below.

Fight for immigration system change won't stop with new president. A report from KHOU in Houston, Texas. Photos by Allan Mestel.

Day 7 of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence The Official 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign

What is the human cost associated with the produce in your grocery cart?

The #MeToo movement gained traction in 2006 and we saw many high profile examples of sexual abuse and sexual harassment in the workplace. One group of women largely missing and not represented in this movement is farm workers. Women make up 28% of the agricultural workforce.

The battle lines are going to shift. But the battle is far from over.

As long as borders are used to defend the unjust and unequal distribution of the world’s resources, we will find those borders and highlight the injustice we see. As we have learned, the border is everywhere. Sidelined as many of us have been by our vulnerability to the disease that is ravaging the land, we can still choose to see.

Day 6 of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence @16dayscampaign

Day 5 of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence @16dayscampaign

Women held in detention are subjected to all forms of abuse. At the Irwin County Detention Center the medical abuse reported by a whistleblower is horrifying.

Day 4 of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Against Women

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Longtime witness, Maryellen Dunn, reminds us that "We Are All Interconnected" as she relates her experiences along the Texas-Mexico border with asylum seeking women forced to await their "day in court" in very dangerous border cities and a woman who has dedicated her time and talents to providing shelter and compassion. She recalls the woman that implored, "Please don't forget us."

Day 3 of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence @16dayscampaign

Femicide is a major issue in Mexico.

Witness: Thanksgiving

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I like to think of it as a harvest feast. Because thinking about Europeans arriving on the shores of a continent settled millennia earlier by earlier migrants—well, that flavors the food with the spice of conquest, subjugation, and genocide. Not an appealing recipe for turkey, or anything else.

Day 2 of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence:

"Availability of data on violence against women and girls has increased significantly in recent years, and data on the prevalence of intimate partner violence is now available for at least 106 countries." Learn more below and take action with "10 ways you can help end violence against women, even during a pandemic."

Day 1 of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence @16dayscampaign

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Trump & Co step up deportations of Cameroonian and other African asylum seekers in flights operated by ICE contractor, Omni Air International.

Image: North Texas Dream Team

Time ticks on, making me ache with awareness of time’s limit for me. And ache with the larceny against us, the theft of our time and our lives, as we, starved for oxygen, await the end we are being denied. The end of this frozen grimace of an era, an era that hammered home the lesson that we never knew, that we thought we knew, but that we never knew: that tragedy is as human as hope, and that each breath delivers both.

Photo: @Allan Mestel

And here we are, beaten and bruised by a struggle we either were born into, or somehow got tangled up in, and now long too late to make our way out of. Some rely on hope, or faith. Some, like me, just pointing ourselves in the direction of a flimsy compass needle that trembles and flutters inside, feeling very much like heart palpitations. When there is comfort, it comes from the others that are also snarled and snagged so badly that they know any efforts to get out will only tighten the knots.