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“The Rapist is You”: sang La Tesis and the Whole World Echoed it Back

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source: getty images

Art and protesting go hand in hand. Art is a vessel for human expression; dancing and chanting are primitive ways of showing emotions through one’s physical body thus are commonly used at demonstrations and protest rallies. In the time of globalization, social media becomes a space for sharing of opinions and powerful statements. Un Violador en Tu Camino (A Rapist in Your Path), is a song that was first performed in the November of 2019 by a Chilean group called La Tesis, protesting the rise of violence against women in the state.



Looking at the video of the performance, an overwhelming feeling akin to that of being present in a cricket stadium with adrenaline pumping in your veins and goosebumps on your skin as the whole stadium reverberates; sinks in. Only, for women, the feeling is tenfold as the lyrics and dance symbolize the harassment and violence we have faced in our lives and have had to shrug it off and move on with the day. The simplicity of the composition is very impactful, the title mimics an old Chilean slogan that says the police are “the friend in your path.” The lyrics put the blame of rape not on the victim’s identity, clothes or gender but on the system, the judges, police and the government. Rape does not happen in a political vacuum and patriarchal power structures allow such acts to continue in large volumes with little to zero retribution. 


source: DW

“It wasn’t my fault; not where I was, not how I dressed” the song has been picked up and performed all over the world in the U.S., Mexico, Columbia, Turkey, India, France as well as the U.K. It has gone on to represent not just rape and violence but other women’s rights movements also. Protestors often perform it with a green scarf or blindfolded, representing fight for legal abortion. They have also performed this piece on the streets wearing party dresses in all its glam reclaiming their right to dress without fear of being attacked; in some cases, also topless to show autonomy over their bodies. While dancing, the protestors often point at government buildings and courthouses.

Kolkata Sings Bengali version of Chilean 'The Rapist is You' Protesting Against Modi's Visit

In Turkey, women protestors were arrested for performing this piece. In defiance of the detainment and in solidarity of the movement, a female MP performed the piece in the Parliament. The song made its way to India on January 13th 2020 but with an Indian twist. The piece was performed in Kolkata, West Bengal in Bengali translation titled “Dhorshok Tumii.” It was crafted by a group of women who met on social media. They then began practising the song at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University and first took it to the streets on January 4, when they performed it outside the city’s iconic New Market. However, they decided to take it up a notch when India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to pay a visit to Kolkata, repeating their performance of the powerful piece in protest of the Citizen Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens.
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