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Photo by Don
Cole Fowler Museum
A memorial altar to victims of the maquiladora murders is
on display at the Fowler Museum of Cultrual History until
Jan. 4. Members of MujerArtes, a women's art cooperative in
San Antonio, Texas, created ceramic works interpreting the
horrors of Juárez that were integrated in the memorial. |
Activists urge ending violence against women
BY LETISIA MÁRQUEZ
UCLA Today
Poor women are holding the world up on their shoulders, and yet
they are subject to brutal violence, horrific working conditions
and low wages, according to the keynote speaker at a recent UCLA
conference on “The Maquiladora Murders, Or, Who Is Killing
the Women of Juárez?”
“We have to be willing to go anywhere to stop the violence
that is so deeply entrenched and accepted now,” said Eve Ensler,
the founder and artistic director of V-Day, as she challenged more
than 300 people gathered at Ackerman Grand Ballroom on Oct. 31 to
work to end violence and improve women’s lives around the
world.
The conference, sponsored by the Chicano Studies Research Center
and Amnesty International, focused on the murders of more than 320
women in Ciudad Juárez. More than 90 of these victims were
sexually abused, and brutally killed or left in the desert to die.
Mothers of the victims spoke emotionally about the joy that was
gone from their lives since their young daughters had died at the
hands of criminals who still remain free.
To focus attention on the tragedy, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, associate
director of the Chicano Studies Research Center, organized the conference
and brought together the victims’ families, activists, scholars,
journalists, criminologists and others concerned about the women’s
deaths.
Future events are being planned. During V-Day 2004, an international
movement that seeks to end violence against women and girls, the
focus will be on the Juárez murders. Many other activists,
such as Ensler, have organized protests, demonstrations and petition
drives in an attempt to pressure both the Mexican and United States
governments to find the perpetrators.
Those actions must continue, emphasized Dolores Huerta, co-founder
of the United Farm Workers and a UC regent. With the passion that
has made her legendary, Huerta encouraged her listeners to join
monthly protests in front of the Mexican consulate’s office
in Los Angeles.
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