Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

Lydia Cacho the 49 year old Mexican journalist, feminist, and human rights activist, described by Amnesty International as “perhaps Mexico’s most famous investigative journalist and women’s rights advocate”, her reporting focuses on violence against and sexual abuse of women and children. Cacho has been profiled by Emine Saner for the The Guardian in an article titled ‘I don’t scare easily’ despite her investigations having led to attempts on her life, and now been forced to flee her country. Saner states “At 23, she became a reporter, and started writing about violence against women. In 1999, a man followed her into the bathroom of a bus station in Cancun and inflicted a brutal attack, in which she was raped and had several bones broken – an attack, she believes, that was “punishment” for her work. And so the threats continued, especially once she started trying to expose a paedophile ring in Cancun for her previous book… “You learn how to walk the street and be looking all the time for signs of somebody coming, like a motorcycle.” …As well as her writing, she has founded a women’s shelter in Cancun; last year, it provided refuge or psychological and legal help to 30,000 women fleeing abuse. Cacho never wanted to become the story, but the threats on her life also bring a spotlight to her work, and to the dangers faced by her colleagues. …We are journalists because we want to change the world.” She smiles. “I think my job has made a difference.”

Inspired by Emine Saner ow.ly/edebh image source Twitter ow.ly/ede7M

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova the 23 year old Russian musician with the feminist punk rock group ‘Pussy Riot’, along with two other group members have lodged appeals against their two year sentence. In an article published in The Independent Shaun Walker states “As lawyers for the jailed members of the punk band Pussy Riot prepare their appeals, the three women are gearing up to face the grim reality of two years in a Russian prison, where they will be able to meet their families and young children just once every six months, and receive phone calls only quarterly. …sentenced to two years in prison …for performing a “punk prayer” in a Moscow cathedral in February. The women say it was a political protest over the Russian Orthodox Church’s support for President Vladimir Putin, but the court ruled that it constituted “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” in a verdict that has caused outrage in Russia and across the world. Lawyer Nikolai Polozov said he expected the court to hear the women’s appeal in September, and if it was unsuccessful, they would be moved from pre-trial detention to a prison camp shortly afterwards. …The women can be dispatched to any prison in Russia, meaning they could end up thousands of miles away from Moscow. Two of the women have young children, but Mr Polozov said this would not be taken into account, and they would be allowed to see them only twice a year.”

Inspired by Shaun Walker ow.ly/djhZX image source Таганский суд ow.ly/djitD

Philip Milton Roth the 78 year old US novelist renowned for his controversial 1969 sexually explicit psychoanalytical novel Portnoy’s Complaint, has won the prestigious Man Booker International Prize at the Sydney Writer’s Festival. Chairman of the judging panel Dr Rick Gekoski, praised Roth’s 50-year career as remarkable for starting at such a high level and continuing to improve with age when most other novelists decline, referencing Roth’s most recent 2010 publication ‘Nemesis’.  However not all judges on the panel agreed. Critic Carmen Callil founder of the feminist publishing house Virago retired from the panel in protest claiming Roth did not even deserve to make the shortlist, and did not wish for her name to be associated with the award to Roth. Roth’s work usually focuses on explicit male sexuality.

Inspired by Laura Roberts http://ow.ly/56uKE image source ulike http://ow.ly/56uUW