Through a video that went viral in social networks , some soccer players of the U-17 Club America can be seen “dancing” to mock the performance called “A Rapist In Your Way,” a hymn used by many women around the world to fight gender violence .
In the video, four soccer players can be seen after a training session dancing the performance.
The video went viral and the soccer players were immediately criticized in social networks .
The performance “A Rapist In Your Way” became known last November 25 by the Chilean group “Las Tesis.”
Hundreds of women have taken to the streets in countries such as Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, United States, Germany, United Kingdom, France, and Spain to perform a choreographed dance "A Rapist in Your Way" against violence against women .
The choreography went viral after a group of women with black blindfolds over their eyes performed the dance in front of the Chilean capital's Palacio de La Moneda, the seat of the country's president, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women .
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One of the U-17 soccer players who participated in the video apologized through his Twitter account.
For its part, Club América released a statement saying they will take disciplinary measures against those involved as well as implementing an education program on gender issues.
The feminist performance “A Rapist In Your Way” came as an answer to the recent repression lived in Chile’s capital, Santiago .
Recently, Chile has been singed by fire. In riots sparked by anger over fare hikes, masked and hooded protesters have torched buses, metro stations, supermarkets, banks, and the high-rise headquarters of a major energy firm.
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Around the city, flames, and smoke mixed with tear gas and water cannon spray as armed forces mobilized on the streets for the first time in almost 30 years in a country that still shudders at the memory of military rule .
Fare-dodging protests largely by school children and students have exploded into violent riots . Amid the looting, arson, and clashes, thousands of residents of rich and poor neighborhoods alike also took to the streets to express a more widespread discontent over rising living costs and patchy public services that is boiling beneath the surface of one of South American’s wealthiest and most liberal economies.
“A Rapist On Your Way”
has been replicated all over the world because women identify with the lyrics. On a daily basis, women are harassed on their way home, to work or to school, and many are forced to interact with their aggressors .
Patriarchy is a judge
that judges us for being born
and our punishment
is the violence you see.
It’s femicide.
Impunity for my murdered.
It’s disappearance.
It’s rape.
And the fault wasn’t mine, not where I was, not how I dressed.
And the fault wasn’t mine, not where I was, not how I dressed.
And the fault wasn’t mine, not where I was, not how I dressed.
And the fault wasn’t mine, not where I was, not how I dressed.
The rapist is you.
The rapist is you.
It’s the cops,
the judges,
the President.
The oppressive State is a rapist.
The oppressive State is a rapist.
The rapist is you.
The rapist is you.
“Sleep calmly, innocent girl,
Without worrying about the bandit,
Over your dreams smiling and sweet,
watches your loving cop.”
The rapist is you
The rapist is you
The rapist is you
The rapist is you
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Besides the lyrics, the choreography is also very meaningful. When the song says “femicide” the protesters squat. Why? “Las Tesis” explained that they included the squat in the performance because when women are arrested in Chile, they are forced to squat while naked.
In the original video, the women who participated wore dresses, shorts, and eye-catching outfits because they needed to emphasize the part of the chorus that refers to the clothes and that no one should be harassed or raped because of what she wears, although for many it is “provocative.”
Also, being blindfolded is evident, Las Tesis included it in the performance to represent the vulnerability of women in the street.
Although in Mexico, the performance changed the last stanza, the original version alludes to cops by including a part of the original anthem of Chile’s Police Force , which has surprised the whole world.
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“Neoliberalism was born in Chile and will die in Chile,”
is one of the slogans you can hear these days in the Southern Cone nation, alluding to the system imposed by the Pinochet dictatorship (1973-1990) which fostered economic growth, trade, privatizations, and financial stability, yet at the same time increased social inequality with low salaries (USD $400 on average per month), precarious jobs, and miserable pensions (USD $200 on average per month).
Protests erupted on October 18 after the government of President Sebastián Piñera , one of the richest men in Chile, raised public transport fares; nevertheless, this was only the spark that ignited the conflagration as the country suffers one of the worst education systems in South America, and one of the most expensive in the world, as well as an inefficient health care system. In addition, Chile is the only country where water is private property.
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Facing massive unrest without visible opposition leaders, Piñera’s first reaction was declaring a state of emergency ; after removing eight members from his cabinet, including the Interior Minister and the Finance Minister, the Chilean president pulled out of hosting the November 16-17 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit and the December 2-13 COP25 climate meeting.
The protests in Chile have received support from different figures. One of them is singer Mon Laferte , a Chilean living in Mexico, who showed her breasts in protest during the 2019 Latin Grammy Awards.
The singer has protested in support of her country since the beginning of the conflict. The excessive aggressions by the State have left many people killed and injured.
“In Chile, they torture, rape, and kill,”
what was Mon Laferte wrote down in her body.
Previously, in the private ceremony of the Latin Grammy Awards, where she won Best Alternative Music Album, she went on stage, thanked her team and the public, and read a tenth by Chilean singer La Chinganera dedicated to her country:
“Chile, you hurt me inside
You bleed me through every vein
I weigh every chain
that imprisons you to the center
Chile outside, Chile inside
Chile to the sound of injustice
the militia boot
the bullet of the one who doesn’t listen
won’t stop our fight
until justice is done.”
Chile has a history with the tenth , a stanza made up of 10 octosyllabic verses in Spanish. Violeta Parra was one of the main disseminators of the tenth in Chile.
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