The Red Brigade, India
Members of The Red Brigade Image Source: MiradasDoc Market 2014
Northern India is also the home of another vigilante group, called the Red Brigade. In 2010, teacher Usha Vishwakarma started the group in Lucknow–one of India’s poorest and most conservative states–after growing tired of the violence against women in her community.
At age 18, Vishwakarma herself was sexually assaulted by a colleague. Though she managed to fight off the aggressor, she was shocked by the fact that nobody seemed to care when she reported the incident, including the police.
Her anger at the way the assault was handled soon turned to action when she held a workshop for her students and learned that 53 out of 55 of her students had experienced some kind of abuse. This abuse ranged from cat calling and lewd comments to sexual assault. To Vishwakarma, this abuse would “threaten to wreck the chances of her young female students,” as concerned parents might make their girls stay home for protection, rather than risk sending them to school. Outraged, she created a core group of fifteen women, ages 15-18, and they learned how to fight for themselves. The group has since expanded to include more than one hundred members.
Adorning themselves in red and black clothing, the girls meet once a month on the anniversary of a particularly brutal New Delhi bus rape. The girls partake in self defense classes, and will discuss topics related to sexual violence against women. Additionally, Red Brigade members will walk around the streets of Lucknow in groups, taunting men who harass women, publicly humiliating them, and sometimes resorting to physical violence. Said Vishwakarma,
“I tell people we don’t want to wait for society to reform, for male attitudes to change, for the police to arrive and act, and for our fathers, brothers and husbands to protect us. Instead we must focus our efforts on making ourselves physically and mentally strong to hit back.”
While the ethics of vigilantism remain up for debate, when reports of gender-based crimes consistently fall upon deaf ears, at some point, you might just make enact justice for yourself. And sometimes, that justice comes in a blonde wig.
