JUSTICE

When you have been systematically oppressed, is it morally defensible to
violently attack your attacker in order to deliver justice?

I believe systemic oppression occurs when no authority figure - police officers,religious leaders, employers, etc stands up to stop injustice. Leaving the oppressed to fend for themselves and helpless victims to the crimes of their oppresses. In these cases I whole-heartedly agree that it is morally defensible to violently attack ones attacker to deliver justice and save oneself.

In chapter 3 of "Half the Sky", Usha Narayane's 'village' was under rule of Akku Yadav, a ruthless gangster. He would harass, rape, injure and kill the people in order to get what he wanted. "The more barbaric the behavior, the more the population was cowed in acquiescence" (Kristof 49). The police men of the area did little to help protect the people and in one scenerio they gang raped a women who came to report that she had just been gang raped by Akku Yadav and his men. What does one expect these people to do? Silently sit in a corner and continue to take the abuse! I think not. Though the scene in the court house was goury, I felt like it did not amount to the extreme of the horrid things Akku had made them endure. The justice system was not going to save them and the had to set themselves free.