Blog Post Nine.

     For this week’s blog post, I wanted to write about the article titled “A Communique From Basque Country In The Time Of CoronaVirus.” In the paper, the authors Maite Zaalegi and Brooke Lober address violence against women during the pandemic. Their article focuses on the one general area labeled as the Navarre and Autonomous Basque Community, which is located in Euskal Herria. In the article, they state that in one week of the pandemic, four women were killed due to violence, and four men were arrested for this violence. According to the article, Euskal Herria seems to have a long history of malicious abuse towards women in recent years (Zabalegi 2020). As an answer for this spike in violence towards women in the pandemic, feminist movement groups within Euskal Herria created an open letter as a proposal to help curb the rise of this ever-growing crisis. In the letter, the government’s leading solution is to create a Care Coordination Bureau branch. From my understanding, this bureau would allow the feminist movement of Euskal Herria to have a greater voice in the political aspects of the area and allocate resources like unions and social workers to help women suffering from violence.

I found this article about Euskal Herria to be similar to other reports of violence that have seen rising worldwide. The main headline I have seen as the pandemic was in full effect was how domestic violence was on the rise, and the percentage affected had skyrocketed. According to UAB (The University of Alabama at Birmingham) News, domestic violence had increased by twenty-five to thirty-three globally, and twenty-seven percent globally within their local county. I found this statistic to be shocking. On top of that, the article states that much of the domestic violence towards men, transgender and gender non-conforming, and same-sex relationships are likely unreported(Jones 2021). The report attributes this spike in domestic violence to rising tensions of covid, like stress and economic pressures. Like the original article we read for class, this news article talks about little health care support for these groups experiencing domestic violence. I would argue that creating more groups like the Care Coordination Bureau would allow a better outlet for victims of domestic violence to receive help both within the United States and globally. While there are measures to help out this situation, it feels as though not enough is being done. I am curious to hear what my peers think. Do you believe there is a better solution to the increase in domestic violence? Do you feel more support would be given to this topic if more communities implemented similar Bureaus? 

Works Cited

Jones, Anna. “The Pandemic Is Increasing Intimate Partner Violence. Here Is How Health Care Providers Can Help.” UAB News, The University of Alabama Birmingham, 26 Oct. 2021, https://www.uab.edu/news/health/item/12390-the-pandemic-is-increasing-intimate-partner-violence-here-is-how-health-care-providers-can-help.

Zabalegi, Maite Arraiza, and Brooke Lober. “A Communique from Basque Country in the Time of Coronavirus.” A Communique From Basque Country In The Time Of Coronavirus, Commune, 4