Hey there JMU Feminists! On February 18th picklechips23, WomanInSports, and Kneehighbootsandadream facilitated a newsroom on the following local, national, as well as global topics listed below. We hope you learn something new!
Local:
On February 28th, 2024, the Harrisonburg City Council in Virginia made history by unanimously passing a resolution advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza, marking it as the first governmental body in the state to take such action. An article from the Daily News Record describes how Vice Mayor Laura Dent and Councilwoman Monica Robinson crafted the resolution, which garnered support from diverse segments of the community. The decision to pass it was informed by extensive discussions with local Jewish and Palestinian communities, as well as by public protests. It represents an effort to address the pain and suffering experienced by individuals on all sides of the conflict, emphasizing the urgent need for dialogue and reconciliation. This resolution serves as a testament to the council’s commitment to nurturing understanding and compassion within the immediate local community.
“Being a Jewish resident of Harrisonburg and student, this resolution is important to me because people are saying that the justification of this genocide is happening to protect my safety… Safety does not come from the oppression of other people.” – Avi Stein, James Madison University student and founder of the campus group Judaism on Our Terms
National:
This week was the beginning of March Madness, which is also the most popular time of the NCAA basketball season. This tournament brings in the most money for college basketball with around $65 million every year. Leading into this year’s tournament, the viewership for women’s college basketball was already up 37%. The game with the highest viewership thus far was when South Carolina faced LSU on January 25th, 2024, with 1.6 million viewers. The growth in attention on women’s college basketball could be due to multiple things. It could be the talent that has shone through with Caitlyn Clark, Juju Watkins, and Paige Beckers, or the drama Angel Reese causes every time she steps on the court. Regardless, people are starting to pay more attention to the women’s side of sports, and it has been something long overdue. We discussed in class whether this attention was a good thing or not and I think we came to a general consensus that it was something positive. Any attention is better than what the women were getting before. There is also a hope that the people’s heads stay turned in the direction of women’s sports, and that their interest only grows.
Global:
Influencer and podcaster Andrew Tate is currently being detained in Romania on a British arrest Warrant. Tate was initially arrested in 2022 on counts of rape, human trafficking, and forming a criminal gang to exploit women. The Romanian court has granted the UK’s request to extradite Tate, but not until all proceedings in Romania are concluded. The brothers have denied all allegations against them, but the legal battle has just begun. Since being arrested, four women have come forward, reporting their stories about Tate, but have not seen much justice in the court system. They have said “We handed over our evidence about the horrific acts of violence we endured and waited for action. But four years later we were told the U.K. authorities would not prosecute him… it’s our one remaining route to hold him accountable.” Their experience in seeking justice in the UK has been difficult, where authorities allegedly declined to prosecute. The jury has since declared that regardless of the outcome in Romania, Tate will still face prosecution in England.
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