I saw this via Tehmina Kazi…and I can’t bear it. I can’t stand this one.
Thousands of people have joined silent vigils across Germany to pay tribute to a student who was beaten to death after stopping a group of men harassing two women.
Tugce Albayrak, 22, intervened when she heard the women screaming for help in a restaurant toilet in the city of Offenbach on 15 November.
But later, in the car park, she was brutally attacked with a bat by one of the men and left with critical head injuries, theSuddeutsche Zeitung reported.
Her parents made the decision to switch off her life support on Friday after doctors told them she would never regain consciousness and declared her brain dead. It was her 23rd birthday.
Tugce, who was of Turkish descent, is being hailed as a hero across Germany, with thousands of people joining candlelit vigils in her honour outside the restaurant where she confronted the attackers and around the country.
Fuck. It’s breaking my heart.
Mine too.
Here in San Francisco, a man was stabbed nine times after saying ‘would you just stop?’ to a troll who was harassing his partner.
Short of carrying guns, what can anyone do against these…things? Describing them as ‘men’ or ‘people’ is too much.
Dawkins and Harris are waiting to find out the religion of the attackers before they decide if it’s worthy of comment.
@ screechymonkey: They are probably tut-tutting the silly girl for making a fuss about something so minor.
After all, the attackers weren’t making the woman wear a niqab or banning her from getting an education…
What horror. And in Germany!? That’s practically in my backyard. What a a shame she had to pay with her life for doing the right thing.
(I don’t think this the right occasion to attack RD and SH, though. It seems in bad taste to me, no matter how much they might deserve it.)
Gawd. No words.
I weep.
Why is she so rare that no one interfered with her beating?
@ chigau: There was nobody there to interfere, the vile coward waited for her in a deserted carpark in the middle of the night.
It is these small acts of spontaneous heroism that make me think humanity is worth saving.
You might want to write her name correct: Tuğçe.
I have followed the news in German, UK and Spanish online newspapers. I was just appealed when I read a comment on a article where the commenter was saying that Tuğçe does not deserve to be called a heroine or a martyr, and blaming her for being just a plain stupid idealist jumping to the rescue of two “drunken” girls, also making a point that these girls are still unidentified and haven’t gotten to the police as witnesses. She should have stayed on one side and let these girls deal with the problem, because, hey!, they were drunk, to begin with, they should have known they were going to “invite” trouble. Also, sensible people know that good deeds only gets you into trouble, so why keep people doing them!
When I read this, I felt to disheartened: it’s just this victim blaming going on and on, with no end. Blaming the girls for being drunk, putting on them the weight of the life that was lost in their defence, calling them cowards because they would not help provide justice. Blaming Tuğçe for jumping into the role of a white knight, she should have known that she was getting into trouble (also, a WOMAN jumping in? is she stupid? women are weak!!! Men get often beaten when they do the same, how could she think that she was going to get a better treatment? because of chivalry?).
Sorry, I am feeling so frustrated, so angry, I want to shout at people like this commenter, but every time I want to articulate I cannot find the words. I cannot stop the tears and that’s a lot, because, normally, I only feel angry. This time, I mostly feel crushed.
No, I too find this heartbreaking.
This didn’t happen. Neither did the incident on the bus in India. Sexual harassment only happens to irrational whiny American women in the United States.
Here’s a related song SEELENRASUR – SOULSHAVE
(On the other side of Ferguson and Tuğçe – Auf der anderen Seite von Ferguson und Tuğçe)
Michel Montecrossa about his song ‘Seelenrasur – Soulshave’:
“I wrote the New-Topical-Song ‘Seelenrasur – Soulshave’ at the time when Ferguson and wide ranges of the USA exploded with anger about racism and the shooting of Michael Brown, and Germany mourned the brutal killing of the 23 years young student girl Tuğçe Albayrak. My song is dedicated to both of them and to the coming of a new spiritual humanism changing the human world into a better place.”