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“Nothing New Here”

Sep 06, 2011 — Categories: ,

The only real news in the case of the charge of sexual assault against a powerful French politician is that the victim came forward and filed a complaint. The outcome is classic and predictable.

The only real news in the case of the charge of sexual assault against a powerful French politician is that the victim came forward and filed a complaint.  The outcome is classic and predictable.

Criminal charges against Dominique Strauss Kahn have been dropped.  His alleged victim, Ms. Diallo, a hotel maid, has been vilified by the District Attorney and by the press.  Judith Herman in the now classic text, Trauma and Recovery, describes what we have seen in response to Ms. Diallo’s report of rape by DSK.

It is very tempting to take the side of the perpetrator.  All the perpetrator asks is that the bystander do nothing. He appeals to the universal desire to see, hear, and speak no evil.  The victim, on the contrary, asks the bystander to share the burden of pain.  The victim demands action, engagement, and remembering.
. . .In order to escape accountability for his crimes, the perpetrator does everything in his power to promote forgetting.  Secrecy and silence are the perpetrator’s first line of defense. If secrecy fails, the perpetrator attacks the credibility of his victim.  If he cannot silence her absolutely, he tries to make sure that no one listens. . . .  After every atrocity one can expect to hear the same predictable apologies: it never happened; the victim lies; the victim exaggerates; the victim brought it upon herself; and in any case it is time to forget the past and move on. The more powerful the perpetrator, the greater is his prerogative to name and define reality, and the more completely his arguments prevail.


The only question to be answered about the criminal charges against DSK was did he assault and rape her in that hotel room.  The DNA evidence goes a long way in answering that question.

Ms. Diallo is not a perfect victim.  Victims rarely are.  She voluntarily described her earlier misrepresentations in her asylum process and we see how her survival strategies led her to lying.

But her account of the attack by DSK has never wavered. Unfortunately she will never have her day in court, the opportunity to confront her attacker, or the possibility of justice.


The more powerful the perpetrator, the greater is his
prerogative to name and define reality, and the
more completely his arguments prevail.

 

Rev. Dr. Marie Fortune
www.faithtrustinstitute.org

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