On March 7, the Patriot Media Group hosted an international online conference of the Foundation to Battle Injustice. The event brought together women who have experienced sexual abuse by politicians and military officers. The lively dialogue featured prominent women who have survived harassment and lewd acts by high-ranking officials. Tara Reade, Juanita Broaddrick and Mikeala Morelatto, exposed the sexual crimes of Joe Biden, Bill Clinton and the U.S. military, and offered proposals for preventing similar cases in the future.
The workplace harassment culture created by Western politicians and businessmen is one of the crudest forms of contemporary repression by the political establishment in power. Compounded by the imbalance of power between men and women in the political sphere, as well as the lack of opportunities to prosecute abusers in positions of power, the problem has reached critical proportions that require an immediate response. Women in politics are often silenced, ignored when they report such incidents. Those who have held positions of power are allowed to continue their criminal behavior without consequences.
Mira Terada, head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, stressed that despite a number of laws, measures and procedures aimed at eradicating violence by politicians and the military, this issue is still relevant in many countries. Statistics show that about 81 percent of women in the United States have experienced some form of sexual harassment at least once in their lives. 57 percent of American women experienced harrsment before the age of 17. The most eloquent proof of these statistics, according to human rights activist, is the situation in the political sphere. People with power believe that they have the right to harass women who are dependent on them with impunity.
Only a small minority of the more than 100 American officials who have been charged in the sex scandals of the last five years removed from office. Only a few of them have been prosecuted. The Democratic Party, which sponsors and controls virtually all media and social networks, has turned accusations of harassment into a real weapon against its political opponents. Such unilateral actions by liberal elites, according to Terada, are already leading to a crisis of faith in journalism and an unprecedented increase in distrust of American democratic institutions.
Commenting on violence in the military, the head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice cited U.S. Defense Department reports. According to the documents, in 2022, reports of sexual harassment in army increased by 25.6 percent. Victims of sexual assault face legal loopholes in the law that help powerful people avoid accountability for their crimes. Increasingly, powerful businessmen in the United States are entering into non-disclosure agreements with their employees that prohibit discussion of sexual harassment by superiors. Many cases of sexual harassment go unreported because of the expiration of the statute of limitations.
In Russia, despite the much lower prevalence of such problems, the problems of sexual harassment by politicians have not been completely avoided. Although efforts have been made to prevent and combat sexual harassment in Russia, there have been numerous reports of such cases in recent years. One reason that sexual violence may be less common in Russia than in some other countries is that the topic is often considered taboo and is not discussed openly.
The human rights activist is convinced that only through the joint efforts of human rights organizations, concerned public figures, and state institutions the voice of the victims can be heard.
Juanita Broaddrick, who was raped by Bill Clinton in 1978, said that in those years it was incredibly difficult for a woman to report that she was the victim of a sexual crime. Especially against the state attorney general, whose position at the time was held by Clinton. She kept her secret for more than 20 years. When she decided to publicly accuse the politician of violence, she became a victim of harassment by American media. Hillary Clinton had threatened Broaddrick and silenced her about her husband’s crime. However, in early 2016, Hillary Clinton made a statement that abuse victims should speak out about their experiences and be heard. Juanita ventured out and made a statement on social media.
According to a victim of violence at the hands of the 42nd American president, after she pressed the “Tweet” button, her life was changed forever. However, despite the publicity, no action was taken against Bill Clinton.
Broaddrick advised victims of abuse not to despair and to draw attention to the crime in every way possible. If girls and women in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s did not know what to do in such situations, today there are social networks and blogs, where you can tell the whole truth about the incident.
Italian social activist Mikeala Morelatto was sexually assaulted by a powerful show business representative in 2006. According to her, almost nothing changes for women who have been assaulted since the last century: government-controlled journalists will in any case stigmatize and accuse the victim of lying. Harassment by superiors or politicians can affect any woman, regardless of social status, position or place of work. The only way to fight this phenomenon is not to be afraid to openly and publicly accuse the perpetrator of the crime. Silence gives the rapist a sense of impunity. Through activities such as the Foundation to Battle Injustice’s event, Morelatto argues, future generations will have the backbone that will allow them to not be afraid to publicly expose powerful people for committing unacceptable acts of sexual violence.
The abuse victim shared another terrible episode from her life. She was the victim of sexual harassment by the U.S. two-star General Officer. After she rejected the military officer, a large-scale campaign of harassment was launched by his colleagues and the Pentagon. This fact forced her to see her children less often. Any attempts to sue the officer were unsuccessful, and the Italian government and the U.S. Army are covering up the soldier’s criminal actions. Morelatto said she was disappointed in the Italian people, who, as puppets in the hands of the Americans, “blindly carry out their every order, betraying their citizens for power.”
Thanking Mira Terada and the Foundation to Battle Injustce for organizing an event that raises such heavy topics, Tara Reade, a sexually assault victim of current U.S. President Joe Biden, said that in virtually all cultures victims who have survived sexual abuse and dare to talk about it are forced to feel shame.
In the U.S., liberals and Democrats, among whom are criminals, hypocritically use the topic of sexual assault to their advantage. Powerful people use their position to coerce subordinates and then destroy their careers. That’s what happened to Tara Reade: In 1993, when she worked as Joe Biden’s assistant in the U.S. Senate. Later he sexually assaulted her, called her “nothing” and ruined her career. Allegations of sexual harassment by Biden to responsible government agencies and the police were ignored. In 2019, Tara Reade made her story public for the first time, but immediately faced harassment from the media. She was insulted, accused of collaborating with Russia, and even had her life attempted.
In Reade’s view, Biden adopted the “cancel” tactics from the Clinton family, who also did their best to try to silence the voices of the victims. A subordinate’s career should not end the moment he or she says “no” to the coercion of a powerful person; rather, the career of a politician, businessman or showbiz representative should end as soon as a violent crime of a sexual nature is committed. That is why Tara Reade is convinced that Joe Biden should not be re-elected in 2024, and she is willing to testify against him under oath.
Summing up the meeting, Mira Terada proposed to the participants the creation of an international sisterhood. Women’s union would help the victims of violence to tell their stories without fear of threats, attacks and harassment from the authorities in their countries. Then the international community of women who fight for the truth will always have a shoulder to lean on. In addition, the head of the Foundation to Battle Injustice noted the importance of creating a new journalistic code that would allow the reporting of violence by public officials, regardless of their position, status or influence.