Dani Alves: When justice has a price
The regime and the system are impregnated with machismo. We must win the streets and organize so that patriarchy and capitalism fall together.
The former soccer player Alves was sentenced last February to four and a half years in prison for raping a young woman of 23 years in the early morning of 31 from December to 2022, at the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona. Sentence, in itself reprehensible as insufficient, it has become even more tarnished. After spending fourteen months in jail, Alves' lawyers got the Provincial Court of Barcelona to issue a provisional release order; in exchange for paying bail of one million euros, which represents only the 1,82% of his declared assets. Although the former player is a millionaire, he has not been able to raise the money, since he lost his sponsors and his assets are seized by the divorce proceedings initiated by his ex-wife.. further, Many discordant voices have been expressed that pressure in the direction of not assisting him financially. In summary, Alves will remain in the Brian penitentiary center 2, at least until monday, trying to get money.
A widespread repudiation
When last Wednesday the section 21 of the Provincial Court of Barcelona made public the order by which it granted Alves provisional freedom on bail, many dissenting voices were raised. Former Minister of Equality Irene Montero, promoter of the Law of Only if it is yes, express “powerful men can buy their freedom”. The former Secretary of State for Equality and Against Gender Violence, Angela Rodriguez, he pointed “Women's bodies belong to those who can pay for them.””. The outrage is so widespread that the main political criticism programs have dedicated their editorials to this disastrous decision.. In the middle, your presenter said: “Being rich opens doors to places.”, but we already knew that. But today we have also discovered that money can open other doors for you., like those in prison”.
A system that only revictimizes
The abused young woman told her lawyer “I'm tired of being strong” and she stated that will appeal the sentence. Not for less, Alves has not only had his sentence reduced for paying a negligible compensation to the victim, but he has also been given the possibility of getting out of jail for having money.
from now, we oppose the punitive criteria of bourgeois justice, But this is not the case. In a country that 2018 stood up and demonstrated by thousands of people regarding the case of “La Manada” and that in 2022 ended with Rubiales; This action of the Provincial Court threatens the advances of the feminist movement, the most basic criteria of justice and contributes to impunity.
Once again, It is evident that a reactionary institutionality persists, shaped by Francoism and legitimized by the transition. It is reflected in the '78 regime supported by PSOE, PP, Vox and other political variants, labeled as “progressive”.
The capitalism tandem – patriarchy has no fix
The fourth feminist wave that has crossed reality in recent years has the international character of a movement that, despite its variants, remains throughout the world. As an expression of this, We are aware that capitalism dominates the world and imposes its own rules, that are brutal in life and sweetened in the laws. As long as this system exists, everything will continue to have a price, higher or lower, but it can be bought and there will be no certain chance that women will achieve the definitive elimination of the double character that crushes us in the workplace and in our own homes.: oppression and exploitation. For the system to work and play, Capitalism imposes as an indispensable condition that women fulfill a clearly determined social role that is at the antipodes of our own liberation and empowerment..
If they don't have a fix, let's make them fall
The Alves case outrages us while reminding us that in the face of the attack on our rights we must fight with rage for a fundamental change. Alves likely to finally get the money, but even if it weren't like that, “justice” will once again show its true reactionary face. In this regard, The mobilizations must incorporate the forceful denunciation of the actions of the bourgeois institutions that present themselves as allies of feminism., but only as a formal pose. From Juntas a la Izquierda and SOL, we will continue organizing to May patriarchy and capitalism fall together, with a strategic fight alongside the working class and for socialism that far exceeds what happens with the Alves case.
