Richard Gere effigies beat & burnt ... What did the poor guy do to deserve all that!? Here's a clue: in New Delhi & Mumbai, any public display of affection means problems, big problems!
Gere & the beautiful Shilpa Shetty were at an AIDS awareness event. Just before his tiny speech, Gere kissed Shetty a couple of times on the hand before hugging & kissing her on the cheek ... no biggy, right? ... WRONG!
That was the biggest mistake Richard Gere could ever make! Just after that, members of a right-wing Hindu nationalist group beat burning effigies of Gere with sticks and burned pictures of Shetty!
For a society who has been deeply damaged by colonialism can one think of a more offensive image of a white guy grabbing a daughter of India and forcing himself upon her? It is so symbolic. It is right in line with the image of the white colonist forcing himself upon a country and just taking whatever he wants.
Richard Gere should pay the ultimate price for this.
What bothers me however is those who would blame Shilpa Shetty for this.
Too often women victims of rape in India are blamed for what happened like they wanted the rape to happen or it was their fault the rape happened even when the truth might be that the rapists brutalized them and they couldn't stop the rape from happening.
While of course Richard Gere didn't actually rape Shilpa Shetty, I still see this whole "Blame the Woman Victim" dynamic in place. From what I saw from the video Shilpa Shetty did nothing to cause Richard Gere to act the way he did, and was in fact as shocked as everyone else was that he would act in such a disgraceful manner.
We need to defend this daughter of India, not blame her for this white man's assault upon her.