Seeking Justice in Mexico, US and Turkey
Mothers march against US police violence; activists lobby for change in Turkey; friends search for Mexico’s disappeared.
Mothers for Justice
![Maria Hamilton (centre), founder of Mothers for Justice, marches in memory of her son Dontre and others lost to vigilante and police violence. [Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/aea5cb9731d040c893a606362b547d0c_19.jpeg)
After her unarmed son, Dontre Hamilton, was shot and killed by a police officer in Milwaukee, US, Maria Hamilton formed Mothers for Justice to bring together women who have lost their children to police or vigilante violence.
After months of organising, the mothers took their demands to Washington, DC.
“I found out that justice wasn’t served in any of these [other mothers’ cases] and it was overwhelming,” says Maria. “We are ordering a national call for the DoJ (Department of Justice) to have special prosecutors, people who do not have any links to the police officers or the DA’s (District Attorney) office.”
Editor’s note: Mothers for Justice is part of a feature length film called The Blood is at the Doorstep.
The Disappeared
![A poster depicting one of the disappeared students, collectively known as the Ayotzinapa 43. [Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/ba2a3acc545f4ac4acc367d048ea25f9_19.jpeg)
When 43 students from Ayotzinapa College were attacked by police and then vanished, protests erupted across Mexico.
In this visually striking short doc, we hear the voices of their classmates and relatives.
They don’t trust the official story and are determined to find out what happened.
“The government is playing games with the feelings of the parents and students from Ayotzinapa. They told us at one point our classmates were dead; then they told us they’re alive. I don’t trust the attorney general’s office.”
Flash Point
![Activists protest against gender violence in Turkey, motivated by the brutal murder of Ozgecan Aslan. [Al Jazeera]](/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/5a78bd1d44bd4e3d8caa624bac7edbff_19.jpeg)
Violence against women in Turkey is soaring. The brutal murder of 20-year-old college student Ozgecan Aslan proved a breaking point.
Activists and Aslan’s family lobby to change how violent crimes against women are prosecuted.
“Women are being killed every day. What was Ozgecan’s fault? Taking a minibus to go home and to school?” says one protester at a march against growing gender violence and female homicide in Turkey.