'The rapist is you!' feminist protest song debuts in Catalan

It has become an anthem in feminist protests against sexual aggression and rape culture all over the world since 'Un Violador en Tu Camino' (A Rapist in Your Path) was first performed by protesters in Chile at the end of November.

After the anti-rape protest song went viral online, it has been performed in public in its original Spanish in countries across Latin America and Europe, such as the UK, France and Spain, including in Barcelona.

As the catchy song has spread, it has been translated and performed in other languages, taking for its title one of the key lines: "The rapist is you!" One of those languages is Catalan, with 'El violador ets tu' performed for the first time last week in Vic.

Dozens of women gathered in two main squares in Vic to perform the song in Catalan on December 8, while the capital of Osona county held its medieval market. Since then, other places around Catalonia have joined in.

At the weekend, it was the turn of Catalonia's southern provincial city of Tarragona, where feminist protesters came together in the plaça de la Font main square to give a rehearsed rendition of 'El violador ets tu.'

The song written by Lastesis, a feminist theater group from the city of Valparaíso, has its own dance moves that people have learnt from online videos, while the protesters have taken to wearing blindfolds while performing it.

Other places in the country where the Catalan version of the protest song has already been performed is the western provincial city of Lleida, and the city of Badalona, which is located on the coast north of Barcelona.  

The song is based on the theory that sexual violence is more of a political problem than a moral one, and the lyrics accuse institutions, such as the police and the judiciary, of upholding systematic violations of women’s rights.