IPOs at lowest level since 2008; Rape of the world's largest democracy; Unpseakable truth about rape in India

1 IPOs at lowest level since 2008 (Lee Spears, Ruth David & Fox Hu in San Francisco Chronicle) Initial public offerings in 2012 slumped to the lowest level since the financial crisis as signs of an economic slowdown and Facebook's disappointing debut curbed demand and prompted companies to push back sales.

IPOs raised $112 billion worldwide in 2012, the least since 2008. Initial sales in Western Europe dropped to one-third of 2011's level, while concern about China's economy helped cut proceeds in Asia by almost half. US offerings raised $41 billion, little changed from 2011, as Facebook's IPO spurred a monthlong drought in US deals.

In the fourth quarter, IPOs in Western Europe grew more than fivefold from a year earlier to $5.71 billion, and US initial offerings increased 15% to $8.8 billion. First-time share sales in Asia fell by 46% to $10.9 billion. Globally, IPOs in the quarter edged up to about $32.4 billion from $29.5 billion in the same period a year earlier.

The annual global IPO tally declined for a second straight year as Europe slipped back into a recession, cutting the amount raised in the region by about two-thirds to $9.91 billion. In Asia, the biggest region for IPOs, proceeds fell by 43% to $46.7 billion. The US total barely eclipsed 2011's mark, even including the $16 billion Facebook issue, the biggest technology IPO on record.

2 Rape of the world’s largest democracy (Ashish Sewgoolam in Johannesburg Times) This post is a personal reaction to what I believe is one of the most heinous crimes of 2012. The rape of the world’s largest democracy. 

Now that the reality of India’s sick society has been brought to the world’s attention, the nation faces a plethora of resulting issues: Angry protesters storming the streets, the media exploiting the story for all its worth with Bollywood even getting involved and rival politicians making promises to garner support.

The problem is that in order to rectify this abomination, the Indian government needs to admit to having a problem and destroy parts of a millennium old culture that they think is virtuous and untainted. What they are choosing to ignore is that it is denigrating their culture by excusing the behaviour of sexually deprived, lascivious men. The culture of putting men on a pedestal needs to stop. The culture of female infanticide and treating women as inferior has to stop.

To conclude, let’s look closer to home, right here in SA. A girl gets gang raped and people stand and video it, then send the footage to one another. There is media uproar for a few weeks, then it's forgotten and everything carries on as it was. The sad part is that in SA we know that rape and violent crime is a problem, whereas in India it wasn't made known until a woman gets raped by 6 men, on a public bus, beaten with a steel pole, and then thrown from the moving vehicle into the middle of the city street to die. Then the nation (and world) take notice for a minute or two and start calling her "India's daughter". For shame.

3 Unspeakable truth about rape in India (Sonia Faleiro in The New York Times) India has laws against rape; seats reserved for women in buses, female officers; special police help lines. But these measures have been ineffective in the face of a patriarchal and misogynistic culture. It is a culture that believes that the worst aspect of rape is the defilement of the victim, who will no longer be able to find a man to marry her — and that the solution is to marry the rapist.

Change is possible, but the police must document reports of rape and sexual assault, and investigations and court cases have to be fast-tracked and not left to linger for years. Of the more than 600 rape cases reported in Delhi in 2012, only one led to a conviction. If victims believe they will receive justice, they will be more willing to speak up. If potential rapists fear the consequences of their actions, they will not pluck women off the streets with impunity. 

The volume of protests in public and in the media has made clear that the attack was a turning point. The unspeakable truth is that the young woman attacked on Dec. 16 was more fortunate than many rape victims. She was among the very few to receive anything close to justice. She was hospitalized, her statement was recorded and within days all six of the suspected rapists were caught and, now, charged with murder. Such efficiency is unheard-of in India. 

In retrospect it wasn’t the brutality of the attack on the young woman that made her tragedy unusual; it was that an attack had, at last, elicited a response.