A Call for Solidarity with Women in Iran
March on March 8, 2006
For Abolition of all Misogynic Laws in Iran
Dear friends,
On the occasion of March 8, international woman's day, the women of (Campaign for Abolition of all Misogynic Gender Based legislation & Islamic Punitive Laws in Iran) have planned a daring march which will start on March 4 from Frankfort (Germany) and end on March 8 in the city of The Hague (the Netherlands) in front of The Hague international court.
This march will bring together activists of Iranian women's movement in exile as well as hundreds of other Iranian men and women who have joined hands to protest 27 years of repression against the women in Iran by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The protest will strongly put forward the demand for immediate abolition of all gender based and gender biased legislation and Islamic punitive laws.
These laws criminalize women on the grounds of such simple normal habits of life as uncovered hair and un- Islamic clothing (anything except head to toe cover) in public, strolling in public with men of not blood relations or husband. These laws condemn to death by hanging or stoning unfaithful wives and (un-virtuous) women; they allow the father to marry off his 9 years old daughter; they give a free hand to men to kill their wives, siblings, mothers and daughters for matters of (honor). Women have to obtain an officially signed permission from husband to travel. Women are called half of men in matters such as witnessing in courts. Wives can be divorced unilaterally or can never obtain divorce if they want to. Abortion is illegal and a crime. Islamic judges can interpret all other matters not spelled in the law by relying on the sharia and their own interpretations by referring to books written by any Ayatollah (high ranking priest in Islamic hierarchy). These laws represent and impose a state of semi- slavery social relations on women. They have strengthened the already brutal patriarchal and male supremacist relations in the country. A vast apparatus of morality police is set up to keep an eye on women so that if they violate these medieval moral code of conducts they would be arrested and lashed, imprisoned or stoned to death. Welcome to dark ages in 21 st century.
After the overthrow of the Shah's regime and its replacement by this regime, the struggle of the Iranian women for liberation entered a new phase, which was launched on March 8, 1979 with the slogan of: (We did not Make Revolution to Go Backwards)! This was in defiance to Ayatollah Khomeini's call for mandatory veiling of women. In the last 27 years the women have resisted this oppression in many ways.
The struggle of women of Iran is against Islamic Republic of Iran but is not for any other center of power in the World such as the USA for example! This needs a clarification because the government of the USA proclaiming to be great democracy donor in the Middle East has called itself a liberator of the women of Middle East from the yoke of Islamic fundamentalism. This is a ridiculous claim which makes a mockery of what liberation is and is an insult to the women of the Middle East . If anybody had been taken in by this self styled liberator of the women of ME, the march of events in Afghanistan and Iraq have proven that he/she had been badly fooled. If still they believe that George Bush and his ilk are women liberators please talk to women fighting to prevent George Bush from taking away their right to abortion as well as dominating the Christian fascists on every aspect of the lives of women in the USA itself. What George Bush is taking away from the women in the USA will not deliver to the women in Iran , Iraq and Afghanistan or any other country.
A section of progressive people in the West who are against occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq by the US, for the fear of ending up on the same side with the US government hesitate to actively promote the struggle of the peoples of Iran and specifically the struggle of the women, against the Islamic Republic regime. This is exactly the trap that the US government has laid out for these progressive forces. The US government agencies have been cultivating a pro-US group of (Iranian women), (Iranian opposition), in order to give a lift face to the imperialist plans of the US . The only forces that can turn the table on them are the peoples of Iran and their genuine struggle against Islamic Republic of Iran. It is a fatal mistake to defend the reactionary states in the Middle East or reactionary Islamic fundamentalist groups in order to oppose the US imperialism. These forces all belong to the same category: anti people category.
The oppressed women of Iran , Iraq , and Afghanistan along with the oppressed women in other parts of the world are all part of the people of the world. We are all one people on the four corners of the world fighting to liberate ourselves from the injustices of this world. And it is the people of the world that we want to stand with us in our fight against the reactionary Islamic Republic of Iran.
We call upon you to support our campaign and the march that has been organized for March 8, 2006 and join us to make it a resounding victory. We call upon all progressive individuals and forces in the global anti- war movement not to hesitate to strengthen the genuine voice of the people's movement in Iran . The Bushite policy of (with us or against us) is aiming to polarize the peoples of world on the basis of parasitic interests of the US imperialism. In reality it is we the people of the world vs. them the imperialist powers and all reactionary states. The imperialists and reactionaries can sometimes have feud among them but let us stick together and polarize the political scenes in the interests of the peoples of the world. This is another global reason why it is important for the anti imperialist forces of the world to unite with the Campaign for Abolition of all Misogynic Gender Based legislation & Islamic Punitive Laws in Iran .
Celebrate March 8, 2006 with us and all Middle Eastern women in fight and help us to build the independent ranks of the women of Middle East against the US imperialism as well as the reactionary states governing these countries.
Sign the campaign form in solidarity in the underlying sites.
Contact us through e mails in order to coordinate for March 8, 2006
Help distribute this call to all organizations and individuals who would care to stand with us and strengthen our cause.
Let us know in advance in any special way you can contribute to the March.
zan_dem_iran@hotmail.com
www.karzar _ zanan.com
feb2006