E-ZAN VOICE OF WOMEN AGAINST FUNDAMENTALISM IN IRAN

June 15, 2005 VOLUME 13

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Volume 13, June 15, 2005, The E-Zan © 2005

In a large protest on June 12, 2005, Iranian women declared their demand for change insisting “democracy will not be possible unless full rights of women are recognized”.

The declaration outlines that the organized women’s movement in Iran will continue:

Until there is a ban on forced marriages; Until divorced women gain equal rights
for child custody; Until polygamy is banned and all temporary marriages, legal or
illegal, is totally abolished; Until violence against women ends and shelters are provided for run away girls and women; Until there are more options available to young women in their choice of life style; Until there is no more self-immolation of women because of their social despair and depression; Until there is a social safety net for poor and economically-deprived women and girls; Until there is democracy and freedom established in Iran.

The declaration refers to Iran’s constitution and emphasizes, “Legal rights is our minimum demand”. While outlining 25 years of anti-women laws in Iran’s constitution, the declaration refers to the inherent incompatibility between women’s demand for equality and the nature of fundamentalist regime. The declaration concluded that women would continue their anti-government protests until their demands for real change in Iran are met.

Women Forum Again Fundamentalism in Iran (WFAFI) applauds the brave women and girls of Iran who shook the misogynous system of fundamentalism in Tehran; WFAFI calls upon all freedom loving people of the world to come to the aid of Iranian women and echo their voice of change around the world. We urge you to ask your governments and representatives to boycott the anti-women regime in Tehran and support the women of Iran.

Thousands join women’s anti-government demonstration in Tehran
Iran Focus
June 12, 2005
TEHRAN – A protest that began with a gathering of dozens of women in downtown Tehran this afternoon drew thousands of anti-government protesters and streamrolled into one of the largest demonstrations against Iran’s clerical rulers in recent months. The protest began in front of Tehran University as a small group of women began chanting “freedom, freedom” and calling for a referendum on religious rule. The rally grew rapidly as thousands of local inhabitants and passers-by joined the protesters.

Hundreds of uniformed and plain-clothed security agents quickly circled the protesters to prevent thousands more joining their ranks. Agents of the notorious secret police, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and the paramilitary Bassij forces were ferried to the streets around Tehran University to disperse the demonstrators.

The mainly young protesters, many in their teens, defied the security forces’ assaults and chanted slogans against the upcoming presidential elections, calling it a masquerade. Cries of “Freedom, equality, down with dictatorship” could be heard at the scene, as protesters tore down campaign posters of all election contenders and urged passers-by to boycott the polls.

Protesters were able to break through police ranks in Enghelab Street and move towards Enghelab Square and then Karegar Avenue. Thousands had joined the throngs of protesters as they made their way towards Keshavarz Boulevard, destroying all election posters and placards on their way.

In a reference to gender inequality in the theocratic state, protesters chanted,
“Unequal law, Inhuman justice”,
“Human rights can only exist in a free Iran”, and
“Misogyny is the root of Tyranny”.

Security agents and paramilitary policemen were seen hitting women with batons. In some cases, angry women protesters retaliated and beat some of the security agents --- before being dragged to security forces’ vans and driven away.

By nightfall, sporadic clashes were still being reported in several streets near the main route of the protest.

Hundreds of Women Protest Sex Discrimination in Iran
By Nazila Fathi, The New York Times
June 12, 2005
TEHRAN - Hundreds of women staged an unauthorized demonstration in Tehran today, protesting sex discrimination under Iran's Islamic leadership just days before the June 17 presidential elections.

The protest was the first public display of dissent by women since the 1979 revolution, when the new regime enforced obligatory veiling. "We are women, we are the children of this land, but we have no rights," they chanted.

More than 250 marched outside Tehran University, and about 200 others demonstrated two blocks away after hundreds of riot police swarmed in and barred them from joining the main protest.

There were reports that the police clubbed several women...Demonstrators said they saw some women being detained and dragged away by officers…"

We will continue such protests because it shows that women are aware of their rights," said Roohi Afzal, 52, a translator who was at the protest. "It seems that our presence today really hurts the government, that it has deployed so many forces. Maybe it will react and respond to our demands."

The demonstrations were part of a recent push by women's rights advocates in Iran to draw attention to their cause during a time of relative tolerance by the government as it seeks to draw more voters to the polls…many advocates now say that they have given up hopes that any president could change their status under the current constitution.

And women are signaling that they are tired of being courted with promises of improved status that are quickly forgotten once the election is over. Some 89 women who had registered to run for president were rejected last month on the basis of their sex by the hard-line Guardian Council, dominated by six unelected clerics and six judges.

The move was greeted with outrage, leading to at least one call for a boycott, though it was carefully worded.
"As long as half of the population is banned from being elected as president, we declare that the regime must not expect women's high turnout," one group announced in a statement last week. Zahra Eshraghi, the granddaughter of the Islamic revolution's leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei, said in an interview this week that working on women's issues has been very difficult because women did not feel safe to criticize the laws. "There are certain things that are considered as crimes although the situation is gradually changing," she said. "For example it would have been very dangerous to talk about changing the constitution, or women's right to choose their dress. There can be no progress if women don't feel they are safe to express their demands."

However, the more tolerant condition that has appeared temporarily before the election has allowed women to express their criticism like never before. The mood was reflected in a meeting with a reformist candidate, Mostafa Moin, last week and another meeting this week.

At one of the meetings, Ms. Eshraghi said that candidates who promised to improve women's status must clarify how they could bring any changes as long as the country was ruled by Islamic law, or Shariah.

Iranian law stipulates that the value of a woman's life and her testimony in court are half those of men. Iranian men can marry up to four wives and have the right to divorce any of them at will.

A woman inherits half of the share her brothers receive and needs her husband's permission to work outside the home or to leave the country. Women are rarely promoted to high positions, and despite their relatively high levels of education, they make up only 14 percent of the government employees.

Mahboobeh Abbasgholizadeh, a feminist who was jailed last fall, said, "Women's rights will be fulfilled only when the constitution changes."

A group of women activists found the courage to force their way into the stadium to watch a soccer game between Iran and Bahrain on Wednesday for the first time since the Islamic Revolution banned women from watching games at the stadiums.

For four hours, they carried signs that read, "My right is also human rights," and "Freedom, justice and gender equality." "It wasn't that the security was not letting us into the stadium because of an order," said Parastoo Dokoohaki, one the women who was at the protest. "Every single one of them believed it was inappropriate for women to watch the game from up close."

Authorities were forced to allow the women in for the second half of the game after Ms. Abbasgholizadeh's leg was crushed under the gate.

Yet, candidates are aware of the role women can play in their election and have employed young, liberal women to campaign for them in a gesture that suggests they favor more freedom for women. Many of them work at the headquarters of leading presidential candidates, like Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Muhammad Baqir Qalibaf, a former police chief.

One woman who introduced herself as Tahereh, 22, wore a narrow pink see-through material over her head and had a piercing in her nose. She said she received 300,000 Rials, $33, per day to drive in her car around Tehran with Mr. Rafsanjani's poster on the rear window, though she is cynical about the result. "I do it for the money," she said. "He is responsible for the situation. Why would he change it?"