The despicable Fars News Agency has printed yet another misogynist cartoon against unveiled women. This is part and parcel of the pressures exerted on women and girls in Iran day in and day out. Anti-woman propaganda, coupled with threats, arrests, fines and brute force by the Hezbollah herds of the Islamic regime of Iran are the order of the day. Even though veiling is compulsory in Iran, ‘improper’ veiling and the removal of the veil are widely used forms of protest.And every day the regime issues new directives to push women back into the private sphere. (What wishful thinking!) Recently the regime announced that women could no longer enter tea and coffee rooms. Here’s a sign posted at one such place:
No matter how much the regime tries to push back the unfolding revolution in Iran, which is very much a female-led one, it just can’t manage to do so. This movement is bringing the regime to its knees.In this wonderful song of Algerian women’s protest against Sharia, they ask: Judge, Why are you afraid of me?
The resistance of women in Iran and elsewhere shows exactly why the regime and Islamism are afraid of women…
And the pro-Islamists have the nerve to say the veil and Sharia law is ‘our’ culture!
Good post although its silly to claim that there is a coming revolution; the short lived green movement were not trying to overthrow the regime.
http://chroniclinghate.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/iran-the-apologist-myths/
I agree with Avicenna. Conservative people argue that we have to keep traditions alive, but a lot of traditions change for a reason – more often than not, the ones that change drastically or are lost completely tend to be ones that are harmful to other people.
I will say though that a lot of people in England (the EDL and BNP come straight to mind) would like nothing better than to enforce dispicable racism, in the name of "patriotism".
The veil is part of your culture, just like the purdah is part of mine.
The thing to remember is that not all culture is good. My culture includes things like Purdah (the hindu equivalent of the burkha which is dying out) and included things like Sati which has thankfully died out for the most part.
What we have to remember is that culture is meant to change with the times and not all of the past culture is good. Otherwise british culture once involved sailing to foreign lands and sticking a flag into them and machine gunning anyone who disagreed with the flag.
It's changed for the better because it rejected it's religious roots and it's endemic racism and it's colonial view points.
The 'Singing for Change’ song and accompanying video is so encouraging.
Unfortunately, women and gay people are always the first victims of fundamentalism, whether political or religious. It therefore makes sense that they are the first to resist it.
They shouldn't have to be alone on the frontline though and thankfully because of efforts such as yours, Maryam – and others – they are not.
Can I just leave this link for your regular readers?
You may be aware of it. It is the AWID publication 'Towards a future without fundamentalisms'.
It is a very concise publication and it helps the lay person – like myself – make sense of religious fundamentalism, how and why women are at the forefront when it comes to resisting it, and what we can also do to assist such efforts.
http://www.awid.org/Library/Towards-a-Future-without-Fundamentalisms2
Again, all the best.
martyn