In answer to a posting I wrote some time ago on Iran, I received this comment today from Maria Rohaly of Mission Free Iran. Rather than let it lie buried in the archives, I think it merits a separate and new post. Of interest is that Code Pink, Feminist Majority and N.O.W. have, as yet, shown no indication of support for Maria's group and their effort.
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Our organization (Mission Free Iran) is holding the feet of NOW, Feminist Majority, and Code Pink to the fire. House Resolution 1371 has echoed our demands to condemn the ascension of the Islamic Republic to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, and to actively work to remove the regime from the Commission.
I have asked each of these organizations twice now what their position is on HR1371, and none of them have responded. They will be held accountable for their refusal to stand up for women's equality.
Please feel free to join us in demanding that these organizations take a position on HR1371:
Feminist Majority: feedback@feminist.org
Code Pink: info@codepinkalert.org.
NOW's email form is here: http://www.now.org/comments.html Ask them about their position on HR1371."
June 22, 2010 5:32 PM
Gary Fouse said...
I'll do better than that, Maria. I will make your letter a post. Thank you for your efforts.
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So there you go, Maria. Will you keep us posted on your efforts and also on whether you get a response back from Code Pink, Feminist Majority and N.O.W.? I'll be glad to report that as well.
Good luck.
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9 comments:
A million thanks, Gary. We really appreciate the fact that you chose to post on this incredibly important topic. We will definitely keep you posted on how things turn out. They have until the weekend to respond to a final round of inquiries. If there is still no response, they will be dealt with appropriately on our site and from within our community.
Best,
Maria
You are welcome. I will also pass this over to Radarsite, Patriot's Corner, Conservative for Change and Alexandria.
Again, many thanks - we greatly appreciate your willingness to share our efforts. I think my appreciation is deepened because of my thorough disappointment in the unwillingness of some to address this issue.
It is a bankrupt politics to ignore the real needs and desires of people for dignity and freedom. Those fundamental human needs are threatened by the presence of the Islamic Republic on the UN Commission on the Status of Women. And those fundamental human needs are actually disparaged, belittled, rejected by those who refuse to take a stand against the regime on this issue. Besides being counter to their own interests (no woman benefits from the Islamic Republic setting gender policy at the global level) it is simply unacceptable.
Speaking now as an individual and not as a representative of my organization, I cannot help but suspect that these organizations assume at some level that because of their privileged position within the Global North, they will not feel in their day-to-day lives the consequences of their choice to ignore this issue. That blows all to hell any claim they might once have staked on being a flagbearer for women's solidarity, women's empowerment, gender equality, and fundamental human rights.
Maybe that's unfortunate, maybe not. It looks like revolution is everywhere, and so perhaps it is time that new approaches to working for women's equality are taken.
Anyway, thanks again, and I expect that by Monday we will have a new post up on this subject. :)
Best,
Maria
Thank you Maria,
I have always suspected that the true agenda behind these so-called feminsist groups is overall liberal politics and abortion rights. When true womens' issues conflict with that, then we all see which interests take precedence, don't we?
I won't repeat what I posted in response to the same message at Alexandria, but when someone says "this nation does not deserve a turn on this UN Commission" there should be more presented than the underlying common assumption that Iran is not nice to women.
I would like to see a case made like this:
First, go to the founding documents and stated principles and purposes of the Commission.
Second, detail specific policies of the Iranian government which directly violate those principles.
That would be a sound prima facie case.
I suspect such a case could well be made. But making it, in detail, would set a sound precedent for exactly why a nation should be denied a seat on a UN commission. Otherwise, we end up with a precedent that if someone with a sufficiently loud voice doesn't like the current government of a nation, then that nation can be denied a seat on a UN Commission. There should be more than that.
I think there probably is in this case. I don't mean "Iranian women wear chadors." That's a silly level of argument. I don't mean "Iran promotes female genital mutilation." That is not, in fact, part of Iranian culture. Everyone needs to do their homework.
Hi, Gary,
Just getting back to you on the question of whether American feminist organizations are going to be able to keep their designation as feminist. I don't think so. Neither the National Organization of Women, Feminist Majority, or Code Pink responded to either a formal email or to numerous tweets from members of the #iranelection community on Twitter regarding HR1371.
I have promised a critical open letter to these organizations, and such a letter is indeed forthcoming.
However, I have been a bit sidetracked in meeting that obligation. You see, the Islamic Republic has just moved two more women up to the front of the execution line.
This regime has imminent plans to bury Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani, mother of 2, up to her waist in the ground and peg rocks at her head until she dies.
Such a show of medieval barbarity is meant not so much to brutally punish Sakine herself (though it will certainly accomplish that if they are allowed to proceed).
Rather, following hard on the heels of the regime's recent crackdown on women's dress and behavior, its purpose is to terrorize Iranian women into understanding the importance of being as invisible as possible: check it.
Ahhh... just the kind of dictatorship ~*I*~ want setting global gender policy from a perch on the UN Commission on the Status of Women. :|
Here is the announcement for our Washington DC protest against Sakine's stoning death, which includes links to relevant pages: http://missionfreeiran.wordpress.com/2010/06/28/washdc-sakine/
There's a lot more on the site, including a heart-rending letter from her children translated into 10 languages, appealing for help to anyone in the world who will listen - begging for someone to stop the regime from stoning their mother to death.
Concurrently, we are also protesting the imminent execution (by hanging this time) of a female Kurdish political prisoner, Zeinab Jalalian, who is charged with joining an illegal anti-regime organization. Even if she actually did join such an organization (such charges are usually fabricated), well, um... can you really blame her?
And in case you were wondering, yes - we did notify NOW, Feminist Majority and Code Pink of the imminent slaughter of these women. Their silence has been deafening.
Take care,
Maria
Thanks for the update. I will make a new posting out of this.
Thank you, Gary. It is good to know that there are people who are willing to break the silence.
Best,
Maria
Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani's case is precisely the kind of data I was looking for. Thank you. I followed the link to Maria's site, and sent an email to the UNHCR, somewhat in the same vein as my comments here, leading up to why, yes, stoning a woman to death is indeed worthy of immediate action.
I have not written to NOW. I tried that once before, when I was still welcomed as a sensitive and intelligent pro-choice commenter at Gerard Nadal's site. I found his posting on links between abortion and breast cancer credible, and wrote to NOW to suggest that, without abandoning the sound conservative legal principles underpinning Roe v. Wade, perhaps they should take a look at steps to protect women from the implications, no matter who was slinging what facts how as propaganda for this "side" or that. I got back a boiler plate email inviting me to become a member, and I'm not even a woman.
Anyway, I wrote instead to a friend who, last I knew, IS a member of NOW, and perhaps she can pursue the matter, or, if there is other information I should consider, find out what that is.
However, I think ten children crying because a male-only militia is going to bury their mother in the ground and thrown rocks at her until she dies is pretty serious, no matter what other motives may or may not be at issue.
"Let he among you who is without sin cast the first stone," said Isa, who was highly respected by God's last and final prophet.
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