As a follow-up on my previous posting on HR 1371, I have received the below update from Maria Rohaly of Mission Free Iran, who is trying (up-to-now) unsuccessfully to obtain support from the major feminist organizations in condemning the ascension of Iran to the UN Commission on the Status of Women
"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
June 28, 2010 6:24 PM
Gary Fouse said...
Thanks for the update. I will make a new posting out of this.
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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."
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That's par for the course for our feminists in America who are studiously ignoring any human rights issues pertaining to women in Muslim societies.
Won't touch it.
5 comments:
Choice of photo for this post was spot-on. :) I actually chortled for the first time all day. Thanks again, Gary.
M.
Glad to be of service. Keep us posted.
The Sakine Mohammadi Ashtiani case is exactly the kind of data I was looking for. Yes, that sounds like a direct violation of the founding principles of the commission on the status of women.
If this were a matter of protesting to the government of Iran, I would have a bit of sympathy with NOW. After all, for NOW in America to send a protest telegram to Tehran is sort of like the time the Communist Party of Northern California sent a telegram to the government of South Africa protesting apartheid. Who's listening?
But, a UN post... that's more like presenting the "We Charge Genocide" petition from several thousand African Americans to the United Nations in 1948. One always hopes that at the world body, someone will be willing to listen. The country committing the wrong doesn't have the last word on judging itself, do they? Isn't that why there's a security council? Isn't that how the UN is supposed to not be so toothless as the League of Nations?
Imagine giving Poland a seat in 1935 on a League Commission for the Protection of Jews.
Dear Gary,
The whole world is coming out against the stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani case - even CNN: http://missionfreeiran.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/cnn-news-sakineh1/
But despite being invited to join us, no one from Feminist Majority showed up. No one from NOW showed up. No one from Code Pink showed up in DC to protest the stoning of Sakineh, or the hanging of another woman, Zeinab Jalalian. Or the stoning of two other women we've just learned about in Tabriz prison, also at imminent risk of stoning.
No regime that stones women to death has any right to sit on the UN Commission on the Status of Women, and now is the time to complete the delegitimization of that regime by demanding its removal fro that Commission. I think Sakineh would agree.
Yet, when I checked each of their websites this afternoon, not a single one mentioned the UN Commission on the Status of Women. There was not a peep about the stoning of Sakineh.
CNN has had over a million hits on this story alone on their site. The stoning of women matters to people. People care about this, and their hearts break for Sakineh and her kids. Any feminist organization that fails to respond to human concerns that affect women disproportionately won't survive long as an organization.
The clock is running out for women's organizations to stand up for women in Iran. It's a countdown to obsolescence. In fact, the clock may already have run out.
Best,
Maria.
Thanks Maria,
I will post this as an update. It's a troubling story both in Iran and here.
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