Open Letter  to those who oppose the expulsion of proponents of the Islamic regime of Iran from the International Women's Day event in Toronto

As one of the founders of the International Campaign in Defense of Women's Rights in Iran, as someone who has struggled against the violent, misogynist regime, and as one of the activists of the radical movement for women's equality in Iran, which for more than two decades has defended women's rights in Iran, as I witnessed the expulsion of the Iranian regimes' information table in Toronto, I cheered those who supported this act as a step towards women's equality.

On the other hand, when I heard that a few members of the women's movement and political parties that support equality had protested against this act, to the point of boycotting the event that the Worker-communist Party of Iran had organized, I became saddened. Though I expected their support, I received their opposition, and I was disappointed. 

What is the issue?

Simply, a number of "proponents of women's rights" support the political presence at the March 8th event of a violent, misogynist regime that for twenty years, each day and each moment, abuses women's rights.  They support the presence of a regime that so far has arrested, tortured imprisoned and executed hundreds of thousands of women for violating Islamic standards.  The grounds on which they base their arguments is not important.  It is not important whether they defend the political presence of the Islamic regime of Iran by means of "defense of democracy", "anti-racism", because of the participation of a number of men in expelling the Islamic regime, and/or "anti-communist sentiments". 

It is a cause for disappointment that a number of the "proponents of women's rights" support the backward, anti-women propaganda and the countless crimes of the anti-women laws which daily sacrifice millions of women.  Not only do they support the regime, they also protest against those who do not tolerate such a regime. 

International Women's Day is an excuse used by the Islamic regime which exports spies and terrorists

We know and many of you know that the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), under the guise of cultural and political activities, has committed terrorist crimes.  We have witnessed the Mykonos trial verdict in Berlin and the arrest of tens of terrorists of the IRI in Europe who traveled under the identities of technocrats, businessmen, diplomats and politicians.  Opposition groups outside Iran can provide documents about these cases, for those who have not seen them.

For the majority of us political activists opposing the regime in Iran, each one of whom has lost tens of our relatives and comrades to the terror of the IRI outside of the country, it is as clear as day that the IRI can export spies and terrorists by any means necessary. 

Let us even say that the expelled group was simply a group of "Islamic women".  Do you know what literature and symbols were distributed at their table?  Do you know who had produced that literature?  On the table and surrounding it was propaganda and posters from the Ministry of Islamic Guidance and Propaganda, with the emblem of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as speeches of Khomeini.  The organizers of this table were the "sisters of Zeinab", a group that brutally enforces Islamic standards for women.  

What do you know about the status of women under Islamic rule?

Do you know the work of the Ministry of Islamic Guidance and Propaganda?  The ministry monitors, scrutinizes and controls people's religious beliefs, weeding out any ideological opponents from employment, education and other social activities.  Do you know that simply because they are women, women have been and are the first victims of this weeding process?  And do you know that in the twenty years of the IRI and its ideology from the Middle Ages, millions of peoples have the frightening shadow of this ministry over their heads every day?  Do you know that members of hundreds of thousands of Iranian families have been arrested, tortured and executed under the laws of this ministry?  Do you know the ministry's activities have resulted in the flight of millions of opponents and political activists from Iran?  And most importantly, do you know that millions of women and girls are still under the suppression of this ministry? 

And finally, do you know that protest against any of the literature on that table would in Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Somalia, result in torture and death. Many have been martyred for this reason in front of the firing squads of the Hezbollah brothers and Zeinab sisters.     

If you do not know any of this and your only source of information is CNN, if the news mafia is your only channel to the world of terror that the IRI has created for women, then you have reason to protest our action. The literature of the IRI and the ministry must be compared to Nazi propaganda and then judged.  This literature must be put together and judged with the propaganda of those who through Hitler's fascism defended gas chambers and killing of women, children, Jews, the elderly and disabled.  For those who have experienced the bitter taste of suffering, the table of the sisters of Zeinab and the IRI is a reminder of those who with tortured, bloody bodies and open scars were executed for protesting this literature and this ministry.

Maybe including the sisters of Zeinab and Islamic women defenders of the IRI, regardless of what they are saying and doing, adds one more color to the flag of protest of the "rainbow movements".  No flag is more progressive simply for having more colors and when those who support forced marriage of nine year old girls are included, it is backward and offensive.  Maybe inclusion of anti-women movements in this flag is easy if the intention is to show diverse colors rather than a radical platform to change women's world.  However, for those who lived under this crushing anti-women  pressure, their presence is intolerable.

For us opponents of the misogynist IRI, for the millions of women under the rule of gender apartheid in Iran, for us who have decided to gain the basic rights of women in Iran, the first and most important step in achieving these rights is the overthrow of the regime.  In our view, the beliefs of the Islamic women defenders of the IRI must be defeated along with the regime.  This is the sentence passed by millions of women and men who everyday demonstrate their protest to the IRI and its thought soldiers. This is the sentence passed by those, especially women, who have experienced the IRI, and who are aware of their own rights. It is as simple and clear as anti-racism and anti-fascism are for the western world. 

The difference is that a world larger than today's Islamic countries experienced Hitler's fascism.  It is for this reason that every vindication of Islamic countries by the west must be viewed within the racist framework of the "civilized" west against the "underdeveloped" world.  How is it that Hitler's fascism is unacceptable to the west but the Asian version is appropriate for the people of Asia and Africa?  This cultural relativism is the institutionalized racism that considers humans from diverse regions to have different human rights and human worth.  In our view, no one, including Iranian women, deserves to be under the yoke of Islamic rule. 

Where do you stand on women's rights?

Does it turn your stomach to see forced veiling of girl children, to hear about sexual abuse of girl children due to the legalization of marriage of nine year old girls?  Does the complete and enforced segregation of the genders in countries like Iran make you aware of the dimensions of violence of this anti-human act?  Can you defend the prohibition of joy and sex and the choice of dress for millions, young and old, as the sisters of Zeinab did on International Women's Day?  Is the oppression of women under the rule of the IRI defensible?  Are you or your daughters or sons ready to live for even an hour under the IRI?  Is this the extent of your struggle for freedom and defense of women's rights?  That which required the expulsion of the Islamic regime’s information table was the struggle for freedom and love of humanity. 

What caused you to protest against us?  The cooperation of several men in the action?  Defense of "democracy?"  Or gaining another color to add to your rainbow flag?  Which one? Is the women's movement so backward that the participation of progressive men in the protest against the Taliban's crimes against women in Afghanistan is rejected?  Can you reject someone who fights for social justice but happens to be a man, or a man who must face the firing squad for standing against female genital mutilation in Somalia, for raising women's awareness of their rights in Pakistan, or for protesting forced veiling and gender apartheid in Iran?  Does anyone in a progressive movement have the right to stand in the way because of the participation of men, to first identify one's gender and then judge her/him?  Which one of our sons is not worthy to defend the human rights of his mother and sister?  Attacking one's gender is a primitive and childish argument.  It accomplishes nothing but creating obstacles to serious change in women's status. 

Is the women's movements' sympathetic view toward religion, including Islam, so misplaced that while they see the IRI’s death sentence for sexual relations and murders for women's “promiscuity,” they turn a blind eye and defend Islamic women's rights.  Where is  your defense of the basic human rights of women and girls in Iran?  Everyday, millions of women in Iran express their opposition to Islamic laws by defying the restrictions of the dress code and other prohibitions.  With the excuse of “defending democracy”, you stand against this struggle and its demands and welcome the proponents of violence against women.

Opposition to the table of the sisters of Zeinab and the thought soldiers who are backed by one of the most violent regimes in modern history is a frank, clear defense of women's rights in Iran. Those who expelled the table defended the rights of women in Iran. And those who protest the expulsion are standing with the supporters of women's persecution in Iran.  There is no other choice.

Humanity is respected but not every belief deserves respect

We must stand against every backward idea.  Humans are worthy of respect, regardless of nationality, religion or race.  But not every belief should be respected.  Beliefs that are anti-human, anti-women, or against the poor, must be exposed and stopped. Those who support backward beliefs such as stoning, "an eye for an eye" punishment, and forced veiling, regardless of whether they are based on religious, cultural or political beliefs, must not be allowed to participate in any humanistic event.  We supporters of radical defenders of women's rights, wherever we can, with our united struggle with progressive movements, will be obstacles to the presence of proponents of women's oppression.  What will you do?  Will you stand with us or against us? 

Long live equality of women and men.

Long live equality of all people.

Soraya Shahabi

Activist of the International Campaign in

Defense of Women's Rights in Iran

March 24, 1998