Woman power (in Iran)

by generaldecay | June 23, 2009 at 09:52 am

276 views | 59 Recommendations | 17 comments

Women in sunglasses and head scarves speaking through megaphones, brandishing cameras, carrying signs. When they first appeared, the photographs of the 2005 Tehran University women's rights protests were a powerful reminder of the true potential of Iranian women.

Honestly (and I admit I am very tired this evening) I'm not sure where the author is going with this piece but I thought that, despite that, it made some good points. They are:

In the United States, the most Americo-centric commentators have somberly attributed the strength of recent demonstrations to the election of Barack Obama.

...

But the truth is that the high turnout was the result of many years of organizational work carried out by small groups of civil rights activists and, above all, women's groups, working largely unnoticed and without much outside help.

Yes, this is true. Recent high numbers in public protests are not the result of a six-month long presidential period (fan as I am of Obama) but rather the fruits of tireless efforts of the oppressed through many years. Which leads the author (I think) to the following point:

Not Obama... but years of work and effort lie behind the public display of defiance—and in particular the numbers of women on the streets. And their presence matters. For at the heart of the ideology of the Islamic republic is its claim to divine inspiration: The leadership is legitimate, and in particular its harsh repression of women is legitimate, because God has decreed that it is so. The outright rejection of this creed by tens of thousands of women, not just over the last weekend but over the last decade, has to weaken the Islamic republic's claim to invincibility in Iran and across the Middle East.

I think that the author is trying to say that women in Iran are finally getting a voice and that, perhaps more importantly, men in Iran are having to listen to them. However, her conclusion is that this seems to be resulting in [even more] violence towards women. And that this violence is the Iranian elite's (read: men's) way of combating this new found power, which they find threatening to their status quo.

The Iranian clerics know that women pose a profound threat to their authority: As activist Ladan Boroumand has written, the regime would not bother to use brutal forms of repression against dissidents unless it feared them deeply. Nobody would have murdered a young woman in blue jeans—a peaceful, unarmed demonstrator—unless her mere presence on the street presented a dire threat.

I'm more inclined to think that the women of Iran have a lot more difficult ground to tread before it can really be said that they've made much progress in fighting against their oppression in Iran but perhaps this is a good start. I certainly like the notion that their new-found 'power' is giving Iranian oppressors something to be afraid of but I'm not seeing a great deal of evidence of that yet. Yes, the jury is still largely out on this one.

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amyjudd

at 12:01 on June 23rd, 2009

I'm glad you posted excerpts from this piece here, I think it's important to remember that Iran has been doing their own thing for quite some time and that no one else can take credit for that.

Roy C

at 16:23 on June 23rd, 2009

Second that.

These are the next generation of the Iranian students that were everywhere in Berkeley on scholarship from the Shah while they complained about him.

I can guarantee that the mothers wanted an end to the Shah's corruption while the daughters have an even bigger problem that came from what they both would never want: an "Islamic revolution" where they became permanent second-class citizens.

generaldecay

at 22:48 on June 23rd, 2009

Thanks for the comment, Amy. And I agree. Attributing everything to Obama (or Twitter?!) is minimising the very important efforts of Iranians for many years.

cyn.khoo

at 12:28 on June 23rd, 2009

I saw this piece, too! Glad you decided to cover it.

That's a really good point, Amy. I hope, after this is all over, that people don't just look back and think Westerners or Western technology "saved" Iran, and take away agency and credit from Iran and those within the country who had been fighting and organizing for themselves all along.

generaldecay

at 22:49 on June 23rd, 2009

cyn.khoo, indeed. And as I said to Amy, agreed. I think it's wrong that the West tries to minimise the efforts of Iranians in this very difficult fight.

Thank you for the recommendation and comment.

albertacowpoke

at 13:37 on June 23rd, 2009

The Iranian people are doing this all on their on and good on them. They know that they are on their own in this and all they need is our moral support. Let freedom reign.

generaldecay

at 22:50 on June 23rd, 2009

Albert, thank you for the recommendation and comment.

I fear you may be right that Iran is on its on with this situation, despite protestations from the West that it is supportive of Iranians and admonishing of abuses.

mudricky

at 14:14 on June 23rd, 2009

Thanks for sharing this story - it needs to be shared.

generaldecay

at 22:51 on June 23rd, 2009

You're welcome, mudricky. And thank you for the recommendation and comment.

djermano

at 16:00 on June 23rd, 2009

Seems to me that it was I who wanted a woman President in the USA....and everyone trampled me into the dirty pavement. Just what does the US have that Iran doesn't at the moment? Certainly not a woman as our leader. Its still sheer hypocrisy by the US.

Rev.

L-S (not verified)

at 17:57 on June 23rd, 2009

were are the women top leaders in China, in that so undemocratic nation, and with all eyes on Iran only the London Telegraph covered the mass riots in China last week-end.

According to Malcolm Moore, the Telegraph's Shanghai Correspondent tens of thousands rioted in the small city of Shishou in Hubei Province. The riot was started when the police killed a 24-year-old man and tried to cover it up as suicide.

Other bodies have since been discovered?

Roy C

at 16:25 on June 23rd, 2009

Really. So, unless the leader is a woman, you are an oppressor. Well, then, if your personal leader a woman, Rev.?

djermano

at 16:10 on June 24th, 2009

I am just saying that we have never had a woman President in the US. Does that mean the US is lacking in human rights for woman? In the same vein...because we voted for Obama, does it mean the US is a less racist now? Perhaps there is no litmus test really to a nations leadership to how the rest of the country actually is. All I know is I would never vote for Madeline Albright, but she is a woman.

Most people think woman are less violent, and that is a trait most men don't seem to have. Reasonable good people believe change happens more affectively without violence. ..

Men dominate because they are the bigger species, and stronger gene.....but that means nothing in education, or woman savvy.

Paschen

at 17:38 on June 23rd, 2009

Iran has always bee blessed or cursed with a very involved and politically active population in general and it has a history of popular uprisings and coups or revolutions.

It also has an incredible discrepancy between the City and the Rural area.

The Capital does support this uprising for the most part, however not so in other towns and villages that do support the Government.

Al-Jazeera has a very different take on the events in Iran and is looking at it from both sides.

BTW, it is not all rosy with Man or Woman, in WWI the Male lead Workers Unions through out Europe wanted Workers to unit against war, where as the Woman especially in Italy and Germany supported their rulers and would have nothing to do with the pacifist Workers Union. Leon Blum who was rallying many Male workers and students behind him was assassinated in Strasbourg giving a speech for peace and unity.

His worst opponents was not the French Government, but Woman groups in Strasbourg.

Humans are not saints, may that be Male or Female, once they are given power they tent to turn into monsters. See Margaret Thatcher.

jazzyzazzy

at 22:56 on June 23rd, 2009

Good luck to these women.

lucknawab

at 10:13 on June 24th, 2009

There are so many fake video uploaded on internet on 22nd and 23rd June 2009. in a same ways as few months back , they had uploaded flogging video. All is propoganda of anti Iran. we all knows who is chasing Iran.