FMF Interns: in Solidarity with the Women of Iran

On Tuesday, June 23, summer interns stood in solidarity with the protesters of Iran in one of the largest Los Angeles demonstrations since the election results in Iran. This demonstration continues to take place near UCLA.

Sidewalks are filled with flags, signs and people wearing green (a symbol of peace and the signature campaign color of Mir Hossein Mousavi). Hundreds of individuals, many of them Persian, crowded the intersection, chanting both in Farsi and English. Drivers honked and gave peace signs in solidarity.

Above: FMF and Ms. Interns, Marianna Nash, Eva McKend, Jenna Leahy and Anita Lederer (left to right).

Feminist Majority Interns showed their support for Iranian women by holding signs which stated, “We stand in solidarity with the women of Iran.” One woman in particular has become a hero to us and the world. Her name is Neda Agha Soltan. Militiaman shot her in the chest during a protest on June 20, a murder which was caught on tape and posted internationally on the internet. She has become a symbol for this fight for freedom.

By now, most have seen the powerful images of Iranian women fighting for their ideals alongside men; their presence has become an integral part of Iranian protests. Nayereh Tohidi, chair of the Gender and Women’s Studies department at California State University, Northridge observed, "Women have become primary agents of change in Iran.”

In a country where the laws of divorce, polygamy, custody, inheritance, and crime are grotesquely biased toward men, women still have far to go in a quest for freedom. Sixty-three percent of college students in Iran are women, yet it is almost impossible for women to access public sector jobs. Therefore, as one demonstration sign said, the current Iranian protests are “not about an election, but a revolution.”

Since 2006, the women’s movement in Iran has been building with demonstrations and international petitions. The One Million Signatures Campaign was created in order to bring attention to women’s discrimination in Iran and to petition Iranian Parliament to revise their current gender-biased laws. The Campaign uses face-to-face and international campaigning to demand reforms in divorce, marriage, polygamy and guardianship. Since the beginning of the campaign, many women have protested in the streets, as they are now.

JOIN THE ONE MILLION SIGNATURES CAMPAIGN NOW!

One Iranian protester declared, "I see lots of girls and women in these demonstrations. They are all angry, ready to explode, scream out and let the world hear their voice.” Mavis Leno, chair of the Feminist Majority Foundation’s Afghan Women and Girls Campaign, alluded to this passion on Larry King Live on Monday, June 22. In the name of freedom, Iranian women are pushing their headscarves back, allowing their faces, anger and fervor to be seen.

Women are taking an active role in the streets of Tehran to demand equality. Their perseverance and bravery continue to inspire us across an ocean. It was an honor to demonstrate in solidarity with them.

STAND IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE WOMEN OF IRAN. SIGN THE ONE MILLION SIGNATURES CAMPAIGN NOW.

Download Mavis Leno’s Appearance on Larry King Live for free with itunes:

For more information, please visit these sights:
http://bitchmagazine.org/post/twitter-women-and-protest-in-iran
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/5596869/Zahra-Rahnavard-takes-leadership-role-in-Irans-opposition-movement.html
http://ncr-iran.org/content/view/6544/1/

20th anniversary of Tiananmen Square protests

It's been one heck of a week. We're so glad same-sex couples in New Hampshire won the right to marry yesterday. We're still working to ensure the safety of abortion providers across the country in the wake of Dr. Tiller's assassination.

And we want to mark the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing, in which Chinese soldiers killed hundreds of peaceful pro-democracy demonstrators.

The Chinese government has not acknowledged the crackdown or the victims, and information on the massacre is not readily available in China. A generation of young Chinese men and women know little to nothing about the quashed democracy movement. The BBC interviewed several Chinese in their teens and twenties on their impressions of the Tiananmen Square protests, and their stories are sad, and powerful. The government is trying to erase history.

Of course, government censorship will not succeed in suppressing our memories and distorting our social history. Today, a vigil in Hong Kong commemorating the killings drew an estimated 62,800 Chinese citizens and activists.

The folks that gathered have not forgotten the bullets and armored tanks the authoritarian government unleashed into the crowded square. The international community will not forget the protestors' courage, optimism, and activism of that turbulent spring in 1989.

We hope Chinese activists will keep working for a more honest, transparent, responsive, and humane government. We need U.S. and other foreign leaders to hold Beijing accountable for its past and present human rights abuses. If we do not, then we too should be prepared to share responsibility for these state-sanctioned abuses.

Photo credit: Jeff Widener/AP

Anti-Choice Protests Expected at Obama's Notre Dame Speech

Anti-choice activists opposed to President Obama's invitation as the University of Notre Dame commencement speaker are expected to protest his speech and honorary degree this Sunday.

Decried by some as a scandal, President Obama's visit has come under attack by anti-choice activists for his beliefs, and subsequent actions as President, on issues of abortion and stem cell research.

Although many students have rallied in support of his visit, Terry Randall and his Truth for Society and Justice organization plan to "make a circus" of President Obama's visit with graphic signs and arrests. While others are planning several peaceful prayer vigils, Terry defended his group's actions saying, "If Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks had played by the rules that these kids are proposing, Barack Obama would still be on the back of the bus."

Despite his attempts to remove the anger sometimes found in dialogues between pro-choice and anti-choice activists by discussing ways to reduce unintended pregnancies, Obama's invitation to speak at Notre Dame has reignited the debate.

Obama is expected to address the controversy during this Sunday's speech. What do you think he will say? Will his remarks reflect his pro-choice position on abortion or will he take the politically correct route and stay clear of fanning the flames? And where do the 2009 Notre Dame graduates fit into all of this? Is a graduation commencement the place for political action?

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Joe Raymond