On the occasion of 8th
March 2006
8mars no.14
This year we are celebrating
international womens day with a difference. We are coming together from many countries all
over the world and travelling from Germany
to The Netherlands. We have fought
against anti-women Islamic Republic laws for more than a quarter of a century.
Now, we, the Iranian women, are ready to take on the struggle for the
liberation of the Iranian people. And we call on you to join us in this.
For over 27 years, the regime has turned
life in Iran
into hell-on-earth for women. Daily, thousands of women have been publicly
lashed, for the crime of inadequate veil. Hundreds of women have been stoned to death for adultery. Any talk of
womens right to divorce weakens Sharia (Islamic Law). But
women have always been resisting these laws and have now become a serious force
of opposition.
Today with Bush and Co. beating louder
than ever on the drums of war with Iran, and with the Iranian
government hiding behind anti-American slogans, raising our independent voice
of struggle is ever more important. The US
and its European allies try to use Irans terrorist and nuclear threat as a
pretext to turn Iran into
another Iraq.
But we have not forgotten that the terrorists ruling Iran were imposed on us by those
very terrorist-breeders. We have not forgotten the consenting silence of the
Western governments and their oh-so-democratic media, when Khomeini was
executing the voices of revolution and freedom. We remember too, that when
Iranian women were facing insult, blade, acid and lash to assert our right to
chose what to wear, the western statesmen and media prevented our cries from
reaching the world. They excused themselves by condoning it as part of lranian culture. Meanwhile, economic and military contracts
were being signed behind closed doors.
Today the Bush regime and their European
allies, on the one hand, and the Islamic Republic, on the other, try to
convince everyone that we have to choose between neo-liberal slavery and
Islamic fundamentalism. But we know that these two are not mutually exclusive
and we have seen them cohabit. We boldly declare that we do not need saviours like the invaders of Afghanistan and Iraq. We know that another world is
possible and that we cannot get there with the help of the oppressors.
The women of Iran are
standing up and challenging one of the most oppressive and anti-women regimes
of our times.
Join us, stand with us, so that the
world can see that we are not alone in our struggle against the anti-women laws
of a medieval regime.
Join us, because our victory for
equality is a step forward in the women of the worlds struggle against oppression and for
equality.
Join us, because only together can we
walk towards a world without oppression or exploitation.
8 March Womens Organization (Iranian Afghanistani)