 How sweet it is
Shirin Ebadi's triumph over fanaticism
By Jamshid Charmchi
October 20, 2003
The Iranian
Before the Noble Committee's historic announcement,
I had only heard of Shirin Ebadi once before. I had
seen a picture of her in a book dedicated to
groundbreaking Iranian women. Ebadi was of
course, Iran's first female judge. There were many
other firsts in that book, such as first in flight and
first in parliament. However, the picture of the
female judge had an undeniable air of authority and
dignity that was hard to forget.
I was sad that the
regressive misogynists who seized Iran, forced her
from the bench since they deemed women to be too
emotional and hysterical to make rational decisions
(ironic given their own poor decision making
capacity).
But, as it turns out, while they silenced her gavel,
they could not silence the force of her intellect.
They could not divert her from her courageous battle
against the draconian fundamentalist laws, laws that regard
women as half a man in court, laws that essentially keep women
in perpetual childhood,
always at the mercy and whim of a man.
Ebadi
is a Persian lion, her words a fierce roar against the
injustice and brutality that has gripped her beloved
land. Each stroke of her pen is a blow against the
tyrants who shudder like cowards behind old and tired
slogans. Her selection as Noble Laureate is a major
strike at a defunct ideology, whose supporters have no
real faith.
I am referring to fundamental Islamists
of course, who having failed to achieve an Islamic
Utopia (but having come close to an Islamic Hell),
cling to empty symbols such as veils and beards as
their only accomplishments. Ebadi said it best, "instead of telling
women to cover their heads, we should tell them to use their
heads."
How
sad that
people in power can't accept good advice even when it
is blaring at them from the four corners of the world. The Noble
Committee's decision to honor Ebadi
brings to the world's attention the epic battle
currently underway in Iran. It forces the outside
world to take note of the aspirations of the Iranian
nation for democracy and human rights. It challenges
the ugly stereotype of Iran as a backward society,
filled exclusively with religious zealots and bigots
at war with progress (and the rights of women).
It
reinforces Ebadi's contention that secularism and
plurality are not just for the privileged minority of
the world's inhabitants who live in Western societies,
but rather are the inalienable birthright of all humanity. By
extension, it also undermines the
ridiculous contention that the 1300-year-old tribal
laws of Arabia can be blindly applied, without a
modern interpretation, to today's Iran. And
lastly it challenges the contention that Islam and
democracy are incompatible, when they are not (it is
dictators hiding behind the guise of religion who are
at odds with both God and freedom).
My heart is filled with joy and pride at the thought
of a modern, eloquent Persian woman who has once more
attained a first and who by the force of her will and
unshakable conviction has forced the world to stop and
take notice of her and the cause she espouses -
equality for all before the law.
I am equally proud
that she emphasizes her Persian-ness to the chagrin of
the Arabist mullahs who are more interested in
emulating the Arabs' rough tribal ways and
promulgating the defunct theory of religion based
states rather than promoting Iran's unique identity. Ebadi's
existence gives them much to fear for she represents everything
they loath; modernism,
secularism and the emancipation of women from the
shadow of patriarchy..
The AFP estimated that 10,000 people showed up at
Tehran's Mehrabad Airport to greet their champion,
upon her return home. I am inspired by their courage
to walk past the batons of the regime's security
forces and the clubs and chains of its hooligans (many
of them Arabs imported from Iraq, Syria and Lebanon),
to welcome home a person who has the interests of her
country at heart.
I am encouraged by the change that
the new generation symbolizes. While their parents
cheered home a regressive old man, schooled
exclusively in medieval thought, (who turned the
country upside down and sent close to 1,000,000
innocents to their graves with false promises of
paradise), this generation has welcomed home a hero
who epitomizes what Iran can become if it is allowed
to utilize the potential that it harbors; a modern and
secular democratic state at peace with itself and the
world.
I hope that Shirin Ebadi's example continues
to inspire those who languish inside Evin prison (such
as Ahmad Batebi) and the many other dungeons the
regime operates. I hope that the self-serving
dictators realize that their days of oppressing the
people of Iran (and particularly its women) are
numbered. They must amend and reform or be prepared
to get swept away- but in that event, at least they
will have a fair and educated female judge to hear
their case!
"Time and circumstance are imposed on us,"
Ebadi once carved with a spoon handle into the concrete wall of
her prison cell. And yet how we choose to confront
our fate rests with us. This is her ultimate message.
Silence and passivity will get us nothing, while
confronting fear and oppression with the force of our
intellect, will strike fear into the hearts of the
terror mafia pillaging Iran. Sooner or later the walls
of the prison will fall because of people like Ebadi and the countless others
who have offered the ultimate sacrifice, so that criminal, reactionary
thugs will not defeat modernity and progress. This
prize is for all those patriots who have so selflessly
subjected themselves to government-sponsored terror,
imprisonment, torture, and even death, so that Iran
would live.
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How sweet it is