Women

From Bad to Worse and Beyond…

Discriminatory family law in Iran is on the brink of taking a few steps back! The “Family Protection Bill” passed swiftly and quietly during the first round of discussions of the legal and judicial commission of the Iranian parliament in July 2008, almost one year after it was drafted. Opposition to this bill has solidified one of the largest coalitions formed to protest a bill in recent years. An inclusive and strikingly diverse group of women activists, feminists, human rights defenders, as well as secular and religious groups (including some conservative women’s groups) are opposing this bill and demanding that the government take action to prevent it from passing through parliament for a final vote>>>

یرما: آبرونامه ی زنان جهان

دیشب نمایش یرما اثر فدریکو گارسیا لورکا را دیدم. پیش از رفتن به نمایش دلم می خواست چند کلمه در موردش بنویسم ولی کار و گرفتاری نگذاشت و برای همین موکولش کردم به نوشتن مطلبی به بهانه اجرای یرما. از اجراهایی که در آن یرما از صبح تا شب با لباس خواب جلوی چشمان خوان می چرخد تا او را به رختخواب بکشاند و باز هم تلاشی بکنند تا شاید بچه دار شدند خوشم نمی آید. از ویکتوری که هی مردانگی مذکر خود را به رخ تماشاچی می کشد خوشم نمی آید. از خوان قلدری که زنش را له و لورده می کند خوشم نمی آید. نکته ی شخصیت های لورکا در دوگانگی وجودی شان است. یرما در عین عفیف بودن پر است از امیال سرکوب شده. خوان در عین قلدری و سختی، شکننده هم هست. ویکتور دخترکش نیست، بلکه جفت مناسبی است برای یرما و آن دو خودشان این را نمی دانند بلکه ما هستیم که این را می دانیم و در خلال نمایش به آن پی می بریم.>>>

The last brave intellectual

Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s life is a narrative of sexual repression and gradual emancipation. She became who she is today (Time magazine listed her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world) by redescribing Islam and reacting against radical Muslims - real live people whom she had met in the flesh, not in the book. “I left the world of faith, of genital cutting and marriage for the world of reason and sexual emancipation. After making this voyage I know that one of these two worlds is simply better than the other. Not for its gaudy gadgetry, but for its fundamental values”, Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote in her autobiography "Infidel">>>

Something missing

Today and about three weeks after the conference, I am sitting here going through my notes and reading some reports of the conference, thinking something is missing. I see an empty space for a critical review of this lively and interactive conference, the 19th IWSF conference; a review which doesn’t lack the essence of critical thinking: a review that not only praises the strengths of this conference but also points out the ways to improve weaknesses for the future conferences. As a member of the audience, I was not drained of my previous education, studies and personal beliefs and biases >>>

تنها راه حل

استفاده از متد ِميشل فوكو (1984 ـ 1926) در بررسی مساله جنسیت و در امر حجاب احباری، چشم‌انداز نويني در نگاه فلسفی و جامعه‌شناسانه برویمان می گشاید. فوکو به خاطر نظریاتش درباره جامعه، سیاست و تاریخ از سرشناس ترین متفکران قرن بیستم است. فوکو جزو رهبران نظری پسا ساختگرایی و پست مدرنیته محسوب می شود. جهان خارج ‌از متن، خود بخودی فاقد معنا و حقیقت است. زبان، سخن و گفتمان، شكل‌دهنده واقعيات هستند و جهان خارج صرفاً از طريق زبان و سخن شناخته مي‌شود. قوکو نشان مي‌دهد كه نظام زبان تعيين ‌كننده فرهنگ و معناست. مضافا او نشان مي‌دهد كه چگونه كاربرد زبان يا گفتمان، همواره با كاربرد قدرت همراه است. نهادهای اجتماعي در چارچوب گفتمان، قدرت و کارکردهای اجتماعی خود را مستقر می سازند>>>

Not just about women

Mainstream feminists who promote the foreign policies of Western Patriarchy, should understand that there are Iranian women who identify strongly with the second Carmen. Their experience of oppression as the first Carmen works only to amplify their sympathy for the other Carmen. So they will not welcome anyone who regards their culture the way Bizet’s 19^th century audience may have viewed his gypsy woman: irresponsible, uncivilized, futureless, and deadly. These women have already peeled away the practical and ideological justifications for the US drive for hegemony—oil and freedom—to find nothing but the mad Don Jose standing over them with a knife. >>>

The place to be

Green liberation

Congratulations to Iranian women for achieving another milestone, the official inauguration of the first women-only park in Tehran, called Mothers' Paradise Park. Many Westerners might not know that women in Iran have been going to parks for centuries, however in the old days it was called bagh (garden), a place where they would go to have a good time (hal kardan). But, in recent history the word "bagh" has been changed to "park", which originally is an Arabic word pronounced "bark", which means the outer covering of woody stems and roots of trees and shrubs. In another word, it meant a landscaped place where people went to let their donkeys roam freely while they relaxed in the shades>>>

No dignity, no justice

While the global community marks the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with a year long celebration of “Dignity and Justice for All “ there is neither dignity nor rights or justice for women in Iran. On June 12th for the occasion of the third anniversary of National Day of Solidarity of Iranian Women, nine women's rights activists were arrested outside of the Rahe Abrisham (Silk Road) Gallery just prior to a small, peaceful assembly planned to commemorate the day. Aida Saadat, Nahid Mirhaj, Nafiseh Azad, Nasrin Sotoodeh, Jelve Javaheri, Jila Baniyagoub, Sarah Loghmani, Farideh Ghaeb, were arrested by Tehran security police along with photographer and reporter Aliyeh Mohtalebzadeh.>>>

Sunshine Sisters

Every performance is unique in its own way. The contact with the audience and between us musicians on the stage is what makes a gig special. And that changes from time to time. But we had a great time in Toronto last month so I wouldn't mind going back there again soon! ;)... Life as an immigrant has [taught] me not to be too attached to anything. It has forced me to search for strength in myself. It has made me become more realistic and emotional towards other people.>>>

خانه سازی در جنهم

نوشته است؛ "هر زنی که خود را بیاراید و خوشبو کند و از منزل خارج شود و شوهرش به این کار راضی باشد، خداوند برای هر قدمی که زن بر می دارد، برای شوهرش خانه ای در دوزخ بنا خواهد کرد"! فاعتبروا یا اولی الابصار! اگر مغز دانشمندی که این "حدیث" یا "خبر" یا "نقل قول" را ساخته، به اندازه ی مغز گنجشگ باشد، لابد فکری هم برای خراب کردن این خانه ها در جهنم کرده است! مثلن این که زن یا مرد، چه اعمالی انجام بدهند تا خانه هاشان در جهنم خراب شود، یا خانه ای در بهشت تدارک ببینند. وگرنه سرانجام چنین پروژه ای که "خروجی" هم ندارد، چه می شود؟ گیرم تمام تاریخ را ول کنیم و فقط همین 1400 سال اخیر را بچسبیم، با یک حساب سرانگشتی هم تعداد خانه ها در جهنم سر به خدا می زند.>>>

Why the cultural stigma? The jokes?

My parents made the decision to leave the Islamic Republic of Iran specifically because they wanted their daughters to grow up free. And by freedom, I mean the freedom to ride bicycles, the freedom to wear shorts, to swim in public pools and to play on the beach, the freedom to speak with boys, the freedom to speak our minds, the freedom to choose our careers, the freedom to succeed in life without the specific barriers created by an oppressive patriarchal hegemony, both in the public and private sphere>>>

Marriage at 10

It is said that in the slums of Zahedan, there are many houses where several families each occupy a single room in a house. There was an opportunity for us to enter one of these houses. The mother, sister, wife, sister-in-law, father and two brothers of the man who has asked us to go in, as well as several little children all live in a single room. One of the women is 27 and has a 12-year-old son as well as a little girl who is only a few months old. When I ask her at what age she got married, she replies: "At the age of 10!" And later other people tell me that in some of the towns in this region 10 to 11 is indeed the usual age of marriage>>>