Resolution of the Campaign for Abolition of all Misogynist Gender Based Legislation & Islamic Punitive Laws in Iran
8th March 2007
No to
Islamic Republic! No to Imperialism! Another world is possible.
8th of March is
the manifestation of the presence of the conscious, protesting and
interventionist woman in determining her own destiny. This day
symbolises the
solidarity and struggles of women against all forms of gender based
oppression
and exploitation in the international arena. That is why we have
gathered here
today to raise the voice of millions of women oppressed by the medieval
rules
of the Islamic Republic regime in Iran and to echo the protests of
hundreds of
thousands of women dispersed and made homeless as a result of an
aggressive
imperialist war in Iraq and Afghanistan. A war, which imperialists have
the
audacity to claim it is in the interests of ‘human rights’. We are
gathered
here today at a sensitive, critical time for the Middle East and
internationally.
We are here at a juncture
when the situation in the Middle East has strengthened the conditions
for the
imposition of the New World Order through aggression and war. All this
at a
time when Iran’s Islamic Republic regime is adamant in encouraging
conditions
of war and crises in order to prolong its fragile and decaying
existence.
We are gathered here to
declare that the 28-year rule of the Islamic government in Iran has
produced
nothing but widespread social devastation such as abject and universal
poverty,
mass unemployment, drug addiction, aids, prostitution, self burning,
stoning to
death, honour killings and the destruction of all human values. The
regime’s
conquests include repression, torture and rape and execution of women
political
activists, especially in the early 1980s.
Let the memory of those brave women live on!
We
are gathered
here to pronounce that the radical section of the women’s movement,
together
with progressive forces are seeking to create a third pole. We are
against war,
any form of sanctions, velvet revolution or any other form of
imperialist
intervention. We condemn Imperialism and at its pinnacle, US
imperialism and we
will fight against it with all our strength.
We are gathered here to
declare that we defend the rights of women (including Iranian women) to
travel,
divorce, choose their clothes and control their bodies. We support the
rights
of women to abortion, equal pay for equal work, unemployment insurance,
the
right to set up independent organisations and equality in all economic,
social
and political fields. We demand unconditional right of asylum for women
who are
forced to leave countries under Islamic regimes, as a result of
gender-based
discrimination and because of their gender.
In other words we are calling for the emancipation of women and
that of
human kind.
We are gathered here to
proclaim that for liberation and for achieving our aims, we are seeking
another
world; a world free from hunger, addiction, prostitution, death by
stoning,
hejab (head cover), misogyny, discrimination and exploitation. We are convinced that the material conditions
for the realisation of our demands are more favourable than ever before
because
of technological advances and development of productive forces.
We
are gathered
here to announce that the creation of such a world requires the
widespread
participation of women’s social movements; movements that will reflect
the
basic demands of the majority of women, i.e. workers and toilers. That is why we emphasise the necessity of an
alliance with all other social movements and in particular an alliance
with the
working class movement. We believe that
the women’s movement and the working class movement are strategic
allies
fighting for the abolition of any form of class and gender based
oppression and
exploitation. In order to strengthen
this alliance, the women’s movement must not only strive to support the
equality seeking struggles of the working class, but it must also
embark on a
serious struggle against patriarchal beliefs and attitudes in various
ranks of
the working class.
We condemn the continuous
aggression of the Islamic regime in Iran against women activists and
call for
the immediate and unconditional release of all such activists.
We support the current strike
by Airbus workers in Germany and call on all of you to support their
nationwide
strike.
Once
more we raise our voices with the slogan:
No to Islamic Republic!
No to Imperialism!
Another world is possible.
Statement of the Campaign
for
Abolition of all Misogynist Gender Based Legislation & Islamic
Punitive
Laws in Iran