And yet the point is so well made.

1/1/03:11:24:13 AM PST    

We, Iranian Women, Will Not Be Tread Upon

More than twenty-three years ago, the 'regime of the oppressed' was supposed to bring the promised Paradise to Iran. The return of 'honor' had been promised to the group of fundamentalists that cried 'horror' for being 'dishonored' because their daughters- instead of staying at home- were commuting on the streets between school or work and home, without the black covering of the chador or veil, and with the clothing of their own choosing. To this end, the mullahs of the Mosque sermons and the bankrupt political fundamentalists proposed the thesis of "Rule of the Oppressed." Thus, the groundwork was laid for those who, despite having higher levels of academic training, due to their fundamentalist beliefs, had been shunned from the community of free-thinkers and from the political scenes to give their allegiance to the fundamentalist mullahs and control the destiny of a nation in their hands.

Circumstances had allowed this group to follow their own fundamentalist beliefs without having the slightest inkling what the wants and needs of the Iranian community were in those days: a community whose one and only desire was political freedom. In pursuing those fundamentalist ideologies the fundamentalist allegiance quickly mobilized and destroyed all the social, cultural, and economic freedoms that the Iranian nation had acquired throughout history: all taken away in the name of religion with deceitful lies.

The enemies of civilization made the women their first target and their enmity with women went so far that their incompetent governance managed to show their capabilities by policing the hair of six year old girls. The educated and fundamentalist- yet non- mullah- President appeared on TV and announced that women's hair should be covered, because rays from the women's hair will target the men! It is thus that by covering the hair of Iranian women, they first covered their own incompetence; unaware that after [23] years, the same six year old girls of those days have now risen to demand their lost rights despite all the propaganda that these unwise rulers have spread to justify their laws. [The ruling fundamentalists should be told]: For [more than 23] years, you fundamentalists have stepped on the people's proverbial throat. You disregarded women's rights and with all your might you tried to keep half the nation out of society- to not hear their voices-unaware that these very ladies are nurturing this country's children. How could you have thought that by taking away people's rights you could create a strong society? Unwise ones, do you remember when you would compare the Iranian girls and women to Fatemeh [the Prophet's daughter] and Zainab [Fatemeh's daughter], thus lying that you were giving her a high place? What happened? Why are you making them 'Chaste Houses' [, government controlled prostitution houses,] today? Are not these youth of today the small girls of yester-year that you praised so excessively? How is it that you have made drug addicts out of the children of these women? How is it that our countrywomen are being sold [literally] in neighboring countries? Till when are you to be the proverbial companion to the caravan and partner with the thieves? You gave away our rights in the Caspian, was it not enough? You plundered our oil, was it not enough? You stole what rightfully belonged to the nation and turned your shacks to castles, was it not enough? Now, you are eyeing the Iranian women. You put the Iranian women on sale next to the islands of the The Greater Tonb, The Lesser Tonb, and Abu Musa and you debate the price with foreigners. Your contemplations are dead wrong. Whatever you may have taken away from us during these years, you have not taken away our burning desire for freedom. Even those women who sell their bodies have sent their cries for freedom beyond the boundaries of your tyranny: They have said how they are forced to sell their bodies to feed themselves, to have a roof for their children to sleep under. They sell their bodies to stay alive, for there is no other way left. Stay alive so at the right opportunity they can reclaim the rights you have stolen from them: to avenge the addicting of their sons, the spilled blood of their husbands, and the compromised borders of the country. And the time is soon. The pedestals of the proverbial throne of your injustice have been badly shaken by the same oppressed women. Open your eyes: we are the very same freedom-loving women who were pilots, attorneys, physicians, teachers, and mothers. The mothers of Sattar Khan and Bagher Khan, and the mothers of all the children of this land. It is we who next to our children will again destroy your castles of tyranny with our cries for justice and will take back the throne of power you have been sitting on through force and with lies.

We will destroy your courts of injustice and replace them with justice. We will build again our ravaged country and will replace today's indignities with our proud accomplishments; for, the hands of the Iranian women have rocked the cradle of freedom and have nourished freedom-lovers.

December 30, 2002 (9th Dey 1381)

The "Student Movement Coordination Committee for Democracy in Iran" (SMCCDI)

1/1/03:7:59:26 AM PST