BBC NEWS :
Presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi has vowed to review laws that discriminate against women in Iran if he wins an upcoming election.
Julie Menin: We Can't Turn Our Back on Iran
This week Obama proclaimed there was not much difference between Mousavi and Ahmadinejad in respect to Iran's relations with the US. With respect to women's rights, this is absolutely not the case.
Mousavi's platform has energized millions of young Iranians and brought them to the streets to engage in the most sustained campaign of political expression since the Iranian revolution.
In Iran's disputed politics today, appointing loyal hardline females to ministries does not translate into women equal rights. It is another cunning strategy by Ahmadinejad to fool the world.
Nadya Khalife: A Woman's Place, in Lebanon
Lebanese women won the right to vote in national elections 19 years before women in Switzerland. Yet political participation by Lebanese women remains dismal at the national level.
#iranelection - 2009 Iranian Election
MikVerbrugge : Insider : on the Independent Truth finding report
Mir-Hossein Mousavi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mir Hossein Mousavi Enters Iranian Presidential Race
Iran's Mousavi Becomes Third Key Politician to Announce Bid ...
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Pardon me if slightly off topic but this a lot to do with democracy movement in IRI, or more precisely, how to utterly sabotage it. Here's Jane Harmon on youtube saber rattling for 6 minutes: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x314450
Rep. Jane Harman calls ethnic separation of Iran “a good strategy”
"The Persian population in Iran is not a majority, it is a plurality. There are many different, diverse, and disagreeing populations inside Iran and an obvious strategy, which I believe is a good strategy, is to separate those populations."
- Rep. Jane Harman
[me again] The last thing we need is for some American official to call, openly no less, for the Balkanization of Iran. We need to get our war mongers on a leash and to let the Iranians work this out themselves. Not to benefit the rulers of IRI, but for the people who are struggling to change it. The good news is that Harmon was forced to retract her statement:
"I was not and am not calling for the creation of ethnic tensions or separation in Iran - nothing would be less productive," said Harman in a statement to NIAC. "Although my comments on Iran were taken out of context, I regret any concern they might have caused."
[me again] Listen to the 6 minute clip and see what you think of the context.
He sounds like a big improvement over Ahmadinejad. So I suspect he could be arrested and/or his candidacy invalidated sometime before the election. If by some miracle he does win, I think his influence will be seriously limited by the Powers That Be. I just don't see the mullahs ceding any of their power without a fight.
Politics are complicated there. It often has to do with your cred and who you know. I suspect the latter. His revolutionary bona fides are beyond reproach. I would suspect he'd face the same challenges Khatami did with such reforms. However; at this point, I'm worrying that Ahmedinejad will win reelection.
Sorry, this won't ever happen, sadly.
Finally. Lets hope for a good election result.
I hope this guy wins. What a concept -- get rid of the "morality police." Gotta wonder who came up with that idea in the first place. Gee, I bet it was a man.
Yup, I agree, and to add insult to injury they enlist the help of a lot of women: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1842911,00.html
only women can make this happen...only the women of the world have the power to change the world for the better....left to us ( men ) it will always be the same...or worse.
Congrats for your honesty. Really, men in general are such aggressive creatures. Always ready to tread on the weak. Women, in contrast, tend to protect the weak.
Believe it when I see it.
god love her, but I hope she has plenty of TRUSTWORTHY strong male bodyguards-----prime candidate for assasination----to be ordered, of course, by Armenijad the dirt farmer or the ayatollehs, etc.------this is why so many Iranian woman, if they can pull it off, come to or stay in U.S>-------we get mad at the U.S. ------but...........re: women it's head over heels better than so many countries-------
Good luck with that.
If Mousavi somehow manages to get elected, he will be constrained much like Khatami was during his presidency. The Guardian Council will deem any progressive legislation as unconstitutional and in contradictory to the tenets of Islam.
Interestingly, Mousavi is playing it safe by "vowing" to fight for women's rights. He isn't promising any particular results.
Precisely what I would have said.
It just seems the rigidity built in to the IRI form of governance works all to well to squash any real reform. Not that Khatami or Mousavi aren't sincere, but that they have no real power to create change.
...but there is a third player in this game, US... Iran is itching to enter the world stage economically. It sees what's happening in China, and India, and Iran is being left out. I'm sure there is tremendous internal strife (soul searching) amongst the mullahs. With a progressive thinking President with Obama on his side, and Europe, even without political power he would have an energetic power to push the country into a new direction... kinda what happened here with Marin Luther King. They need someone like MLK and things will change.
Remember the Iranians are not Arabs. Their history is far more similar to that of Europe than to anything Arabic. They are itching to join us their brothers on the world stage the way they always had in the past.
Anyone professing to change the laws to help women in Iran, Iraq, or Afghanistan and for that matter anywhere else that is primarily Muslim, has a very good chance of getting killed before the election.
I wish them well, but I don't see such change being possible.
Just as anyone professing to create a more just and racially equal society in the Sixties was killed: John F. Kennedy, Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Robert F. Kennedy....all "random acts" of "lone gunmen". And most Americans are still in denial about it; little wonder that, despite the election of Obama, many still don't believe real change is possible. The point, as always, is who are we to judge others?
I know you are kidding, you cant be serious
No need to bomb and "liberate" (occupy) them. They'll have their reforms on their own..
Bravo!
No need for US govt. to interfere at all really. But the Iranian people can only get to liberation by overthrowing the mullah-ocracy. They got rid of the Shah on their own, now they're in need of a second revolution.
I think gradual change might be preferable. In any case, the current system will not stand forever.
Karroubi's wife also partricipating in her husband's campaign? Has anyone seen a report and photos of that? where are news reporters?
My question to Mr. Mousavi is: You were Prime Minister for 8 years. What legislation did you initiate and what laws did your government change about women's rights that you are promising now?
Apparently, the Western media reporters are in love with Mousavi and refer to him as a "reformist" whatever that is supposed to mean.
"Karroubi's wife also partricipating in her husband's campaign? Has anyone seen a report and photos of that? where are news reporters?"
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jDD9Q1xNs5VIqwgzYINkyU2y5Upg
She's on this campaign video:
http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=Karroubi+wife+campaign&hl=en&emb=0&aq=-1&oq=#q=Karroubi+&hl=en&emb=0
He was a primeminister during the Iraq-Iran war that killed hundreds of thousands on both sides, only days after the Iranian revolution. I doubt they managed to think much about social issues at the time.
Don't be so negative Mollabaji! Look at the positives.
The entire world seems to be waking up. I just hope that women around the world don't think that like most women in the Western world, that liberation and freedom is judge by how sexually active you are and how skimpy you dress. One can be liberated and free and still be modestly dressed.
sfirx, So true. "Liberation in the Ameican mind is in fact being a sex object. Just look at all the sickening and degrading advertising from cars to beer to groceries.
Liberation is the freedom of the woman to do what she chooses to do. I doubt anyone held a gun to the women's head to put posters of them in skimpy or no clothes.
At least we American women have the freedom to liberate ourselves from that program. We don't have to buy into it. We can live our lives the way we choose.
The key word is choice. A woman should be able to choose to wear whatever she wants.
Absolutely! I live in Dubai, and on the one hand you see the women in their black abayas, hair covered, some even covering their faces. Living here, you are supposed to cover at least your shoulders, and your legs down to the knees. Most people do, but then you sometimes see the other extreme of people (mostly, but not only, women) dressing so skimpily that you cringe on their behalf. And the comment I often hear from locals about it? Seldom condemnation, but often a perplexed "Don't they respect themselves?" Or recently "She's so pretty, why does she feel she has to walk around naked for people to notice her?"
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First Posted: 05-31-09 11:44 AM | Updated: 07- 1-09 05:12 AM