There Can Be No Freedom Without Equality

CHRR-In anticipation of 8 March, International Women’s Day, a group of Iranian women’s rights defenders have issued a statement reiterating their resolve in fighting for their equal rights and have declared Tuesady 8 March as a day of protest. For their safety, the name of signatories inside Iran will not be made public. The statement reads as follows:

There Can Be No Freedom Without Equality

March 8 is International Women’s Day; our ‘Day’ in the name of equality and freedom. This year, March 8 coincides with one of the first Tuesdays selected as ‘Protest Tuesdays’ by the Green Movement in Iran. Yet, it is another March 8 for us women who face the most brutal and unjust violence by the police and security agents every year on this day, for the mere mentioning of the most basic human rights of women.

Unlike in some other countries, in Iran, March 8 is not a day to celebrate women, to send them flowers and join them in joyful celebrations. Rather, it is a day of peril filled with intimidation, threats and violence. It’s a day to protest.

For years we have heralded the message of March 8, shouting or whispering, in the backrooms of our homes, on the corners of city-parks, behind closed doors of an auditorium, and eventually, in more visible public spaces and in the streets. We have said ‘No’ to discrimination and we are paying a high price.

We have not just gained experience in fighting against discriminatory laws which remain unchanged. Rather, we have penned a history in which obedience and silence are no longer considered values ; a history which teaches its new generation resistance against violence and teaches women and men to say ‘No’ in the face of oppression and cruelty; this is a history where every page is an on-going and tireless struggle for a better life.

We, a group of activists of the Iranian Women’s Rights Movement, stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with the women and men whose voices flow in the streets of our cities, and in-line with Shirin Ebadi, the Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate’s statement, repeat the warning: lest the outbreak of political episodes of the day push our ever-justified demand for “equal rights” to the shadows of oblivion!

So, on this day, alongside our brothers we fill the streets and support the collective demand because we believe “equal rights can never be realized without a democratic government.”

We stand shoulder to shoulder with our sisters in Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon… who like us are singing the song of gender equality today. We stand:

As one unified voice with our sisters whose protest, even on International Women’s Day, is silenced with brut force;

As one unified soul with the women paying the high price of freedom with every minute of their lives behind bars;

In solidarity with bereaved mothers who have lost their children in the path to freedom;

On behalf of the women and girls who have lost their lives for saying ‘No’ to cruelty;

With empathy for women and girls who have no legal protection against patriarchal prejudices that lead to honour-killings and, As the voice of silent women who are victims of violence, we will make the streets our own and we know our equality-seeking brothers will stand in solidarity with us.

Freedom and elimination of all kinds of discrimination be it in the law, tradition or culture, has been our demand all along. Many of our sisters and brothers are in jail because of their thoughts and beliefs. Freedom of all prisoners of conscience has been one of our demands all along. We believe that no law can secure justice and democracy unless it embraces equal rights in its every article. For this, changing the discriminatory laws is our starting point towards democracy, gender equality and civil rights for all people in our country.

Until that day, every 8th of March will be our day of protest.