International
Women’s Day must be a global response to Islam and all gender based violence!
Just imagine an image of a women who is covered in
hijab, her face and body bruised and burned by acid, and it will only capture part
of the struggle faced by women today. From the rise of the most reactionary
force in human history, ISIS, to the continuing increase in gender based
violence in countries such as Turkey and India: women’s struggle is truly
global in scale. In a direct relationship with the rise of reactionary
ideologies such as political Islam, there has also been sharp increase in
attacks on women. Without a doubt the growth of patriarchy via religions such
as Islam will only mean the continuous assault on women’s rights and freedoms
now and into the future.
Today’s struggle in the Middle East is against reactionary
forces such as ISIS and Al-Qaida as well Islamic government in Turkey and Iran
who want nothing less than to wipe away women’s presence from all social,
political and economic activities. In Afghanistan, a country that was recently emancipated
from the tyrannical rule of the Taliban, women continue to be marginalized in
politics with only 20% representation in the Afghan parliament. In this
country, after years of war, school aged girls still live in daily fear of
attacks only for accessing their very basic human right to education. Turkey,
under the Erdogan administration, has seen a dramatic rise in both domestic
violence and sexual assault against women, which is a result of Erdogan’s AKP
party attack on Turkish secularism and his pursuit of Islamification of Turkey.
The recent rape and murder of a Turkish female student is a testament to this.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the principal contributors
of gender violence against millions of women in Iran. The Islamic republic of
Iran is a regime that has consolidated its reign by restricting women from many
spheres of social activities. With the imposed hijab and gender based laws, the
Islamic republic wants nothing less than to domesticate women and reduce the
access of this 50% of the population from their very basic human rights and
freedoms. Despite the relentless state sanctioned repression, women of Iran
stand as a revolutionary force. Any struggle against Islam laws such as the
refusal to wear hijab, listening to music, and even dancing, is an attack on
the Islamic republic of Iran. Any step
towards the emancipation of women in Iran is a direct revolutionary step
towards the end of the Islamic republic and the freedom for millions of Iranian
women.
The aim of the current women’s struggle against
patriarchy, religion, domestic violence, sexual assault and gender based
violence was captured and underscored by a recent FEMEN demonstration in Paris:
stamping upon the black flag of ISIS. The fight against ISIS, religion and
Islamic states is a women’s rights struggle. Women’s revolution today is
represented by nothing less than a global united voice against reactionary
regimes, forces and ideologies. In this fight, FEMEN who are an international
vocal advocates of women’s rights, are standing along with the brave militant
women of Kobani who risk their life in the battle for basic 21st
century human values. As one Kobani women explained: “They (ISIS) are fighting
to die, while we are fighting to live! This is why we will be victorious!”
The
Communist Youth Organization of the Worker Communist Party of Iran is standing
side by side with women in Iran, the Middle East and the world. We as an
organization say No to Islam and to all gender based violence both state
sanctioned and otherwise! Our organization underscores the importance of
understanding that Islam and all religions, from the so called “peaceful” monks
in South Asia to the Boko Haram fighters in Africa, in line with systemic
gender inequality within capitalism, are the principle propagator of the
oppression, humiliation of women and the degradation of women’s rights and
freedoms! We must take a strong stance against the growth of Islam in the West
that is propagating attacks on women and regressing the hard fought for gender equality
rights. The only way to restore our human dignity is to take significant steps
towards building a secular society where women are free from all reactionary
ideologies as well as wage slavery. Together let us build a society free from
imaginary deities and systemic inequalities, where human rights and freedom are
actualized reality and are not just paper proclamations. We are the future and
the future is socialism!
Communist
Youth Organization
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