We the signatories of this statement,  refuse to separate our opposition to U.S. imperialism and any imperialist war drive on Iran,  from our support for the progressive and revolutionary  social justice struggles of Iranian women, workers and oppressed minorities against their regime.

Statement from a group of international socialist feminists in solidarity with Iranian women’s struggles

February 10,  2018

As socialist feminists,  we support  the courageous Iranian women who have been taking off their headscarves in public to express their opposition to the compulsory hijab in Iran.   Since December 27, dozens of women have taken off their scarves in public places and have been arrested or temporarily released after posting heavy bails.

These brave women who believe that wearing the hijab should be a matter of individual choice without any imposition from above,  reflect the wishes of a majority of the Iranian public  according to the Iranian regime’s own polls.

In fact, since December 28, 2017,  a wave of popular protests and strikes has been spreading throughout Iran in opposition to the Islamic Republic.  These protests have included broad sectors of the Iranian working class,  women and men, mostly young,  and have  been preceded by and continue to involve protests and strikes by employed and unemployed workers,  students, teachers, healthcare workers, retirees,  the dispossessed, political prisoners and the families of political prisoners.   They include members of various oppressed national minorities such as Arabs, Kurds and Azaris as well as persecuted religious minorities such as Baha’is.

The latest expressions of opposition to the compulsory hijab by individual women have been not only part of this new wave of popular protest, but  also part of a four-decade long resistance by Iranian women against the Islamic Republic,  and  for civil rights and  human rights.  Despite severe repression,  Iranian feminists have expressed themselves  through novels, blogs, websites, group discussions and  translations of works by international feminists.

Some socialists,  inside and outside Iran,  have belittled the  protests against the compulsory hijab as “liberal feminism” and “not radical enough.”  In the words of a seasoned socialist feminist inside Iran however:  “Today,  Iranian women need freedom from headscarves, full veils or any cover.  They need the civil rights that they have been denied.  Once the expansion of the demonstrations leads to the realization of these freedoms. . .  the struggle can go beyond them and become the beginning of women’s struggle against the reification of social relations.”

Almost 40 years ago,  Tens of thousands of  Iranian women throughout Iran, marched and protested  for five days from  March 8 to March 12, 1979 to commemorate International Women’s Day and  to say no to Ayatollah Khomeini’s order to make the hijab compulsory and  abolish the limited rights which the family protection law under the previous regime gave them.   Those brave Iranian women who had participated in the revolution against the repressive regime of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi,  chanted:  “We Didn’t Make a Revolution to Go Backward.”

At that time, some Iranian socialist men supported the women’s protests.  However, most  Iranian socialists and socialist organizations opposed the protests and called on women to stop their marches and sit ins because they were “diverting” the struggle from the main goal of opposition to U.S. imperialism and the monarchy.

International leftist feminist, Kate Millett, and  socialist and Marxist feminists like Claudine Moullard, Leila Sebbatt, Simone De Beauvoir, Raya Dunayevskaya  however, reached out to Iranian women with statements of support, articles,  or in the case of Millett and De Beauvoir’s colleagues,  actual fact-finding trips to Iran to meet and March with Iranian women.    They recognized the importance of women’s protests against the compulsory hijab  and the women’s liberation struggle in general as an effort to deepen the revolution and challenge Khomeini’s drive to impose a counter-revolution.

Today, we the signatories of this statement,  refuse to separate our opposition to U.S. imperialism and any imperialist war drive on Iran,  from our support for the progressive and revolutionary  social justice struggles of Iranian women, workers and oppressed minorities against their regime.

We too are suffering from rising authoritarianism,  right-wing populism, and neo-fascism in the U.S., Europe, Russia, China,  South Asia, Africa,  Latin America, Australia as well as whole of the Middle East.

In the West,    hard fought women’s rights  in what have been  known as “ liberal democracies”  are under severe attack.   At the same time,  the new “Me Too Movement” against sexual harassment and sexual assault is growing , and targeting  the abuse of women in all spheres whether government,  academia or the arts,  corporations or factories,  service sector jobs or the family.   African American women who have always experienced the triple oppression of racism, sexism and capitalism continue to represent the most radical dimension of women’s struggles.

Given the global nature of the assault on women,   it is extremely important for women who oppose capitalist imperialist patriarchy, misogyny, racism and homophobia to come together and link our struggles  to find a  new direction forward  and to develop  an alternative  humanist way of producing, living, organizing  and relating to our fellow human beings and to nature.

Toward this aim, we salute our Iranian sisters and reach out to them in solidarity.  We call on others who agree with this statement to join us in this effort.

Signatures:

If you wish to add your signature below,  please contact the Alliance of Middle Eastern Socialists at [email protected]

Abraham	Ammu	*	India
Afary	Frieda	Alliance of Middle Eastern Socialists	USA
Afary	Mona	Psychologist	USA
Afary	Janet	Professor of Religious Studies and Feminist Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara	USA
Afshar	Said	Iranian Journalist	Europe
Ajlyakin	Sara	Syrian activist	Brazil
Akhtar	Nazia	New India Fellow – 2017-2018, Hyderabad, India	India
Anandhi	ShanmugasundaRam	Professor, Madras Institute of Development of Studies, Chennai , India.	India
Angeliki	Valsamaki	teacher, member of the Network for Social and Political Rights,	Greece
Anuradha		*	India
Ardalan	Parvin	Iranian Feminist Activist and journalist,  Europe	Europe
Asadi	Leila	*	USA
Asadpour	Roya	Member of the Swedish Left Party	Sweden
Ashrafi	Parvin	socialist activist and translator, Canada	Canada
Axletree		student, Marxist feminist	China
Ayoub	Joey	Founder of Hummus For Thought Regional Editor at Global Voices Online for the MENA region	England
Aziz	Joana	Anarchist activist and feminist writer	USA
Azizi	Arash	Writer	USA
Barker	Lou-anne	*	Australia
Bhaiya	Abha	*	India
Biesecker	Adelheid	University of  Bremen, Germany.	Germany
Bo	Chan	Chinese Marxist	China
Bruck	Dorothy	Emeritus Professor,   Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia	Australia
Burmeister	Gayle	former organiser for the National Union of Workers,  and longtime women’s rights activist,  Australia	Australia
Burte	Aruna	*	India
Cal	Elenda	*	Spain
Chakravarti	Uma	*	India
Chan	Shaun	Marxist feminist	Hong Kong
Chang Qi	Wei	Chinese college student(marxism-leninism)	China
Chelliah	Lalitha	socialist feminist unionist	Australia
Chenxing	Zhang	feminist	China
Chi Leung	Lam	revolutionary socialist	Hong Kong
Collins	Joan	member of the Irish Parliament	Irland
Cruise	Maureen	Registered Nurse Health Care & Social Justice Activist	USA
Daou	Bernadette	*	Lebanon
Dasgupta	Rajashri	*	India
Datar	Chhaya	*	India
Dehghan	Mahtab	*	Europe
Dehkordi	Sara	Manjanigh collective, Germany	Germany
Dewan	Ritu	President, Indian Association for Women’s Studies, Vice President, Indian Society of Labour Economics.	India
Di	Wang	Queer and Worker’s Service Center(volunteer),Marxist Feminist.	China
Epstein	Barbara	Professor Emerita, History of Consciousness Department, University of California, Santa Cruz.	USA
Erika			China
Eveleth	Ann	writer and activist, member, Anti-War Committees in Solidarity with the Struggles for Self-Determination	USA
Feng	Shuning	Stony Brook University, left-winged non-partisan	China
Ferguson	Ann	Professor Emeritus of Philosophy &Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Univ. of Massachusetts Amherst	USA
Flatschart	Elmar	University of Vienna	Austria
Friar	Red	Athlete,Marxist feminist,bisexual	China
Galyon	Shiyam	Syrian American feminist and campaigner	USA
Ghazzawi	Razan	Syrian Palestinian scholar and activist, Europe	Europe
Gilbert	Helen	Radical Women: A Socialist Feminist Organization	USA
Golkar	Niloofar	Political Science PhD student, York University, Toronto	Canada
González	Ana Isabel	anthropologist, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina	Argentina
Guizhen		student	China
Hale	Sondra	Research Professor,Anthropology and Gender Studies, Univ. of California, Los Angeles	USA
Haug	Frigga	Professor Emerita in Sociology and Social Psychology, Univ.  for Economics and Politics, Hamburg	Germany
Hawk	Victoria	lesbian	China
Hawk	Gloria	lesbian	China
Hayati	Malihe	Iranian women’s rights activist	Europe
Hensman	Rohini	writer and independent scholar	India
Hill	Monica	Managing Editor of the Freedom Socialist,Voice of revolutionary feminism	USA
Hilt	Kathryn		Australia
Holmstrom	Nancy	Prof Emerita Philosophy, Rutgers University, USA	USA
Hongxv	Fei	graphic designer, undergraduate student, Levellers	China
Hosseinzadeh	Sima	feminist-activist, social researcher,   Toronto	Canada
Husky		student, feminist,pansexual	China
Irani	Sholeh	Journalist	Sweden
Irelia	Im	Student	China
Juarez	Elizabeth	Latina Feminist and Independent Activist in U.S. and member of Feminicidos en Mexico: Esta Es La Verdad Que Se Oculta (Femicide in Mexico: This is the Hidden Truth)	Mexico
Katrinaki	Sylvia	college student, member of the Red Fractal collectivity	Greece
Katsimatidou	Chrysa	trade unionist in the field of retired bank employees – editorial team of elaliberta	Greece
Kazu	Kusumoto	Japanese ttransboy,  Volunteer at Beijing LGBT Center, Intern at Beijing Gender, group member of BCome and Japanese translator of QAF Chinese site.	Japan
Kerala	Maya S		India
Keyan	Hau	communist, internationalist	China
Kidwai	Ayesha		India
Kjerst	Grinde		Norway
Konstantina	Doganou	College student, member of the Red Fractal collectivity,	Greece
Koskosi	Efi	trade unionist teacher, editorial team of elaliberta	Greece
Lilith		social worker with focus on sexual issues	China
Lily		doctor	China
Lin	Sang	Maxist feminist, Postgraduate	China
Liu	Yaxuan	Marxist feminist, genetic nihilism	China
Liu	Chihyen	Secretary of Queer and Worker’s Sercives Center, Gay, Feminist	China
Liu Yan	Gian	Student	China
Luozhi		feminist, support Iranian women’s movement	China
Lyu	Shiyao	Chinese Revolutionary Marxist	China
Mahloujian	Azar	writer	Sweden
Majed	Rima	Sociology professor	Lebonon
Maki	Chnoor		Sweden
Maki	Sheler		Sweden
Manchanda	Rita		India
Masjedi	Fati	Researcher	Netherlands
Mehra	Madhu		India
Melabianakis	Zetta		Greece
Meng	Sixie	founder of LGBT Equal Rights Board ,Marxist feminist, gender Queer	China
Ming	Xue	Trotskyist Feminist in China	China
Moein	Yasamin	Master student, Human Rights Law, Istanbul Bilgi University	Turkey
Momo		Trotskyist feminist in China	China
Moon	Terry	Managing Editor, News and Letters	USA
Mos	Athena	sketcher, former trade unionist in the press, member of OKDE -Spartakos	Greece
Mrie	Loubna	Syrian civil rights activist and journalist	USA
Mukherji	Rina	Independent Journalist/Academic researcher	India
Murphy	Robynne	Chairperson,  Jobs for Women Film Producers Group,  Australia,	Australia
Nasser	Afrah	Yemeni journalist and activist	Sweden
Nikpour	Zahra	*	Italy
Paranjape	Swatija	*	India
Paranjape	Swatija	*	India
Patrícia	Trópia	Professor, Social Science Institute, University of Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil.	Brazil
Pennell	Miranda	*	UK
Pervyi luch	Klub	NGO organizer	China
Phadke	Sandhya	*	India
Politi	Leda	postgraduate student of Art History, Aristotelio University of	Greece
Price	Susan	Co-Convenor, Socialist Alliance, Australia	Australia
Radical	Women	A socialist feminist organization	USA
Ramachandran	Vimala	*	India
Räthzel	Nora	Umeå University, Sweden	Sweden
Ren	TianXiang	student ,Trotskyist-Feminist	China
Rezaei	Roghayeh	Researcher, and activist in the field of Women in the Middle East	UK
Rizzo	Mary	translator-activist and blogger, Italy	Italy
Rosas	Trece	agrupación de género de Razón y Revolución	Argentina
Roshanaei	Nassim	Journalist	Europe
Roueiha	Fouad	Syrian-Italian journalist	Italy
Ruo-ming	Gao	Student	China
Salleh	Ariel	University of Sydny	Australia
Samanpour	Morteza	Researcher and Translator, Europe	Europe
Schyman	Gudrun	Party leader, Feministiskt Initiativ/Sweden	Sweden
Seelhoff	Cheryl	Writer and activist,   U.S.A.	USA
Shen	JiaLe	Student	China
Shora	Shehla Rashid	Philosophy student	India
Shuang	Hua	Marxist feminist	China
Shurmand	Azadeh	Women’s Studies Scholar, Europe	Eurppe
Socialist Forumn		*	Lebanon
Team of Elaliberta		trade unionist teacher	Greece
Thessaloniki		Thessaloniki	Greece
Tohidi	Nayereh	Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Director of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, California State University, Northridge, USA	USA
Tree		Lesbian Feminist	China
Tully	John	Honorary Professor, College of Arts and Education, Victoria University, Melbourne	Australia
Vandekerckhove	Ashley	grassroot feminist activist and student Master Gender and Diversity	Belgium
WeSpeakOut		*	India
Xianglong	Liu	member of Sunflower LGBT in Hangzhou,Marxist Feminist.	China
Xiaohe	Luo	Queer and Worker’s Service Center(secretary) , Marxist Feminist, gender Queer，Chinese translator of Socialist and Gay Liberation(SWP.1995)	China
Xin	Chi	Chinese Trotskyist	China
Yao	Wesley	Student	China
Yin	Suhe	college student ,Marxist sympathizer ，support of socialism and the feminist movement	China
Yubai	Cheng	Chichao reading club, Marxist	China
Yucheng	Yang	Chinese Marxist Feminist, MLMist.	China
Yunxue	Suxia	Chinese Trotskyist	China
Yuval-Davis	Nira	Professor Emeritus, Cemtre for Migration, Refugees and Belonging, University of East London. X Nira	UK
Yuyang	Zheng	Student	China
Zekavat	Sina	anti-War Committees In Solidarity with The Struggles for Self-Determination	USA
Zhanghao	Wu	Marxist Feminist	China
Zuur	Cheryl	former President, American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees, Local 444, U.S.	USA

 

Turkish Translation:

https://catlakzemin.com/uluslararasi-bir-grup-sosyalist-feministten-iranli-kadinlarla-dayanisma-bildirisi/T

Greek Translation

https://www.elaliberta.gr/%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%B5%CE%B8%CE%BD%CE%AE/%CE%BC%CE%AD%CF%83%CE%B7-%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%AE/4127-%CE%B4%CE%AE%CE%BB%CF%89%CF%83%CE%B7-%CE%B1%CF%80%CF%8C-%CE%BC%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CE%BF%CE%BC%CE%AC%CE%B4%CE%B1-%CE%B4%CE%B9%CE%B5%CE%B8%CE%BD%CF%8E%CE%BD-%CF%83%CE%BF%CF%83%CE%B9%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CF%81%CE%B9%CF%8E%CE%BD-%CF%86%CE%B5%CE%BC%CE%B9%CE%BD%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CF%81%CE%B9%CF%8E%CE%BD-%CF%83%CE%B5-%CE%B1%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%B7%CE%BB%CE%B5%CE%B3%CE%B3%CF%8D%CE%B7-%CE%BC%CE%B5-%CF%84%CE%B9%CF%82-%CE%B3%CF%85%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%AF%CE%BA%CE%B5%CF%82-%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85-%CE%B9%CF%81%CE%AC%CE%BD

Spanish Translation

https://floresendaraya.com/2018/04/06/declaracion-de-grupo-de-feministas-socialistas-internacionales-en-solidaridad-con-las-luchas-de-las-mujeres-iranies/