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Speech of Maryam Rajavi - Paris- International conference for International Women's day - March 1, 2014 - Paris
Dear Friends,
The fundamentalists’ ruthlessness and evil are in essence the self-serving reaction of backward forces
in the face of progressive and enduring forces.
In our era, women are the main component of this progressive force.
The ruling theocracy, whose constitution and all of its laws
and policies are rooted in gender discrimination and misogyny,
has adopted new misogynous laws and waged war against Iranian women. They include:
Forcing families to have more children;
The shameful bill that allows men to marry their adopted daughters;
Setting quotas and enforcing gender segregation in universities; and
Preventing women from studying 77 fields of study at universities, and many other prohibitions.
Iranian women are targets of oppression, injustice and crackdown all over Iran.
In Baneh, Avin Osmani, 17, was murdered by the Revolutionary Guards.
In Tehran, Somayyeh, along with her six-year-old daughter, Ra’na, were both victims of an acid attack.
In Baluchistan, girls under 15 years of age have been forced into marriage.
Mothers and women have gathered outside Qezel Hessar Prison
or the regime's parliament to protest against the execution of their loved ones.
Enraged Bakhtiari women in Dezful, Masjed Soleiman, Aligoodarz, Azna, Doroud, Izeh and Isfahan,
rose up against the mullahs’ oppression and insults two weeks ago.
Brave and resilient women in Iran have brought henchmen to their knees in prisons.
Chanting: Down with the principal of the Supreme leader
To them, and to my sisters and daughters across Iran,
I say, stand strong and you will persevere. This misogynous regime is on its last legs.
At this juncture, Iranian women and all women in the region must move from being hopeless to being hopeful.
They have to move from simply being angry
to becoming inspired to change and to bring about change.
They must move away from grief and dejection to nurturing new energies for marching ahead.
Yes we must march ahead!
Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”
Undoubtedly, Iranian women and the women of the region will obtain freedom and equality.
There is no doubt that ultimately, oppressed women will overthrow the ruling theocracy in Iran.
Dear Compatriots,
We seek democracy, a democracy based on freedom, equality and the separation of religion and state.
We seek individual freedoms for all, pluralism, abolition of the death penalty, and equal rights for women;
equality in freedoms and in their fundamental rights before the law; equality in the economic arena,
in the family, and the freedom of choice in all spheres, including the choice of attire.
We emphasize the need for women’s active and equal participation in the country’s political leadership.
Indeed, we seek a new order and are intent on uprooting this antiquated
and reactionary order in its entirety.
For this reason, we renew our pledge to expand the struggle
until the last traces of gender-based, class-based and religion-based slavery are gone.
Hail to arisen women across the world and in Iran.
Hail to 1,000 vanguard women at Camp Liberty.
Hail to freedom
Hail to all of you.