While Hillary Clinton others Iran, talking tough about how Iran might trigger a nuclear arms race (never mind that companies like Halliburton have been more than happy to supply them with the means to do so) and become a dictatorship (which we only denounce when it is in our so-called political best interest to do so), women in Iran are offering substantive ideas for changing the Iranian paradigm as if women mattered.

Jailed Women Activists In Iran

Via the Women’s Forum Against Fundamentalism in Iran (WFAFI):

A group of Iranian women activists issued a statement listing their own solutions to the current crisis in the country. They maintain that the proposals put forth by opposition leaders, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi “neglect” the demands of women. Some of the jailed women activists: Iran Arrest of 19 Activists from the Women’s Movement, Women Journalists and Civil Activists Iranian women have been a very key part of the opposition movement.

The statement lists: “annulment of all discriminatory and anti-women laws, recognition of women’s right to their body and mind, ending violence against women and prosecution of all perpetrators of the crimes committed in the past thirty years” as solutions for exiting the current crisis.

They add that women’s issues are a major part of the current crisis and “no solution will be effective” without recognizing and trying to resolve these issues.

The statement also supports general demands such as “freedom of thought, speech and assembly.” While calling for an end to torture and the death penalty, they also express their support for “the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.” Some of these demands are similar to those included in the proposals by Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.

The statement emphasizes that the demand of the women community “is not changing the president or limiting the power of the leadership; but rather the realization of fundamental and structural changes.” Shadi Amin, Golrokh Jahanguiri, Fariba Davoudi, Shadi Sadr, Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh and Shahla Abghari are amongst the signatories of this statement. Women have played a major role in the recent protests in Iran and scores of women’s activists have been detained and imprisoned for their participation in the protests.

In November, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi condemned the violent treatment of women by government forces during the protests.

Demands included in the statement:

1. Abolishment of all discriminatory laws against women including divorce rights, marriage age, polygamy, inheritance laws, testimony, etc.
2. Recognition of women over her choice of clothing and body. This include freedom of wearing or not wearing the veil, and, abortion rights.
3. Abolishment of all forms of violence against women both at home and in publish, this includes abolishment of honor-killing.
4. Separation of church and state.
5. Prosecution of all the officials engaged in crimes against humanity and women in the past three decades.

See also here and here.

The only thing that would have made this better is if Samantha Bee had used The Daily Show, with it’s 80%+ male guest  and correspondent list as an example:

And then there’s this (via Common Dreams):

To help address this, Republican National Committee co-chair Jan Larimer is committed to recruiting more women candidates to run under the party’s banner. It seems, however, that Larimer is running into a little trouble.

“Women sometimes need a little more handholding, or they need their friends to help them make a decision. And by our going in and talking to them and recruiting and educating and training them to either get involved in a campaign or become a candidate, we’re giving them the tools so that they can do that on their own,” Larimer added [emphasis added].

On a related note, right-wing radio host and Republican powerhouse Rush Limbaugh told Fox News this morning, “I’m a huge supporter of women…. I don’t know where all this got started. I love the women’s movement — especially when walking behind it.”

The following report by Maria Suarez Toro from the Feminist International Solidarity Camp, “Myriam Merlet, Anne Maria Coriolan and Magalie Marcelin,” (named after the three Haitian feminist activists killed in the quake) that has been set up in Haiti is re-posted with the kind permission of the author. To learn more about the camp and the work that they are doing click here and here.

GUARDIANS OF HISTORY
By María Suárez Toro, and RIF-Fire Communications
Center Feminist International Camp
Translation by Amandla Gigler, Executive
Director at CALALA Fondo de Mujeres / Women’s FundLise

Marie Jean, a feminist leader from SOFA in Haiti, warned us about the situation of buried historical records, during a gathering of over three dozen Latin American and Caribbean feminists, in the Dominican Republic on January 26-27. She told us that Haitian women grieve over the irreparable loss of many lives, “but also because buried under the rubble of what was EnfoFam¹s office, is the historical record of the origins of feminism in our country, as this was the first [feminist] organization.”

She told us about the damage to Kay Fam, another feminist organization, the national library buried in the center of the city and the documentation centers on culture, human rights and other issues.We went to Port au Prince to honor the thousands of people, including feminist leaders, who had died, to show solidarity with the people who had survived, to bring humanitarian aid and to alleviate other needs, and to see what more could be done.

And while we covered the news from our feminist gaze, we knew we had to say farewell to our historical memory in Haiti, also.Feminists in the region had already agreed at the meeting that all of the communication networks will excavate Haitian interviews and documents that they have in their own records of the past 30 years.

The Latin American and Caribbean Network of Journalists, the Feminist International Radio Endeavor (FIRE) and the Center for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA) are launching a call to others. Upon reaching the city, we ask Lise Marie to take us to the ruins of EnfoFanm¹s locale, to document the reality. It was a two-story house in a suburb near the city.

Our gazes cloud over at the site of the old sign with the name of the organization that sways in the Caribbean breeze, hitting the shattered cement.We find ourselves against the grain of the first guardian of history.

Madame Lisie comes over from the house across the street to tell us that we cannot enter. But she knows Lise Marie, who is accompanied by Flavia Cherry with RIF’s camera. I arrived later. They filmed to tell the world. When I arrive, I’m reluctant to make my farewell. “They are there, intact, look at them! “We must make an appeal to UNESCO and UNIFEM to come recue them. The building, although it is destroyed, still has its frame standing, although it is extremely vulnerable. Some things inside are visible. There are the
files.

We return the next day with Silvie from the Ecumenical Center for Human Rights. The guardian comes out like a friend, but we explain ourselves and she speaks with us. We thank her for her vigilance and go on to our next encounter with the present and the past. We see that the Executive Secretary of the organization arrived this morning. This makes us glad. Whatever can be saved should be placed in her hands; this is the legacy of the protagonist-guardians.

We go to the second locale, Kay Fanm¹s office. Again we are intercepted immediately. This time is a young Canadian man – Etienne Cote-Paluck – who is protecting the locale, this one not completely destroyed, but not habitable. All of the activists were unharmed, except the organization¹s director, Magali Marcelin, who, when the earthquake struck, had just stepped out of a building where she was in a meeting.

He asks us for identification and explanations. He lets us in and tell us what has happened. He breaks down in the middle of the story. “Magali was a second mother to me. I am the son of a Canadian feminist and the truth is that they raised me! “He tells us that he already knows about the International Feminist Camp and is working to provide coverage to MSNBC in Canada, and he wants to interview us. He carries out his journalism from his position as guardian of memory. Magali lives among us and the new generation of young people who were marked by her. I am encouraged.

The third visit is the office of the “Ministry for the Status of Women and the Rights of Women”. All that remained standing was the sign that faces the street.

The view is horrible. Not one stone is left to support another.The silence embraces us, the rubble shakes us, legs falter, instincts are incite, although if the ground were to tremble there’s nothing that could fall. Two floors of concrete lying on the floor like paper watered by the wind.

At the entrance there is no guardian. Myriam Merlet, one of the feminists who passed, who with others founded Enfo Fanm, had put so much political strength to that Ministry. The Minister and many staff had also died.

I pick up a page, out of all the scattered material between pieces of concrete. It is an invitation dated 10 May 2007, addressed to the Minister, for a “National Forum on Education for All”.

The Minister of that time was Marie Laurence Lassegue, the current Minister of Culture, one of the survivors.

My hand shakes. It seems incredible that a piece of paper can suddenly be charged with so much meaning. I don¹t know if it is the first piece of history that is recovered, but I’m taking a Haitian women’s organization for their museum, or perhaps I¹ll look for the Minister of Culture when the time is right, to request assistance from UNESCO and UNIFEM to recover the memory.

A deep sadness mixes in me with the wind on a road toward the recovery of memory. I pay tribute to those missing from history, so that we do not lose them.

The answer to the question posed in the title of this post is they are courageous enough to speak truth to power to CBS for its appalling decision to air the Focus on the Family Tebow ‘pro-life ad:

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The following provides additional news and comments about the particular needs of women in the aftermath of the the  earthquake in Haiti:

From the Washington Post:

(A)s health and safety conditions in the capital city worsen, putting Haitian women and children at particular risk for disease and sexual exploitation.

Reports show that violence against women and girls was already common in Haiti before the earthquake. In a 2006 study by the Inter-American Development Bank, one-third of women and girls said they had suffered physical or sexual violence, and more than half of those were younger than 18.

“We have to keep in mind that disasters make existing inequalities even worse,” said Marijke Velzeboer-Salcedo, an expert on gender issues for the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization. “Those who are stronger and more powerful, whether physically or psychosocially — or both — are going to have better access to scarce resources. But when women are deprived of resources, entire families are likely to be deprived, too.”

About 37,000 pregnant women affected by the earthquake are in desperate need of food, clean drinking water and access to health care, said Franck Geneus, who directs health programs in Haiti for CARE, an Atlanta-based nonprofit group that helps women and children around the world. As many as 10,000 of the women could give birth in the next month.

Workers in the battered town of Leogane carefully planned the distribution of hygiene kits by first sending in an assessment team and coordinating with local leaders to ensure that the neediest women would be helped, officials said. The goal is to prevent the aid from ending up in the hands of people who try to sell it or force women to trade sexual favors for food and supplies.

“Stand in line! Stop pushing!” officers yelled as others handed out bags of rice, corn, sardines, sausages and beans. There were separate lines for men and women. But only men were at the front, clawing for the food; women and children waited behind in longer lines that did not move.

In an interview by Anne-christine D’adesky with promminent Haitian journalist Liliane Pierre-Paul published in World Pulse,

“From the minute the buildings fell,” Liliane informs me, “women were there and everywhere. They were leading the way into buildings; leading stunned children into safety; tending to the wounded; screaming and demanding help; speaking to the foreign media and CNN; setting up instant street kitchens and camps; singing, witnessing, praying.”

“There’s no doubt that the earthquake has had a massive impact on Haitian women,” Liliane confirms, “in ways that we as feminists and women leaders have yet to really take in—we haven’t been able to analyze this. It’s just survival now. We’re so busy trying to cope right this minute, to just get through this day. But we know… I know… it’s huge.”

Erica Guevara-Rosas, Program Director for Americas for the Global Fund for Women:

There has been a lot of concern that the humanitarian aid is currently lacking in gender-sensitivity – not just in terms of what is being distributed, but also how it is distributed. In isolated areas, the aid is distributed by air, leaving women and children vulnerable to abuse. The reports we have heard so far about the plight of women and girls on the ground affirms our fear that risk of gender and sexual violence escalates during times of such grave crisis. It is very important to give visibility to the needs of women and girls, as well as to the importance of including women in the decision-making of all reconstruction efforts and aid distribution.

The resource mobilization to respond to the tragedy has been impressive. UN agencies, governments, cooperative agencies, relief organizations, individual donors and other actors are raising funds from all over the world to address the immediate needs of Haitians. Equally important and impressive has been the response of international women’s movements. Feminist and women’s organizations from around the world are sending support or offering technical assistance to help Haitian women with the reconstruction of their communities. The Latin American and Caribbean women’s movements have quickly mobilized resources to prioritize the distribution of gender-sensitive assistance, as well as to revitalize the Haitian women’s movement. While the response has been encouraging, the needs are increasing and the conditions are increasingly chaotic. Thousands of Haitians, mainly women and children are crossing the border to seek assistance on the Dominican side or are trying to leave in small boats, risking their lives in order to get to the US. The government of Dominican Republic estimates that more than 10,000 people are already across the border, where conditions are not suitable to establish camps with basic services.

Besides the much-needed humanitarian aid, we need to ensure that long-term support for the reconstruction phase and to protect women and children from violence, as well as support to ensure that women will be participate in decision making are crucial in the following months. The Latin American and Caribbean feminist movement is coordinating efforts in an unprecedented manner. Coalitions to respond to the crisis, e-mail lists, blogs, joint statements and other actions have been established to coordinate and organize long-term strategies to support women and children. (Continue reading here.)

Madre’s Yifat Susskind:

Right now, there is a window of opportunity to ensure that Haiti’s reconstruction process upholds the full range of women’s human rights and uses gender awareness as a starting point for successful recovery efforts. Nothing less than the future of Haiti is at stake.

Eve Ensler on the sad death of Haitian feminist leader Myriam Merlet:

And CNN with more on Merlet as well as 2 other prominent Haitian women, Anne Marie Coriolan and Magalie Marcelin.

Finally, Cynthia McKinney has written an excellent piece addressing the implicit racism and militarism in the U.S.government’s response to Haiti,

President Obama’s response to the tragedy in Haiti has been robust in military deployment and puny in what the Haitians need most: food; first responders and their specialized equipment; doctors and medical facilities and equipment; and engineers, heavy equipment, and heavy movers. Sadly, President Obama is dispatching Presidents Bush and Clinton, and thousands of Marines and U.S. soldiers. By contrast, Cuba has over 400 doctors on the ground and is sending in more; Cubans, Argentinians, Icelanders, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans, and many others are already on the ground working–saving lives and treating the injured. Senegal has offered land to Haitians willing to relocate to Africa.

The United States, on the day after the tragedy struck, confirmed that an entire Marine Expeditionary Force was being considered “to help restore order,” when the “disorder” had been caused by an earthquake striking Haiti; not since 1751, 1770, 1842, 1860, and 1887 had Haiti experienced an earthquake. But, I remember the bogus reports of chaos and violence the led to the deployment of military assets, including Blackwater, in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. One Katrina survivor noted that the people needed food and shelter and the U.S. government sent men with guns. Much to my disquiet, it seems, here we go again. From the very beginning, U.S. assistance to Haiti has looked to me more like an invasion than a humanitarian relief operation.

It’s a thought-provoking piece and I recommend it in its entirety.