In this article, I would like to briefly
review the activities surrounding the One Million Signature Campaign, a number
of reasons why it was chosen as the current strategy, and the way it relates to
the ongoing women's movement in Iran. In the process, a number of issues such as
the need to recreate public spaces, importance of various forms of street
action, centrality of young woman activists, and some of the qualitative
achievements of the campaign are explored. I hope that it will generate
discussion which would certainly help us enrich our understanding of the
strategies and means to advance the Iranian women's struggle for justice and
equality.
Women's collective identity, unlike other
social groups, does not emerge from any particular "place". Whereas universities
provide collective identity to students, factories and mines help the emergence
of workers' identities, and localities are influential in shaping the awareness
of local activists, women (in the most general sense) do not enjoy any natural
social space for interaction and dialogue. It is therefore understandable that
women need the development of their own civic associations and organizations
more than other social groups.
In fact, place is one of the most
important factors that shape the identity of different social groups, one that
women hardly enjoy. Consequently, women have to constantly create and reclaim
their public spaces. Perhaps, it is for this reason that during the past one
hundred years, Iranian women, probably more than other social groups, have
attempted to create various collective institutions such as associations,
circles, gatherings, and dowrehs (whether in traditional or
modern forms).
However, such created civic organizations
- especially the modern feminine ones- need "spaces" for movement and expression
of their demands. Otherwise they cannot survive or develop, i.e. cannot bring
women out of their island-like social presence and encourage their participation
in modern women's associations and social activities. It is urban spaces such as
streets, neighborhoods, and other public spaces that modern civic institutions
depend on for their survival and growth.
Traditional women's gatherings, such as
parties, dowreh, family gatherings, and the like are in a
sense a continuation of domestic spaces and as such they lack social dynamism
and impact. On the other hand, modern women's organizations depend on engaging
and participating in spaces and relations that have helped them emerge in the
first place. Otherwise, they risk becoming socially irrelevant or
paralyzed.
Sharing the urban
space
Many women (for numerous reasons and
obstacles) are unable to filter out "our" message from the flood of patriarchal
propaganda. It is, therefore, up to "us" to seek them out in various urban
spaces, whether streets or other public spaces. It seems that the time has
passed when "the author of the message" commanded singular authority and it is
now the receivers, the audiences, who have the first word.
Both in the real and the virtual (cyber)
worlds, it is the audience who hold the true power in leading the direction of
the debates, by the virtue of choosing to ignore or listen to a message. As
such, "message providers" now have to search in all corners of the city for
their intended audience. The audience no longer comes after the messengers,
since there are too many messages and messengers out there (incidentally, it is
clearly more challenging to establish social relations in the real world as
opposed to forming networks online).
Thus, it is appropriate to "reclaim" our
share of the public space by adopting a street strategy. Contrary to what some
have claimed, the street strategy is not a revolutionary means. Rather, it is a
peaceful direct approach to interact with various women's groups, who have no
other spaces of their own than certain public spaces, and it is a suitable
method for the contemporary circumstances of our society.
Street Strategy:
different modes of emergence
Street strategy, which is a peaceful and
gradual process to change cultural values and to make urban space more
effective, materializes in various forms. For example, while the June 2nd public
rally was a direct form of street action (e.g. demonstration against
discriminatory laws), it was continued through the One Million Signatures
Campaign, again against such laws. This affords us the opportunity for face to
face interactions with people on the streets, on the buses, the Metro, their
work places, sports arenas, religious ceremonies, beauty salons, and finally
their homes, to collect their signatures.
Street action can also take the form of
"street theaters" that can take place in city parks or crowded neighborhoods. As
an effective type of street action, such plays are in fact among the more
reliable and attractive tools for presenting women's challenges in their daily
lives in a simple and popular language and on a more public scale.
This Campaign situates itself in different
public spaces of the city in order to effectively utilize urban space and to
make the traditionally masculine public domain more feminine. It is our hope
that within the context of a particular objective (i.e. educating and collecting
signatures), women would be able to link the problems and pains of their private
lives to public spaces. In the process, women can recreate micro-public spaces
for themselves and other citizens, dynamic spaces that cannot be retaken from
them easily. It is through the creation of such spaces in avenues, streets,
housing complexes and others that women can develop short-term communication
bridges among themselves. Such bridges can appear everywhere in the city like
sparks. Although they "melt into the air" as rapidly as they are created,
nevertheless, they will gradually break down the stiff and masculine authority
in public spaces.
The fifth generation of
feminism in Iran
I have often wondered how women in my
generation (now in our mid-life) who have devoted the past decade of our lives
to writing, translating, speaking at public arenas, organizing conferences, and
raising public awareness, as well as those women who devoted themselves to eight
years of attending or sending representatives to the parliament (during the
Reform period) have achieved so little. During this time, we have witnessed,
with worried eyes, the demise of numerous female journalists, the rise of
despair among women, and the pacification of numerous groups of young female
activists. As a result, it is necessary that we go beyond just reporting the
injustices and crimes, and begin taking action. For the simple reason that just
reporting the extent of destitution and violence against women, writing
repetitively on self-burning, drug addiction and running away by desperate
women, cannot - by itself - bring about the changes demanded by women's movement
in Iran.
Fortunately, it seems that the new
generation of women activists, the fifth generation of Iranian feminists, is not
content with such a cycle of despair as their destiny. This new generation is
dedicated to deploy creative and innovative forms of street actions in order to
change the cruel and discriminatory laws that in fact support unequal treatment,
domestic violence, honor killing, sexual abuse within the family, suicide and
self-burning, compulsory submission (tamkeen), and hundreds
other forms of abuse and tragedy. In their search for justice and equality, the
new generation has adopted attractive and new forms of struggle and is trying to
test and temper their ideals within the context of everyday realities and social
action. They want to relate to their compatriots in a direct and face-to-face
manner and consolidate their brave presence in the urban space through various
forms of street action.
The auspicious hand of
advocates of equal rights
"Street strategy" as a creative and
independent form of action is now in the hands of the advocates of equal rights.
In recent years, this peaceful approach has had numerous positive outcomes (at
least for the advocates themselves). For example, the activists have been able
to test theoretical analyses within the context of everyday life challenges.
They have been able to stand on their own feet and to test their powers and
their threshold of tolerance (in the face of pressure). They have gradually
learned the appropriate forms of engaging or confronting the law enforcement
apparatus. Furthermore, the activists have succeeded in creating some degree of
sensitivity throughout the nation about discrimination against women in all
aspects of life. And in the process, they have both educated and learned from
such experiences. As a result, a refreshingly new spirit has emerged that has
helped the blossoming of new strands of thought within the women's movement.
This spirit has also assisted the consolidation of women's struggles as an
"independent movement", has helped the activists to better appreciate the real
worth of friendship and comradery, and finally to a better understanding of more
developed forms of street strategy or bottom-up democracy.
The ultimate manifestation of such
creativity and maturity is evident in the collective and united action of women
and men in the Campaign to Collect One Million Signatures to Change
Discriminatory Laws. A massive and united movement of this scale (which has
mainly been initiated by the younger generation of women activist), will no
doubt, generate valuable lessons not only for the activists themselves, but also
for observers of social movements. It is digesting such struggles that help the
formation of new theories of social change.
Our hearts tell us that this approach will
prevail.
Last
word
To provide the genealogy of our method in
the "One Million Signature Campaign," (that is seeking face-to-face interactions
in various public spaces,) it is important to recall that this method is
inspired by the words of the brave poetess and campaigner for women's equal
rights, Zarrin Taj (Tahereh Qorat ul
Ein*) , who wrote the following couplet more than 160 years
ago:
If I see Thou, my
beloved
Gaze-to-gaze, face-to-face,
I will explain your
pain
Bit-by-bit, pace-by-pace
But to see thy face,
I have become the
wandering breeze
Going house-to-house, door-to-door,
Alley-to-alley, and
street-to-street
* - Qorat ol-Ein (known as Zarin
Taj, Fatemeh and Tahereh) was born in 1812. She was an erudite poet, philosopher
and lecturer. Many of her writings have survived, including a notebook of 475
poems. She was executed by the order of Nassereddin Shah (Qajar). She was the
leader of religious reformist movement in her time. She presented equal rights
for women in Iran for the first time.
The
original article was published in Persian in the Campaign's site in 3 September
2006
