The movement that won't die The women who won't lie

I just read an article not so long along ago included in Dagens Nyheter (one of the major Swedish newspapers) written by Parvin Ardalan, an Iranian woman and human rights activist. Those two entitlements have found themselves accompanying each other more times than not the last year or so as the build-up of political revolutionary momentum among Iranians blossomed into a green wave of dissappointed voters this past summer. Still, Ardalan is writing on hope and civil resistance.

She's writing about how hope of change has found its way into the hearts of many Iranians again, not to be mentioned among the women. She tells us the story of Somayeh Rashidi, a 24-year old woman and student active in the womens and students movement who got arrested around the same night I was spending time with some Swedish-Iranian friends here in Stockholm. She together with some other female students had pulled away a piece of cloth in the university cafeteria that was creating two different sections for women and men, separating them from dining together. For this she got kicked out of school for a year. For this kind of activity she now recently was suspended from her master studies. But it has not stopped her or the other 55 womens activists that have been arrested for being part of this brave movement.

This brave movement that has been marked by suffering and yet been equally forceful in resisting the regime's conditions upon which they now must refuse to live by, at the risk of their very own lives. Parvin Fahimi, mother of Mohammed who got killed during the official protests following the elections in June, is now part of the mourning mothers who've been meeting at different parks ever since the violent events to silently raise their voices of dissent. And maybe not the least to be mentioned here is Neda Agha Soltan who's death caught on film this past summer became the symbol of the whole democratic movement of Iran. Despite the ban of facebook, despite the shut down for journalists, despite the technique enabled and sold by mobile companies like Nokia and Siemens, pictures speak even louder and continue to do so.

Maybe not more obviously so proven by the way the arrest of the student activist Majid Tavakoli, the young man that the Iranian government's news channels wanted to shame by putting a hijab/scarf on him and making him look like a woman, led to a bunch of pictures being posted on the internet of men wearing hijabs to protest their shameful acts. The womens activists were supporting this while also saying there's nothing shameful with being a woman, while also demanding an end to wearing hijabs by constraint. The variations are many but Ardalan is saying all of the freedom fighters in Iran have one common practice - "the undermining of an authoritarian and religious structure. Through which they distance themselves from the hopelessness and the cynicism and work to strengthen the civil recistance in society."

She's saying that for women in particular this is a strategy that is well known. "One of the things that is often mentioned in self-defence classes is to be aware of the spiral of violence. In other words, silence is the reason for violence that keeps spinning, no matter if it's violence at home, sexual violence, political violence or social violence" (my translation).

And what's true is that the growing Iranian womens movement have played a crucial role in putting a spot light on Iran's discriminative policies. It's also true that since the democratic movement was attacked by the end of December, during the religious feast of Aashura, no less than eight people have been killed and more than a 1000 people have been arrested. After 30 years with the Islamic Republic - marked by the two highest leaders, ten rounds of presidency with six presidents, thousands of dead and executed, imprisonments of political and social activists, and systematic repression, Ardalan said hope had moved out of the hearts of Iranians. Now she's saying it's moved back in again. And I think we see it too. I think we see it too despite of or maybe even because of the fact that 180 people got arrested again today...

I hurt with all the beautiful Swedish-Iranians friends that are following the events with grief over the repressions, anxiety for family members, excitement over a new revolutionary road, hope for freedom in Iran, joy in solidarity and recollections of memories from -79. My hopes for peace are with you too.

The International Campaign for Tibet

So I got an email from Jacob Colker who's the Campaign manager of the International campaign for Tibet (ICT). ICT is an international human rights NGO chaired by actor Richard Gere that supports the Dalai Lama's effort to negotiate a solution for the Tibetan people with the Chinese government. They have a big human rights push over the next few weeks in the lead-up to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and is hoping that we would help them out by posting the text below on our blogs. So here it is. Feel free HRT-bloggers and other human rights friends to copy and post.

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With just weeks left before the Olympic Games, a major Chinese government crackdown is taking place in Tibet, and a climate of fear grips the region.

This spring, Tibetans began escalating protests against the repressive policies of the Chinese government and its harsh campaign against the Dalai Lama. These demonstrations have been met with brutality.

Thousands of Tibetans, including Buddhist monks and nuns, have been detained, interrogated and tortured. More than one hundred have been killed. Of special concern are the untold number of Tibetans who have disappeared since the crackdown began.

Now is the time to sign the petition urging world leaders not to commit to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics!

Click Here to Sign the Petition:
http://support.savetibet.org/site/R?i=GKUsaEuiLHa87M4SBGat4A

Your signature will be delivered to world leaders through their embassies and consulates. Already, we have received almost 20,000 signatures from all around the world. Help us reach our goal of 50,000!

The International Campaign for Tibet is calling for:

* A full accounting of Tibetans currently detained, and due process of law.
* Real progress in the Sino-Tibetan dialogue.
* Open access for the media in Tibet, as promised in China¹s Olympic bid.

World leaders should carefully weigh these concerns before they commit to attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

The Olympic Games is an international sporting event. The Olympic torch is a symbol of peace. Neither the torch nor the Games belong to Beijing, but to the citizens of the world, including the Tibetan people.

Let¹s send a clear message to the Chinese government to stop the crackdown in Tibet and engage in genuine dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Thank you for your support of the Tibetan people!

A lesson learned

I've been running out of words to write and sentences to finish lately. Been going through a low season when it comes to writing. It has to do with me being tired from a pretty rough time this spring with the kids in Vårberg. It's a tired thing in itself to realize you're suddenly at that point where you feel you're out of touch with why you're doing what you're doing. That's why Vårberg's been taking a break on me, or rather why I've needed to take a break from Vårberg. With school and all it got too much with too many people. And it's a good lesson. It is. And that's really what I wanna write on here.

I think this is something that especially people working within the Human Rights field can (and should probably) relate to as it's a work that will always be concerned with people AND people's will to confront injustices.

During a time of rest I'ven been thinking a lot about how we do this work; How I think we need to feed on hope to act upon injustices. May sound very simple and in a way I think it is, but I've found that at times when I feel discouraged it's because I've been doing this backwards. I've been feeding on the injustices to then try to act with hope. And it's so easy to go there when you're working with human rights. Where you end up in that place where you think that all you know you can do is to see what others don't. And you get cynical. Which doesn't do anyone any good, the least yourself.

What's frustrating for me is that I find this in my education as well, and sometimes when I come home I need to just stop and think about why I should not surrender to cynicism when that's what's being modelled to me in school. When I hear that we have an asylum system that sucks while having close to 40 million refugees in the world...

By saying this I do not mean that we cannot or should not be angry, mad, frustrated, filled with rage and so on over the injustices we see being made to people around us and in our work. NO! We need to be mad about the injustices as it prooves to ourselves and others that something's just not right. It's a must not a maybe if you're really out to do something that will make you work for the better I think.

But if our committment to work for human rights and people who are suffering stay there, at the feet of our own rage, it will probably not go any further than that. At least not for the one mad. In the long run.

And as I love people and as I get so sick and tired of us messing everything up for each other, I still find hope in God, creation and the inter-connectedness of us all called humanity. And I'm not writing that here thinking everyone could or should relate to that. I'm just saying it to be honest with why I have hope. They're not the only reasons but they're big ones. This is not my point here though, what I wanna say concerns the importance of having hope. Hope as to why something good can be done when you suddenly see none of it.

At some point when I'm filled with frustration, staring at my own two feet, I have to let justice triumph over rage somehow. This justice that I'm fighting for. When all I see is injustices being made to the poor and hungry, the homeless and lonely, the refugee and the outcast, how do I do that? Hope has to be the way. So that when I feel too tired from being mad with the world and don't want to act upon injustices just yet, I can still feed on the hope that lingers on solidarity streets across the globe...

The Mean[s] of Democracy

Completing sentences behind closed doors
One supporting peace, the other the need for (an) armed force
The word behind leaves no doubt
about what kind of democracy we're talking about
Talking in endless circles on liberty
While leaving no room for debating bureaucracy
No, the rooms are closed but at least the words they are spoken
Yet it makes no difference if the UN, EU or a democratic party is their only token...

And not the man begging for food, outside your office window, across the street
Or the man you're paying at the counter of the fast food court who's had too much to eat

And not the woman you drove by who'd passed out on the bench from one too many beers
Or the woman you met on that business party who sipped too many glasses of wine in order to escape her fears

And not the kid next door you saw take a hit from his dad
Or the child of your sister whom you know studies harder when mom's mad

And not your uncle who died alone and without friends
Or your former boss who told you he felt lonely -yet his funeral contained speeches without ends

While all of these are people you have seen
You know there are many more places or roads you have not been
So if you want your democratic voice to be more than the UN, EU or a democratic party's word
Let your politics be one of passion for people that are equally unheard...

Freedom of dialogue?

For a little over a month now I've been enrolled in a course on freedom of speech and information. Interesting...oh yes. The subject is highly debated in relation to the subject of the other course I'm taking right now, namely that on freedom of religion and conscience. I've been thinking about the symbiosis between these two "rights".

Freedom of speech as a right is probably debated everywhere, no matter if people are allowed to speak up or not. It was only a couple of weeks ago you could hear on the news of youtube being prohibited in Pakistan. And only a few days ago about the Tibet/Chinese protests in Lhasa. One of the cornerstones of a society marked by justice is it not?

So what happens then when it clashes with another [right]? Like it does every so often when it comes to freedom of religion. The Mohammed caricatures have been brought up for discussion more than once in class I might add. But what is it that makes it so difficult for these two rights, or to be quite honest, for us as people to meet and try to communicate cross-culturally about our say so in this.

We experienced a little bit of this difficulty this weekend at the afterschool center in Vårberg where me and some friends work. Vårberg is an area in the south of Stockholm where about 60% of the inhabitants are immigrants. A lot of these, especially from Iraq, live there and are without much help from the seemingly anti-social Swedish society (if I may exaggerate a little bit to make my standpoint very clear) trying to build a new life with their families. On top of that, economic conditions lead to public schools being left without enough resources (my own observation) which in turn leads to destructive behavior and violence among the youth.

With this also comes the clash for the kids between their old culture and the new one. And here is where we experinced the Mohammed caricature conflict on a small scale basis this Saturday. One of the leaders trying to calme a kid down made a comparison between what this kid said about another boy's handicap (and he said some really awful stuff to this boy) to his own dad's. And the kid went wild, coming from a culture where shaming your dad and his handicap like that infront of everyone is worse than we could ever imagine here in Sweden. Of course the leader didn't mean to shame him or his dad in any way.

I pause here and ponder the thought of that maybe this conflict that we're talking about, freedom of speech vs. freedom of religion, isn't really about a strict antagonism between the two but about a lost sense of respect for cultural meanings behind cultural terms. Do we believe in freedom of speech? Yes. Do we believe in freedom of religion? Yes. Do we want to dialogue and learn? ... Do we?

Update : Late...or Late Update!

I'm sorry I haven't been keeping the blog updated for a two-week period or so. As I was (to my utter most joy!) "recovering" from the stressful studying period of early January I got sick again and have been laying in bed for a while. I will be sure to write something soon though. Also, I want to write it out here that something wacko happened to my inbox and the article I got forwarded on the Ethiopian situation is no longer in my property, and I cannot write something on it until I get it forwarded again. Unfortunately. Please, if you're reading this, Farah from CDRA in London if I remember it correctly, write me again. Thanks.

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"Where there is laughter there is always more health than sickness."

-Phyllis Bottome

:)

Keep up the good work HRT bloggers!

On the Day of remembering Dr. King

Looking forward to face the kid from the ghetto an hour away
Looking back at your legacy as I get on the red subway
Equal rights for a joy that is just
A joy where laughter and love is a must
You fought for and fell for this God that is good
Learning to live the mass-misunderstood
Loving your enemy in the light of him
Where hate had grown cold in the darker dim
And from that incapability you spoke out against war
While speaking of something else truly worth dying for
That something you gave and got a lot in return
As people peacefully carried that yearn
To do unto others what you want others to do to you
And to face the faces of that other too
To love where love's been lingering in the shadow
And to hold on to people the society's let go off
May we laugh and love and live as we trust this
That we too from our incapability may speak out against injustice