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NEWS & LETTERS, March-April 2010
Shirin Ebadi Speaks
Memphis--In February Bridges, a social justice organization for youth, hosted its annual Bridges PeaceJam Youth Conference. PeaceJam is an international organization that introduces youth to the thinking of Nobel Peace Prize laureates. Shirin Ebadi, the first Iranian and first Muslim woman to receive the Prize, gave a free public speech. Ebadi, Iran's first woman judge in 1975, was forced to resign in 1979 because women were forbidden to serve as judges after Khomeini took power. After writing many books and articles about human rights, she set up a law practice for cases of child abuse and murder and established the Iranian Society for Protecting the Rights of the Child and the Centre for the Defense of Human Rights.
Ebadi spoke about the oppressiveness of the Iranian government, but focused on how people are overcoming this oppression by peaceful means. She described women and youth as major players in this movement, while it is also composed of people from all walks of life
She described how women--whose children had been killed, injured, or imprisoned by the government --hold vigils dressed in black as the Committee of Mourning Mothers (CMM). Though their demonstrations are peaceful, the government often has the participants beaten and imprisoned. There are CMM chapters in London, Paris, and California. Ebadi urged us to start chapters and to pressure government leaders to discuss the issue of human rights with Iran because "if Iran treats its own people like this, how can we trust it with the peaceful use of nuclear weapons?"
Ebadi said Iran is a rich country, yet ten million, one in seven people, live under the poverty line--a poverty caused by corruption, excessive military spending, and the government's economic programs. Iran, second only to China in its number of executions, executes more adolescents than any other country. Punishments are different for non-Muslims, for example, a Muslim would receive 100 lashes for adultery while a non-Muslim would be executed. Under Iranian law, a woman's life is worth half a man's; two women's testimony equals the testimony of one man in court; a man can marry up to four women and divorce them easily for any reason, but it is hard for a woman to get a divorce.
However, women are using the few rights they have to struggle for more. More women than men have university degrees and 64% of university students are women. The Iranian women's movement changed a law so that, instead of automatically going to the father, custody is determined by what is in the best interest of the child.
The mass movement for human rights in Iran, the Green Movement, is democratic and composed of people with different ideologies. It is not a vertical movement of a few leaders telling the people what to do, but a horizontal one based on networking.
Ebadi stated many people think this movement is weak because there is not one leader or strategy. That is actually its strength, she said, because if leaders are executed or imprisoned, the movement would continue, comparing it to the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Ebadi is optimistic, stating, "Our young people will bring democracy to Iran, and we will win!"
--Adele
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