HAMBASTEGI NUMBER 80
February 1999
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EDITORIAL, THE TIME IS NOW |
Maryam Namazie, IFIR Deputy Director, February 16, 1999.
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SUPPORT THE SIT-IN OF IRANIAN REFUGEES IN GERMANY |
International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) Secretariat, February 10, 1999.
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SURVIVORS OF TWO DECADES OF REPRESSION IN IRAN WILL NOT ALLOW THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT TO DEPORT ASYLUM SEEKERS TO PERSECUTION |
International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) Secretariat, February 5, 1999.
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CULTURAL RELATIVISM – THIS ERA'S FACISM |
Speech by Maryam Namazie, November 1998.
THE TIME IS NOW
Maryam Namazie, IFIR Deputy Director
February 16, 1999
When we speak of thousands at risk of deportation to the Islamic Republic of Iran, we must remember the individuals. We must remember the person who is languishing in a "reception facility," imprisoned in a "holding center," shackled at an airport, living in a ghetto, beaten by a cop, and forcibly taken to an Iranian embassy in handcuffs. We must remember the woman who cannot sleep, the child who has become suicidal, the man who has been called a liar one too many times during interrogations by immigration authorities and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). We must remember the individuals who are uncertain and full of fear, yet kicking and screaming so that they will not awaken in their nightmare, the Islamic Republic of Iran.
These are the people who occupied the UN in The Hague, Holland, and who organized the sit-in in Bokum, Germany. They will not be forced to live under medieval rules. They are hungry for life. They want to live like human beings.
The media and "civilized" governments have seen the flare in their eyes, both in Iran and in immigration holding cells. That is why they raise the picture of a smiling mullah and hold conferences on Islam and human rights. They want us to believe that conditions in Iran are normal. They want us to believe that those individuals are welfare cheats, ignorant, and not deserving of anything better. They hope to make the intolerable tolerable by repeatedly saying it is so. It is only because they have seen the wrath in an asylum seeker’s eyes, have felt his glares, and have been offended by her cheeky, uncompromising belief that she is worthy of dignity. Those individuals, part of a sea of humanity, will not be discounted, dehumanized, and bartered for profit.
Remember those individuals when you raise your pens and your fists to smash inhumanity. Have you not yet done so, now is the time to become partners in the struggle for the right to asylum and an end to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Now is the time to take that step forward in any way you can - by writing a letter, joining a protest action, exposing the unbearable. The crisis-ridden regime of Islam is falling flat on its face. Opposition is on the rise. People are demanding an end to repression and the regime which has promoted a culture of mass murder.
The International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) has been an uncompromising partner in this struggle. Join us and a movement which demands a life worthy of human beings. The time is now.
SUPPORT THE SIT-IN OF IRANIAN REFUGEES IN GERMANY
International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) Secretariat
February 10, 1999
The International Federation of Iranian Refugees - Germany Branch has summoned a three week sit-in as of February 1 in Bokum to protest the German government’s plan to deport thousands back to the brutal Islamic Republic of Iran. After years of uncertainty and fear, many have been arrested and detained to await their forcible return to persecution. They have reached the end of the line and are fighting for their lives.
The German government knows the nightmare that awaits them very well. After all, it has financed and supported the repression to maintain a "stable" regime in order to ensure that business goes on as usual. This plan to deport thousands is one more step forward in their wheeling and dealings to increase profits. With this, the German government not only endangers the lives of human beings worthy of dignity, it also legitimizes a criminal regime. If the thousands of asylum seekers are deported, it will be a huge political and human setback for modern society. If the German government goes forward with its plan, opponents of dictatorship and repression will not be safe anywhere in the world. We must fight back. We must support and strengthen the struggle of asylum seekers in Germany. Success in this endeavor will be a success for all humanity.
Past successes against anti-refugee policies and practices reveal the determination of a movement which will not allow the lives of human beings to become tools for negotiations between governments. Your solidarity will once again expose the indefensible and save lives. Send your letters of protest to the German authorities (www.bundestag.de/btengver/mail/mail.htm) and demand that the German government: 1- End deportations to Iran; 2- Release all imprisoned asylum seekers; 3- Re-open all closed casefiles; 4- Ban the distribution of the Iranian embassy’s security forms to asylum seekers; and 5- Recognize the right to protection for Iranian asylum seekers.
SURVIVORS OF TWO DECADES OF REPRESSION IN IRAN WILL NOT ALLOW THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT TO DEPORT ASYLUM SEEKERS TO PERSECUTION
International Federation of Iranian Refugees (IFIR) Secretariat
February 5, 1999
On February 4, 1999, at 11:10am, the International Federation of Iranian Refugees - Netherlands Branch and several other refugee groups occupied the office of the United Nations in the Hague for several hours. The occupation was in protest to the January 22 discussions of the Dutch Council of Ministers regarding the new report on Iran from the Minister of Foreign Affairs which cites only certain categories of persons as "still running the risk of persecution." Though riot police were called in, the refugees maintained their ground. A UN official was forced to enter into discussions with representatives of the protesters, one of whom was Malihe Binesh, the IFIR-Netherlands Branch Director. Binesh proclaimed that refugees and their supporters would not cease their protests until the government: 1- Canceled the report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that effectively deems Iran a "safe" country; 2- Ceased the deportation of Iranian asylum seekers; 3- Re-opened all rejected casefiles; and 4- Recognized the undeniable right to asylum for Iranians.
In 1997 and 1995, similar attempts were defeated through the organized struggle of Iranian asylum seekers and their supporters. In 1997, IFIR and its Netherlands Branch organized a sit-in and mass demonstrations, and spoke before the Dutch parliament. The Dutch government’s attempt to once again negate two decades of terror and cruelty and deny any other form of persecution in the brutal Islamic Republic of Iran is outrageous, especially in light of the recent assassinations. The Dutch government, eager to build economic and political relations, has taken the racism and deception of its previous report to new heights. Now, the torture, execution, and gender-apartheid capital of the world is effectively "safe" for political opponents, workers, women, youth, and children. It seems that in their Iran, "intellectuals, homosexuals and Baha’is" only still run the "risk" of persecution. Presumably, most of the 4,600 Iranians in central and regional "reception facilities" won’t face such "risks."
It was our collective efforts that forced the Dutch government to retreat in the past. Join us to put an end to their masquerade once and for all. Support this important struggle by organizing actions and by sending protest faxes and letters to Dutch government officials (Ministry of Foreign Affairs fax: 31 70 348 4848; State Secretary of Justice, fax: (31) 70 370 79 37, http://www.minjust.nl/) and embassies in your countries of residence (wersch@oo.was.minbuza.nl). The Dutch government must be reminded that it cannot play with the lives of human beings.
CULTURAL RELATIVISM – THIS ERA'S FACISM
The following is Maryam Namazie’s speech on cultural relativism given at a forum on women’s rights in Iran. The forum, organized by the International Campaign in Defense of Women’s Rights in Iran (ICDWRI), was held in Toronto, Canada on November 28, 1998. Other speakers included representatives of the ICDWRI, Amnesty International and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.
* In Germany, in August 1997, an 18 year old woman was burnt to death by her father for refusing to marry the man he had chosen. A German court gave him a reduced sentence, saying he was practicing his culture and religion. * In Iran, women and girls are forcibly veiled under threat of imprisonment and lashes, and cultural relativists say that it is their religion and must be respected.
* In Holland, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that Iran’s prisons are "satisfactory for third world standards," allowing the forcible return of asylum seekers.
Cultural relativism serves these crimes. It legitimizes and maintains savagery. It says that people’s rights are dependent on their nationality, religion, and culture. It says that the human rights of someone born in Iran, Iraq, or Afghanistan are different from those of someone born in the United States, Canada or Sweden.
Cultural relativists say Iranian society is Muslim, implying that people choose to live the way they are forced to. It's as if there are no differences in beliefs in Iran, no struggles, no communists, no socialists, and no freedom-lovers. If so, why have 150,000 people been executed for opposing the Islamic Republic of Iran? If it’s the entire society's culture and religion, why does the Islamic regime need such extensive tools for repression? If it’s people’s beliefs, why does the regime control their private lives - from their sexual activities, to what video they watch, to what music they listen to? If the entire society is Muslim, why did Zoleykhah Kadkhoda enter a voluntary sexual relationship for which she was buried in a ditch and stoned? If it is people's culture, why did the residents of Bukan revolt against the stoning and save her life? Why are thousands of women rounded up in the streets for "improper" veiling if its their culture and religion? How come, after two decades of terror and brutality, the universities are still not Islamic, according to an official of the regime? Though it's untrue, even if every person living in Iran had reactionary beliefs, it still wouldn’t be acceptable. If everyone believes in the superiority of their race, does that make it okay?
Cultural relativists say that we must respect people's culture and religion, however despicable. This is absurd and calls for the respect of savagery. Yes, human beings are worthy of respect but not all beliefs must be respected. If culture allows a woman to be mutilated and killed to save the family "honor," it cannot be excused. In the Islamic Republic of Iran, religion rules and has become the mass murderer of people. If religion says that women who disobey should be beaten, that flogging is acceptable, and that women are deficient, it must be condemned and opposed.
The struggle against misogynist and reactionary governments is inseparable from the struggle against reactionary and misogynist beliefs. Of course individuals have the right to their own beliefs, however offensive, but freedom-lovers are duty bound to expose and condemn reactionary beliefs and relegate them to the garbage cans of history.
Cultural relativists go further to say that universal human rights are a western concept. How come when it comes to using the telephone or a car, the mullah does not say it is western and incompatible with an Islamist society? How come when it comes to better exploiting the working class and making profits, technological gains are universal? But when it comes to universal human rights, they become western. Even if rights are western, it is absurd to say that others' are not worthy of them. In fact, though, rights are gains forcibly taken by the working class and progressive social movements. Therefore, any gain or right obtained anywhere is a gain and a right for all humanity.
Some, even among the "left" say that exposing reactionary beliefs serves racism. Opposing the rape of a nine year old girl who is forcibly married does not serve racism. Opposing the sexual abuse of a child even though the Islamic Republic of Iran's court says the father was forced to abuse the child because his wife did not satisfy him, does not serve racism - just like opposing anti-Semitism doesn't make one a Zionist. Culture for the sake of culture is not sacred. Racism and fascism also have their own cultures. A culture that cannot defend human beings to live a better life is worthless.
Struggling for universal human rights means condemning and disrespecting reactionary beliefs. The struggle against dominant reactionary ideas is a struggle against the ideas of the ruling class. After all, the ruling class must justify the barbarism of capitalism. It must make the intolerable seem tolerable and natural. It must create differences to facilitate profit. Cultural relativism serves that purpose. The idea of difference has always been the fundamental principle of a racist agenda. The defeat of Nazism and its biological theory of difference largely discredited racial superiority. The racism behind it, however, found another more acceptable form of expression for this era. Instead of expression in racial terms, difference is now portrayed in cultural terms. Cultural relativism is this era’s fascism. Cultural relativists are defenders of this era's holocausts.
In an era of unprecedented barbarity we must defend the universal rights of human beings who daily hope for freedom and equality. Though a better life is only possible when this world is turned right side up, anyone who respects humanity must immediately struggle for the abolition of all backward and reactionary beliefs which are incompatible with human freedom and progress and a secular and modern society for all.
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