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NEWS & LETTERS, DECEMBER 2003Women in Iraq struggle for freedomby Yanar Mohammed Yanar Mohammed, founder of the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq, spoke Oct. 23 in New York City at a meeting organized by a committee of supporters and co-sponsored by News and Letters Committees. Below are excerpts from her talk. For information, including the English-language Iraqi women's rights newspaper, and to offer support: www.equalityiniraq.com. * * * It means a lot to me to be here, close to the place where the World Trade Center was, where thousands of innocent civilians died. Our hearts go out to all the families of the victims. We know what they feel like. A few months ago, tens of thousands of Iraqis lost their lives for reasons still unclear, except that the U.S. government wants to prove it is the sole superpower by starting a new war every year. State terrorism and non-state terrorism are equally bad. When the war on Iraq happened, we who were living in exile knew that we had to go back to work for a brighter future. We said, finally the dictatorship of Saddam is gone, the fascist Ba'ath regime is out of the way, no more genocides of other ethnicities, no more nationalist wars where young people were killed by the hundreds of thousands. And I went back to help the women. When I arrived in Baghdad, every public building was bombed or burnt. The streets looked as if they had undergone many wars, not only one. And the most tragic part was that all the strong and capable women whom I had left a few years before, were now mostly under veil and unable to demand their rights. The notion of women's rights seemed alien to them. The war and occupation had unleashed the political Islamists, what you call fundamentalists, people who want governmental power to impose their beliefs on all of society, especially on women. Women in Iraq lived under much better conditions than other women in the Middle East. We had access to education and work and greater rights, brought about by progressive movements before Saddam seized power. But in the 1980s and the '90s, especially since pan-Arab politics fell apart after the Gulf War, Saddam looked to political Islam for support. He allowed tribal codes to rule, including the exchange of women between families. He permitted some Sha'ria (Islamic religious law), including "honor killing"--the law that a man can kill a female family member suspected of illicit love without receiving even a month in jail. This law continues in effect. The other reality I saw at once was that the political formula imposed by the U.S. occupation on Iraq's Governing Council caused ethnic splits and religious rivalries and divided people along these lines. Being an Arab meant different privileges from Turkmen, Kurds and others. Shi'ites are considered different from Sunnis, from Christians. The ethnic divisions built into the council foreshadow possible civil war. And out of 25 seats, women received only three. One of the women is a previous Ba'ath member and two are under veil. One-third of the council are political Islamists. The message is that this is the future women should expect in Iraq. There are widespread problems for women right now. I am unable to step into the street by myself or go out in modern clothes. The U.S. occupiers fail to provide any security. Women from age 9 to 50 are abducted off the streets by organized gangs who sell them--$200 for a virgin and $100 for an older woman. Many are raped. When we started the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) in June, we decided to protest the lack of security to the CPA (Coalition Provisional Authority, the occupying forces). My letter was shown on all the media outlets the day of the protest and I handed it in at the door of the presidential palace. What answer did we get? Nothing. When I tried to investigate the disappearances of some women at a police station, I was told the CPA had ordered them not to release any information. OWFI held a demonstration in August against the violence and abductions, but many women were afraid to come. We started a women's shelter in Baghdad for women fleeing the threat of honor killing, and we began a newspaper, "Al Mousawat" (Equality). It is the first radical voice for women in Iraq, calling for equal rights between men and women and a secular constitution not based on Islamic Sha'ria. Our demand is not because we are anti-Islam, but because under Islamic Sha'ria, it is not possible to have equality with men. A man can marry up to four women. In divorce, men have all the rights, with none for women. Women inherit only half of what their brothers do, women's testimony in civil matters is only worth half of a man's, and women cannot testify at all in a criminal case because our intellects are considered too inferior. Sha'ria law allows a man to beat his wife. If the constitution is based on Shar'ia, then women will have an inferior status for sure. OWFI members' other priority is demanding jobs for women without income. Because of the war, they lost their jobs; most are widows due to consecutive wars, with lots of kids to feed. So we met with the (American) consultant of the ministry of labor and social affairs in the CPA, and told him these women needed some source of financial support right away. We got nothing. Then we took part in the demonstrations of the Union of Unemployed of Iraq side by side with thousands of workers over the summer. We sat in the street in 120-degree heat every day for almost two months. U.S. troops surrounded us, their bayonets pointed at us. Our demand was for immediate jobs or social insurance, just $100 a month, barely enough to survive in Baghdad these days. The CPA promised to provide jobs by the end of August; we got none. They sent a letter saying there will be no payments and no humanitarian aid. The saddest part of the occupation is that it permits the imposition of political Islam. Every single woman has to be under veil, covered from head to toe, even Christian women. And in the mosques, they tell the men that they are responsible for covering the women, and that women are not to work nor go to school beyond the sixth grade. OWFI has had many clashes with the Islamists. They have kidnapped men distributing "Al Mousawat." I am being sued by a man who claims the newspaper hurt his "religious feelings." Millions of women are not hurt when the Islamists impose compulsory veil on them, but he is hurt and can take me to court. Women who spoke out for equal rights previously had fatwas issued against them. In the face of all the threats, we depend on the support of women's and progressive movements around the world. If people want to practice religion, they should do so personally inside mosques, not through law and government. I say that nobody deserves to be ruled by a misogynist mentality. But in recent years, progressive movements around the world that had concepts of justice, equality, and modernity, clashed with something called postmodernism and the idea of cultural relativism, which means respecting cultural practices whatever they may be, even the oppression of women. Cultural relativists say the women of Iraq are used to being treated that way, religious rule is good enough for them, but of course it's not for women in the U.S. This attitude is partly racist. I am a member of the Worker Communist Party of Iraq (unrelated to the Communist Party, which is collaborating with the occupation). Iraq has a gigantic, secular working class that needs direct representation in a free council that represents it, not one based on ethnic and religious differences. Women need a say in writing the constitution. The people deserve a socialist Iraq, where everyone shares in the resources and direct representation. I would like to see the immediate replacement of the U.S. troops with United Nations peacekeeping forces. The UN is not more humane nor much different from the U.S., but it is more neutral, and they have not pointed guns at us, did not bomb us, did not kill us in the first place. They have more experience in handling post-war situations. And we want to see support for a secular government instead of what the U.S. has done to increase ethnic and religious rivalries that could lead Iraqis to fight and kill each other. The U.S. plans to privatize everything except water and electricity. Already, hospitals and schools charge fees. The U.S. doesn't want real change in women's situation in Baghdad, they just want to put a few women in official places and tell the whole world that women are in power now. But there are prospects for the workers; the Worker Communist Party has workers' councils in three cities. The U.S. supports the Ba'athists against us in the new trade unions. I think if we had a year under neutral UN administration, we could have a healthy political atmosphere to organize the working class and women. And maybe work towards a socialist government and not be dragged into capitalism. By speaking here, I am reaching out to the people of the U.S. who stood beside us, who went into the streets and demonstrated against the war. We know they will support us, the women's movement and women's empowerment. |
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