Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- From Health Care to Hijab to Identity Crisis (Arseh Sevom)
Tuesday, July 31, 2012 at 10:14
The UNAIDS Executive Director presents the Red Ribbon Award in the category "Prevention Among/By People Who Use Drugs" to representatives of the Afraye Sabz Association. Credit: UNAIDS/C. Kleponis
After a short break, Arseh Sevom, the NGO pursuing human rights and civil society in Iran, returns with its weekly review of developments:
This week --- Iranian organizations and individuals receive awards for their work on HIV/AIDS as Mississippi doctors try to fix healthcare inequalities by learning from Iran. The Supreme Leader puts an end to family planning. The "Unveil a Woman's Right to Unveil" goes from Facebook to the streets of Iran, residents in Neyshapour take to the streets to protest inflation,and a report shows the lopsided impact of economic sanctions on women. A group of citizens cleans a park in Isfahan and the loss of Iranian identity is lamented.
Alaei Brothers Recognised for Work on HIV/AIDS
The brothers Arash and Kamiar Alaei, who were imprisoned for several years in Iran on security charges, received the Elizabeth Taylor Award. The award was given to acknowledge their work in HIV prevention and human rights in the field of HIV.
"Unveil Women’s Right to Unveil" Reaches Iran’s Streets
The “Unveil the Right to Unveil” campaign continues. Many have joined in sending their photos and the message of the campaign has now reached the streets inside Iran. A recent post on the official page of the campaign shows wall graffiti, ""Free Hijab, Iranian Women’s Right", in the city of Bojnourd in northeastern Iran:
Source: Unveil the Right to Unveil campaign page on Facebook. This photo is said to have been taken in the city of Bojnord from the entrance of a girls’ high school.
In an interview with Arseh Sevom (in Persian) the journalist Masih Alinejad and campaign developer Sahar Rezazadeh discuss the campaign. They talk about its influence inside Iran and in the diaspora. They also ask women to share their stories of forced hijab. “It’s a very important part of our history,” Alinejad states.
Me and my Free Dress
Following a request from Masih Alinejad for women to share stories as well as photos of living through the mandatory hijab in Iran, the feminist campaign female = male / زن = مرد asked their 137,000 followers to submit their experiences. Many women wrote of how they were affected and belittled on a daily basis by the proponents and enforcers of compulsory hijab. Exiled author, Ahoo Shokraie is one example:
My mother did not let me and my sister wear a headscarf until the last days, [when we reached puberty and had to observe the hijab]. It was my fear of the morals police headquartered at Vozara street or the craven looks in the eyes of other men that caused even my mother started to say, “This dress is too tight.” My father would comment, “This is too short” and my sister: “Today is a religious holiday, don’t wear this one.” It wasn’t long before I reached the day when my own son, the grandchild of that woman who never sewed a headscarf for us, walked beside me and told me what to wear and how much my scarf could go back on my hairline.
On 28 July, an Iranian environmentalist group called “Roftegaraan-e Tabi’at (Nature Sweepers)" organised a park clean-up in Isfahan. Photos can be seen on Facebook.
Courtesy of “Nature Sweepers” group page on Facebook
Members of Dating Website Arrested
State news agency IRNA reports that seven members of “an unconventional dating website” have been arrested. The Iranian cyber police told IRNA that “four of the detained people are under the age of 20". The Iranian cyber police warned Iranian families that “online dating is a new phenomenon spreading in Iran" and advised that families should “have a close look at the activities of their children".
Mehr News Agency cites an education expert expressing concern over the alienation of Iranian students from their history and heritage. Morteza Nazari told Mehr, “Textbooks lack the smallest reference to the glorious aspects of Iranian civilization and the undeniable contribution of the Iranian thoughout mankind.” He added, “Contrary to all that has been said by the officials of the Ministry of Education, the role of families is more significant in familiarizing children with the history, culture, and civilization of Iranians than the national educational system and families will have to take matters in their own hands.”
In September 2009, the Ministry of Education announced, “Kings will be gradually omitted from students’ history books.”
ICAN has published a report on the effects of economic sanctions on women in Iran, noting that women suffer in multiple ways because of the sanctions regime. The report states that economic sanctions inhibit the education of women, isolate Iranians from the international community, lead to increased violence against women linked to high levels of male unemployment, and threaten Afghan refugees and their children. (Read the report here --- pdf)
“We Didn’t Revolt for Chicken”
While long queues to buy chicken are epidemic in Iran, people in the city of Neyshabour took to the streets in protest.
In response, the general and revolutionary prosecutor of Neyshabour reportedly said, “It is beneath the dignity of Neyshabouri people to protest in the streets, to chant slogans for one or two chickens… We didn’t revolt for bread and water [in 1979], and we are not bearing all the hardship now if anything happens, if things worsen.”
Prison Guarding, the New Academic Major
Iranian universities are to offer a new programe --- Prison Guarding.
Reversing Iran’s traditionally progressive stance on family planning, the Supreme Leader has called for an abolishment of family planning laws. Khamenei is quoted as saying, “Our country has the capacity to house double the current population.”
In response, Shargh newspaper published a report that in Tehran the family planning budget has now been cut to zero. The opposition website Neda-ye Sabz-e Azadi (Iran Green Voice) posted the news of a “Mothers Social Marketing Project”, launched as a pilot in Tehran, to facilitate population growth.
The New York Times published, "What Can Mississippi Learn From Iran?", about the common problems delivering healthcare to poor, rural families in Iran and in Mississippi. The article documents the efforts of Mississippi doctor Aaron Shirley to learn from Iran’s model of preventative care in rural areas, reducing gaps in access to healthcare between rural and urban populations.
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