In spring of 1996 I attended a conference in Paris entitled "Women, Islam and Fundamentalism." I decided to go to the conference based only on the title. I was a member of Women Against Fundamentalism in England, where I was working at the time, where numerous threats and acts of violence, including murder, had been committed against women in the name of religion. At this conference, I had the opportunity to meet a group of dedicated, talented women. I was introduced to the Iranian resistance movement, and for the first time, heard their President-elect, Maryam Rajavi, speak. Her speech was given inside a heavily barricaded, high security compound in a suburb of Paris. Just getting through the metal detectors and security searches at the conference and the compound was a very different experience than any I'd had at other women's conferences. I later learned that the Swedish magazine Expressen (1994) said, "In all probability, she is the most threatened woman in the world." This was just the first indication that I was about to have an experience unlike other women's conferences.
Maryam Rajavi delivered a speech entitled "Islam, Women and Fundamentalism." As I sat listening to the English translation, I became more and more riveted to what she was saying. Soon, there were goose bumps raising on my arms and shivers were going down my spine. I slowly looked around the room to see if others were having the same reaction as I was. In my opinion, Maryam Rajavi was giving the most comprehensive women's rights speech I had ever heard, and what's more Maryam Rajavi was detailing how this vision and theory was already in practice.
Maryam Rajavi has worked for democracy in Iran since she was a young woman. She has lost two sisters in the struggle for a democratic Iran. One was executed by the Shah's regime; the other tortured and killed by the Khomeini's Revolutionary Guards. In 1996, The Times of London listed her as one of the 100 most powerful women in the world.
Maryam Rajavi was born into a middle-class family in Tehran in 1951. She studied metallurgical engineering at the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. In 1970, as a student she became involved in the movement to overthrow the Shah of Iran, who was strongly supported by the United States government. She was a student leader of the People's Mojahedin of Iran-a Moslem, democratic, nationalist movement. Due to efforts on the part of the Mojahedin, beginning in the mid-1960s, the Shah of Iran was overthrown in 1979, in what has become known as the Islamic Revolution.
Maryam Rajavi and other members of the Mojahedin attempted to participate in the building of a new society and worked for democratic principles, which included separation of church and state and equality for women. Maryam Rajavi even stood for parliamentary elections in Tehran in 1980. But fundamentalist forces were not interested in a democratic Iran. They increasingly formed a theocratic police state, based on the principle of velayat-e-faqih-rule by the supreme religious leader. When fundamentalists had consolidated enough power, they violently attacked members of the Mojahedin. The event that marks the end of the Mojahedin's open participation in post-Shah activities is a rally Maryam Rajavi assisted in organizing. On June 20, 1981, a half a million people participated in a pro-democratic rally in Tehran. Police opened fire on the gathering and arrested many. In the following weeks, thousands of suspected Mojahedin supporters were arrested and executed.
June 20, 1981 is considered to be the founding date of the resistance movement to overthrow the fundamentalist regime in Iran. Maryam Rajavi managed to escape Iran with her life in 1982, after which she went to France, where the resistance's headquarters were located. In 1987, soon after the Resistance formed the National Liberation Army, Maryam Rajavi was appointed the Deputy Commander in Chief and took on the enormous task of building an army.
In 1993, the Parliament of the National Council of Resistance of Iran elected Maryam Rajavi to be the President-elect of Iran, meaning that upon the overthrow of the fundamentalist regime she will resume the position of President of Iran until nation-wide elections can be held.
In these years, Maryam Rajavi's ideas and work have not only assisted and lead the building of a resistance, but she has transformed the lives of thousands of women, taking them from traditional women's roles to leaders in the most untraditional roles. She has done this by merging the most visionary theory with the most pragmatic practice. When engaged in an active demanding movement, theory is useless, unless it works in practice. Maryam Rajavi's theory developed out of her experience in living and seeing friends and relatives die under the Shah and fundamentalist's regimes, and out of her experience in building a resistance movement and empowering women to take on arduous tasks and responsibilities. Her understanding of the oppression of women and what it takes to liberate women is based on what was psychologically, socially and practically needed to move the resistance forward. No ideas are more powerful than those based on what works.
By 1984, Maryam Rajavi had noted that "although our women had assumed a great many roles in the struggle against the mullahs," and everyone agreed in theory that women were equal to men, the women "did not move up the ladder of responsibility beyond a certain point" (Rajavi, July 4, 1996).
Maryam Rajavi says, "The crucial turning point in the growth and development of our women's resistance movement came when we realized that women must be included at the leadership level." Rajavi emphasizes the pragmatism of this as well, "It was essential for our movement that they take on greater responsibilities" (Rajavi, July 4, 1996).
The advancement of women into leadership roles was accomplished by systemic positive discrimination, or what we might call aggressive affirmative action, based on the idea that after sufficient training, one can only truly learn and do a job by being in that job.
In trying to put this energetic, progressive plan into action, Maryam Rajavi reports that they encountered resistance from an unexpected source. Yes, some men were resistant and had to learn to give up their privilege and ideas of male superiority, but there was also resistance from the women themselves. They discovered that the women didn't believe in themselves. Maryam Rajavi says, "the main impediment was the deeply rooted historical perception of women's incompetence" (Rajavi, March 8, 1996). Acknowledging and solving this barrier led to deeper theoretical understanding of women's oppression-how women internalized their own oppression.
Rajavi thinks that liberation must began inside each woman and continue as each woman changes her relationship with other women and men.
"Iranian women must free themselves. Freedom does not come free and no one will ever deliver it to us on a silver platter. We must build relationships that are unimpeded by gender-based distinctions and discrimination. The path to liberation begins the moment you believe that no one can prevent the liberation of a woman who has chosen to be free..." (Foreign Affairs Committee, February 1996)
Sorayya Shahri, Chairwoman of the Committee of Procurement of the National Council of Resistance describes the movement of women into combat roles: "At first, to be truthful, no one believed it could be done. First, a group of commanders, men and women, checked out the theory in the field. The top female commanders of the National Liberation Army sat in tanks and tried to learn how to use them. The first answer was that the task was impossible. Then, our martyred sister Zahra Rajabi volunteered for the task. Zahra was a woman of formidable determination, effort and creativity, and physically, she was very strong. She declared war on the tank, and she won. Mrs Rajavi said, "If one woman can do it, then all women can do it." And thus, the road was opened for women to enter training in the armored divisions...We also passed through several other stages while making full participation by women a reality. One stage involved the NLAs airborne division, another the operation officers, who draw up battle plans, and another involved introducing women into the general command. One by one, we overcame mind blocks resulting in women's lack of faith in their own capabilities and unwillingness to take on the responsibility of command and operation planning, where hundreds of lives are at risk" (Shahri, January 1997).
Maryam Rajavi says, "Once these changes had overturned the mindset of all the Mojahedin in the form of an internal revolution, our women broke the spell of self-doubt. Not merely as isolated cases, but as a generation of emancipated women." "We took a major step towards equality, which was immediately followed by a massive eruption of energies. Much like a contracted spring, when these women overcame their historical humiliation and oppressive, they released a tremendous, constructive energy.... Their most prominent characteristics... were their extreme sense of responsibility, willingness to learn and commitment to discipline. Their resolve and selfless dedication brought a new sense of caring and humanity to the work place. These women had learned to believe in themselves; that they were free, equal human beings; that they were not created for men, nor identified with them; that they were no one's possession; that they owned their bodies, lives and emotions" (Rajavi, July 4, 1996).
Currently, women hold key positions of leadership in the all areas of the resistance. They comprise 52 percent of the Parliament of the National Council of Resistance. The leadership council of the People's Mojahedin consists entirely of women. Over half of the general commanders of the National Liberation Army are women.
Through encouraging and empowering women to take up non-traditional roles and observing the process, Maryam Rajavi was able to redefine emancipation. She says, "emancipation is equivalent to a sense of responsibility. It has been said that man is a product of his work. It would not be exaggerating now to say that woman is a product of her sense of responsibility, that it liberates her and gives her life in her new human identity" (Rajavi, July 4, 1996). Maryam Rajavi also emphasizes how these changes in women, their sense of responsibility and participation in leadership, changed relationships among women and impacted men as well. She says, "The first signs of this birth were the new relationships among the women. They realized that they first had to like the women around them, if they were to act in solidarity with one another and accept each other's command. In management and administration, women's abilities to employ collective techniques, to refrain from excluding others, and to learn were truly remarkable. We succeeded in improving and enhancing our work" (Rajavi, July 4, 1996).
In addition, Rajavi claims that women's emancipation led to men's liberation as well. She says, "Men attain their liberation when they step down from their unjust domination and choose to forgo their aggressiveness. It is only then that they can achieve equality as human beings. ..." (Rajavi, July 4, 1996). Maryam Rajavi's ideas on what is required for women's liberation range from changing the interpersonal psychology of internalized oppression to women's participation and leadership in world affairs in order to set foreign policy. In a speech in London on July 4, 1996 she spoke about women's leadership at the international level-and why women must involve themselves in formulating foreign policy. "Women must break into the closed circle of the male-dominated political elite..." because "the male-dominated political elite block women's progress." She believes that confronting and refusing to appease religious fundamentalism is one route open at the moment is a way into foreign policy. "In this way, women can prove they are competent as political leaders. ...the united front against fundamentalism is that very comprehensive political movement which can draw the support of enlightened male politicians and shatter the closed circle of politics from without" (Rajavi, July 4, 1996).
I'll conclude with Maryam Rajavi's declaration to the ruling fundamentalists in Iran on what they can expect from this generation of liberated women: "With all of your reactionary and medieval savagery, misogyny and oppression, you have done all you could do to the Iranian women, but I warn you to beware of the day when this tremendous historic force is set free....You will see how you and your backwardness will be uprooted by these free women. You mullahs have chosen, with your unspeakable crimes against women, and you cannot avoid being swept away from Iran's history by these same liberated women" (Foreign Affairs Committee, February 1996).
References:
Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Maryam Rajavi: Her Life, Her Thoughts. February 1996.
Glichman, Gabi. Interview with Mrs. Maryam Rajavi. Expressen, January 21, 1994. Rajavi, Maryam. Women, Islam and Fundamentalism, Speech given in Paris, March 8, 1996.
Rajavi, Maryam. A United Front Against Fundamentalism, Speech given in London, July 4, 1996.
Shahri, Sorayya. "The Various Stages of Women's Participation in the National Liberation Army of Iran," Conference paper for Frontline Feminism, University of California-Riverside, January 15-18, 1997.
Donna Hughes is the Director of the Women's Studies Program at the University of Rhode Island. |
