Although I believe that the correct posture of the Obama administration in the current Iranian crisis is circumspection, I believe it is high time for private citizens to voice their support for the currents of change in Iran.
In particular, I have observed with interest that it is women, particularly young women that appear to be at the center of this nascent movement. Women are defying the regime, marching in the streets, chanting, pushing back their head scarves, sporting the green markings signifying the movement. As I noted in my previous posting, the demonstrations are about much more than which stooge of the mullahs gets to be president. It is about giving voice to the people, and in particular, women. In watching some of the video that has made in out of Tehran, I saw young women bravely absorbing the thuds of the batons, being kicked, shoved and brutally pummeled by the thugs that run this government. These women want a voice. They want to be educated. They want to be full and equal citizens. I read “Reading Lolita in Tehran” a couple of years ago. It highlighted this sick and decrepit society that forces young women into hiding so they can read the world’s great literature. It is a pathological system that permits women to be stoned and beaten for being out with a man alone.
Yet, where is NOW? Where is Susan Sarandon? Where is Barbara Streisand? Where is Anita Hill? Where are all these folks? I went to the NOW website today. There are little stories about reproductive rights, discrimination and the murder of Dr. Tiller. That is all fine. Women are being beaten in the streets of Tehran today and there is not one word on the NOW website in support of these women. The misogynist Iranian regime will deprive women of THE RIGHT TO READ A BOOK, let alone permit women to exercise reproductive rights. And yet the silence from the feminist left in this country is deafening.
Well, this bald, fat, middle aged white conservative stands with you today, ladies. You deserve a future. You deserve a voice. You deserve to have the freedom to be educated, to be with who you want to be with, and to be full participants in your society. And I hope you get it. It’s a shame that your sisters here don’t share the outrage with me.
In particular, I have observed with interest that it is women, particularly young women that appear to be at the center of this nascent movement. Women are defying the regime, marching in the streets, chanting, pushing back their head scarves, sporting the green markings signifying the movement. As I noted in my previous posting, the demonstrations are about much more than which stooge of the mullahs gets to be president. It is about giving voice to the people, and in particular, women. In watching some of the video that has made in out of Tehran, I saw young women bravely absorbing the thuds of the batons, being kicked, shoved and brutally pummeled by the thugs that run this government. These women want a voice. They want to be educated. They want to be full and equal citizens. I read “Reading Lolita in Tehran” a couple of years ago. It highlighted this sick and decrepit society that forces young women into hiding so they can read the world’s great literature. It is a pathological system that permits women to be stoned and beaten for being out with a man alone.
Yet, where is NOW? Where is Susan Sarandon? Where is Barbara Streisand? Where is Anita Hill? Where are all these folks? I went to the NOW website today. There are little stories about reproductive rights, discrimination and the murder of Dr. Tiller. That is all fine. Women are being beaten in the streets of Tehran today and there is not one word on the NOW website in support of these women. The misogynist Iranian regime will deprive women of THE RIGHT TO READ A BOOK, let alone permit women to exercise reproductive rights. And yet the silence from the feminist left in this country is deafening.
Well, this bald, fat, middle aged white conservative stands with you today, ladies. You deserve a future. You deserve a voice. You deserve to have the freedom to be educated, to be with who you want to be with, and to be full participants in your society. And I hope you get it. It’s a shame that your sisters here don’t share the outrage with me.
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