Ms. Benjamin,
On this International Women's Day, will you please publicly announce
your support for Iranian women's right to be treated as equals to men
under the Iranian law, and publicly support their right to choose what
they wear.
In a shocking piece of news, in addition to all the inhumane treatment
at the hands of the Iranian government over the decades, we are
disheartened to have to inform you of the following:
"On International Women’s Day in 2019, Yasaman Aryani, her mother
Monireh Arabshahi and Mojgan Keshavarz handed out flowers to female
passengers on the Tehran metro and spoke of a day when women have the
freedom to choose what they wear. The activists were not wearing
headscarves and posted a video showing the action that drew widespread
attention.
"Aryani and her mother were each sentenced to 16 years in prison for
“inciting and facilitating corruption and prostitution," though the
sentence was later reduced."
(https://www.yahoo.com/news/flower-protest-paris-iranian-no-124327925.html
<https://www.yahoo.com/news/flower-protest-paris-iranian-no-124327925.html>)
Can you imagine being sentenced to 16 years in prison for handing out
flowers without a head covering? Never mind that the sentence was later
reduced. It is the principle that counts. In what exact manner is such
an innocent act equal to prostitution? If such an egregious equivalency
were ever expressed by a loathsome Rush Limbaugh, for example, you and
your organization would be up in arms, demanding public outrage,
conducting sit-ins and organizing picket lines in front of his radio
studios.
You and a group of Code Pink members have traveled to Iran twice, and
while there you were led on tours of government ministries and met with
people the government had arranged for you to meet. We have never heard
you or your organization publicly write anything negative about the
Iranian government. Since you are a feminist organization, this has
shocked us over the years.
When the U.S. government carried out an international act of gangsterism
by killing Ghasem Soleimani, you expressed outrage at the act. However,
you have never spoken up, or even mentioned anything, about numerous
assassinations of Iranian opposition figures at the hands of the Iranian
government agents. Maybe you didn't know about those assassinations. We
understand that having traveled to visit Iranian government ministries,
you would feel obligated to stay silent on those assassinations even if
you knew about them and other atrocities committed by the Iranian
government on non-Iranian soil.
You may claim that as an American activist your primary responsibility
is to oppose U.S. government's aggressive policies abroad generally, and
oppose any U.S. intervention in the Middle East in particular, and NOT
to interfere in the internal affairs of other nations. But I doubt that
this rationalization has ever stopped you from criticizing Israeli
government actions, or Saudi government actions. However, your travels
to Iran to visit government ministries and your silence over the
decades-long and well documented atrocities committed by the Iranian
government against our people is a direct intervention on the side of
the Iranian government.
As far as Iranian people are concerned, you are intervening on behalf of
the Iranian government and helping their cause, and, by extension,
acting against the Iranian people. Your actions and written words, as
well as words you have not written nor spoken, support this conclusion.
Are you comfortable with that?
However, on this International Women's Day, you can perhaps begin to
make amends. As an organization that has claims on feminist ideals, you
and your organization should feel an obligation to come to the aid of
the Iranian women and to *publicly* (such as in an article for
CounterPunch, for example) support their just demands for equality,
justice and respect, and support their most basic human rights, such as
the choice of clothing.
Respectfully, xxx
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