Women’s Movement a Prelude to the Green Movement

Celebrating the international women’s day on March 8 has never been a strong tradition in Iran, in the previous regime or the Islamic republic of Iran.  In the Shah’s period, another day was selected to commemorate women which was the day the veil was forcefully banned from being worn by women, while in the Islamic republic, the birthday of Prophet Mohammad’s daughter was chosen for the same. Still, among the intellectuals of the country there were those who celebrated March 8 as women’s day and through this highlighted one peculiarity of Iranian society: the conflict between tradition and modernity.

During the Shah’s period and under the Islamic republic Iranian women have been prevented from joining the modern world because this is what the despotic governments wanted. And while the façade of the modern world existed or exists, during both periods, the regimes negate the foundations of the modern world, i.e. respect for individual freedoms.

But by cultivating the ideas of freedom and change - manifested in the form of revolutions and movements for change - the Iranian people have shown their desire and demand to join the modern world and to have a government that is based on democratic values and principles. Because of understandable conditions, men had been leading this movement until recently. Today, women have closed the gender gap in a rather short time such that today they are in fact at the forefront of the struggle for freedom in Iran.

This is why the replacement of March 8 for government or religious days takes on significance. The commemoration of this day in Iran and its celebration through non government channels by the women of Iran demonstrates a struggle at whose one end stand the old forces of society while on the other its modern elements. One can say with certainty today that never in Iran’s contemporary history has the army of modernists and freedom lovers been as large and aware as it is today.

It was within this struggle for freedom that Iranian women turned to new and modern ways in their battle the last and most meaningful of which is the Campaign for One Million Signatures for Change. This is a movement that clearly contains all the elements of a peaceful civil movement and is based on spreading awareness, using modern means, etc along with respect for the cultural dimensions and values of Iranian society.

The methods employed by this civil movement contain the following features:

-Face to face interactions, organizing workshops, creating website, publishing research and field studies, discussions with the elite, presenting ideas to the masses through volunteers, etc.

It is because of this that I believe the Campaign was in fact the exercise and training ground for the green movement. Today, the green movement plays in a field which has been lined and outlined by members of the Campaign.

Let’s look at the similarities of the two movements:
1-Absense of a centralized leadership
2-Growth and formation through objective and current needs of society
3-Individual demands (I want my rights, I want my vote counted), and the chants of modern slogans
4-Refrainment from violence and engagement in discussions
5-Modern communications (an array of website and webblogs)
6-The courage to engage in self-critic and the critique of others
7-Realism and refrain from idealism
8-Readiness to discuss (issues with officials of the Islamic republic)
9-Affinity and relations with the outside world and enlisting sympathizers and co-thinkers
10-Accepting all ideologies under its umbrella
11-Objective discussions and refrain from theoretic talks (ideologue women see their demands in the Campaign and so do ideologue men affiliated with the ruling establishment who also associate themselves with the goals of the green movement)
12-The Campaign and the green movement are both unique in their sense of aesthetics
13-Readiness to pay for what they want short of suicide
14-Non-violent literature
15-Age composition (the majority of the movement is with the youth who have also included older people)

The Current Situation

Neither the Campaign nor the green movement have yet become populist and are influential only in the middle classes, while they have the potential to grow among the masses because they are structured on the objectives demands of society. (The establishment’s drive to allow men to take a second wife without the consent of the first has brought ideologue and traditional women into the Campaign. Similarly, the economic and managerial crises in the country has brought more groups into the green movement.)

Conclusion

The Campaign and the green movement are the loudest voices of the modern world inside the traditional society which conquer a small part of the male chauvinist and dictatorial world every day. The battle is between the old and the new. Today, the capacity and influence of the modern is far grater in Iran than it has ever been in the contemporary history of this country and it has overtaken those of the old and as history and social growth attest, will be the winner in this race.