8/9/2010 Iranian women celebrate the award of...
Iranian women celebrate the award of the Olof
Palme prize to Parvin Ardalan
) _. J (http:I/w ww . openderrocracy. net/printrrBil/3581 6 )
(http:t/www . opendenocracy.netlprintpdf/3581 6)
Jane Gabriel (/author/jane-gabriel) , 17 February 2008
Ro a Banda ri (/article/5050/1 6 _ days/one _ million _ signatures) wrote of the courage of Iranian men
behind the One Million Signature Campaign during openDemocrac s coverage of 16 days
Against Gender Violence.
Parvin Ardalan is one of the Iranian women who dared to March in Tehran in 2005 and
inspired the grassroots campaign now spreading across Iran. Here Elham Gheytanchi, an
academic and activist, writes to celebrate the aword of the Olof Palme prize to Parvin for her
courage.
“Parvin Ardalan has won the 0/of Pa/me priz.e ( /iItp.//www.pa/n fonden.se/ /'idex.php?page=53 )
Such wes the title of numerous emails I have been receiwng over the past two days.
Iranian women's rights activists in Iran and abroad are celebrating. At last, an untiring
and brave young Iranian women's rights activist is being internationally recognized for
her work, most recently in the One Million Signatures Campaign
( http://www. wechangeihfo/eng/Mb/ ) to eliminate laws that discriminate against women in Iran.
Parvin Arda/an This news comes at a time when the One Million
Signature Campaign has come under fierce
pressure from the authorities in Iran. Our jubilation
wes deflated just yesterday when we heard that two
young activists, Raheleh Asgarizadeh and/ / j
Khosra vi ( http://w ww. wec/iange. info/enqi /sh/spipphp?
art/c/e215 ) had been arrested by the police in Tehran
while gathering signatures in a public place near
Fair film and theater festival, an event celebrating
the 29th anniversary of the Iranian revolution. Most
of the activists are the same age or younger than the revolution itself Their ”crime”is
the same as that with which Parvin Ardalan and other activists have repeatedly been
charged: “threatening national security” and “ disrupting the public order
( http://hrw. org/reports/2008/franOlO8/). ”
If you meet Parvin Arc/alan, you will know why her presence and activism threatens the
ruling establishment, especially the nght-wing government ofpresidentAhmadinejad. I
first met Parvin during the Iranian Women's Studies Foundation ( /wwwjwsforg ) ‘5
annual conference in 2000 in Berkeley, ( /www. M 's! org%20%3ChEtp//ww wiwsf org/ )
California where she presented a paper on the history of women ‘s press in post-
revolutionary Iran. A soft spoken, thin and pale-looking woman, Parvin is alweys willing
to listen to the opposing side's arguments. She is intimately familiar with social
inequalities in the Iranian society and is unwe venng in her activism for social justice.
In 2005, Parvin Ardalan, Nooshin AhmadiKhorasaniand other young activists decided
to launch a peaceful demonstration requesting the amendment of the Iranian
constitution with regard to pro visions that severely limit personal freedoms, fair and
open elections, and impose legal limitations on women becoming presidential
candidates ( hltp://wwwpavvandcom'news/05//un/1092 html ) . Many did not dare to join them
thinking that the demonstration would be costly to the movement. But Parvin and
others marched on. A year later, the One Million Signatures Campaign wes born. For
the first time since the 1979 revolution, a women's . grassroots movement
( http//www. wechange. ihfo/eng//shflMG/cl,o/tltrl/t/trl en htm ) has reached as many as 16 out of 30
provinces in the country. A non-violent movement, the campaign has nonetheless
been the target of state violence from its inception.
The activists'primary task is to listen to ordinary men and women's sufferings as a
result of discriminatory laws ( http.//ww w. wechange. info/eng/ish/spi .php?rubrique3 ) to engage in
dialogue and to mobilize the whole country. Parvin and a whole generation of young
Iranian women are listening to their feliowcountrymen and women. They are
determined, have chosen non-violent strategies and are persevering. Contrary to the
claims of Islamic Republic of Iran's judicial system, women's rights activists are not a
threat to Iran's national security. These activists have, in the words of the 2007 Olof
Palme prize statement, succeeded in “making the demand for equal rights for men
and women a central pan' of the struggle for democracy in Iran.” The awerd of the
2007 Olof Pa/me prize to Pant/n Ardalan declares her to be, in the clearest of terms,
an asset to all those who fight for social equality and freedom in the world.
L ® ]
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8/9/2010 Iranian women celebrate the award of...
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