On 8-9 April 2015, International Congress “Voice of Rural Women in the World” took place at Ciudad Real–Spain.
Maryam Rajavi addressed a video-message to this conference expressing her gratitude to organizers of this conference and explaining difficulties women are facing in Iran and in the Middle East.
To watch full speech, click here
Dear sisters!
I salute all of you and I sincerely admire your initiative to hold an international congress, “Voice of Rural Women in the World”. I would like to especially thank Mrs. Carmen Quintanilla for her efforts in this regard.
What you are examining in your discussions on women’s problems in every western country is of course different from the difficulties women face in Iran and other countries in the Middle East.
But oppression of and discrimination against women are universal and only change in forms and level. From Africa and Asia to Europe and the U.S., women’s pains are common.
What has been added to the things we all share in common is the attack of fundamentalism on the lives of women and all humanity.
Although this reactionary force is creating disorder mostly in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, its adverse effects target women’s achievements the world over.
Therefore, it is not only the enemy of Muslim women, but also the enemy of all women and humanity.
Confrontation of the ruling fundamentalist regime with women in Iran is an important aspect in the history of women’s universal struggle for freedom and equality.
The amazing extent of this confrontation can be seen in the torture and execution of tens of thousands of Iranian women which is unprecedented in our times.
For example, this regime has systematically denied women’s civil, individual and social rights.
Humiliating, arresting and whipping women to force obligatory veiling is part of the regime’s laws.
Women are deprived of most public rights and freedoms, even from watching matches in stadiums and from singing.
They are systematically dismissed from social activities.
Mullahs interfere in all aspect of women’s lives to suppress them even further.
Fundamentalists see women as their most important social threat, because they seek and demand freedom and equality.
Women’s demands and their determination pose the most dangerous threat to the fundamentalists.
This is why the religious fascism ruling Iran has set a world record in the killing of female political activists.
Despite such tragic suppression, Iranian women are proud that they have never submitted to this regime but have proven their competence.
The one-thousand women who have pioneered the Iranian Resistance in the most difficult conditions of the past 12 years in Ashraf and Liberty are the promise of future freedom and liberation for women in Iran and the region.
Resistance members have been repeatedly attacked and massacred.
One hundred and seventeen of them have lost their lives in the killings.
Fourteen hundred have been injured. Twenty-four have died as a result of an inhuman medical blockade.
Seven residents, including six women, have been taken hostage.
Despite these repressive measures and the criminal blockade which has continued for seven years, these pioneering women have clearly demonstrated their competence in directing and leading the Resistance and in managing a social order based on equality. They have thus inspired the struggle of women and youths in Iran.
Today, the Iranian regime as the epicenter of Islamic fundamentalism, is the principal threat not only to women in Iran but for global peace and security.
Thus the world community must adopt a firm policy on Iran.
Last week in the nuclear negotiations, the Iranian regime fearful of the explosive state of Iranian society was forced to retreat one more step but I must say a statement of generalities without official approval of the regime’s Supreme leader does not block the path to a nuclear bomb.
To guarantee peace, it is important to implement UN Security Council resolutions.
I would like to use this opportunity to call on you, my dear sisters and all participants in this congress, to actively support the women of Iranian Resistance.
I call on you to join the great Front of Women Against Fundamentalism and play your role in the struggle against this reactionary force that is endangering the entire world.
I thank you all.
