Dear Friends of Mission Free Iran and from the Facebook group We Declare the UN Commission on the Status of Women is Illegitimate:

House Resolution 1371 echoes almost exactly the objectives of the Mission Free Iran campaign that this group [the We Declare… facebook group] has been centered on. Those objectives are much stronger and far-reaching than any other set of demands that circulated in the wake of the UNCSW selection. Our demands, through one pathway or another, have been heard: a handful of US Congresspeople have stepped up to the plate to oppose the Administration and voice our demands.

Please note the following:

1. The US Administration made its position on both women and the Islamic Republic very clear when it deliberately allowed the Islamic Republic to attain a seat on the UNCSW without raising a single objection: freedom and true human rights in Iran are not the US Administration’s priority, and neither is women’s equality.

2. The US Administration is focused exclusively on the nuclear issue vis-a-vis Iran. This can be empirically observed by comparing the number of mass media articles on nuclear issues with the number of articles covering the revolutionary (not the reformist) movement in Iran.

3. Given points 1 & 2, it may be deduced that the Congresspeople who have proposed House Resolution 1371 have taken an explicit position against the current US Administration and its policies vis-a-vis Iran.

4. The point is that these Congresspeople have gone against the US Administration in order to reflect our demands. It doesn’t matter what their motives are: they could be zealous feminists or they could be fascists. This bill reflects what we have asked for, which is a fundamental demand for the respect of women and women’s equality in Iran and worldwide at the same time that it contributes to the diplomatic isolation and delegitimization of the Islamic Republic.

5. This bill will reflect OUR DEMANDS internationally if it is passed. And the next step will be for us to force the same action out of the governments of Canada, Mexico, France, Germany, and every other government that stood against women by allowing the uncontested ascension of the Islamic Republic to the UNCSW.

This is a political battle front.

We may go out on one day and shake our “boobs” to ridicule a regime which considers a woman’s body a threat to the society, while the very next day we sit and negotiate with the UN commissioners in their fine offices.

This battle has many fronts but remember one thing! The pressure is mounting on the international institutions, governments, and the media. We need to realize that we represent a gigantic force. This force is the Iranian revolution, AND it is a revolutionary movement all around the globe, with a distinguished objective: total gender equality, not on paper, not only legally, but in reality. This movement has started and is gaining momentum, and we represent this gigantic force, even if we do not realize it yet…

Look around you and follow the events taking place every day, and you will see the clear indicators. How could any one explain that only 2 months ago the US administration handed over a seat to the Anti-Woman Regime in Iran and now is trying to guard itself against the mounting pressure and embarrassment that it has caused and that should even intensify? If we work on this, even the political scandal due to this “wrong policy” will force this and other governments to correct their “wrong decisions.”

This existence of this pressure is, and will continue to be, thanks to you and to us, and thanks to Iranian women’s revolutionary demand for equality and the support of half of the worlds population. We, if united and organized, can do much more and we at MFI have news for you. We will take our campaign to a new level. We need you, all of you and many more.

Please join us there.

My best regards to you all,
Maria Rohaly
Mission Free Iran
June 17, 2010
MFI website
MFI on Facebook