Interview with Amir Rashidi: Iran ignores the economic contribution of women

Amir Rashidi is one of the activists of the Iranian womens rights and democratic movement. He is an active member of the "One Million Signature Campaign Against Discriminating Laws." His work is focused on equality before the law, secularism and democracy. Additionally, he is publisher and co-founder of the "Free My Family Campaign," which fights for political prisoners and their families in Iran.

During the presidential election campaigns in 2009, he was one of the organizers of the "free citizens" campaign, which was the first to demand that veiling should be of free choice - and not required by law, as it is in the Islamic Republic. After the election, he was arrested and subsequently forced to flee the country.

Mr. Rashidi, you - as a man - are a member of the campaign "One Million Signatures for Women’s Rights." What is your motivation?

Already long before the campaign, I was involved with religion and Islam. I was introduced to the campaign and learned about their website through different weblogs. I joined the campaign because I am convinced that we, male and female, are humans in the first place and that the female claim for equality is justified. In the beginning I was working within the male committee of the campaign, but step by step I also joined other committees, such as committee for education and art. I was involved with the weekly collections of signatures as well.

Our work is not only concerning women. The fact that women are not equal to men is putting severe pressure on men as well. For example, in Iran, the man is responsible for covering all costs of living. If he does not succeed, the woman can sue him accordingly. Admittedly, within the patriarchic system of Iran, such claims will normally not succeed. However, I always asked myself, why the man should be solely responsible for covering the costs of living. The answer is plain and simple. Subconsciously, we do not allow women to be economic independent, as we are afraid to reach a situation in which they do not need us anymore. This could be one of the reasons. Nevertheless, this leads to high pressure for men.

Do you believe that it is possible to be active for human rights in today’s Iran?

Yes. Before the elections in 2009 there were fewer repressions, and we had more human rights activists and human rights organizations in Iran. Sadly, after the elections, most of the human rights activists were imprisoned and such an engagement has become really difficult. However, they still continue. I believe that we have to build pressure on our government as well as continue to educate the people. We need a change of daily pattern and culture - the human rights must become a part of culture. For example, there are still many people, even within the intellectuals and educated layers of society, who support the death penalty and do not agree to equality of women and men. What we did and still do with our campaign in order to educate the people is to look for personal exchange as well as offer workshops and seminars. This is one way to educate the society.

How does today’s women’s rights movement in Iran look like?

Today the womens rights activists are still very active in Iran. They organize workshops and seminars, but it became much more difficult than before. The pressure from the government has increased severely, and even lawyers are arrested. It became more difficult and has slowed down, but our work has not stopped. I believe that this movement cannot be stopped as long as there is at least one person who believes in equality. The activists still organize workshops and seminars - and in connection with special events, such as the International Womens Day on March 08, they create and distribute leaflets and brochures concerning various issues, such as equality of sex or sexual education.

But why do you think people should take the risk and fight for their human rights in today’s Iran?

All things in life represent a risk, even when only crossing the street. The life itself is a risk. Sometimes such risks just cannot be avoided anymore. Some issues are worth to take the risk for. In my opinion, freedom is such a case and it is worth to take risks in order to achieve it. It is worth to go to prison or leave the country in order to fight for one’s freedom!

Because of your commitment to women’s and human rights you have been in Evin prison. Can you describe some of your experiences?

When we were arrested on the street - that was still before the election in June 2009 - we were on our way to visit some family and relatives of convicts. From the beginning the behavior of the security forces was very aggressive and offensive. At the police station we were berated and humiliated, and even physically attacked. Some of us were hit. Late at night we were transferred into Evin prison. The quarantine section of the prison was really dirty and the sanitations were really unhygienic. The meals were also very bad. Once per day we were allowed to go outside into the yard for fresh air.

After two days, we were transferred into Gezelhesar prison in Karaj. There it was clean, but partly we were treated worse than in Evin. For example, I can remember one morning they publicly abused one young inmate because he stole a traveler’s check from another convict. The warden in plain clothes tied his arms behind his back to the prison fence and kicked him in the chest. Anyone who wanted to complain was attacked forcefully. This happened inside the general section of the prison. One can only imagine what might happen to the inmates in the security sections such as Section 209 of Evin prison or Section "Dou-Alef," which is under control of the Revolutionary Guards.

In the prison, my friends and I tried to inform the inmates concerning their civil rights and the rights of any suspects. This is necessary, as most of the convicts have no knowledge concerning their rights and have been treated in a very bad way. In some cases, the prisoners were totally resigned and said that they were treated as "dirt," having rights or not. However, some of the captives listened and showed real interest. Some prisoners even dared to demand their rights from the guards and insisted to be treated according to law. Some guards really accepted and followed the demands!

What would you suggest to Iranians who want to become active for human rights?

Well, this is really a very difficult question. Considering my own experiences, I would say that human rights activists have to strengthen their own belief in the human rights! If you ask somebody if s/he wants the human rights, I guess they all would say "yes", but still behave against the human rights in daily life. I know somebody who always carries the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in his pocket and often refers to it; however, his attitude is strongly contradictory to women’s rights!

Since I have worked with people like him, I have become clearer about the full meaning of the human rights. I believe that we Iranians are still in a learning process. We find ourselves at the door step to democracy and therefore we are also in the middle of a learning process. I consider this as the most important issue.

The Iranian government filters and blocks many Farsi-language websites in Iran. In January 2011 a new Cyber-police was established. You are an IT-specialist - but can "normal" people still access information, which is not censored by the government?

Basically, to have such a police is not necessarily a bad thing. However, the problem is that we cannot have any trust into the police and the jurisdiction of our country. The behaviors of the police and the jurisdiction have shown that they do not work for protecting the citizens but only for the security of the system and the regime. This is contradictory to the official philosophy of the security apparatus, which is focused on the establishment of a secure country for its population - but the police and the judicial system give security only to the government and not to the population.

One example: If the minister for information informs the government that the mail boxes of the political opponents have been hacked and the public access to website has been limited - how can this help create trust? It basically means that even the private sphere of the population is not respected and there is no security for the people.

We cannot trust the police and the security forces. This does not only concern the internet. Some time ago on the Kag Square in Tehran, a man attacked another man with a knife and killed him. In the internet a video can be found of this happening which also shows police cops. However, the police did not do anything to catch the murderer. Instead, they attacked the people who complained about such failure, hit them, and even ran some over with their cars. It is absolutely impossible to trust such a police.

Do you believe that in Iran there is an understanding of the meaning of the human rights? If so, do you think that this has changed throughout the years?

During the last years, the situation has improved. However, even today, I understand that there are many people who do not know anything about human rights. I can show you people who always carry the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, who quotes the articles, but if you ask them about polygamy, they answer that they conform to this tradition!

It is really painful and it shows that we have to do much more educational work. In fact the civil society in Iran has to become much more active as ever before! In the current situation, this is really difficult, but I think that the current knowledge, which has been planted into the people of Iran, is the sole result of constant work of all activists. But it is still vitally important to continue that work.

Due to your involvement for human rights, you have been subjugated to a lot of repression and threats. You have been in prison and finally you had to leave your country. If given the choice, would do the same again?

Without any doubt, I would have done the same activities again as I still do it today. However, if I had today’s experiences, it would have been much better. Today my perspective towards many issues have changed and improved. If I had those experiences already in the past, I could have acted in a much better way.

Especially the experience to live abroad, getting to know new cultures and other points of view (for example, from non-governmental organizations concerning human rights and Iran), and also the experiences of a really tough time had strong influence on my personal development. The same applies to contact with many people, who used my name or the name of other human rights activists in order to achieve their goals but ultimately forgot about us.

A part of those experiences consists in learning about the human rights problems in other countries and the living conditions of women in such countries. For me it was quite a surprise as an Italian women’s rights activist showed me the magazine "Second Hand", which also promotes prostitutes. For me, the promotion was not really the problem, but rather that they were described as "Second Hand". What a disdainful newspaper which offers women as products!

If the government really had the motivation to implement reforms - which would you consider as the most important ones?

I think that the Iranian constitution must be changed and that it should be re-written considering the criterion of human rights and democracy. This is the most important aspect. The civil society must be given the chance to become more active and involved; freedoms, such as freedom of press and other all freedoms, must be guaranteed. In my opinion those are the most important modifications that should be accomplished.

Questions asked by Max Klingberg