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international women's day - iraqi women's speaker tour

Louise Gold, NUS Women's Campaign | 18.02.2005 17:00 | Gender | Social Struggles | London

NUS Women's Campaign and No Sweat are organising a speaker tour around International Women's Day to promote solidarity with the new women's movement in Iraq. The main speaker will be Houzan Mahmoud, UK representative of the Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq.

The new independent women's movement in Iraq is fighting for its life against both the occupation-backed government and the Islamist "resistance" militias. That's why NUS Women's Campaign and No Sweat are organising a speaker tour around International Women's Day to promote solidarity with women in Iraq. The main speaker will be Houzan Mahmoud, UK representative of the Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq (www.equalityiniraq.com)

Evening, Monday March 7th - Cambridge Univerity
Details: Call Jo on 01223 356 454

Lunchtime, Tuesday 8th March - Sussex University
Call Clare on 07779 251 478

EVENING, TUESDAY 8TH MARCH - School of Oriental and African Studies, London
"Women workers of the world, unite" - will also include speakers from Iran and the National Group on Homeworking
Call Jodi on 07863 346 179

Lunchtime, Wednesday 9th March - Sheffield University
Call Louise on 07746 759 773

Evening, Wednesday 9th March - Leeds University
Call Sam on 0113 380 1242

Evening, Thursday 10th March - benefit gig in Oxford
Call Kate on 07950 216 692

Lunchtime, Friday 11th March - Durham University
Call Durham Uni People & Planet on 07989 562 541

More details soon - www.nosweat.org.uk

Louise Gold, NUS Women's Campaign
e-mail: lougified@hotmail.com
Homepage: http://www.nosweat.org.uk

Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

Wonderful

18.02.2005 19:16

What a wonderful thing to see, Iraqi woman now able to travel overseas and speak in this way. Under the old regime this tour would have meant death.

Lucy

women in iraq

18.02.2005 20:00

this isn't just women in iraq, it's women in islam. as we fight the american imperialist scourge of the planet, it's maybe easy to become apologists for everything in the muslim world. this cannot be the case. patriarchy and misogyny have exacted a terrible toll on many populations of muslim women both in acts of barbarous and unjust punishment and in the violence of everyday oppression. women are not possessions, they are equal to men and acts of hate against them must be opposed. at the same time, women's liberation should not mean the embrace of americanism. the muslim religion, and indeed everyone else, has just cause to despise the degradations imposed on women by exploitation in the free market. muslim societies, and there are many different models, must reconcile themselves to the equality of women. as must we in the west, because so far, we too have failed.

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and

18.02.2005 20:22

it is worth remembering that much present islamic culture, it's oppressive regimes, its religious conservatism, is a reaction against or result of western / american occupation or colonisation. the saudi regime, for example, which practices the piously grotesque wahhabism, is a puppet american operation which would not exist without american military support. this in turn serves to block any kind of social progress whilst appearing to be the pinnacle of muslim tradition. the jihad or holy war was reportedly revived after a century's obsolescence by the CIA who were looking to motivate local resistance against the soviet occupation in afghanistan. so thank them for the taliban, the burqa and al qaida. kuwait was a country created to block iraqi access to the Gulf. hence, a war. with less western exploitation and aggression, islamic peoples would stand a much better chance of creating just societies, societies in which women play an equal role, yet without the burden of american style cultural death.

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actually

19.02.2005 14:48

the Mujahedeen began to recieve US state funding before the Soviet occupation began, against the revolutionary socialist government which was established in the early 70s. Huge popular support, equality for women, free health, education &c. Not an anarchist utopia, but a significant step forward from the totalitarian, misogynistic shite they've got now (and had before...)

pilger fan <3

It's Lucy and simplistic ideas again

19.02.2005 22:54

Oh luck Lucy – here is another Iraqi woman – maybe she can go on holiday to the to the Bahamas next year

Haidar

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