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Kicking Women
10-Jun-2011
FIFA's decision to ban Iranian women footballers from a game against Jordan last Sunday because they wore headscarves and not the approved cap had soccer lovers in a fit of rage all week. They accuse FIFA for being "agents" of their repression and of "Western" discrimination against Muslims.
Please.
Alyssa Rosenberg of Think Progress compares the situation to the rejection of multiculturalism in Western Europe. She writes, "[I]f we're really concerned with how women are perceived and treated in Muslim communities, it seems hugely counterproductive to adopt policies that force women to choose between abiding by the tenets of their faith and participating in activities that let them demonstrate their physical prowess and strategic intelligence."
Say what? How do we even know these women's faith? Iranian citizens have no right to choose their faith. Iranian women have no choice in dress. Some don't have a choice in husband, or to divorce. There is no religious freedom in Iran. There is no freedom of expression. We actually have no idea how many Iranians are actually Muslim, yet we certainly know that no Iranian women -- Muslim or not -- can choose not to wear the hijab even if they don't believe in it. Most of those footballers would take it off if they could, as would most Iranian women, but they would face lashing and jail. I wonder how Ms. Rosenberg would feel living in a country that forced her to think and dress a certain way against her will, or does she think that kind of life is the reserve of only some women. Would she want the world to push back against that treatment, or let her play soccer on unequal and potentially dangerous footing?
David Zirin writes in Al Jazeera that the FIFA decision feeds "profound Western ignorance regarding the position of Iranian women since the Islamic revolution." He describes the improved literacy rate since 1979 (does he honestly expect a nation of 70 million to go backward over a span of three decades?). He also points out that one out of three Iranian doctors is a woman. Oh well, that settles it then! Things can't be that bad for women in Iran since they can be doctors! How is it then that most Iranian women I know desperately wish to leave their country today? That things are good for them is news to my cousin who last month snatched her 14-year-old daughter and left Iran for San Francisco after the regime started mandating different textbooks for girls than those used for boys to start rolling back hard-won progress in education.
Since last week, Iranian traffic cops have been authorized to harass and fine women for failing to wear "Islamic" dress, which means a few strands of hair showing on their forehead. Iranian women's rights activists, which have worked peacefully for decades to gain many of the basic human rights they lost after the 1979 revolution -- such as the right to wear what they want, equal rights in education, work, marriage, and child custody -- have been charged with national security crimes. Women like Nasrin Sotoudeh, Shiva Nazar-Ahari, Maryam Bahreman , Mahboubeh Karami -- have all been sent to notorious Iranian prisons for peaceful human rights activities. The pro-democracy Green Movement -- modeled, and in many ways, led by Iranian women -- was brutally suppressed in 2009.
Let's get some clarity on a few things. First, the regime running Iran should get no credit for the advancement of women. That credit goes to the progressive people of that country for resisting and circumventing a fanatical government which has made every attempt to block their progress by putting them on unequal footing. Forced hijab is the most powerful symbol of that policy. Second, Iran should not be considered an Islamic state -- whatever that means. A prerequisite for a person to be a true Muslim is free choice and since Iran doesn't allow that opportunity to its people, it fails the Islam test. Today, Iran is a brutal dictatorship with misogynist leanings using the guise of "religion" to stay in power. Forcing a headscarf on a women while playing a grueling game like soccer is not Islamic. It's ideological tyranny. Rejecting headscarves on the pitch for safety reasons is anything but Islamophobia.
It becomes deeply disconcerting when free-thinking people start drinking the Islamic Republic's Kool Aid by using the concept of "culture" and "religion" to provide justification for the violations of the rights of women. Western observers should be far more careful in their analysis of these societies, which are all different. Only a few countries in the world force women to wear hijab against their will and Iran happens to be one of them. We should be careful not to accept the definition of a nation's culture sold to us by non-democratic regimes. There is a reason why such oppression in a country like Iran exists, and it is usually because that "culture" is imposed.
One might say that these issues are unrelated to sports and the right to participate in international sporting events should still stand, notwithstanding politics or human rights. Fine, but only if governments and teams abide by the rules. Iran does not. As usual, it tried to bend the rules. There is no reason that international organizations should adhere to the Iranian regime's demands when it breaks the rules and it has harmed the mental and psychological health of its women and men through three decades of gender apartheid and discrimination. The Iranian government has recently declared that it does not agree to universal human rights standards as set out in international treaties and plans to challenge them globally and promote their own "Islamic" version, which denies religious freedom, gender equality, and freedom of expression. Of course, the input of their people will likely not be solicited since Iran's human rights organizations have all been shuttered and their activists and lawyers jailed or exiled.
Make no mistake about it, gender apartheid in Iran is as damaging to that society as racial apartheid was to South Africa. It is time for the world to recognize it as such. The UN has declared that the lack of equality between men and women is the root cause of violence against women. The world should not legitimize institutionalized violence against women which is exactly what forced hijab is.
Put blame where the blame should be. The unfair treatment of women in Iran today is that country's biggest shame. Let the Iranian people deal with the consequences of their government's flouting of international rules and reckless approach to the health of their women. As much as all of us want Iran's women to play the beautiful game, they should play safely and freely and we should help them get there by calling their government out. We should not allow the Iranian government to deflect blame for its abuse of women, and we should also not allow it to erode international standards in any arena, including sport.
First published in HuffingtonPost.com.
AUTHOR
Dokhi Fassihian is the Executive Director of the Democracy Coalition Project.
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Yolanda
by Soosan Khanoom on Mon Jun 20, 2011 01:52 PM PDTthat is not me shutting .....What I wrote is what that you shut and throw at me while doing your cheer leader dancing ....
You and MG both owe me an apology here and i do not even care about Divaneh
.........
by yolanda on Mon Jun 20, 2011 12:44 PM PDTWow! A girl started to shout profanity! OMG! I am so scared!
..........must be an Islamic approach to conduct a debate!
Wow! I learned something here!
Comment
by Soosan Khanoom on Mon Jun 20, 2011 11:21 AM PDTIt is good to see people like you on this site. Thanks for your honest comments. I appreciate it ...
I do not mind if someone is against my views towards FIFA and wants to prove me wrong but it is so disappointing to see that he starts to label me and accuse me of things that I am not and then you see others act like bunch of cheer leaders in support of him..... I guess this is something that HFB has been noticing too .... It is kind of like George Bush's mentality ... "you are either with us or against us "
now if i am not 100 percent with all things they approve then I am against them and with IRI ..... they even have their own cheer leaders ..... just see how excited Yolanda got .....
give me an " S "
give me an " H "
give me an " I "
give me a " T "
now let us throw it all at Soosan
..... horray
any way .. thank you so much dear comment
Excuse my words, but
by comments on Mon Jun 20, 2011 10:46 AM PDTExcuse my words, but labeling SK as an IRI agent is so pathetic.
Why don't we broaden our mind? There are so many religoun-practising people in the world. Because IRI fukced us it doesn't mean that all believers are IRI agents. If we condemn one's belief we have to make sure that we have a substitution or a hypothesis for ourselves.
My opinion.
by comments on Sun Jun 19, 2011 02:13 PM PDTWe should not control international standards in sport activities based on any religion criterion. Religion should not be interfered and forced to public in an international domain. This must include ALL religions. Do we want to combine a religion channel with our sport channels?
It's all about functionality, and you're doing the exact same
by Mash Ghasem on Fri Jun 17, 2011 06:15 PM PDTfunction as they would wish an apologist for GENDER-APARTHEID would have.
"And if you don't know, now you know..."
It Was All A Dream
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMeWQXE38dA&feature...
Pay close attention to 1:08 to 1:15 and the ending. Achtung. Tvajh.
MG.....
by Soosan Khanoom on Fri Jun 17, 2011 06:09 PM PDTWhen I talk with IRI supporters they tell me " shame on me " .... they would love to put me in jail or stone me to death ... they do not even accept I am a muslim ......
I thought here I may find more reasonable people .... but again what i hear is " shame on me "
good for you and your logic ...
.........
by yolanda on Fri Jun 17, 2011 05:06 PM PDTWow! The debate is getting great! Thank you, MG and Divaneh, for your great comments! Good points! You are great debaters!
You're most welcome dear, that's exactly how I want you to feel,
by Mash Ghasem on Fri Jun 17, 2011 05:48 PM PDTjust returning the favour. If you had the vaguest idea how you've made me (and probably a few other folks) feel in the past few days. Pissed off doesn't begin to describe it.
It's amazing how you see a few tear drops of some women crying over not playing sports with thier Slave Gear, but you don't see the sea of blood cried from our mothers, wives, sisters and daughters in the past 32 years. There's a DIRECT CONNECTION between GENDER-APRATHEID and how IR has alwyas attempted to show case that (GENDER-APARTHEID) as if its the accepted norm in Iran.It's the 'official' norm imposed by: stoning to death, flogging, gang-rape, daily harrasment and degradation of women as half men.
Read some of the comments from Iran, in some cities, in some neighborhoods and areas of town, even in broad day light, you would be taking a chance if you leave a female member of your family alone, god knows what will happen to them. It's a very phocking serious situation for women's saftey in Iran.
Degradation, insulting attitudes, and violence, including sexual violence against women in Iran has one goddamn root: GENDER-APARTHEID. And if by now you can't even connect the dots, well, as biggy smalls say: " And if you don't know, now you know ..."
What you, Salman the Nazi, Afsaneh, Mola, Demo, Mashangi...and the rest are doing in here is nothing less than what you used to do in front of Tehran University 31 years ago. Back then with most of the population confused , you used to beat us bloody with sticks. Now the population has no illusions about the regime, and sticks and violence has exhausted its utility. So, now its all about soft-warfare, and coming out with 'democratic,' 'participatory,' 'post-modern,'... all 'brand-new' types of Islam to fool us again.
Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice shame on you.
It Was All A Dream//www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMeWQXE38dA&feature...
Pay close attention to 1:08 to 1:15 and the ending. Achtung. Tvajh.
MG
by Soosan Khanoom on Fri Jun 17, 2011 03:23 PM PDTDo nt even dare call me an Irniana woman who is a shameless defender of IRI?
How dare you ...
you have not even read what I said your ego would not let to comprehend it ...
Shame on you .....for saying shame on me
I am so pissed off at you right now ....
cause you are just accusing me ...... and if that makes you happy ... then keep accusing me of being a supporter ......
Thank you so much MG ....
Who cares about tears SK?
by divaneh on Fri Jun 17, 2011 03:19 PM PDTMG has given you a befitting answer but as you have also addresses the rest of the FIFA supporters then let me tell you that in that country we don't care about tears.
Who cares about the tears of a few girls who are not allowed to play football where we have witnessed the tears of the mother of Farzad Kamangar? Where we have seen Neda, Ashkan, Sohrab,Shirin, Haleh, .... mothers crying on the grave of their children and even then would not be left alone. How many times did you right about their tears? Mash Ghasem is right, shame on you.
This has EVERYTHING TO DO WITH GENDER-APARTHEID IN IRAN
by Mash Ghasem on Fri Jun 17, 2011 03:05 PM PDTObviuosly you're so condtioned by
theocracy that even when you're seemingly out of it, it still resounds
in your brain. For an Iranian women to deny the bloody, brutal existence
and torturous imposition of GENDER-APARTGEID in Iran, means only and
only one thing: shameless defender of women's oppression in Iran, by
Hezbollah thugs. Plain and simple.Shame on you.
MG.... and to the rest of FIFA supporters
by Soosan Khanoom on Fri Jun 17, 2011 02:44 PM PDT1) This has nothing to do with IRI. No one here supports IRI. This has nothing to do with theocracy either ...
2 ) It is not also about the freedom to wear anything as Faramarz asked me about Brazilians girl's football team because that is a ridiculous argument ... A dress code should be practical ... now the Brizilian team thingy may have had a point if these girls were playing with Burqa or even chadoor......
3 ) Ok let us say it is not even political but the evidence that I posted is here and you can be a judge ......
This is about seeing the girls in TEARS and that is enough for me.
Now tell me:
1) Do you htink those tears were shed in support of FIFA's action against IRI ? ( like these girls are fighting IRI with their tears?)
2) Do you think those tears were shed in support of IRI? ( like these girls all are for mandatory Hejab)
3) Do you think those tears were shed for insensitive people like DOKHI to post her brialiant " SO WHAT " article?
Tell me why those girls were left in tears ?
Now listen to me :
if the IRANIAN Men were MAN ENOUGH they would fight against Gender Apartheid in Soccer by stop goiong to stadiums in Iran and ban any football game untill they are allowed to take their sisters, daughters with them .....
if the IRANIAN Men were MAN ENOUGH they would fight against Gender Apartheid in Soccer by asking male soccer teams in iran to even stop playing as a protest till there are women in the audience as well ....
if the IRANIAN Men were MAN ENOUGH they would fight against Gender Apartheid in Soccer by asking FIFA to ban MEN's team to play because they play in Iran without giving a damn about this discriminations against women and they so enjoy their games while their women fan are not allowed to come and watch the game ......
There are many better ways to fight against IRI better ways than leaving these poor innocent girls in tears ....
NOW
Be a man and start a true campaign against IRI .....
and yes SHAME ON FIFA for not fighting with IRI but fighting with Iranian women
Protesting Gender-Apartheid imposed on Iranian women by thugs
by Mash Ghasem on Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:06 AM PDTand still supported by some even in here.
You could take them out of theocracy, but you can't takethe theocracy out of them.
calling out FIFA
by Hafez for Beginners on Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:03 AM PDTWhether the Hijab should be voluntary or forced in a society- is a separate argument to the incompetency and games playing FIFA showed to the women of Iran's Soccer team.
The Olypmics allow for Hijab, and FIFA dragged it's feet - "tighter" - OK!! - "need to see the neck" -- whereas very early on, it could have recommended the tight one piece "hijood" many moslem athletes wear and are allowed to at the Olympics, and be done with.
FIFA doing something wrong, shouldn't be mixed with a separate internal political issue of nations. FIFA has made Iranian women with Hijab stay home if they are soccer players, but Iran's hijabed women from other sports will play - because the Olympics allow it. Ridiculous.
.......
by yolanda on Wed Jun 15, 2011 09:47 AM PDTGreat post, Reality-Bites!
What a great debate here!
***************
IRI does not want to follow the FIFA's rules, but IRI wanted to host FIFA Club World Cup..........
//www.presstv.ir/detail/180482.html
If IRI wins the bid, women can't even go to the stadium watching the games.......
FIFA should force IRI to bring down the gender apartheid before giving IRI the right to host FIFA Club World Cup!
And now for something completely different
by Mash Ghasem on Wed Jun 15, 2011 09:44 AM PDT//www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqfFKYoewGE
And in the spirit of the orignial , here's the Footbal match of the Ages, enjoy, esp.Framarz, that Gung Fu fighting was nice.
Monty Python - And now for something completely different//www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7v6y5RtsBM&feature...
Framarz pretty much covered it well
by Reality-Bites on Wed Jun 15, 2011 08:43 AM PDTAnd some others have said it too.
The issue is not or should not be FIFA and their enforcement of the Organization's rules, which, as mandated by most member nations, they have every right to do.
The issue should be:
- the attitude and mentality of the Islamic Republic sporting authorities that enforce these ridiculous, embarrassing - not to mention probably inhibiting (activity wise) - outfits on Iranian sportswomen, which any civilised country that upholds the equality of sexes, would never do, and
- their reactions in throwing their dummies out of their prams and crying foul when international bodies like FIFA refuse to appease them and give in to these backward and reactionary zealots' demands.
They have imposed their backward and discriminatory dogma on the people of Iran so much and for so long that they automatically expect everyone else to comply with their diktats and indulge their every whim and react with outraged fury when they don't.
As for those who whine about "FIFA injustice", get a f***ing grip; it's NOT injustice when you are supposed to be a signatory to an international organisation's rules and regulations, i.e. that you have agreed to abide by those rules before you can participate in the organizations' activities and when you break/go against those rules, you are barred from taking part. It's not "injustice" to have special treatment demand rejected. It's not "injustice" for FIFA not to give in to one rule for the Islamic Republic, another for everyone else.
The real and only injustice here is the one suffered by women up and down Iran, inc these footballers at the hands of the IR, which the regime could easily put right by allowing them to dress like the female footballers from other countries, instead of a bunch of human sized pin-balling pins.
...
by Mash Ghasem on Tue Jun 14, 2011 02:46 PM PDTProf. Framarz concur.
Or as they used to say: you could take the girl out of theocracy, but you can't take the theocracy out of her.
A query from his eminence, Ayatol Ozma Majnon: Does the Hen
by Mash Ghasem on Tue Jun 14, 2011 02:43 PM PDTplay Footbal with G-strings, topless, or hijab?
I Agree with Divaneh
by Faramarz on Tue Jun 14, 2011 02:38 PM PDTYou can take Soosan Khanoom's horse to the water, but you can't force her to drink!
I agree with Soosan Khanoom
by divaneh on Tue Jun 14, 2011 02:16 PM PDTHen has got one leg.
Injustice
by Hafez for Beginners on Tue Jun 14, 2011 11:37 AM PDTI encourage you to look at the "Hijood" donned by the Bahraini athlete and countless others. (I've posted the Photo on today's blog: Olympics vs. FIFA)
Yes - different sports have different dress codes. But the OLYMPICS allows for the Hijab, and FIFA could have told Iran to copy the "Hijood" the Bahraini athlete in my Blog's photo is wearing, which Iran close enough has. The "safety" issue FIFA bring is because of pulling and tugging from neckwarmers that are just a loose ring. Nothing you can "pull" on with a "Hijood" - FIFA were lame, and the OLYMPICS shouldn't have given them such free reign over soccer rules.
Iranian women in Hijab, like many from other countries will be going to the OLYMPICS - London 2012 - while the Iran's women's soccer team will stay at home. Google "Hijood" and Olympics and find out how ridiculous FIFA were - and how shocking it is that the OLYMPIC COMMITTEE allowed them to do the yes-no-yes-no-yes-no - and then the final No!!
Injustice is Injustice. More so, if one side stands up for "Values!"
.......
by yolanda on Tue Jun 14, 2011 11:20 AM PDTDifferent sports have different dress codes.......
Finally a comment that is well worth considering
by Bavafa on Tue Jun 14, 2011 11:15 AM PDT"What if the Brazilian team wants to play with G-strings or the French team wants to play topless! Would you be OK with that too?"
Thanks for the suggestion cousin Farmarz. If they approved the above choice (I do) I sure will get the season pass.
Meanwhile, Iranian women have been the receiving end of great injustice. On a daily bases from IRI and now from the FIFA.
Let them play!!!!
Mehrdad
OLYMPICS vs FIFA
by Hafez for Beginners on Tue Jun 14, 2011 11:04 AM PDTThe facts are getting more outrageous. The Olympics allow "hijab" and there are plenty of women athletes donning the gear you can check out. (I've posted a photo on my "Olympics vs. Hijab" blog, today.)
FIFA for some reason is given its own set of rules for the soccer component at the Olympics. They mangled up things badly - had allowed the Iran Women to play for a few games, and then suddenly came out with a "no" - over their necks being coverd with a turtle neck shirt!
Iranian women and other "hijab"-ed athletes will be at the London 2012 OLYMPICS. The Olympics allow for it. Iran Women's Soccer will be sitting at home.
Ok Faramrz : )
by Soosan Khanoom on Mon Jun 13, 2011 07:17 PM PDTOk ok .... I gave up and just because you love cats ...... here is the
eHarmony Video Bio
for you ... LOL
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTTwcCVajAc
//youtu.be/mTTwcCVajAc
Soosan Khanoom
by Faramarz on Mon Jun 13, 2011 07:02 PM PDTOn this topic, you are talking way beyond your pay grade! Seriously!
What if the Brazilian team wants to play with G-strings or the French team wants to play topless! Would you be OK with that too?
Please set aside your deeply rooted religious inclinations and get with the program! And don't forget to feed your cat!
and .....
by Soosan Khanoom on Mon Jun 13, 2011 06:55 PM PDT"Soccer is the great global game: the closest thing we have to a connective cultural tissue that binds our species across national and cultural borders. But only in a world so upside down could “the Beautiful Game” be run by an organization as corrupt as FIFA and by a man as rotten to the core as FIFA President Sepp Blatter. Only Sepp Blatter, whose reputation for degeneracy approaches legend, would hire a war criminal like Henry Kissinger to head "a committee of wise persons" aimed at “rooting out corruption” in his organization. And only these two twinning avatars of amorality would use "the Beautiful Game" as an instrument of Islamophobia."
//www.opposingviews.com/i/fifa-s-decision-to-ban-iran-s-national-women-s-team
No surprise here . .. even fool can see this
by Soosan Khanoom on Mon Jun 13, 2011 06:45 PM PDT" I think a lot will depend on the mediation efforts of Prince Ali of Jordan. He took office yesterday as vice president of FIFA. It's remarkable that he is willing to go out on a limb on this issue because of the much broader dispute between Iran and conservative Arab states, including Jordan, with regard to the mass protests that have been sweeping the Middle East and North Africa for the past six months. "
//www.npr.org/2011/06/09/137089323/fifa-disqu...