By Zuleika Matamoros. Member of Marea Socialista, Venezuelan section of the ISL. Promoter of Juntas y a la Izquierda.
Repudiation of the feminicide against Mahsa Amini!
A recent event has generated a wave of protests that shake the foundations of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The capture, beating and subsequent death of 22-year-old Mashad Amini at the hands of the “Moral Guard” for “not wearing the veil correctly”, triggered demonstrations that are still ongoing despite the repression that has already resulted in dozens of injuries and three deaths.
The images in the videos posted on social media of women uncovering and cutting their hair, combined with the voices in the street shouting Death to the Dictator! Justice, freedom, no to the mandatory hijab! expose that large sectors of the youth are fed up with this deeply patriarchal and ultra-conservative regime.
False feminism and concessions to orthodox conservatism
The government of Ebrahim Raisi and Alí Jameini has carried out a huge business with Nicolás Maduro within the framework of the Law of Special Economic Zones regarding oil, refining, petrochemicals, defense, tourism, culture and agriculture, to the point of granting 12% of the arable lands, an evident surrender of sovereignty, which was consolidated in the “Scientific and Technological Industrial Expoferia”.
Maduro’s government has shown its patriarchal and capitalist face once again by granting the ultra-conservative government silence in the face of the feminicide of Mashad Amini and remaining silent about the protests that are still going on just for the sake of not “tarnishing” their economic agreements. We are witnessing the sale of the country, in which Iran is counted as a strategic partner.
In Venezuela the struggle for the exercise and achievement of women’s and LGBTQ+ community rights is arduous and uphill. The concession to religious sectors has deepened in recent years. Spreading the business events and photographing themselves laughing with their Iranian peers just at the time when the population rebels against conservatism is an endorsement of state crimes against women because of the religious fundamentalism of the theocratic, repressive and patriarchal regime, governed by the “sharia” and ruled by Raisi and Jameini.
And what does the left-wing say?
The left and its “feminist” organizations have displayed their contradictions time and again. This time their arguments collapse because while claiming to raise the banner of secularism and freedom of worship they have justified the orthodox actions of the Iranian government under the pretext of being part of diversity, even with the imposition of the mandatory wearing of the hijab and all the oppression it represents. Today, when it becomes clear that such diversity is a lie because the use of the hijab is not left to the free choice of women, but is mandatory and is imposed even through a moral guard, they look the other way and also remain silent
The murder of Amini opens a debate with feminism of identities, many located in campism and which have justified the use of the veil in the name of diversity, conceding to orthodox conservatism. With this “debate” of the “Islamist identity” they try to silence the arguments against the oppression of women which, among others, is expressed in the use of the hijab, under the excuse that we must respect and not impose “the Western vision”.
Feminism that raises an “Islamist identity” to justify capitalist, totalitarian and orthodox governments like the Iranian one also cause many debates, but what is indisputable is that Amini was killed at the hands of the “Moral Guard” for a matter of super basic democratic freedom as deciding how to dress and even for wearing the veil showing part of her scalp. There is no debate here. The position against feminicides and religious impositions is a principled one in every organization that raises the banner of feminism.
Neither Patriarchy nor Capital!
The patriarchy, brother of the capitalist system, beats and murders women around the world. This violence and oppression is exercised in different ways. In Iran it is the government and its regime. The “Moral Guard” is its repressive organ so the protests that are unleashed today in Iran are demonstrating against the government and against the regime and it is necessary that we accompany it and that we stand in solidarity with the protests and raise our voices in the world against the repression to which they are subjected.
From Juntas y a la Izquierda in Venezuela, as members of the International Socialist League, we declare ourselves against all veils and their impositions. Against the media manipulation of communication. Against naturalizing this fact under “identity” arguments. Against the isolation of the struggles of women living under Islamist regimes.
We repudiate the assassination of Mashad Amini and the complacent attitude of the government of Nicolás Maduro and we support the protests of the Iranian people!