Notes on One Million Signatures Demanding Changes to Discriminatory Laws Regarding Women
This is part of my sketches for a review of the campaign. So they are drafts and subject to edits. They are not also introductory material. You can read more about the campaign at their Web addresses: We4change.org
The campaign and Islam
Furthermore the campaign approaches mullahs. Ms Qeyrat in an interview maintains that their activity is in no confrontation with Islamic laws and also that muftis are reasonable about women's requests nowadays.
There are a large part of other notes and references to opinion of Islamic experts, tolerable activity in Islam and conforming to Islamic teachings, in the campaign Web site.
Many people who first hear of the campaign speculate how these demonstrations would have been resulted from the fear of suppress by government or attempts to appeal to the rulers of Tehran. The religious notion is not limited to the founders of the campaign. There is considerations easy to hear among people who now work to promote the movement by talking with people in street.
Two facts should be considered while investigating these appearance. Since Iran has been a very religious country, it is likely that many people are either orthodox or are struggling with religious thoughts and its presence in the scene. Also there is an unspoken law in Tehran, which is if you want to make any public statements, you had better be a Shiite.
Measurements of success
Ms Noushin Keshavarznia, one of the campaign volunteers, in their Web site, in a response to a critic says more than mere feminist rhetoric and calls the addressee a Left for his criticism of the campaign not considering economy of the women. This is a sign of the diversified spectrum of people involved in the campaign, since there has been both clear and ambiguous remarks evident of Left ideas penetrating deep in the campaign.
There is another detail in Ms Keshavarzian's remarks. She, citing one the main founders, states that the campaign has an eye on the by products of the movement, namely bringing the silent women [back] into the scene, empowering them to make demands for themselves.
After the first period of presidency of Mr Khatami ended, this was the first true bringing of people to public scene, by a force outsider to the closed circle of rulers in Tehran. And this is clearly a matter of anxiety for Ahmadinejad's government and totalitarian system at work in the country. Hence the question remains if the campaign will go any further.