Iran and Human Rights

Today is the Iranian holiday of Students Day, a day to commemorate three students killed by the Shah 56 years ago. It has always held special significance to both the Iranian people and regime, who have traditionally used the day to extol the virtues of the revolution that took place to depose the Shah. However, this year the only people measuring up to the principles of that revolution are the students themselves. Iranian security forces clashed with protesters earlier today as the still strong opposition to the outcome of last June's election protested the government and its policies. The imagery of this occasion cannot be overlooked. An increasingly repressive regime is attempting to silence dissenting views through violent means, while the opposition's influence continues to grow, it's members finding strength in the phrase "God is great." In essence, the theocracy of Iran has become that which its leaders sought to end.

This tragedy of good intentions giving way to authoritarianism cannot be fairly examined without looking at the role of women and gender in society. For all of its attempts to secure a democracy, women in Iran occupy the same social role that they have in all Islamic Caliphates--forced to wear the hijab, disallowed from speaking in public, and treated as property. With such a system of control over one demographic, repression inevitably spreads to others. A devaluation of any group of people risks the eventual devaluation of all people. Even if the theocracy is eventually overthrown, and a more democratic regime is installed, this sort of oppression will be predestined to occur again without a redefinition of the role of gender in society. Humanism is the philosophy that is required for any democracy to survive, and without a radical restructuring of the role of gender in society, repression by the state will always be just around the corner.