8th March is our day!  

Speech made by Parvin Kaboli on 8th March 2004 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Parvin spoke to a crowd of 3000 people attending the International Women’s Day demonstration.  

8th March is our day. It is a day for men and women who have strived for the necessity of a change in the society. A day of unity in the streets, or underground meetings. It is a day for us to struggle in order to overcome our suppression. 8th March is a day when we once again witness a living historical message. A message from the past but interlinked with the lives of millions of people today. A day when we witness people’s struggle for gender equality and freedom. 8th March is a day for an international struggle against the roots of women’s suppression in the society. It is a day of protest against everything that reproduces women’s suppression including all customs, convictions, morals and traditions, which are in contradiction to women’s rights. 8th March is the day when we are reminded that gender discrimination is one of the bases of the present system, which is alien to people’s nature and therefore must be uprooted.

Capitalism reproduces itself, amongst others, through gender discrimination. In the West, gender discrimination is in the work place, at home and in the society. In the Middle East and North Africa, it takes Islam as a political alternative to leave women as victims of religious barbarity, and violates their basic human rights.

Let us talk about the situation of women in Sweden. Since the 80s, the welfare state has been in a state of collapse, thanks to the right wing policies, including that of the Social Democrats, dominating the society. Cut downs have made the wage gap between the sexes even bigger and the economic situation worst for the weak. Women are the first to feel and suffer the burden.

8th March in Gothenburg, Sweden

The result of such policies has led to lower standards of health, depression and weakening of women’s position in the society. We must not forget how the Public Workers Union’s fight for higher wages was bashed behind closed doors. We must not forget that sexual abuse against women is on the rise. Women trafficking has become more or less a common event. In courts, the victim’s clothing, drinking and sexual habits are considered as reasons to justify a crime. With this background, Tore Norberg (Solicitor) made history by calling a partner a “whore”! There are so many ways to become famous, aren’t there?!

Such a situation demands an action from us, from the women’s movement. We need our Rosa Luxemburg, Alexandra Kolontie. We need to shake off the obstacles, which stop us from our fight for women’s liberation in Sweden. A socialist movement that secures women’s demands and unity.

Last but not least, as an activist of the progressive women’s movement in the Middle East, I must emphasize that we need solidarity in our fight against political Islam that has ruined the life of millions of women in countries like Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq. In Iraq, the occupying forces are helping the tribal and religious forces to build a state based on religion, ethnic differences and tribal values. Such plans must be exposed and stopped. Talibans of the world are still ruling. They must be pushed back and out of women’s lives.

The Iranian government consolidatse its position with the help of the Western governments. They try to stand in the way of the secular movement. A movement that is demanding freedom and equality. Help us to change the situation for the better. A better world where people’s interests are in the centre. Our slogan on 8th March, the International Women’s Day should be: Solidarity and an total unconditional equality between men and women all over the world.

Long live 8th March!

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