Nahid Keshavarz, an activist for the One Million Signatures Campaign to Change ‎Discriminatory Laws, has spoken to Rooz about the International Women’s Day on ‎March 8th and the obstacles facing the women’s rights movement in Iran. ‎

Rooz (R): What differences existed between this year and previous years’ International ‎Women’s Day celebrations, in light of the difficult year that the women’s movement and ‎the One Million Signatures Campaign has gone through? ‎

Nahid Keshavarz (NK): The important characteristic [of this year’s celebrations] was ‎that, because of police and security presence, celebrations were held mostly in private ‎and closed spaces. Different events were held at universities across the country as well. ‎We are now dealing with women’s groups that are connected to one another like a web, ‎so even if they celebrate the women’s day in private, they still give it a public dimension, ‎meaning they bring up issues that find resonance in the media and are printed in the ‎press. Even if they find limited coverage in the print media, they find their place on the ‎Internet. ‎

R: What are the effects of celebrating the International Women’s Day in private? Could ‎it weaken the voice that you work so hard to keep strong? ‎

NK: The movement that has begun poses clear and immediate demands. Therefore, I do ‎not think it can be stopped easily. Recently, when I was browsing the Internet, I saw that ‎the Advar News website – the website connected to Daneshamukhtegan-e Tahkim-e ‎Vahdat Organization student organization – has published a special report to ‎commemorate March 8. Seeing this was both amazing and exciting for me. This means ‎that no one can ignore this powerful movement. If you look at the list of people who ‎were interviewed for their special reports, you will notice a stark difference in ‎comparison with previous years, when these issues were not public. In previous years, ‎these issues were on the sidelines, and politicians addressed them only in a demeaning ‎tone. Now, the movement has imposes its rightful position on Iran’s civil and social ‎atmosphere. As a result, no matter how hard they try to suppress it, this is not the kind of ‎movement that can be suppressed. The movement may have to change its tactics or ‎strategies, or try to search for new methods of resistance, but it will continue to persist ‎and thrive. ‎

R: In your opinion, how can the women’s rights movement establish relations with ‎influential politicians to pursue its demands? ‎

NK: I think if the women’s movement and the One Million Signatures Campaign can ‎voice their demands in a very powerful manner in the public and social spheres, ‎politicians will inevitably have to acknowledge their demands. The question that I ‎always ask of myself is that, how is it that Ayatollah Sanei, who now talks about equality ‎of rights for men and women, did not talk about these issues in the 1980s, when he ‎headed the nation’s supreme court? Why is it that Ayatollah Rafsanjani, who was the ‎country’s president for two terms, never talked about equal “dia” [blood money] for men ‎and women, but has called for this in the past year and a half, after the women’s ‎movement was able to stamp its mark on the face of Iran’s sociopolitical developments. ‎Even people from conservative camp, such as Mrs. Maryam Behrouzi, speak about ‎women’s legal demands. Mrs. Behrouzi may say that we do not need a Western ‎women’s movement, but, at least, she has heard the voice of women’s movement and ‎defends equal dia and insists that it is not right for men to marry multiple women. ‎

R: What is the campaign’s most important program?‎

NK: The women’s movement has taken a very important step, which was to voice its ‎demands in a clear voice on the public stage. If it can voice these demands louder and, ‎while identifying shortcomings, use its available potential to propel itself forward, it will ‎have a very bright future. ‎

R: What are the shortcomings of the women’s movement? ‎

NK: I think that our most important problem is that our demands appear politicized. Our ‎main problem is the wrong understanding of Iranian officials who view women’s ‎demands as political and security threats. In the past two years, we have not been able to ‎hold meetings in even one public building. Day after day, the space for action shrinks. ‎