Suchergebnisse

"The contemporary movements seen on the streets of the Middle East today have their roots in a rich history of social and political struggle in the region. Since the 1990s, large-scale social movements have mobilised millions in opposition to authoritarian regimes often backed by the West. In Egypt, diverse movements opposed the Mubarak regime and its dependence on the US, and have gone on to fight for further transformative change. In Iran, an Islamic reform movement, women's movement and democracy movement has challenged the undemocratic and exclusivist nature of the Islamic state since the 1990s. This book analyses the reform movement in Iran and the groups and organisations that form the basis of the Egyptian opposition movement in their historical contexts. It argues that the contemporary movements have not arisen out of a vacuum but represent the culmination of over twenty years of mobilisation by social movements. This mobilisation is itself part of a history of struggle for democracy, social justice and freedom in the region that dates back over a century"--

As in the case of many contemporary movements, Iranian women's activism is connected into local, international and transnational politics. However, Iranian women's views of transnational solidarity and perceptions of foreign support for women's rights in Iran are complicated by the experience of Western foreign policy of the last three decades. This is perceived to have claimed to support women's rights and liberalism against what is often described as a "conservative theocratic state" but has, in some ways, made it more difficult for women to organise "on the ground" and strengthened the hand of conservative forces both materially and ideologically. Two facets of Western foreign policy towards Iran will be discussed and analysed in relation to their impact on women; firstly, this article will investigate the impact of sanctions and the international isolation of the country since 1979 on women's organisations. Secondly, it will analyse neo-liberalism and the changing nature of the Iranian state, as well as political elites. Utilising interviews with Iranian women activists conducted in 2009, in addition to April 2015, the article will discuss views of transnational solidarity and the diverse political strategies utilised by women activists and organisations in Iran today.

The aim of this article is to compare women's activism in Diaspora communities in Muslim majority countries, such as Iran, with some of the experiences of women activists in Western counties such as Australia. This is by no means a definitive account of Arab and Muslim women's activism in either country but an attempt to raise some questions and provide a framework in order to understand some of the issues facing Arab and Muslim activists today. I believe that it is important to look at these issues in a way that is contextualized in terms of the material circumstances in which women living in Diaspora communities find themselves. In doing so, I hope to reveal the complexity and dynamism of women's activism and to take on critically, Orientalist, essentialist and racist arguments regarding the nature of Arab and Muslim women's role in opposing war and neo-liberalism and in the struggle for gender equality. As Edward Said argues, exile forces us to "see things not simply as they are, but as they have come to be that way. Look at situations as contingent, not as inevitable, look at them as a series of historical choices made by men and women, facts of society made by human beings not as natural or God-given, therefore unchangeable, permanent, irreversible."

Cover -- Half Title -- Dedication -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of Tables -- List of Contributors -- A Note on Transliteration -- Glossary -- 1 Introduction -- 2 The Women's Movement in its Historical Context -- 3 The Boom in Women's Education -- 4 Autonomous Minds and Bodies in Theory and Practice: Women Constructing Cultural Identities and Becoming Visible through Art -- 5 Women and Employment -- 6 Women, Gender Roles, Media and Journalism -- 7 Women Working as Judges and Making Judicial Decisions -- 8 Women and Executive Power -- 9 Women in the Parliament -- 10 Women and the Environment: A Politico-Environmental Experience -- 11 The Iranian Women's Movement in its Regional and International Context -- 12 Conclusion: Women's Movements and Democracy Movements in Iran

Introduction: the spirit of Wasatiyyah democracy / Lily Zubaidah Rahim --. - Religious secularity: reconciliation between political Islam and secular democracy / Naser Ghobadzadeh --. - The spirited voices of Muslim women in Islamic reform movements / Amina Wadud --. - Progressive Islam and Quranic hermeneutics: The reification of religion and theories of religious experience / Safdar Ahmed --. - Democracy for Muslims: Javed Ahmed Ghamidi / Samina Yasmeen --. - Muslim support for secular democracy / Pippa Norris --. - Secularism and religious freedom: challenging the postsecular / Bronwyn Winter --. - The crisis of state-led Islamization and authoritarian communal governance in Malaysia / Lily Zubaidah Rahim --. - Sisters in Islam: engendering Islamic law reform in Malaysia / Ratna Osman and Catherine Hirst --. - Religious pluralism, inclusive secularism and democratic constitutionalism: the Indonesian experience / Nadirsyah Hosen --. - Voices of dissent: social movements and political change in Egypt / Tara Povey --. - Militant laicists, Muslim democrats and liberal secularists: contending visions of secularism in Turkey / Christopher Houston

La 4e de couverture indique: "Huit ans plus tard, que reste-t-il du « printemps arabe » ? La situation de guerre et de contre-révolution domine la région. Au premier chef, en Syrie, au Yémen et en Libye, bien sûr. Mais, en réalité, sous une forme menaçante, larvée ou discontinue, aucun pays ne lui échappe complètement. Instrumentalisés par les grandes puissances, ces conflits deviennent également, et de plus en plus, la scène où se vérifient et s'entrechoquent les intérêts et rivalités des puissances régionales émergentes (Iran, Arabie saoudite, Turquie…). Le risque, toutefois, est de s'en tenir à une lecture uniquement géopolitique et occidentalo-centrée, autour des stéréotypes que les révolutions arabes avaient justement fait voler en éclats, pour se figer dans le (faux) dilemme de la dictature ou du chaos. Et d'occulter les acteurs, les enjeux et la dynamique des luttes sociales à l'œuvre. La déclinaison des guerres actuelles renvoie moins aux effets qu'aux causes et revendications des soulèvements de 2010-2011, dont l'onde de choc se fait encore ressentir aujourd'hui. Ainsi, ces dernières années, du Rif marocain à l'Iran, de Kobané à Gaza, en passant par la Jordanie, de fortes mobilisations sociales ont secoué une région, marquée par les inégalités et la jeunesse de sa population… et continueront de la secouer à hauteur de la demande de « pain, liberté et justice sociale ».