NYC: Int'l Women's Day: Most Urgent Issue is Rape as War Weapon, from Nigeria, Somalia to Iraq and Syria. We don't need any words, we need Global Action!

"Women's rights are human rights!" some shouted amid a cacophony of car horns, drumbeats and police commands. The afternoon march started in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza opposite the United Nations, ending hours later in Times Square. Participants called for equality for the gender that traditionally is paid less for work and often has a smaller voice in policy decisions. "Today, you are marching in the footsteps of generations of feminists," said New York City's first lady, Chirlane McCray, noting that International Women's Day commemorates the day in 1908 when thousands of women marched through the city demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. Established by the Socialist Party of America, the celebration spread to communist and socialist countries, especially the former Soviet Union, where Vladimir Lenin made it an official holiday. "This march started more than a century ago, but we still have a long way to go before we get to equality," McCray added. She pointed to universal prekindergarten, paid sick leave and other causes that her husband, Mayor Bill de Blasio, has emphasized as a mark of progress for women in New York City. In November, New York joined the U.N.'s Safe Global Cities Initiative, which works to combat sexual harassment and violence in public places. Caeli Waldron, 26, flew in from Los Angeles to lead a contingent of high school students marching as part of a program called Girls Learn International, which involves American youth in the global movement for girls' education. "Women's inequality affects men because we're all fighting for equality in various ways, we're all connected — whether it's racial or gay or economic rights," said Waldon, adding that if, for instance, a man is married to a woman earning less for equivalent work, "your family is not going to be as stable." Another marcher hoisted a sign that read: "If women are equal, men are free." A salient issue on Sunday was rape — whether in India, where in recent months it has become a divisive and very public issue, or in the United States. Dev Singh, 14, came from Pennsylvania with a group of about 100 teens and adults belonging to a spiritual movement called the Sant Nirankari Mission that originated in India. "We believe in equality, and the key to respecting everyone is love," the boy from Chadds Ford, outside Philadelphia, said after crossing Manhattan to the beat of a drum pounded by another youth in the group. Speakers at the U.N. headquarters gathering preceding the march included Nobel prize winner Leymah Roberta Gbowee, a peace activist from Liberia. She acknowledged the men who joined the women for the march, calling them "men sisters." U.N. officials say much has been achieved under the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, signed by 189 governments in 1995 as a pledge for realizing women's rights. But U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the gains have been too slow and uneven. He said the most urgent issue is rape being used as a war weapon, from Nigeria and Somalia to Iraq and Syria. "We don't need any words, we need global action," the secretary-general said. "All the women must be at the front and center of our world."

SYRIA: Thousands of Kurdish Women Spent International Women's Day on the Fighting Front Against Radical Group of Islamic State

The Kurdish Woman Protection Units (YPJ) are considered a main force combatting IS extremists. While in the city of Qamishl in northeastern Syria, Kurdish women organizations revived International Women’s Day. The celebration included different activities, including the performance of a mime play echoing the situation of Syrian Kurdish women under the conditions of war and as victims of extremist groups. Speaking to ARA News in Qamishli, Berivan Alika, a member of the Shawshka Associationfor Women’s Rights, said: “Today, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day, we wanted to shed light on the situation of women in the region through this mime play, focusing on the violence women are exposed to.” “We wanted to perform an original version reflecting reality, because the woman is the major building block of any society, and the injustice practiced against Syrian women under the current conditions of war are unbearable,” she said. Gulsen Muhammad, one of the performers in the mime play, told ARA News: “This activity reflects the real situation of the Syrian women during the hardships of war. Women are repeatedly exposed to rape and detention, and we wanted to specifically echo such realities by performing in the city center of Qamishi on this occasion.” “Assyrian and Yezidi women were even taken as sex captives by extremists of the Islamic State,” she told ARA News. “In some cases, Syrian women were also forced to become beggars looking for simplest means of life. Others were forced into prostitution in order to survive and feed their children.” The celebration of the International Women’s Day in Qamishli also included performances of folk dances presented in the Kurdish traditional dresses. Speaking to ARA News, Majdal Delli, member of the Central Committee of the Kurdish Yeketi Party in Syria, said: “Kurdish women have always supported men and joined them in times of revolution and crisis.” “Today we are here to show solidarity with women and support them in this progressive movement in the Kurdish region.”

BERLIN – Grand Gathering on International Women’s Day! Powerful Personalities Declared Solidarity Against Islamic Fundamentalism!

This gathering, in the presence of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, was held with the participation of a great number of prominent political, social and artistic personalities and human and women’s rights activists from the world’s five continents, including Kim Campbell, Rita Süssmuth, Linda Chavez, Frances Townsend, Ingrid Betancourt, as well as a delegation of women jurists, including Maria Candida Almeida (Portuguese General Prosecutor), delegation from Syrian opposition, delegation of prominent women from Asia, a large delegation of legislators and mayors and other German dignitaries, delegation of women parliamentarians from Arabic countries, delegations representing dozens of Iranian women associations and institutions throughout Europe and the United States, and thousands of women from various countries and followers of various religions. Call by Maryam Rajavi for buttressing movement against fundamentalism, the principal enemy of equality and global peace and security. On Saturday, March 7, the participants in a grand gathering in Berlin on the occasion of International Women’s Day titled “For Tolerance and Equality against Fundamentalism and Misogyny” underscored that the advancement of the ideal of equality in the world today has come face-to-face with a formidable barrier, the Islamic Fundamentalism. This phenomenon is endangering the entire Middle East and the world through genocide, terrorism and discrimination and more than anything is hostile to women. The participants stipulated that the sole solution to this crisis is to draw on women’s power and on a resistance movement that believes in women’s power and their leadership. They also called for a comprehensive strategy that focuses on the Iranian regime as the epicenter of Islamic fundamentalism, supports democratic Muslims, and prevents the Iranian regime from acquiring the nuclear weapon. In this conference Mrs. Maryam Rajavi stated that the key decisive factor in the empowering of the fundamentalists was the rise to power of reactionary mullahs in Iran that for the first time offered a model for governance by fundamentalist groups. She added: “Fundamentalism is not a face-off between Islam and the West nor a confrontation between Islam and Christianity and Judaism, or a Shia and Sunni conflict. The crux of the conflict is between freedom versus subjugation and dictatorship, between equality on the one hand and tyranny and misogyny on the other. Fundamentalism has placed misogyny at its core and through suppressing women it intimidates and suppresses the entire society. To save the world from the nightmare of fundamentalism and for the emancipation of the Middle East nations from this ominous phenomenon, she called on all noble women throughout the world to form and expand a powerful front against Islamic fundamentalism and against terrorism and barbarity in the name of Islam. She said: To rein in the ominous phenomenon of Islamic fundamentalism, one should inescapably confront the religious dictatorship ruling Iran. This regime is at the heart of the problem and its support for the Assad and Maliki dictatorships in Syria and Iraq has led to the rise of fundamentalist militias and the ISIS. As such, silence in face of regime’s meddling in countries of this region, let alone collaborating with it on the pretense of fighting ISIS, is a horrendous strategic mistake. She warned: It is delusional to ask the arsonist to put out the fire. Diagonally opposite, the correct policy is to evict the mullahs’ regime from Iraq and Syria. Bringing down this regime is an essential imperative not just for the Iranian people, but for the region and the world. The crime of the appeasement by Western governments is that they have chosen the path of conciliation with the state sponsor of fundamentalism, the regime of Iran, and have participated in clamping down on the alternative to fundamentalism. Offering concessions to this regime in the nuclear negotiations is against the highest interests of the peoples of Iran and the region and undermines global peace and security. It is also taking the human rights of the Iranian people to the altar. She noted the escalating trend of executions in Iran, including the hanging of at least 21 prisoners on March 4, six of whom Sunni political prisoners, and stated: To avert popular uprisings, particularly during nuclear negotiations, the Iranian regime badly needs this wave of executions and oppression. Silence and inaction regarding the grave violation of human rights in Iran, not only emboldens this regime to carry on with its atrocities, but encourages the regime in pursuing the nuclear program and exporting of terrorism. Maryam Rajavi called support for the Iranian Resistance, the democratic alternative that has been established against the clerical regime in over three decades, as an essential step in confronting fundamentalism. This alternative follows on the path of genuine and democratic Islam and emphasizes on separation of the mosque and the state, gender equality, and a non-nuclear Iran. In her finishing statements, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance said: The largest movement of women vanguards in Camp Liberty gives hope and inspiration to Iranian women and is an asset to equality movements in the world. She called on the international community, the U.S. government, the European Union, and the United Nations to secure their protection and security. Reprinted Copy from the Office of the Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, National Council of Resistance of Iran statement about the Grand gathering on occasion of International Women’s Day in Berlin E-MAILED RECEIVED FROM Mr. Nasser Faghihi March 7, 2015 ----------------- Supplement: In this great event a large number of prominent political and social figures and artists, as well as human and women rights activists, participated from world’s five continents plus representative delegations of dozens of Iranian women associations and organizations from throughout Europe and the United States participated. Speakers to this program which was inaugurated by Ms. Sarvnaz Chitsaz, NCRI Women’s Committee Chair, and was moderated by Ms. Linda Chavez, former White House Director of Public Liaison, were: Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City and Presidential candidate (2008), and Frances Townsend, Assistant to U.S. President on Homeland Security and Counterterrorism (2004-2008), from the United States; Kim Campbell and Iveta Radicova, former Prime Ministers of Canada and Slovakia; Rita Süssmuth, former President of Bundestag; Günter Verhuegen, European Commissioner (1999-2009); Horst Teltschik, National Security Advisor to Chancellor Helmut Kohl and former Leader of Munich Security Conference; Bishop Wolfgang Huber, former President of German Protestant Council; Otto Bernhardt, President of the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation and Chair of German Committee in Solidarity with Free Iran; Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, former Minister of Justice; Matthias Köhne and Angelika Schöttler on behalf of delegation of mayors, Fritz Felgentreu, Klas Dieter Graohler, Rudolf Hencke and Stefan Evers of different political inclinations and parties on behalf of German legislators in the conference, and Susanne Kahl-Pasoth, Vice President of German Women’s Council, from Germany; Ryszard Czarnecki, Vice-President of European Parliament from Poland; Alejo Vidal-Quadras, former Vice-President of European Parliament and President of International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ) from Spain; Struan Stevenson, former President of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq and President of the European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA) from Great Britain; Bernard Kouchner, Giulio Maria Terzi, and Maia Panjikidze former Foreign Ministers of France, Italy and Georgia; Ingrid Betancourt, former presidential candidate from Colombia, and María Elena Elverdin, General Prosecutor from Portugal; Khawala Dunia on behalf of women’s delegation of Syrian Coalition; Najimeh Taytay from Morocco on behalf of a women delegation from Arabian countries’ parliamentarians; Valentian Leskaj, legislator from Albania and Deputy of European Council; Senator Gari Durán Vadell and Beatriz Becerra from Spain; and Nele Lijnen from Belgium, on behalf of a large delegation of women from European Parliament; Ranjana Kumari from India on behalf of a delegation of prominent women from Asia and women movements there; Additionally, in this program, a group of women personalities declared their solidarity with the International Front against Fundamentalism that had been announced by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi. Vida Nik Talean, President of Women Association for Democracy in Iran, spoke on behalf of Iranian women institutions and associations throughout the world that had participated in this program. Moreover, a delegation of women on behalf of five world continents and delegations from Poland, Czechoslovakia and Slovakia participated in this program.