Muslim Women Smear Gulal On Each Other, Celebrate Holi with Rose Petals in Varanasi
New Age Islam News Bureau
06 March 2023
• ‘Aurat Azadi Jalsa’ Demands Economic, Land Reforms
in Pakistan
• Pastry Chef, Shahrzad Shokouhivand, Make Iranian Women's
Lives Better
• Women Innovators Fellowship Celebrates Graduation of
First Batch of Saudi Businesswomen
• Iranian Woman Protests in Bengaluru against Chemical
Attacks In Iran
• Turkish Women Call On Gov’t to Resign Ahead Of
International Women's Day
• Female Leaders from across the World Urge
International Community to Back Women’s Movement in Iran
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/muslim-gulal-holi-rose/d/129259
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Muslim Women Smear Gulal On Each Other, Celebrate Holi
with Rose Petals in Varanasi
Representative Image
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Mar 6, 2023
Varanasi: Ahead of the Holi festival, the Muslim women
of Kashi sent a message of love and communal harmony to the whole world by
playing Holi with gulal and flowers.
The celebration was organised under the joint aegis of
Vishal Bharat Sansthan and Muslim Mahila Foundation at the Subhash Bhavan in
Lamhi village on Sunday.
The women sang Fagua (Holi songs) on the beats of
drums and played with rose petals and gulal turning the atmosphere colourful.
They believe that Holi is the festival of love and
unity. The women smearing gulal on each other and offering laddoos presented
the picture of a beautiful India.
They also applied gulal on the statue of Netaji Subhas
Chandra Bose and the picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We have changed our religion but not our culture nor
our ancestors. The colour of our ancestors ‘Holi is in our blood,” said Nazneen
Ansari, the MMF president, adding that while the Hindus take part in Eid and
Roza Iftar, the Muslims should also organise Holi Milan celebrations. She
further said that those Maulanas, who say that Islam will be in danger due to
Holi colours, are liars. Everyone should celebrate Holi together. The beauty of
India lies in unity and love. People have now learned to ignore those who
spread hatred, she added. Another Muslim woman Najma Parveen said that Holi is
a festival to unite hearts, forgetting all differences. “We would like to ask
those who say that colours will put faith in danger – does faith not come in
danger while playing Holi with blood,” she wondered. Everyone should play Holi
and get coloured in the colours of love, she added.
VBS president, Rajeev Shriguruji said that the Muslim
women of Kashi have given a befitting reply to hateful statements. The culture
of celebrating festivals together was there for centuries, but some people
divided the festivals on the basis of religion, he said, adding, “Sufis,
Sultans and Nawabs played Holi, so who are these fanatics to forbid us from
playing Holi.”
He said that Holi is a festival to strengthen
relationships and end enmity. Many women including Nagina Begum, Nazia,
Shamsunnisha, Tarannum, Razia and others took part in the Holi celebrations.
Source: Times Of India
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‘Aurat Azadi Jalsa’ Demands Economic, Land Reforms in
Pakistan
Artists present an art
performance titled Dharti ka Dum Ghuttha Hai during the Aurat Azadi Jalsa at
F-9 Park in Islamabad on Sunday. — Photo by Mohammad Asim
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Ikram Junaidi
March 6, 2023
ISLAMABAD: A large number of activists, including
members of trade unions, gathered at F-9 Park on Sunday to take part in ‘Aurat
Azadi Jalsa’ organised by the Women Democratic Front (WDF) and Aurat Azadi
March to commemorate the 113th International Working Women Day.
In 2018, the participants gathered outside the
National Press Club on the same day. Since then, they have held gatherings
across the country, building solidarity networks with other resistance
movements.
The WDF and Aurat Azadi March also released a
communiqué that included resolutions for the democratisation of the country’s
economy, land reforms, and the return of lands, mines, and water reserves
occupied by the federal government back to the federating units.
During the event, the speakers underscored that
Pakistan is on the brink of disaster on multiple fronts. The catastrophic
floods last year left millions homeless and bereft of any hope for survival, as
the affectees suffer from hunger, disease, and extreme poverty. Meanwhile,
patriarchal violence continues unabated and has established deep roots in both
institutional and societal forms.
WDF President Ismat Shahjahan declared, “The country
is facing an imminent economic collapse due to capitalism, financial
imperialism, and prolonged proxy wars. Nothing less than a progressive gender
agenda would work, including a decolonised and demilitarised economy and state,
a secular and democratic state and society, progressive taxation, and urban and
agrarian land reforms. No society can progress without free education and
healthcare for all; we demand an end to privatisation and huge subsidies for
the elite.”
Speakers seek end to patriarchal violence, huge
subsidies for the elite
Ms Shahjahan condemned the rising oppression of Baloch
women and demanded the release of all disappeared people, particularly Baloch
women.
Homes have become sites of patriarchal violence and
femicide due to patriarchy and the culture of violence, she said.
Gulzar Begum, leader of the All Katchi Abadi Alliance
and Awami Workers Party, called for the regularisation of settlements,
including katchi abadis (makeshift settlements) where people from war-torn
areas, feudal heartlands and poverty-stricken villages take refuge.
She said, “Our katchi abadis are not only drowned in
floods but also in the sea of inflation.”
She demanded a decrease in the prices of daily
amenities, as well as urban land reforms to create housing space for the
working class.
Anam Rathore, organiser of the gathering and
co-founder of Climate Action Pakistan, highlighted, “The intertwined nature of
economic and climate crises have left many of our people at the mercy of nature
and an apathetic state. We need an eradication of the colonial model of river
management, which cannot be done without addressing the gross negligence of the
state.”
Farzana Bari, an AWP leader, said: “We must recognise
the interconnected nature of these crises and the various forms of chronic
oppression and exploitation faced by women. We need to continue organising
together to build an egalitarian society.”
Apart from the “imperialist borrowing from
international financial institutions”, excessive military spending was also
criticised.
Pakeezah, a member of WDF, pointed out the rising
transphobia against the transgender community, as a “sinister disinformation
campaign looms large and puts them in grave danger”. “We need to continue
building cross-movement solidarities in order to sow the seeds of pro-people
feminist politics.”
An art performance, Dharti ka Dum Ghuttha Hai was also
a part of the programme. “Our survival and evolution towards a humane
socio-political system are intrinsically linked to our shared responsibility
toward actualising climate justice built on socialist principles. For that, the
creation of more leftist political art is the need of the hour,” said Areej
Hussain, a member of Laal Hartaal.
Source: Dawn
https://www.dawn.com/news/1740575/aurat-azadi-jalsa-demands-economic-land-reforms
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Pastry Chef, Shahrzad Shokouhivand, Make Iranian
Women's Lives Better
Mar 6, 2023
TEHRAN: She could have left Iran, as many of her
contemporaries did, but Paris-trained pastry chef Shahrzad Shokouhivand decided
to stay and work to make women's lives better inside the country.
And the icing on the cake? She and her husband now
employ 70 people -- mostly women.
"It's only by working here that we'll change
things in Iran," said the 36-year-old, speaking to AFP in one of her two
chic cafe-pastry shops in Tehran.
She and her husband do admit that at one stage they thought
of leaving the Islamic republic, choosing the path of exile.
"Most of our friends have gone to Canada, the
United States or Australia," said her husband Babak Mehrabani.
"But we decided not to emigrate."
For many young graduates, economic considerations
influence the decision to stay in their sanction-hit home country or move
abroad.
Such concerns may be bolstered by the protest movement
that has swept the country since the September death in custody of Iranian Kurd
Mahsa Amini, following her arrest for an alleged breach of strict Islamic dress
rules for women.
Their decision to stay in Iran has paid off,
Shokouhivand and her husband believe.
Like many other residents of Tehran she fervently
wants to hope that "things are changing".
"Despite everything, I remain optimistic for
women in Iran," she said.
That belief is shared by 27-year-old Minoo, also a
chef, who notes fewer women than before wear obligatory headscarves in public
places in the teeming capital.
The requirement for women to wear the headscarf in
public was enshrined in law shortly after the Islamic revolution of 1979.
"What I see on the faces of women today is very
different from six months ago" before the protests erupted, Minoo said.
Not all women feel the same way.
Homeira, a retired 58-year-old teacher, said she
"grew up with the veil".
"Wearing the hijab is the law of our country and
we must respect the law," she said.
"Unfortunately, our young people do not accept it
and criticise the religion," Homeira added, while also defending the right
of people to choose.
Shokouhivand believes that as a woman, "you have
to work a lot harder if you're to succeed in business, at home and also in your
social life".
But experiencing such obstacles "also means that
you progress".
It was her childhood dream to become a pastry chef,
and in 2017 she went to Paris for three months to the renowned Le Cordon Bleu
cooking school.
On her return she opened a pastry shop in the city
centre on the site of a store that used to sell handbags. She kept its name,
Femme Chic.
Now the well-off of Tehran flock to sample her tarte
Tatin, baba -- without the rum -- and even a version of the Breton kouign amann
cake.
Now, five years later, she and her husband have two
shops and a 70-strong workforce of mostly women.
The business is also profitable, despite them having
to reduce their margins because of the rampant inflation sweeping the country.
But "despite the uncertainty, we remain
ambitious".
Now she and her husband are thinking of opening pastry
shops in other cities such as Shiraz in the south and Mashhad in the east.
And maybe also abroad -- Dubai or Doha if they can
find local partners.
They even have the "slightly crazy" desire
to open one in Paris.
But back to the present, Shokouhivand hopes to see the
lifting of the severe, mostly US, sanctions over Tehran's nuclear policy that
are squeezing the country.
Because of the sanctions, she says, "it is very
difficult to find quality chocolate, good butter and vanilla" among other
essential baking ingredients.
But even this drawback has a plus side.
"It forces us to be creative" and make more
use of Iran's own abundant resources of fruits, nuts and spices, like
pistachios, hazelnuts and saffron.
With alcohol banned in Iran, her take on the famous
baba is the baba Tabrizi -- named for the northwestern Tabriz region -- in
which a syrup of cardamom and saffron replaces the rum. Delicious.
Source: Times Of India
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Women Innovators Fellowship Celebrates Graduation of
First Batch of Saudi Businesswomen
March 04, 2023
WASHINGTON — The WIn (Women Innovators) Fellowship
Program celebrated the graduation of the first batch of Saudi businesswomen,
with the ceremony held in the presence of Prince Mosab Bin Mohammed Bin Farhan,
deputy chief mission, on behalf of the Saudi Ambassador Princess Reema Bint
Bandar.
The WIn Fellowship Program is part of the Atlantic
Council’s empowerME Initiative in cooperation with Georgetown University’s
McDonough School of Business with support from United States Embassy in Riyadh,
UPS, and PepsiCo and the American Chamber of Commerce Saudi Arabia’s Women in
Business Committee.
The program lasted for one year from March 2022 to
March 2023, during which participating Saudi women were enabled to improve
their skills, increase their practical knowledge and build networks with
individuals and the business community in the USA and Saudi Arabia.
The first batch included Rawan Al-Kharboosh, founder
and CEO of a biotechnology company, Renad Al-Jafry, CEO of a company
specialized in creating job opportunities for people with disabilities in
healthcare industry and Sarah Binladen, woman entrepreneur and data analysis
specialist. — SPA
Source: Saudi Gazette
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Iranian woman protests in Bengaluru against chemical
attacks in Iran
Anagha Kesav
Mar 5, 2023
An Iranian woman protested in Bengaluru against the
chemical attack back in her country and appealed for India's support in helping
Iranian women get justice.
The protester, Nikoo, said hundreds of women in her
country are attacked with chemicals - age no bar. Even elementary school kids
are being attacked, she said.
“We are not against the hijab. We are against forced
hijab," Nikoo said.
“We want to decide what we want to wear. They will
kill me if I protest like this over there. All those women who have been
attacked are my sisters and mothers. It started when we started raising our
voice on our body rights. As a punishment they started attacking us with
chemicals,” she added.
She is the first Iranian woman to protest in India,
raising her voice against chemical attacks on women in her country.
Source: India Today
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Turkish women call on gov’t to resign ahead of
International Women's Day
March 06 2023
As per the call of women assemblies, Turkish women on
March 5 gathered in Istanbul’s Kadıköy district ahead of International Women’s
Day and protested femicides, suspicious deaths and violence against women.
The women held a minute of silence for those who died
in the Feb. 6 earthquakes in front of the Süreyya Opera House.
The We Will Stop Femicides Platform General Secretary
Fidan Ataselim said “Just yesterday a woman was killed by the man she wanted to
divorce. This is the result of withdrawing from the Istanbul Convention. It is
the politics of death. We will show everyone how important democracy is. We
will send this government. It is enough.”
“It is possible to prevent the destructiveness of the
earthquake. When our people tried to make their voices heard in the earthquake,
(the government) restricted the internet. We will build cities that we will not
burn in, that we will not die in,” Ataselim added.
There were a large number of police vehicles and
officers near the protest area in Kadıköy.
After Ataselim’s speech, the women went to the protest
area and chanted the slogans of "Don't be silent, shout no to violence
against women", "Femicide is political", "Jin jiyan
azadi" (Women, life, freedom” in Kurdish).
In the protest area next to the Kadıköy’s coastline,
the women called on the government to resign over failure to prevent femicides
and violence against women. The police announced that slogans calling the
government to resign were banned.
A press statement was read in Turkish, Kurdish and
Arabic languages.
The statement said “Massacres of women are increasing
day by day, thousands of women condemned to live below the poverty and hunger
line are left to starvation due to increasing bill prices and living expenses,
violence against LGBTI+s is fueled by the state, women's unemployment is
increasing, war policies and militarism are on the rise, racist attacks against
migrant women increased.”
“The state, which did not take vital measures in the
first days of the earthquake, is trying to prevent the solidarity that we women
have established with the women living in the earthquake area,” it added.
The statement reminded that pads, HPV vaccine, tampons
and all hygiene products have become inaccessible due to the economic crisis.
“While the war policies of the government do not stop
even in the earthquake, they impose a life based on militarism, nationalism and
sexism on us. The state is trying to cover up the anger of the people for the
loss of the people with the hatred of immigrants and refugees, people are killed
by the state by being called looters,” it added.
Turkey has made moves in recent years to lessen
protections for women. In July 2021, the country formally withdrew from the
Istanbul Convention (the Council of Europe’s Convention on preventing and
combating violence against women and domestic violence), a move that advocacy
groups say was a major setback for women in the country. Turkey was the first
country to sign the Convention back in 2011.
Some 334 women were murdered by men in 2022, while 245
women were found dead under suspicious circumstances over the same period,
according to the We Will Stop Femicides Platform.
Source: Duvar English
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Female Leaders from across the World Urge
International Community to Back Women’s Movement In Iran
March 05, 2023
LONDON: Female leaders from across the world have
urged the international community to make greater efforts to help the women’s
movement in Iran.
Addressing an International Women’s Day conference in
Brussels, Germany’s former Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said she
was “humbled” by the images of women and girls taking to the streets as they
“fight against the regime.”
She added: “I ask myself, would I have the power to
take to the streets, to let my children go out and fight against the regime?
“This strength, especially in the women in Iran, is a
sign of humanism and decisiveness that goes far beyond the borders of Iran.
“You’re an inspiration for the world. The
international community must stand up. This is our fight. We must stand by
their side.”
Yakin Erturk, former UN special rapporteur on violence
against women, said: “I have witnessed first-hand how gendered subordination
and misogynist laws and attitudes have been woven into the fiber of the Islamic
Republic, which is one of its most distinguishing features.”
She added: “Gender equality is a global concern, and
the struggle of women in Iran is relevant and is the cause of women’s struggle
globally.”
Candice Bergen Harris, former leader of Canada’s
Conservative Party, warned countries that seek to “appease” the regime that
they too have “blood on their hands.”
Belgian MP Kathleen Depoorter said: “The reason I
stand here with you, and with all these brave women in Iran who took up the
uprising, is that I truly believe in the justice of your cause, of our cause,
of the women’s cause.”
For almost six months, Iran has been gripped by
protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in the
custody of the notorious morality police.
Her death unleashed pent-up frustration over living
standards and discrimination against women and minorities.
Maryam Rajavi, president of the National Council of
Resistance of Iran, said the “brave and resilient women” protesting the
regime’s brutality have become a “perpetual nightmare” for the country’s
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
She added: “A century ago, women fought for the vote.
Today, they fight to change the world, from barbarism to freedom, justice,
equality.
“A revolution of unprecedented magnitude is underway
in Iran, setting a united front against the oppressive and misogynistic
regime.”
Rajavi urged the UN to “investigate and respond
firmly” to the regime’s violence.
Last week alone, more than 100 students from 30
schools across 10 of Iran’s 31 provinces were admitted to hospitals after
reporting breathing difficulties, a fact not lost on Linda Chavez, former White
House director of public liaison.
“It isn’t just women who are protesting and are the
targets of this regime, it’s schoolgirls,” said Chavez. “Girls who are going to
school are being literally poisoned throughout Iran.”
Source: Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2262736/middle-east
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