The Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi was questioned about the students roll in the fight for women’s rights and what Swedish students can learn from Iranian students.
Lundagård, International Web: “What can Swedish students learn from Iranian students and in turn, what can Iranian students learn from Swedish Students?”
Shirin Ebadi: “The Swedish student should look at the lives and experience of the Iranian student and what they have been through and the Swedish student should be happy that they are in Sweden where they are not imprisoned for their beliefs because the Iranian students have been imprisoned for their beliefs. One thing Swedish students can learn from Iranian students is how politically aware the Iranian students are. They do not neglect anything political and they are very educated. And, my advice to your Swedish student is not to be passive; find a political party that you like and believe in and don’t be indifferent to political issues. It is really bad when young people, all they think about is that education is finding a good job and finding a good life.”
Lundagård, Swedish Newspaper: “What role can students play in the fight for women and children’s rights?”
Shirin Ebadi: “Students in every country are a momentum force for that society. It is only when young people become indifferent to social issues that alarm bells start ringing for that society. When you come across issues of domestic violence when you live, do not turn a blind eye to it even though it may not be your own family.”
Radio AF: “You mentioned ISIS, you mentioned similar extremist ideologies, and how destructive they can be and then, in another part of your speech you mentioned about the need for separation of state from religion, where as I think religion has always played a controlling part and has always been a way of life – dictated a way of life for the people – and I think religion can continue to direct people in how they live and dictate their way of life.”
Shirin Ebadi: “If you look at the Middle Ages in Europe and when the Church was in power and what very falling development took place until they had the Renaissance. And what the most important thing the Renaissance achieved was to separate the state from religion. And that was the start of more individual freedoms in Europe. Now look at Europe, they have churches, anyone is free to enter those churches, no one can stop them from entering the church. And at the same time no one says to anyone else, “Why don’t you go to church? Why are you an atheist?” And in the West the person who believes in God lives peacefully besides someone who is an atheist, they coexist without any problems. There is one law for both of them. And the same thing should happen in the Middle East. In other words, the Middle East is in need of a Renaissance.”
Radio AF: “As an Iranian woman, whether or not the sanctions are lifted, my situation is not going to change in Iran as a woman. As a matter of fact, I think women and children, whether or not the sanctions are lifted, their situation is not going to improve and I feel unsafe as a woman and I do not think I can go and live in Iran despite the accord and the lifting of the sanctions.”
Shirin Ebadi: “Well, you’re exactly right, whether or not they lifted the sanctions – if they do lift them – and the accord is not going to improve the human rights situation and the discriminatory laws against women, the discriminatory laws against human rights will still be in place in Iran. And unfortunately, the election of Mr. Rouhani as President has made no difference whatsoever to the human rights situation in Iran. My question is, is it better to have both human rights violations and sanctions, or at least just have human rights violations and no sanctions? Which, is why I am in favor of the new nuclear accord. So, when I say I am in favor of the new nuclear accord, it does not mean that the accord is going to improve the human rights situation in Iran. And as an Iranian, I have to say that all of us Iranians, be it Iranians inside Iran or Iranians outside Iran, we should do our utmost to improve the human rights situation in the country.”
Lundagård, International Web: “What can students do today, in their daily life, to improve the human rights situation both locally and abroad? “
Shirin Ebadi: “It all depends on your circumstances – the conditions – and the circumstances in which you live. For instance, if you’re a medical student, you could do your part in order to do some field studies about the healthcare situations around the world and how the people who do not have proper access to healthcare could have proper access to healthcare. If you are a music student, perhaps you could compose a piece about violence against women. So, in effect, look at yourself and what potential you have. There is no one description for everyone; everyone is different.”
Lundagård, Swedish Newspaper: “I have experienced that young people think it is difficult to speak about religion. Why do you think it is like that?”
Shirin Ebadi: “So, young people are not interested in religion?”
Lundagård, Swedish Newspaper: “I think it’s difficult for them – that they don’t know how to speak about religion. Or maybe you don’t agree with me?”
Shirin Ebadi: ”Do you mean that they find it hard to criticize religion or do they just find it hard to speak about religious matters?”
Lundagård, Swedish Newspaper: “I think both.”
Shirin Ebadi: “Perhaps it’s because they think religion is something to do with past centuries. And one of the – in every culture – one of the elements is religion. For example, Christmas and all the festivities you have. What is the basis of Christmas? Even for non-Christians they take part in the festivities. That’s why I say that religion is one of the elements in culture because somebody may be an atheist, yet they take part in Christmas festivities even though they don’t believe in the religion. “
Radio AF: “My question is about Iranian political activists outside Iran and how many of them have opposing views. There is no unity among the opposition, but at the same time you mentioned in your speech that we should all be independent of each other, so how can the two actually meet? Don’t you think that if every one of us with different views wanted to act independently we would never get anywhere? Don’t you think that it would be better if we were a united force, rather than working as individuals because at the moment it is only the Human Rights Council in Geneva that is acting as the voice of the opposition? What is your advice to the activist support?”
Shirin Ebadi: “When I spoke about being “independent” I didn’t mean working alone, I meant you should not look at somebody else as a role model because following someone as a role model could kill your creativity. As I mentioned, as the case of my daughter who said, “I want to be independent because I want to have my own creativity, I don’t want that to be overshadowed by you.” So, as defining independence as that, it does not mean that you should not cooperate with each other and work together. In my NGO in Iran, the Center for Defenders of Human Rights, my colleagues and I – we all had differences in opinion – and, there were instances when we would fail to convince one another of our points of views, yet we worked within a framework together.
“Therefore, we should all work together in a united force within a framework, but it does not mean that we should look at each other as role models and do exactly what the other person is doing. And, moreover, there are many voices for human rights in Iran among the activists – Iranian activists – and they have been very successful in doing a great deal of work for the country. I’m sorry to say that but I totally disagree that the only voice in regards to human rights comes from the Human Rights Council in Geneva. As a matter of fact, the Human Rights Council in Geneva is doing very little on Iran. And without the pressure that we, human rights activists, are putting on that council, they wouldn’t have even done the little work that they have done. So, it is our duty as human rights activists to continue to protest constantly, to raise our voices all the time, to make sure that we attract international attention to the plight of the Iranian people.”
