Lynn Ruane (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House and, in particular, I thank Fianna Fáil for tabling the motion. I am always apprehensive when I come to the Chamber to speak on motions, especially on issues that are nuanced and complex, about making sure I hit the right tone. We need to consider what solidarity actually looks like, what liberation means and the type of impact we can have. The online conversations on this issue in recent weeks and the actions of various types of groups and opportunistic activists that co-opt situations such as this for their own gain in a very negative way, make me apprehensive in the context of how we speak in this Chamber and the issues we discuss. These are issues that we should be talking about and on which we should be demanding change but, in so doing, we need to be careful to watch out for that interventionist ideology in terms of further oppressing Iranian people through sanctions, the removing of diplomacy and those types of things. Obviously I condemn in the strongest terms the repression that has been mounted in response to the nationwide protests in Iran, with security forces applying brutal violence and targeting young people, especially those from the Kurdish and Baloch regions.I want to express my solidarity with those who are fighting and have fought for so long.

We need to be careful in our conversations and in the discourse surrounding this as I think we can risk co-opting Mahsa Amini’s death. We need to be careful of the platforming of voices that are calling for intervention, which has happened somewhat in this Chamber today although not in the motion, in regard to the imposition of sanctions on Iran, or restricting the agency of Iranian or Kurdish women who have long resisted state violence, while underplaying the historic trajectory of a contemporary feminist movement in Iran. This evening, I have instead chosen to platform their voices in my contribution, drawing from a number of articles and petitions circulating online which speak to the realities of what has long been a struggle for human rights and equality in Iran.

The Iranian women's struggle for equality long predates these latest protests, preceding the 1905 constitutional revolution and continuing in various forms through many political crises and coups in the 20th century, including the imposition of Sharia law through the Iranian revolution in 1979. What we are witnessing at the moment is a continuation of a revolutionary movement which has existed for over 100 years for women's basic rights.

While the international attention in recent weeks has forged networks of solidarity around the world which could help to confront state violence, imperialism, patriarchy and capitalism globally, it has also reinvigorated interventionists, oppressive discourse and opportunistic activism. Claiming solidarity with Iranian women while also supporting exclusionary conceptions of womanhood that facilitate violence against trans people is tokenistic at best and erases the struggle of LGBTQ+ communities that have also been the target of state violence in Iran. Advocating for human rights and freedom of Iranian women while aligning oneself with movements which seek to restrict women's control of their own bodies is illogical. Calling for the imposition of further sanctions or hostile foreign policy towards Iran fails to recognise the fact that these responses have historically worsened the living conditions of marginalised people, including many women in Iran.

Up to 2022, Iran was the most sanctioned country in the world. Reports have found that sanctions have caused unnecessary suffering to Iranian citizens, who are inflicted with a range of diseases and medical conditions which disproportionately impact women and vulnerable groups. While the West has long claimed solidarity with Iranians, the sanctions we have put in place have crippled their economy and restricted the agency of Iranians to push for change on their own terms. The latest moment in the long struggle for freedom and justice for Iranian women must not be appropriated as a pawn with which to justify interventionism, Western-backed regime change or the imposition of widespread economic, political and psychological suffering through sanctions.

I want to conclude by reading into the record part of an article written by Yasmin Gholizadeh, which calls for a particular type of solidarity from the international community. It reads:

When calling for solidarity with Iranian protesters resisting state violence, we must ... look towards simultaneously resisting the imperial structures that have disproportionately impacted the lives of women in Iran. Solidarity to Iranian and Kurdish women involves holding imperial powers and opportunists accountable for hijacking the protests to justify sanctions that have strangled a population.

Our international solidarity must be radical, opposed to all co-option, and remain rooted within the grassroots, across all borders; we cannot legitimise the very structures of sanctions and border legislation that have harmed Iranians for so long.

... Instead of calling on international powers to intervene, we must defend the agency of Iranian and Kurdish women to imagine and fight for liberation on their own terms.