I stopped marching or rallying a long time ago. Chalk it up to older age and common sense. Sadly, I have not celebrated International Womans’ Day for years now because I can no longer march with people who use womens’ rights to argue for “anti-racism” i.e. who carry signs and chant anti-American and anti-Israel slogans. You know who I mean: The anti-imperialist, anti-colonialist, anti-globalism crowd. In their view, Islamic/Islamist values deserve to exist globally; the values of the Western Enlightenment had better keep atoning for its many alleged sins and crimes.

However, this March 7-8th, two International Womans’ Day rallies promise to be different. I wish I could “dance at two weddings.” One rally will take place in Washington D.C., the other in London. Neither march is owned by any political party or by any existing ideology. Both are daring to focus on the enormous and profound oppression of Muslim women, both in Muslim countries and in the West.

The Washington, D.C. rally has just come to my enthusiastic attention. A group which calls itself Responsible for Equality And Liberty, (R.E.A.L.), will be holding a rally at 1pm on March 8th, to Save Women Now. The rally will take place in front of the Capitol Reflecting Pool which is alongside Maryland Avenue SW, which connects to Third Street SW.

The group is asking people to “show your solidarity in calling for our representatives and international world bodies to recognize and act against the ideology of Islamic supremacism that is threatening women today.” The group plans to “address the global challenge of women oppressed and killed in the name of Islamic supremacism. They call for “national and international action against Islamic supremacism” to Save Women Now, and to defy those who believe that mutilation, oppression, and murder of women is an Islamic supremacist “right.”

There is also a petition which you may sign: “Save Women Now” which demands that U.S. government and United Nations representatives recognize the ideology of Islamic supremacism as a source of oppression and violence to women in America and around the world.

For more information you may email Jeffrey Imm at realorg@earthlink.net

Maryam Namazie, in London, has called for a rally in Trafalgar Square in the late afternoon of March 7th, to be followed by a public meeting in Conway Hall. Namazie describes the rally as an “anti-racist London rally against Sharia and religious-based laws in Britain and elsewhere and in defense of citizenship and universal rights.” She has also launched a petition drive which now has nearly 10,000 signatures. (I love her clever “anti-racist” language. If you say its “anti-racist,” no matter what it is, you might actually buy some time in which people can listen to a real womans’ rights agenda). Namazie writes:

“For more background on One Law for All, the nature of Sharia councils and tribunals and on whether it is Islamophobic to oppose Sharia law, see the latest interview with Maryam Namazie and Bahram Soroush on Fariborz Pooya’s Secular TV. You can also see what a Sharia judge really means for people and women in particular by watching a recent BBC TV Big Questions programme in which she participated.

Namazie and her group may be contacted at: onelawforall@gmail.com