Towards a Truly Inclusive 8 March:Voices of Iranian, Israeli, and Ukrainian women
- Keith Posner
- Mar 6
- 7 min read
Updated: Mar 7
There is an ongoing ideological selection of the women's voices that are heard on International Women's Day, 8 March. Two events were held recently in Rome and Milan by the organization Setteottobre, which exists to commemorate the events of 7 October 2023 when Hamas terrorists burst across the Israeli border and proceeded to butcher, mutilate, torture, rape and murder as many Israelis as they could. Many women were brutally raped and murdered on that day, but the world as a whole, and many people who call themselves feminists, have chosen to ignore these victims, to pretend that none of this ever happened.
The Setteottobre organization organized these meetings in Rome and Milan to give voice to the women of Israel who endured these attrocities, and also to Iranian women whose struggles against the Iranian regime have been largely ignored in the West. In addition, we hear the voices of Ukrainian women who have been molested during the horrific defensive war against the Russian invaders, and who, once again, many in the West choose to ignore.
Contents
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The reason for these conferences, held in Rome and Milan, is to provide a voice for those women who have suffered abuse and who are largely being ignored by the organisers of the 8 March procession in Milan,
Ukraine
The presentation begins with videos and interviews with women's wartime experiences during the various wars in Ukraine, going back to the initial Russian invasion of Donbass and Crimea in 2014, and the more recent ongoing war with Russia.
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A Ukrainian woman describes how she was brutally raped by Russian soldiers. Video produced by Alisa Kovalenko.
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Alisa explains why she made this video. She recognised that she had a responsibility to report her experiences at the hands of Russian soldiers.
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Irina is the president of the Ukrainian section of Sema, an organization founded in Congo to describe the reality of what survivors of sexual violence have to endure, and which has since become a global network of women who have endured wartime sexual violence.
Israel
This section of the video focuses on the horrific events of 7 October 2023 when Hamas terrorists burst across the Israeli border and proceeded to butcher, mulitate, torture, rape and murder as many Israelis as they could. Many women were brutally raped and murdered on that day, but the world as a whole, and many people who call themselves feminists, have chosen to ignore these victims, to pretend that none of this ever happened.
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Horrific scenes from the Hamas invasion of southern Israel and the horrific treatment of the hostages, in particular the female hostages.
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Young Israeli woman who escaped from the Nova festival when it was overrun by Hamas terrorists. She did not expect to survive, she saw people murdered in front of her eyes, she even phoned her Dad and told him that she expected to die. At one point she had to hide for five hours and heard the violence all around her, including the cries of people as they were murdered by the terrorists, women being raped, the sound of grenades and kalashnikovs, dead bodies on the ground. Eventually after eight hours she was rescued by the Israeli army.
Adar now gives tours at the site of the Nova festival, to explain what happened in this place. She empahsises that the world has closed its eyes and does not want to acknowledge the brutality of Hamas.
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Yuval also survived the Nova festival massacre. She spent 6.5 hours in open fields, covering a distance of 13 km eastwards. They heard shooting and violence throughout. She notes that the world does not understand how horrific this massacre was and how many women were raped and murdered on that day.
Iran
Various popular uprisings have been held in Iran against the repressive regime of the Ayatollahs, including uprisings by women who are determined to live a life of liberty, free of restrictions such as the hijab hair covering. Iranian women have lost their lives and have been brutally maltreated, and the world largely ignores their suffering.
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Images of women being maltreated during protests in Iran to commemorate Mahsa Amini, a woman who was murdered by the Iranian "modesty police" for not wearing the hijab. Sadaf Bagani was one of these women, and the horrifying photos and x-rays show her body, taken in Milan, a year after she had been present at that commemoration in November 2022. The police shot her and 146 lead bullets were found in her body.
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An Iranian artist living in Rome talks about the difficult situation of the Iranian people, how this situation is largely ignored in the West, and the fact that there are currently three women in proson in Iran who have been condemned to death. Many other women languish in Iranian prisons and it's not clear what their fate will be. Fariba pointed out that Iranian women, unfortunately, have a lot of experience with Islamist fundamentalism, of the sort experienced on 7 October in Israel.
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This interview is from the Milan conference. Sadaf is the woman whose wounds are shown in the Iranian video above. She was wounded in a ceremony to remember Mahsa Amini, a woman who was murdered by the Iranian "modesty police" for not wearing the hijab. At the ceremony there were many Iranian police in civilian clothes, and it was not clear to the demonstrators who was with them and who the police were. In the video at a certain point, a motorcyclist shoots at the camera. 146 bullets entered Sadaf's body and it's a miracle that she survived.
Closing Remarks
As part of the introduction to this interview, the presenter told a story that is not very well known: one of the hostages freed by the Israel Defence Forces was a Yazidi woman. As part of the genocide against the Yazidis conducted by ISIS in 2014, in which over 5,000 Yazidi men were slaughtered and most of the Yazidi women were raped, and then sold into slavery in the Rkah and Mosul marketplaces. At the time, non one demonstrated for the rights of the Yazidi women or against the genocide perpetrated against the Yazidis.
This Yazidi lady was sold into slavery and eventually ended up being sold to a Hamas commander in Gaza. No one spoke up about this lady, because there appears to be an ideological slection as to which women are commemorated on 8 March. In this short clip, Paolo Concia speaks up for all those women whom the world is choosing to ignore,
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Paola Concia is an Italian activist and politician. In her speech, she repeats that the West has lost its way. The West nneds to hear that voices of the Iranian, Israeli, Ukrainian, Afghan and other women in order to save ourselves.
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