International Coalition for Women's Rights

I received this email today. Please, if you feel you have the time or effort, support this cause. I truly believe that if the world is going to change, it will be by a free unified feminine spirit.


Hello

Since our last email, we have been busy organising an International
Coalition for Women's Rights, to which a number of well-known personalities
and organisations have signed up.

As you know, on April 19, 2009, the Somali parliament unanimously endorsed
the introduction of Sharia law across the country. A few days earlier, the
imposition of Sharia law in Pakistan's northwestern Swat region was
approved. Last month, a sweeping law approved by the Afghan parliament and
signed by President Hamid Karzai required Shi'a women to seek their
husband's permission to leave home, and to submit to their sexual demands.
Because of international and national protests the new law is now being
reviewed but only to check its compatibility with Sharia law.

The imposition of Sharia law in the legal codes of Somalia, Pakistan and
Afghanistan brings millions more under the yoke of political Islam.

Local and international pressure and opposition are the only ways to stop
the rise of this regressive movement and defend women's universal rights and
secularism.

>From Iran and Iraq to Britain and Canada, Sharia law is being opposed by a
vast majority who choose 21st century universal values over medievalism.
Join us in supporting this international struggle and calling for:

* the abolition of discriminatory and Sharia laws
* an end to sexual apartheid
* secularism and the separation of religion from the state
* equality between women and men

You can find a list of initial signatories here:
http://www.equalrightsnow-iran.com/discriminatory_laws.html

You can join the International Coalition for Women's Rights by signing here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/ICFWR/petition.html

If you haven't already done so, you can also sign a petition opposing Sharia
law in Britain here:
http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/index.html

We must mobilise across the globe in order to show our opposition to Sharia
law and our support and solidarity for those living under and resisting its
laws.

In the coming months, we will be organising towards mass rallies in various
cities across the globe on November 21. We've chosen this date to mark both
Universal Children's Day (November 20) and the International Day for the
Elimination of Violence against Women (November 25).  If you are interested
in helping us organise a rally in your city, please contact us.

And please don't forget we need money to do all that has to be done. And we
have to rely on those who support our work to provide it.

If you are supportive, there are many ways you can raise funds. You can:

* send in a donation - no matter how small
* organise a picnic or cook a dinner for your friends or colleagues and ask
them to contribute to our work
* invite us to speak and raise money for our work at the event
* hold sales or organise a concert or exhibition and donate the proceeds to
us
* ask if your workplace gives donations to employee causes and make an
application.

You can send in your donations via Paypal
(http://www.onelawforall.org.uk/donate.html) or Worldpay
(http://www.ex-muslim.org.uk/indexDonate.html) or make cheques payable to
CEMB or One Law for All and mail them to: BM Box 2387, London WC1N 3XX, UK.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes

Maryam

Maryam Namazie

* You can read the latest issue of Equal Rights Now - Organisation against
Women's Discrimination in Iran, which also highlights some urgent execution
and stoning cases in Iran, here:
http://www.equalrightsnow-iran.com/publications.html

* To help organise a November 21 rally, volunteer or for information on our
work, contact us at onelawforall@gmail.com or exmuslimcouncil@gmail.com. For
more information on the Coalition for Women's Rights, please contact
coalition coordinator Patty Debonitas +44 (0) 7778804304, ICFWR, BM Box
2387, London WC1N 3XX, UK, icwomenrights@googlemail.com.