There are Islamisms, and there are Islamisms. The Islamism of Al Qaeda, the Islamism of the Taliban, the Islamism of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamism of the Iranian government, etc. are not the same thing. There are masses of women in Iran who support the Islamic Republic. Even Shirin Ebadi, who is an independent feminist rather than a state feminist, says, "There is no contradiction between an Islamic republic, Islam and human rights. If in many Islamic countries human rights are flouted, this is because of a wrong interpretation of Islam. All I've tried to do in the last 20 years was to prove that with another interpretation of Islam, it would be possible to introduce democracy to Muslim countries. We need an interpretation of Islam that leaves much more space for women to take action. We need an Islam that is compatible with democracy and one that's respectful of individual rights" (at <http://www.cafra.org/article.php3?id_article=345>). We have to understand that, if even Ebadi thinks like that, a majority of women in Iran also probably do not see any need to adopt secularism or destroy the Islamic Republic _right now_ in order to assert women's rights, sexual freedom, and so on; rather, they are interested in defending what they have gained and gaining more within the existing system, for the time being, and that's what we need to support. When a majority of women in Iran change their mind and decide to drop either Islam or Islamism or both, we should follow them as well and support them in their endeavor, too.
In the meantime, criticize and condemn what should be criticized and condemned, such as anti-Jewish cartoons to take Michael Givel's example, at the same time, however, as recognizing that a majority of Iranians aren't really into anti-Jewish cartoons and that the whole cartoon controversy -- beginning with the Jyllands-Posten soliciting and printing Islamophobic cartoons as a calculated provocation, other Western media rushing to embrace them in the name of freedom of speech, the Arab regimes exploiting Muslim reaction as a safety valve of their domestic discontent, Arabs and Muslims exhibiting more outrage against the Islamophobic cartoons than the invasion of Lebanon, Tehran sponsoring the Holocaust cartoon contest (egregiously mixing up anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist cartoons to the detriment of the cause it says it champions), etc. -- is a microcosm of the monumental political confusion that plagues us, both in the West and the Middle East.
-- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>