[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 18529-18530]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         THE DAUGHTERS OF IRAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the women of Iran are standing 
shoulder to shoulder in the streets protesting against the rigged, 
corrupt Iranian elections. At least that's how it began. Now these 
legions of women, mostly wearing black, full-length Islamic dress, 
stand in defiance of their government's treatment of women. These women 
have shed their blood, suffered the same beatings and imprisonment as 
men. Some have sacrificed their very lives.
  In America our hearts ache as we watched the video of Neda Agha 
Soltan. She was shot by her own government henchmen as she walked 
through the streets. She bled to death in that street, a martyr for 
democracy in Iran. Neda was only 26 years old, but her voice still 
cries from the grave: ``that the people of Iran demand human rights, 
equality and freedom from tyranny.''
  Young women like a girl named Parsia told reporters, and I quote, 
``This regime is against all humanity, more specifically, against all 
women.'' She continues, ``Lots of girls and women in these 
demonstrations. They're all angry, ready to explode, scream out and let 
the world hear their voices. I want the world to know that as a woman 
in this country, I have no freedom.''
  The women of Iran have a rich history of fighting for freedom. In the 
early 1900s, in Persia, later called Iran, Britain and Russia tried to 
rule Persia through a puppet government.

                              {time}  1945

  In 1906, the Persian people fought the shah, and became a 
constitutional republic. They had a Congress called the Majlis to make 
their laws.
  American economic expert Morgan Shuster was appointed to that 
democratic government in 1911 to organize Persia's finances. At that 
time, members of the Majlis were threatened or were bribed by Russia, 
with support from Great Britain, to disband that constitutional 
government. Shuster wrote in his memoirs about Persian women who armed 
themselves and who marched on the Congress.
  He writes about those bold, brave women, ``Out from their walled 
courtyards and harems marched 300 women with the flush of undying 
determination in their cheeks. They were clad in their plain black 
robes with the white nets of their veils drooped over their faces. Many 
held pistols under their skirts or in the folds of their sleeves. 
Straight to the Congress they went.''
  These ``Persian mothers, wives and daughters'' dropped their veils 
and waved their pistols, saying they had decided to ``kill their own 
husbands and sons and leave behind their own dead bodies'' if the 
Congress ``wavered in their duty to uphold the liberty and dignity of 
the Persian people and nation.''
  Because of these courageous women 100 years ago, the Persian Congress 
stood firm in their struggle for liberty and freedom for the people. 
However, Russian Cossacks marched into Tehran a week later, disbanding 
the government by force and executing every constitutionalist they 
could find.
  History speaks to the courage and bravery of Iranian women, which 
goes back for centuries. It is no surprise they are again at the 
forefront of the struggle for human rights and dignity in Iran. The 
women of Iran are not the property of the government, and should not be 
punished because they demand equality with men. These women present a 
great challenge for the hard-line government. They are a force to be 
reckoned with, and the government knows it.
  My grandmother used to tell me that there's nothing more powerful 
than a woman who has made up her mind. Let me tell you something, Mr. 
Speaker: The women of Iran have made up their minds. They are not going 
to take it anymore. Like their sisters in freedom 100 years ago, they 
are not going to give into the black-booted thugs who are trying to 
steal freedom and human dignity from them. Iran is their country. These 
women are no longer going to be treated as second-class people. Woe be 
to those who try to stop them. The daughters of Iran have inspired the 
world with their bravery. Their cause is righteous. Their actions are 
just. May the almighty who rules the universe make them strong and 
courageous.
  And that's just the way it is.

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