Rachel Wolff Raises Voice Against Iran Stoning of Women

Nov. 8, 2012 - PRLog -- News report: FOUR WOMEN HAVE BEEN STONED TO DEATH IN IRAN THE LAST FEW DAYS!

These cruel deaths were not caused by bias, bigotry, ignorance or stupidity. They were caused by man’s weakness: insecurity and hate.

This is a wicked criminal offence and shame clearly rests on the shoulders of every person who participated in this barbarianism, and every person who stood by and accepted this practice; people who silently permit this shameful practice to continue. The deaths are senseless! Death by stoning: A stone thrown from the hand of the intolerant and ignorant, a stone thrown in disgust and hate; a shameless act committed by those who refuse to adapt to change. Cruelty and brutality are never acceptable, justifiable or excusable.

Humanity hungers and thirsts for human rights with the greatest need being acceptance and respect.  Globally I understand and value how the world works on its many levels i.e. politically socially and culturally. Today I understand more fully how denying others basic human rights is not only intolerable it is unthinkable.  I’m outraged.

What more needs to be done to make verbal abuse, physical attacks, arbitrary arrest and detention, unfair trials, discrimination in education, and most outrageously, murder via vigilante and extra-judicial executions and imposition of the death penalty more widely known?

We need more activists who will take personal responsible action to make the world safer for everyone.

Today billions of technological netizens are no longer bound to the border of their country of birth.  Today we are global citizens living on Any Street, Any Town-somewhere on the planet.  Through technology we chat with others thousands of miles away; we call them friend. This makes the world a smaller place. Today we are aware of a much wider world beyond our street and neighborhood.   The world is a smaller place for technology.

Every individual, every human being has a right to be treated with dignity and respect. What more can I as a Global Human Rights activist do to open eyes and ears? What more can be done to prevent political and religious figures from vilifying a status; or fuel the general public’s hatred and incite violence? What more can I do sitting at home writing comments and commentaries on these horrific crimes? I don’t know; I only know I want to do more, but what more can I  do?  

In the case of the stoning deaths clearly their deaths were based on “prejudicial status” not on criminal activity. Clearly it is a suppression of a vital political voice.  Defenders of human rights activists are routinely harassed and most governments tacitly endorse it and fail to condemn it. If human rights activists are subjected to political mistreatment what does this say of the community silence where these horrific deaths occurred?

Survival is an honorable goal, where are the voices for justice? Someone_ someday will be courageous enough to stand up and say “Enough is Enough: Not One More Death. Not One!” And the world will understand.  

And the world will understand that earth is our home and we must learn to live together. Hate is a weakness a terrible weakness that allows these crimes to continue. We cannot allow ignorance to prevail, we must show respect for all nations and cultures. In time their deaths will be forgotten, they will not be remembered in a book of records or mentioned in a family memory book but these women had dreams; hopes and ideals. Their crime, the way they expressed their sexuality, but remember they were given a name at birth. Give them the dignity they deserve, respect them as women.

Where are the village voices?  Why is no one speaking? I’m remembering the courage; the ferocious awesome power of a young girl without a weapon, through the power of her own being a young girl stunned the world with her tenacious belief. Where are the angry village voices for justice today? We need to hear the village voices for justice far more than the rhetoric voiced by a diplomat, president; priest; rabbi or imam.  

Rachel Wolff – GLBT Ally