TRANSLATION OF THIS IMPORTANT OPEN LETTER

“Actions Santé Femmes is a French NGO committed to the health of women in great difficulty all around the world. ASF teams intervene for emergency missions, training, education and companionship in the field of gynecology and obstetrics wherever women need it.

We, members of the NGO Actions Santé Femmes, gynecologists, obstetricians, midwives, united with the medical community of France, and any man or woman respectful of human rights, strongly condemn the repression orchestrated by the Iranian regime against women, and express our solidarity with the people of Iran, martyred by unspeakable executioners.

We mourn for Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish student of 22 years old, who died on September 16, a few days after her arrest by the morality police for “wearing an inappropriate veil”.

We support the revolt that has been expressed since that day, the first female revolution not only in the Muslim world, but in history. A revolt that is not exclusively feminist but which is associated with a new generation of young people, who no longer want to be suppressed, who want to dress, move, and even meet each other freely, as expressed in a song that has since become an anthem: “To dance in the street / For fear when kissing / For my sister, your sister, our sisters, etc…”.

Today we would like to express our deep emotion and our profound respect for all the women and men involved in this struggle, as well as our condolences to the families of the many victims, whose number is now estimated at more than 500, among them 70 children, with some under 13 years old.

We are outraged by the treatment inflicted on those arrested, especially the young girls and women subjected to systematic rape and torture.

We want to salute the courage of the doctors who treat these victims, taking the risk of going underground and sometimes paying a high price, like Doctor Aida Rostami, 36 years old, martyred and murdered for having treated the wounded at home.

We count on you, Mr. President, to implement all political and diplomatic actions within your authority, in order to bring the most concrete and urgent help possible to the victims of this terrible repression.”

With our respectful consideration,

The post Open letter to Mr. Emmanuel Macron, President of France on the Iran Regime’s Repression of Women’s Rights appeared first on Medika Life.

Earlier this year she was named one of the 50 top healthcare influencers by respected journal Medika Life  – in part a recognition of her work addressing inequalities, racism and sexism in maternal health.

The post HT World Correspondent and Medika Editor Gil Bashe Talks with the Medika50 Influencer Who Put Everything On the Line for Patients appeared first on Medika Life.

New Yorkers, all on lockdown, would go out their windows and bang pots and pans in gratitude. In my hospital, we received tons of posters, cards, and other notes of appreciation. We were awash in food. And while we do not do what we do for the thanks, the gestures and expressions of appreciation were solidly appreciated.

As time has passed – and pandemic fatigue and weariness set in across the world – these kind gestures of appreciation have faded. As we enter the third year of this scourge, we feel more alone now that we ever did before. And still, on this Dr. Martin Luther King Day, I would be remis if I did not express my appreciation.

The struggle for civil rights in this country predated my birth. It even predated the arrival of my parents, who immigrated to the United States for a better life. Still, the struggle of Dr. King and so many countless others made life for my parents that much easier. For this, I am eternally grateful.

I know for a fact that my parents would probably had not been able to set roots where they did – in the suburbs of Chicago – had it not been for Dr. King and the civil rights movement. They could not have given us the wonderful life we had as kids.

I am pretty certain I would not have been able to enjoy the privileges and opportunities that I have enjoyed had it not been for Dr. King and the civil rights movement. My right to live where I want, eat where I want, work where I want, sit where I want on a plane or subway – rights I take for granted – would not have been possible were it not for the sacrifice and struggle of Dr. King and the civil rights movement.

The fact that I can vote without having to pay a tax, or answer a quiz, or do anything else of that sort has only been possible because of Dr. King and the civil rights movement. The fact that there is even alarm in our country over the threat to voting rights in so many states is due to Dr. King and the civil rights struggle.

As Americans, we all must do what we can to stop the eroding of the right of every eligible citizen to cast a vote and have their voice be heard. As Americans, we cannot let the good fight – and “good trouble” – of Dr. King die in vain.

All these things that I take for granted are thanks to Dr. King and the civil rights movement. And so, I must say thank you.

Thank you, Dr. King, for all you have done for the cause of justice in this country. Thank you, Dr. King, for the countless hours you spent nonviolently resisting the injustices rampant in our society. Thank you, Dr. King, for giving your life so that my children and I can live a better one in America. Thank you so much, Dr. King, and thank you to all those who have struggled and fought alongside him for the civil rights of all.

In his famous, “I Have A Dream Speech,” Dr. King said:

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable Rights” of “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

I am beneficiary of his coming to the nation’s capital to “cash [that] check.” I am beneficiary of his refusal to believe “the bank of justice is bankrupt.” I am beneficiary to his struggle – one that took his life – to “cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice.”

Thank you so much, Dr. King. I – and our nation – are forever grateful to God and to you for all you have done.

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