WOMAN. LIFE. FREEDOM

  

What is happening in Iran is the frontline of feminism right now: the simple expression of desire for equality, for dignity, for life without fear. And as such, it touches us all. Say it with me: 

Woman. Life. Freedom

Kamin Mohammadi

COURAGE

Since mid-September when Mahsa Amini was arrested and killed, waves of protest have continued throughout Iran, with few signs of slowing down. In their passionate call for change, schoolgirls and young women are being joined by young men and groups of workers. ‘Get lost, Raisi’ they have shouted at their president (a man recently seen shaking hands with the great and the good at the UN summit).

Their extraordinary courage is something we can only aspire to. What has it been like to live, knowing that the morality police, directed by a violent authoritarian state, might arrest you for wearing nail varnish? To be aware that a few strands of hair escaping from your hijab can bring about a beating, or worse? What must it be like now, in the autumn of 2022, to plan to attend a protest, in the knowledge that you might never return home? 

As the news spreads, in spite of government crackdowns and censorship, we are learning more and more. For example, that the average age of the protesters is 15 years and that protests have been taking place since the revolution of 1979. 

In a recent magazine article, Roxana Mohammadian-Molina described her experience as a 14 year old, 20 years ago:

My hair was peeking out from beneath my hijab and my fingernails were painted bright pink. They plucked me out of the shopping mall, threw me into a van, and subjected me to abuse and insults. After hours of humiliation and reprimands, I was handed cotton pads and nail-polish remover to eliminate all traces of my ‘immoral’ behaviour, then forced to sign a confession. I was eventually released, but not before being warned that if I reoffended I would be punished with 30 lashes, to be delivered in public to deter similar behaviour among other women.

The women protesters are strong and resilient, their voices resonate with us on so many levels. They are determined that their noise will continue until there is change. 

OPPRESSION

The Iranian government, through toxic, autocratic masculinity seeks to recreate women according to its own rigid and oppressive rules We have seen it replicated in the return of power to the Taliban in Afghanistan, in the attacks on women’s reproductive rights that are creeping insidiously across America and at an individual level through the experiences of those many, many women subjected to abuse through coercive control.

Recently, Elnaz Rekabi, an Iranian woman athlete, a brilliant climber, who competed without wearing the hijab, disappeared from public view. She was allegedly ‘escorted’ from an international tournament back to Tehran where an apparent apology for letting her hijab slip ‘by mistake’ was put on to her Instagram account. Her family were threatened with confiscation of all their property, and Elnaz is now reported to be under house arrest.

As October 2022 draws to a close, a reputable human rights group in Iran is reporting 12,500 arrests  and nearly 250 deaths, including children.

SHOWING SOLIDARITY

The women of Iran do not want our pity, they know what they are facing. They want basic human rights, equality and dignity. Milton Keynes and Iran can feel worlds apart, but we have commonality of purpose with all the strong resilient women who have been protesting so determinedly for so long. 

All over the world, women of the Iranian diaspora are sharing their own stories. Iranian authors and journalists are speaking from exile with chilling stories of incarceration. The stories are being published and broadcast widely. The French actors Juliet Binoche and Marion Cotillard cut their hair in gestures of solidarity and there is a video showing Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe doing the same, saying: 

For my mother, for my daughter, for the fear of solitary confinement, for the women of my country, for freedom

Demonstrating solidarity creates an emotional connection. It underpins and gives meaning to simple actions like wearing a badge, signing a petition, writing a letter. It becomes clear that our own destinies are intertwined with those of people who have been unjustly deprived of their rights.

 Elif Shafak, the novelist, has recently written:

I wholeheartedly believe that the new feminism has to be two things if it is to exist at all. It has to be intersectional and it has to be international. It would be a terribly arrogant illusion to assume that fighting for gender equality is the preserve of non-Western women and that the West is generally beyond such concerns. From Iran to Afghanistan, Turkey to the US, we must connect the dots.

As members of the Milton Keynes Group, we fully support the national Fawcett Society’s call to stand up for ‘women and girls in all their diversity’. We want to ‘connect the dots’, call out  inequality and stand in solidarity with the brave women of Iran. 

Illustration by Roshi Rouzbehani, from The New Yorker