Women, Life, Freedom

In September 2022, a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa (Jina) Amini went to Tehran to visit her uncle with her brother. What was meant as a holiday, turned deadly.

As she was exiting a metro station in Tehran, the ‘Morality’ Police took issue with her hijab and bundled her into a van for not wearing her hijab properly. A few too many strands of hair were showing.

It was while she was in Policy custody that she collapsed and eventually went into a coma. Eyewitness reports talk about her being beaten in the police van. On September 16, she passed away. She was only 23 years old.

This senseless death became the last straw for a country fed up with 43 years of mismanagement, misogyny, poverty and lack of freedom. Many women felt that they could have been Mahsa. With their every move, item of clothing and choice restricted and scrutinised, they took to the streets.  

But this repression has not been restricted to women. Ethnic and religious minorities have experienced unequal access to economic opportunities and development. Not able to practice their religion, nor customs or speak their language they too are victims alongside the LGBTQI+ community (homosexuality is a crime punishable by death in Iran).

These issued coalesced into the ‘Women, Life. Freedom’ revolution. A revolution, because Iranians have give up on reforming the system. The system has been stubbornly un-reformable for 40+ years.

The term ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ originates from the Kurdish ‘Jan, Jiyan, Azadi’ (Zan, Zendegi, Azadi in Farsi).  Zan, Zendegi, Azadi is a woman led revolution that can change the world for the better.

Purpose

As an Iranian Australian, I’ve been frustrated by the lack of political will to support this movement. Sanctions have been extremely slow to come and when they do, are weak and ineffective. As much as the diaspora tries to bring attention to this issue, the government continues to deflect.

In turn, I have found the level of knowledge within the general population to be low. Some know something is going on, but not what, nor the significance, or the fact that it’s still ongoing.  With scant media coverage, who can blame them.

It is for this reason that I started this Blog. My theory being that without wider engagement from the community backing Iranian Australian and also demanding action, the government’s lack of action will continue. This Blog is aimed at being a hub of information. I will try and cover main topics and issues, but cannot promise to capture everything, so I’ll try and filter the main issues and block out the noise. It can all seem daunting, so I will aim to keep things practical.

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