Following Mahsa Amini's death, a female revolt puts the Iranian leadership under significant amounts of pressure. The EU must not consider any other options.
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| [Anti-Hijab protest in Iran] |
We are hearing the primary slogan of the feminist movement of Kurdish women for the first time on the streets of numerous Iranian cities and towns. "Jin - Jiyan - Azadi" translates to "Woman - Life - Freedom." Since the beginning of the green movement in 2009, Iran has been seeing its greatest demonstrations ever. The European Union and the nations of the West can no longer turn a blind eye to this issue.
The killing of Mahsa Amini by the hijab police institutionalized in Iran sparked the demonstrations. The 22-year-old woman was arrested on September 13 on the accusation that she was not wearing her headscarf (hijab) in accordance with the regulations of the Islamic Republic to wear. She was subsequently murdered by the hijab police. After a few hours had passed, she was taken to the hospital owing to head injuries that she had sustained while in the custody of the hijab police. She remained in a coma for many days before succumbing to her injuries on September 16 and passing away.
Anger at Mahsa's state femicide has propelled people across the country to the streets: the protests, which began in solidarity with Mahsa's family, soon turned into a resistance movement. At Mahsa's funeral, which was attended by a large section of the population of the Kurdish city of Saqqez, Mahsa's hometown, many women took off their headscarves as a sign of protest against compulsory hijab in Iran and waved them in.
What we have seen on the streets of Iranian cities over the past few days is a continuation of the protests that have been breaking out spontaneously since 2017. These demonstrations are increasingly taking place at the same time as organized protests by trade unions, pensioners, and teachers. However, despite this connection, these demonstrations stand out for their feminist character. There is a feminist demand – Down with the mandatory hijab! – and a leading presence of women in the streets.
Since the Islamic Republic came to power in Iran following the revolution of 1979, the compulsory hijab has become the visible representation of the ubiquity and dictatorship of the Islamic Republic in Iran. To this day, the issue of compulsory hijab remains an unresolved battle between the regime and Iranian women as well as sexual and gender minorities in Iran.
Because of this, the people who are protesting on the streets of Iran these days are also confronted with enormous violence by the security forces of the Islamic Republic. These security forces shoot at people, beat them with batons, use tear gas, and carry out mass arrests. The violent repression of the protests is particularly severe in the outskirts and already marginalized regions of the country. According to Iran Human Rights, as of September 26, 76 people had been killed in the protests.
It is high time for European governments to position themselves. Up until now, they have subordinated the issue of human rights violations in Iran to their economic cooperation with the Islamic Republic. It is time for Europe to prioritize the human rights issue in relation to Iran. But what role does Europe play in the face of these historic protests in Iran and their enormous repression?
This is more than annoying and gives a legitimate face to the reprisals of the Islamic Republic, according to a feminist activist from Iran with whom I spoke. In these days, when protesters are being killed in the streets, Ebrahim Raeisi, the current President of Iran and one of the perpetrators responsible for the murder of thousands of political opponents at the beginning of the revolution, travels to New York with ease and delivers a speech to the United Nations.
She continues by saying that for many years, the Islamic Republic has described every protest in Iran as dependent on the West and regards the demonstrators as spies of the West. The Islamic Republic even goes so far as to take people with dual citizenship hostage and keep them in prison for years. Up until this point, Europe has done little to stop these systematic kidnappings and, by remaining silent, has become complicit in the kidnappings and the pressure that is being put on the prisoners.
In this day and age, Europe should also decisively and clearly react to the issue of internet interruption and limited access to information in Iran. Who in the west can even fathom what it would be like to go days without access to the internet? But the Islamic Republic's strategy of controlling information has, from the beginning, made it difficult for individuals to get their hands on it. On days when there are demonstrations or strikes, access to the internet may be limited or entirely unavailable. The administration was able to produce a great slaughter during the demonstrations in November 2019 by shutting down the internet on a big scale, and to this day, we are unsure of the exact number of individuals that were killed during that period. Over the course of the last several days, there have been many disruptions to the internet.
Europe need to implement a boycott against Iran's conduct and put pressure on decision-makers to respond with targeted sanctions against individuals involved in addition to diplomatic efforts. In the event that this does not occur, Europe will be complicit in the subjugation of the Iranian people by the Islamic Republic.
Because the lack of a response is evidence of a racist mentality that restricts the meaning of human rights to the rights enjoyed by individuals living in Europe, It's time to wake up to the fact that location is really crucial. It is vital to broaden one's perspective beyond Europe and cultivate a real interest in what is occurring in other parts of the world. The voices of the people and their hardships are especially resonant in Iran at this time; Europe need to pay attention to these voices and these experiences.
The author Bahar Oghalai is a feminist social scientist with a focus on migrant feminist activism based in Berlin, Germany.