Woman. Life. Freedom.
“Women, life, freedom” is a protest movement launched in September 2022 in Iran, following the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian woman who was arrested by the morality police for not wearing her hijab properly. A collective action movement led by women, it demands the end of mandatory hijab laws, and other forms of discrimination and oppression against women in Iran. The movement also calls for greater freedom for political views and religious practices.
Facing Repression: Looking Power in the Eye
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman, was arrested for allegedly wearing the mandatory headscarf loosely and for wearing tight pants. She was in Tehran, to visit her brother. She was arrested by the Guidance Patrol at the entry of the Shahid Haghani Expressway while in the company of her family, and then transferred to the custody of Moral Security. Her brother was told that she would be taken to a "briefing class” and then released later. However, she was beaten in the police van, and fainted at the police station. She was taken to a hospital 2 hours later, and the Iranian police denied beating her, claiming instead, that she had suffered a heart failure. Mahsa remained in a coma for two days, and died thereafter. Photos of Mahsa with injuries surfaced. Several other women in detention shared that she was severely beaten by the arresting officers. The government alleged that Mahsa had medical issues that caused her death, but her family stated that she had no health issues whatsoever. After her death, her family was allowed to see the body only after it had been wrapped for the funeral and they noticed that her feet had bruises.
Following this, outrage poured across Iran, against a prior background of mounting outrage against the government for its repressive policies and practices. Women have historically faced oppression and violent treatment at multiple levels, and practices like police brutality, religious chauvinism, and government corruption. Resisting these forms of institutional violence and the institutional repression of minorities, several local groups emerged on ground. They came together to support each other, and organized around the slogan, “Woman, Life, Freedom.” The slogan originated in the Kurdish Community of “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi,” and was used by the Women Protection Units in Kurdistan in the early 2000s.
Women were at the frontlines of the protest movement. They went about without wearing headscarves and appeared in public. Given that the movement emerged in response to institutional violence and repression, it was met with oppressive and brutal crackdowns by the Iranian authorities. Hundreds of protesters were killed and thousands more were arrested. The movement drew attention and solidarity from the international community. Despite the crackdown, the movement continued to endure and advocate for women’s rights, and collapsed after a point.
Advocating for change across the world
The Woman, Life, Freedom movement has found support and resonance around the world. Protest marches and campaigns for women’s rights emerged world over in demonstrations of solidarity with Mahsa and the women of Iran. For instance, on May 28, 2024, the City of Los Angeles declared September 16 as Mahsa Day, and named an intersection in Westwood “Women, Life, Freedom Square.” Rallies were held around the world in support of the movement on ground. Even though the movement has not resulted in much of a change in the system, it is still a pivotal campaign to learn from. For one, the initiative was led by and for women, on their own terms. Their decision to speak truth to power was entirely theirs, and their activism was shaped and implemented by their work on ground. Secondly, the movement went beyond women’s rights to address and encompass the rights of ethnic minorities (like the Kurdish and Baloch people) and working class people. In furthering this intersectional pursuit, it was entirely collective and did not stop with focusing on individual autonomy and legal rights alone – but looked at questioning the underlying systemic and structural violence.
References:
- Motamedi, Maziar (16 September 2023). "Iran: One year after the death of Mahsa Amini". https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/9/16/iran-one-year-after-the-death-of-mahsa-amini
- Hafezi, Parisa (12 September 2023). "What has changed in Iran one year since Mahsa Amini protests erupted?". https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/what-has-changed-iran-one-year-since-mahsa-amini-protests-erupted-2023-09-11/
- Bayram, Seyma; Mohtasham, Diba (27 October 2022). "Iran's protesters find inspiration in a Kurdish revolutionary slogan". https://www.npr.org/2022/10/27/1131436766/kurdish-roots-iran-protest-slogan
- Talmazan, Yuliya; Jaber, Ziad (16 September 2023). "Iran's protests have been crushed, but Mahsa Amini's death is still felt a year later around the world". https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/irans-protests-crushed-mahsa-aminis-death-still-felt-year-later-world-rcna105003
