I am not an expert in Iranian politics and I do not want to start a controversy over the wearing of the veil, which I respect when it is a voluntary act.
Posted at 5:00 p.m.
Like many people of Iranian origin, I am overwhelmed by looking at the images of these women who are fighting for a fundamental right: that of being able to refuse to wear the veil. My heart bleeds seeing these young girls fall under the bullets of this Islamist dictatorship. How can one remain indifferent to seeing the images of Mahsa Amini whose life was suddenly stolen, because she did not wear her veil well enough.
Personally, it was at the age of 8 that I became aware of the Iranian state’s desire to impose the wearing of the veil on women.
I was then walking down the street with my mother. I was not veiled and I wore nail polish. We were arrested by a Revolutionary Guard (armed morality police). She looked at me and asked my mother my age. She replied that I was 8 years old. I was terrified and hid behind her. The Revolutionary Guard then told my mother, “She’s almost a woman and she also has to wear the veil outside of school. She then added, “And take that polish off me, you should be ashamed.” »
My childhood memories are strewn with moments when I felt anger at my mother. Like when I came home from school and she tore the veil from my head to undo the many knots it had caused.
Today, it’s my turn to be the mother of a girl, and I understand her anger all the better.
PHOTO RICHARD TOMKINS, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Demonstration by Iranian women for equal rights, in Tehran, in 1979
Forty years of anger
This is the same anger that most Iranian women have carried for over 40 years. They may have been forced to respect an Islamic dress code, but these women have always resisted. They let their hair show, continued to invest universities and workplaces. Generation after generation, Iranian women have resisted, in their own way.
But today, this resistance has reached a new stage.
More and more Iranian women are openly defying the Islamist regime and its armed police by attacking its strongest and most visible symbol: the Islamic veil.
This resistance finds an echo within the entire Iranian population, in particular the men who have joined their voices to those of the women. This anger also occurs in a difficult socio-economic context where mismanagement puts the regime in place in the hot seat.
This fight is also ours. It is human rights. And in this sense, we must all stand in solidarity with these women who stop at nothing to defend their rights.
We are dealing with a regime that does not hesitate to kill its own citizens with complete impunity, while maintaining a good image internationally. In the face of this, it is essential to continue to amplify the voices of these courageous women, to be informed, to show solidarity on social media so that our decision-makers know that we will not look the other way.
Let us ensure that the sacrifice of these women is not in vain.
“Woman, life, freedom. The rallying cry of the demonstrators in Iran must be heard and amplified within our societies, to the point of shaking the walls of the mullahs’ regime.