#mandatory hijab

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

World Press Photo 2023 award winner.

[mithliya]

[matarsack]

if you read somewhere that the islamic regime is retreating and has yielded to the people’s demands, that’s very much not the case! The whole thing has been misinterpreted by the NYT, which is actually pretty notorious for adopting the regime’s voice in their reporting and we iranians don’t trust NYT at all.

The truth is the regime is not going easy on women. They haven’t decided to abolish the morality police. They’re still kidnapping people off the streets and killing them and there are minors in prison that could face execution.

We Iranians aren’t just protesting against the mandatory hijab. We want to overthrow the whole tyrannical regime and will keep fighting until it’s completely gone.

[luminalunii97]

Iran's protests revolution is not simply about hijab or bodily autonomy, rather those are parts of the issue: a meta post (part 1)

I don't think I can stress enough that today's conflicts between people and the governing system is not to correct the system, rather to make a fundamental change by getting rid of the current corrupted system altogether. Why? Because we came to this conclusion throughout this 4 decades that this system is impossible to work with. (You can't correct ideologies, theocracy, dictatorship, and worst of all a religious totalitarianism) So when you talk about IranProtests2022, don't limit it to mandatory hijab, it goes far far beyond that. As one favorite slogan on the streets states it:

این آخرین پیامه، هدف کل نظامه

(this is the last message, [our] target is the whole system (regime))

*I'm going to use historical facts, people's chants on the streets, and the constitution of Islamic Republic to make my point across*

What you hear today the most on the streets in Iran is the melodic slogan آزادی، آزادی، آزادی (freedom, freedom, freedom)

which is a generic demand that holds all forms of freedom including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom flow of information and freedom of choice in its belly. Seeking freedom is not a recent development in Iranian society. If you study Iran's history for the past century, one thing is very clear: today's protests-going-on-revolution has old roots. You could say the fight for democracy, what is thought by Iranians to be the only path that enables people to gain individual freedom and to establish social justice, has started more than a hundred years ago, by the constitutional revolution.

The incompetency and corruption of the kings and their royal dependents during the Qajar rule, the vast interference of foreign powers in the country's affairs, and the shift in western politics towards liberation were possible factors that pushed Iranian figures and people into rising up for freedom. But due to many obstacles, among them foreign interference especially by Russia and Britain and later on USA mostly because of the natural resources in iran like oil, and furthermore culture and religion, this fight for libration and democracy hasn't been won yet. There have been various attempts in this ongoing fight, two well known examples are Mohammed Mosadegh government and the notorious islamic revolution 1979.

But our main focus here is the issue at hand. Why Islamic Republic of Iran must go?

In every area you could think of, Islamic republic has f-ed up these last 4 decades. International affairs?! F-ed up. Financial prosperity? Safety and peace? Environment? Managing water resources? Saving endangered animals? Job making? Education? Women's rights? Queers rights? Ethnic groups right? Human rights? Even representing Islam? Freedom of speech? Freedom of religion? Freedom? All f-ed up.

I'm going to give you examples;

Women's rights:

This is important because women are the leads in this protests and their demands are at the center of it all. Women's rights are the heart of this revolution.

Women in iran cannot wear what they want. It's not just hijab that's mandatory, it's a specific dress code. I have a hijabi friend who loves wearing long sleeved blouses and long skirts. But she can't. Because hijab should fit into a specific style to be accepted and blouses are not acceptable clothings. There are should and shouldn'ts women must follow. Look at some examples:

No tight pants, no bright colors, no hair, no bare foot, no makeup, no short manto, no tight manto, no buttonless manto, no short pants, and check out, there's more.

So if you wear your hijab like below you're going to either get arrested or be thrown out of a governmental institute:

But the thing is forced hijab is not the only or even the most important problem for women. Here is a list of women's issues in Iran, this is what gender apartheid means here: (tw for misogyny and rape)

*Women can't drive a bicycle or motorbike in iran, the funny thing is they can sit behind a man on a motorcycle but they can't be the driver themselves!!!

*women can't go to stadiums to watch men's sports.

*women can't get a passport or travel without their husbands permission.

*women can't get married without their father or grandfather or court's permission

*women can't go to work or get a higher education without their husbands permission

*University students who are women in case of staying in a dormitory need their father or husband's written consent.

*Women can't even check into a hotel on their own

*women can't become judges because they're "emotional"

*women can't run for presidency because the first condition to become a candidate is to be a man

*Women can't decide to get a divorce, and their child custody goes automatically to the father so they should fight for both

*a woman's testimony in court has half the value of a man because they're not "trustworthy"

*a woman's blood money is half a man's

*a woman's share of inheritance is half her brother's

*a man can marry up to 4 wives but polyamory not only isn't recognized for women, there are serious punishments including death penalties for women who have sex with anyone who's not their husband

*The law considers sex within marriage consensual by definition and, therefore, does not address spousal rape, including in cases of forced marriage. It gets worse. Women are supposed, by law, to always say yes to their husband's sexual advances. A man can take a complaint to the court about his wife saying no to him for sex!

*fathers are considered the "owner" of their child therefore if a man kills his child he won't get appropriately punished and only spend a brief time in jail. This worsen honor killing in iran where some fathers kill their daughters for reasons like having a boyfriend.

*the legal age of marriage is very low, 13 for girls and 15 for boys, and even that's more of a formality. It's possible to get married at any age. That is by far one of the most alarming things about Iran's human rights violations, child-wives shouldn't exist.

...

The thing is, fighting for women's rights isn't something new in Iran, it has never been this widespread though. After the failure that was 1979 revolution, the government started to oppress women more and more as it went on. Women's protests against discrimination started early on and continued after islamic republic was stablished. Watch this report made by TIME around 2 years ago. Look how far we've come:

[sleepy-bebby]

Shervin Hajipour is an Iranian singer known for his song Baraye, which has been described as "the anthem" of the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests. He was arrested shortly after publishing the song.

Spotify / YouTube

[azural83]

People from first world countries who dismiss middle east's pain because "that's just how things are there" are way too comfortable sharing their lack of empathy

It's funny because the moment something happens to them they're horrified. They aren't used to tragedies, these things "aren't supposed to happen to them"

But our suffering should be normalised huh?

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

[luminalunii97]

Persian new year is less than a week away. Last night was Chaharshanbeh Suri, a fire festival in Persian culture that takes place in the last Tuesday night/Wednesday morning of the year.

Last night a new wave of protests happened. Among fires and fireworks, people took to the streets, put mandatory hijab on fire, danced and chanted "death to the dictator". It was MAJESTIC. I missed this. Street protests are powerful, they bring you back to life.

But last night was too nerve wracking for me. I walked a line between crying and panicking all night long. Every corner I took I was reminded of people who have been murdered or injured in the last six months. People who have lost everything they knew. Animals who have been hurt and injured. Last night some fighting happened too. And I might have witnessed someone getting severely injured (hope they're alive). I don't want to nag. I feel like I've done that a lot. I just wish the regime fails eventually. I'm so tired of living like this.

People have posted some videos of last night. Just to give you a picture of what happened last night you can check these accounts: 1500tasvir iranwire and Iran International.