spoke to my aunt over the phone last Friday. She finally briefly got access to a working VPN (that is when the internet is not shut down), and she said to me, "Every couple of years, we expect some chaos to erupt at this point." That is what life is like for Iranians. Whether the chaos is internal or external, they know to expect it.
Being born in Iran, yet growing up most of my life across seas, I know that I do not know what it is like to live there every day. I would visit occasionally and have the time of my life, not being able to absorb or acknowledge what daily life is like.
My people want to live regular lives. No one invites war to their doorstep. These are the same people who have fought revolutions and had Western-backed war invade their land, had prime ministers embarrass them on a world stage, and seen the downing of two passenger planes (one by their government, with no accountability taken, the other under the first Bush administration, in which the shooter received an award). These are people who have lived through the shadow of sanctions looming over them for decades, people familiar with political imprisonment and exile, and people living under the threat of war from the biggest empires in the world. These are the same people and their children.
Growing up where I did, with parents like mine, I could learn and understand religion in the ways I wanted to. Nevertheless, being a child of resistance — and human at that — I knew that if I grew up under a forceful rule of how to lead my life, I would do the opposite. Islam has informed every part of my upbringing and is the moral compass I use to lead my life. This is because I have had what should not be considered a privilege: to make that choice myself. As a visible Muslim Iranian woman living in the diaspora, I have experienced gendered Islamophobia in varying degrees. I hold much honour in my faith, as I have yet to come across something so intricate in its teachings and gentle ways, which is why I am even more enraged. The Qur'an clearly states: "There is no compulsion in religion." (2:256)
I can acknowledge that a forceful rule of religion, to any degree, misrepresents faith. However, in the same breath, I can love the faith and know it is my chosen way of life because it works for me. This is not about Islam. This is about governments trying to maintain their power when they see it shaking. This is about nation states killing their people, afraid of another revolution.
Iran's clear enemies in the world do not make the situation less complex. Enemies exist, but why look outside when the people themselves are speaking, screaming to be heard? Iranians are calling for international awareness, not foreign intervention. Sanctions do very little to 'teach the government a lesson.' On the contrary, they further harm the quality of life of people, limiting access to the world outside to necessary needs like medicine and travel. Iran has been one of the highest-sanctioned countries in the world. This has been an act of silent war on the population. Sanctions do not support the people. On the contrary, they help the government, as people have nowhere else to turn, corrupting from the inside out.
In the same week, a 15-year-old Iraqi girl was killed by US troops conducting military drills in Baghdad, Zeinab Essam al-Khazali. Iranian state-sponsored media has reported on this, saying 'the US is killing too' – we know that is not news. To call out the violence of the Iranian government is not to dismiss the harm that America has and continues to cause. How ludicrous to use the death of this innocent Iraqi girl whose home has been invaded by imperial forces to silence women chanting for their freedom after the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old girl in Iran killed by the Morality Police/ Gashte Ershad.
We can hold space for both of these realities. In the same way, we can hold space that women in India, Quebec, Denmark and France are fighting for their right to maintain their hijab. We can recognize that before the revolution of '79, women in Iran were stripped of their right to wear the hijab. We can acknowledge that opportunists take these moments to feed their plan while there are lives on the ground being dismissed. The agency of women's bodies should be with women. Iranian women in my household have taught me how to stand up for myself and those around me, and they continue to teach me through the distance.
There are many sides to this conversation: 'anti-Imperialists' saying this is another American plot to destroy Iran, state supporters standing behind the regime by any means, liberals saying burning the hijab is Islamophobic, and royalists still chanting for a system that was oppressive to many, Islamophobes and people with a saviour complex calling the nation and the people backward. The list goes on. This is a complicated matter. People are dying and struggling. No state brutality will fix this. The people have, can, and will. They have done it before. Just listen.
The people of Iran are influential. The women of Iran are a force. They have risen again and again. They deserve love. They deserve peace. They deserve freedom. Whether they choose to maintain their hijab or remove it, they are risking their lives for their agency. I hope we can listen without external noise deflecting from the issues.
