Global feminists back Iranian feminists’ call for solidarity

Feminists and civil society activists from across the world have endorsed and signed a call initiated by 1,000 Iranian feminists, urging feminist solidarity with the people of Iran against tyranny.

These signatures have been collected amid continuing reports from inside Iran indicating that, alongside a nationwide internet shutdown and severe restrictions on communications, the violent suppression of protests and mass arrests are ongoing.

The signatories warn that the voices of the protesting people inside Iran are being silenced, and they stress that it is vital to reflect the diversity and multiplicity of voices within Iranian society, especially women and marginalised groups.

The Iranian feminists state:

As part of Iran’s civil society, we envision a future that is free, inclusive, prosperous, democratic, secular, and committed to justice, human rights, and gender equality. We hope for a space where all Iranians can freely express their demands and aspirations for the future of their country, and where a peaceful and democratic transition away from the repressive rule of the Islamic Republic can finally take place.

The full text of this statement is as follows:

Call for Feminist Solidarity with the People of Iran Against Tyranny

‎‎We, a group of Iranian feminists, at a time when the Islamic Republic has cut off the internet and all channels of communication with the outside world while carrying out a brutal massacre of protesters, extend our hands to feminists around the world. We call on the global civil society and feminists to stand with the people of Iran and to use all available independent national and international mechanisms to stop the regime’s machinery of killing and repression. 

In December 2025, the people of Iran took to the streets not only to protest the country’s devastating economic situation but also to reject the authoritarianism of the ruling system. The people of Iran have long declared that genuine change is impossible without a transformation of the country’s political structures. They have clearly and courageously demanded the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. Many of today’s protesters are the same people who took to the streets during the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising of 2022, as well as in earlier peaceful demonstrations in 2017 and 2019, during which they are carrying the same demands.

Despite the nationwide internet shutdown and the isolation of the country, reports from inside Iran speak of widespread killings and mass arrests of protesters in multiple cities. While the exact number of victims remains unknown, testimonies of heavy gunfire on protesters, bodies piled in the streets, and the overwhelmed state of hospitals and morgues reveal the scale of the ongoing massacre. According to civil society organizations and Iranian media, the number of people killed in the protests has reached into the thousands. 

Security forces have stormed hospitals, abducted wounded protesters, and refused to hand over the bodies of those killed to their families, such acts that expose the naked violence of the Iranian government. Meanwhile, official threats by state authorities have raised fears of large-scale, extrajudicial executions of detainees.

As the violent crackdown continues, we are deeply concerned that the voices of the protesting people are being silenced. While international powers and certain opposition groups each act according to their own priorities and interpretations of “the interests of the Iranian people,” it is vital to reflect the diversity and multiplicity of voices within Iranian society. Amplifying these diverse perspectives is essential in the struggle to realise the people’s demands.

As feminists, we stand firmly against any organized, especially violent, attempt to impose a single vision on Iran’s present and future. We believe that the path toward a free society lies only through listening to and embracing our country’s plurality of voices.

We raise our voices to affirm that the movement born in 2022 under the progressive slogan Woman, Life, Freedom —a movement that united the marginalized and the silenced at the crossroads of oppression —remains alive.

As part of Iran’s civil society, we envision a future that is free, inclusive, prosperous, democratic, secular, and committed to justice, human rights, and gender equality. We hope for a space where all Iranians can freely express their demands and aspirations for the future of their country, and where a peaceful and democratic transition away from the repressive rule of the Islamic Republic can finally take place.

For this democratic transition to become a reality, we imagine you —all feminists across the world —joining hands with us in the widest field imaginable, a space large enough to embrace all humanity, so that we are not left alone in this struggle. We call on you to:

• Exert sustained political and human rights pressure to immediately stop the killings and repression in Iran.
• Urgently and seriously demand the restoration of unrestricted internet and phone access for people inside Iran.
• Amplify the diverse voices of protesters, especially women and marginalized groups, in terms that are accurate. 

If feminism means standing against violence, tyranny, and injustice, then today, Iran is one of its central frontlines.

A Collective of Iranian Feminists in the Diaspora
January 13, 2026

The signatories of this statement include a diverse range of feminist activists, academics, journalists, and artists, including:

• Akila Radhakrishnan, End Gender Apartheid Campaign
• Andreia Souza, Movimento Mulheres na Contramão
• Artemisa FLORES, sociologue, Université Paris-Est Créteil
• Beatriz Rangel Juarez, Aúna Capítulo Jalisco
• Birgit Erbe, Frauenakademie Muenchen (Women’s Academy Munich)
• Burcu Meltem, Nature Play House
• Carol Chomsky, Minnesota Law
• Chandra T Mohanty, Syracuse University
• Claudia Mandel Katz, Women’s Museum Costa Rica
• Corre Élodie, Laboratoire des Féminités
• Elham Manea, Academic and Human Rights Defender – University of Zurich
• Emma Aellen, Humanity in Action (fellow)
• Farzaneh Milani, Retired faculty at the University of Virginia
• Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet, Professor of History, the University of Pennsylvania
• Ginger Norwood, IWP, International Women’s Partnership for Peace and Justice
• Iranian Women’s Movement Museum
• Ivana Bacik, Leader of the Irish labour party
• Jocelynne A Scutt, Chair and Trustee, WWAFE (Women Worldwide Advancing Freedom and Equalit)
• Katherine Spillar, Ms. magazine
• Linda Hogan, Trinity College Dublin
• Milo, Manchester Feminist Coalition
• Mary McAleese, Former president of Ireland
• Raha Sabet Sarvestany, Turku Institute for Advanced Study, Finland
• Sara Cincotti, ECEPAA (European Centre for Economic and Policy Analysis and Affairs) / Student at University of Bologna
• Sebastian Schweitzer, European Intercultural Forum
• Sofia Margarita Provencio, Pensando en México CDMX
• Susan Steinberg, SDS PRODUCTIONS
• Ton Klokgieters, FNV
• Zubaida Akbar, Femena

Click on the link to sign and see the full names of the signatories.