Progressive Voices Come Together for Iran: ‘A Powerful Condemnation of the Subjugation of Women’

In observance of the one-year anniversary of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, Voices of Women for Change—a nonprofit women’s organization based in the U.S.—created a digital event to highlight the significance of this transformative movement in Iran and to emphasize the centrality of women’s roles (and resistance) since the inception of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979.
In this moving video, messages of scholars, women’s rights activists, human rights activists and progressive lawmakers in both English and Farsi are merged with images and music. Their collective message highlights the local and global importance of the movement for women’s rights.
Despite brutal crackdowns, arrests, violence and executions, the Iranian revolution remains deeply embedded in the cultural veins of Iran—especially for women and the younger generation. The movement for human rights and gender equality continues in Iran’s universities, streets, prisons, social media, and in public places defying the authorities by engaging in civil disobedience.
Iranian human and women’s rights campaigner Narges Mohammadi received the Nobel Peace Prize last week “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.”
“In awarding her this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honour her courageous fight for human rights, freedom, and democracy in Iran,” according to the Nobel Prize announcement. “This year’s Peace Prize also recognises the hundreds of thousands of people who, in the preceding year, have demonstrated against the theocratic regime’s policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women.”
Voices of Women for Change’s video event is meant to prompt sense of solidarity and hope by highlighting the global nature of the struggle to end gender-based discrimination, and embracing freedom of choice and democracy.