The fate of the people in Iran is ours (nd-aktuell.de)

Demonstrators hold placards in front of the Iranian embassy during a protest against the death of Mahsa Amini.

Demonstrators hold placards in front of the Iranian embassy during a protest against the death of Mahsa Amini.

Demonstrators hold placards in front of the Iranian embassy during a protest against the death of Mahsa Amini.

Photo: dpa/EUROPA PRESS | Cezaro De Luca

Zhina Amini from the Kurdish city of Saqez in Iran was on her way to Tehran with her family to visit relatives there. But the vice squad found the way her hijab was fitted improperly. Zhina was arrested and died a short time later. She became the victim of a misogynistic system. Everything about her death points to abuse by the vice squad.

The official reason for Zhina’s death is “heart failure due to previous illnesses”. However, her father told the BBC Farsi that she had no previous illnesses. When the father wanted to see the autopsy report, the doctor is said to have told him that he could write whatever he wanted on it and that it was none of his father’s business. A system in which people are completely dependent on the arbitrariness and mercy of others encourages abuse of power and violence at all levels.

Women and allies have been demonstrating on the streets of Iran for over a week. The demonstrations began in response to Zhina’s killing by demanding an end to compulsory hijab. But the local people quickly realized that they are stronger together and that their destinies are connected. More and more people joined the demonstrations. The fire of anger from Iran’s Kurdish cities spread almost across the country. In Iran, the Kurdish minority faces oppression and discrimination, assimilation and persecution.

Also read: “The women’s revolution achieves everything” – Kurdish activist Ardalan Bastani explains the background to the protests in Iran

People who fight together for their rights are dangerous for tyrants – the mullah regime knows that too. They are treated accordingly: According to various sources, more than 50 people have been killed and more than 1,200 demonstrators arrested since the demonstrations began. They are to be convicted in a special court. “The judiciary should treat them the same way they treat rapists and criminals,” said Tehran’s chief of justice, Ali Alghassimehr, according to the Tasnim news agency. As if protesting was comparable to being raped or even a crime to stand up for rights and freedoms! The punishments should have a symbolic effect in addition to the punishment.

The protests in Iran are feminist in origin and solidarity is intersectional. This is exactly what international solidarity must look like. Last Tuesday at a court hearing of the Kobane trial in the Turkish capital Ankara, the accused politician Ayla Akat Ata pointed out this connection: »We salute the women in Iran who cut their hair and burn their hijabs. We, too, are being symbolically attacked by the totalitarian leadership. (…) I am a Kurdish woman looking for a democratic system. This trial is political for me.«

The feminist solidarity with the people of Iran must not be understood as a kind of development aid – their fate is ours. Anyone who is against the moral police in Iran cannot demand a moral police for Germany as soon as it comes to incapacitate sex workers, for example. More repression by the police against people who, according to our worldview, acted morally wrong is de facto moral police.

So anyone who is in favor of self-determination for Iranian women must realize that there are also trans Iranians – in Iran and in Germany, whose self-determination is just as existential and must be protected, for example by the Self-Determination Act. Remember: About a year ago, the trans woman Ella, who fled Iran, set herself on fire and died. Ella was a victim of the anti-trans society in the Federal Republic. Just like Malte C, who was killed at the CSD. Both would certainly show solidarity with the fighting women in Iran.


LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here