The Iranian Revolution: where do we stand ?
Published by King's Politics, King's College, Cambridge. November 2023
“Women, Life, Freedom” is the rallying cry around which hundreds of Iranian women have been uniting these past few weeks. This slogan was the theme of the conference organised by the Centre for Geopolitics and held in Keynes Hall last week. Dr Anahita Arian and Dr Evaleila Pesaran presented the ongoing feminist movement in Iran, while Prof. Cynthia Enloe questioned Western views of the events.
On the 16th of September 2022, Mahsa Amini died in hospital, succumbing to the wounds inflicted upon her by the Iranian Morality Police. Her crime ? Wearing her hijab in an unsuitable way. This woman’s death sparked a series of violently repressed protests during which women and men have challenged the government’s enforcement of Islamic law, reviving the crucial question of women’s rights in the country.
Iranian enthusiasm for feminism isn’t new : in the midst of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution at the beginning of the 20th century, women gained consciousness of the inequalities they faced. They created organisations, such as the secret ‘Society for Women’s Freedom’, which was later attacked ; and activists from middle-class educated backgrounds such as Bibi Khatoon Astarabadi sought to promote education for girls as a means of empowerment.
Progress was made in the following decades, particularly as the 1963 White Revolution, led by Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, included women’s suffrage and their right to run for office. But the Shah’s zealous modernisation of the country further deepened the divide between feminists and traditionalists. The Kashf-e hijab, or mandatory unveiling measure, generated controversy throughout Iran.
The improvements made thanks to the Women’s Organisation of Iran and the Shah were short-lived. The 1979 Islamic Revolution brought down the Pahlavi dynasty, replacing it with Khomeini’s Islamic Republic. The ayatollah encouraged female protestors of the Shah’s regime to wear their hijab, arguing it symbolised resistance. Soon, his rhetorical avoidance of the issue of women’s rights turned into outright sexism. In 1993, wearing the hijab became mandatory.
The revolution didn’t live up to the people’s expectations. Decades of corruption and state oligarchization caused mass unemployment, poor access to healthcare and environmental destruction ; while Western sanctions further impeded Iranian growth. Popular disappointment sparked protests, during the Arab Spring as well as in 2018 and 2019.
Demonstrations and strikes multiplied, without much effect. Until now.
Amini’s murder was the Iranian people’s last straw.
Pictures of women taking off their veil and girls giving a picture of regime representatives the finger have gone viral on social media. What we can confidently call a feminist revolution is being publicised by the media, worldwide. Undeniably, this is great news for Iranian protesters. It sends an important message : you are not alone. In the midst of this, I believe that it isn’t enough. We must remain critical of our own relationship to these events.
Where do we, as Westerners, stand ?
What are the implications of our interest in the ongoing revolution ?
How can we distinguish useful support from self-righteousness ?
In examining these questions, we must remember that Western foreign policy towards the repressive Iranian regime continues to have an impact on the daily lives of Iranians. Governments that are adamant in showing their solidarity with the feminist revolution must do better, in terms of economic strategy and diplomacy.
During the conference, the speakers underlined the dire domestic impacts of Western sanctions for the Iranian people. Economic sanctions on Iran have aggravated its ongoing humanitarian crisis, the effects being “no less than a military war”, according to the governor of the Central Bank of Iran. The speakers argued in favour of targeting government officials and individuals linked to the regime by freezing their assets, following the current strategy aimed at weakening Russia in the context of the war in Ukraine.
What’s more, with regards to the current nuclear situation, maintaining strong diplomatic connections is crucial. In recent developments, Iran has agreed to a visit by the UN nuclear watchdogs in November. Cooperation between Iran and the P5+1, within the framework nuclear deal, can only be fruitful if the latter present a united front in favour of peace and human rights.
As journalists, activists or simple citizens, we shape Western mainstream opinion and its relationship with the Iranian events. The way we discuss and support (or not) the feminist movement is also impactful on the movement and its progress. From tweets and articles, to protests in European cities and public figures cutting their hair in solidarity with Iranian women, support of the revolution has been substantial and wide-spread the past few weeks.
But what are our motives in backing these uprisings ? How is our support organised, and what are its limits ? How can we do better ?
I think examining the idea of the ‘white saviour’ is central to this issue. In debates surrounding women’s liberation, especially in Muslim countries, Western commentators often take it upon themselves to pity female protestors. They are victims of a system. They must be assisted by Western powers in their fight. Such a posture can become patronising, and telling of the narrative perpetuated by Western media : in Euro-American countries, women are fully liberated, sexism is history. There is an underlying opposition between the ‘civilised’ and the uncivilised which is prejudiced, hypocritical and unhelpful.
Last week, French actress’ (Isabelle Adjani) tweet went viral as she called for Muslim women all around the world to unveil themselves, in solidarity with ‘those being killed’. Injunctions like these do not serve to support Iranian women’s freedom to choose what they wear. Further, such events are often used to legitimise islamophobia that is more or less accounted for. Far-right political parties, such as the French Rassemblement National, choose to defend women’s rights only when it involves criticising Islam.
I think that countries like the United States of America and France have much to do in terms of self-awareness on the matter. Giving ourselves too much credit, as put by Prof Enloe, for being ‘advanced’ is another way of ignoring our own issues. This year, the right to choose to become a mother has been challenged at an unprecedented level by the American Supreme Court ; while the French Senate has refused to secure the right to abortion access in the French Constitution.
Finally, this posture fuels the view that women can only be empowered in countries modelled on the Western secular state and, in some aspects, contributes to the representation of Islam as incompatible with women’s rights, which is exactly what fundamentalists argue.
Selective solidarity, instrumentalisation and condescendence cannot make for successful support of the Iranian feminist cause. We must strive to empower this movement without enforcing our political model or overstepping our role as allies.
I believe that intersectionality is the way to go. Taking into account the intersecting identities of gender, ethnicity, religion and the resulting intersecting discriminations will allow for a more comprehensive understanding of the complex reality of Iranian society ; proving useful for policy-makers and activists.
Listening to Iranian women, whether they call themselves feminists or not, should be our priority. Perhaps a new approach, that of Islamic feminism, will allow for women’s emancipation without them having to renounce their beliefs.