Iranian women are silenced, first and foremost, by a regime that wants them quiet and submissive. They are also silenced by some who don't want to listen to them: they believe their demands weaken the Iranian regime (as if weakening a reactionary and retrograde regime were a negative thing!). And, with the Israeli and US attacks on Iran, we have seen another silencing: that of those who instrumentalize the oppression of Iranian women to justify any action against Iran but who, deep down, have no real interest in their plight.
We suffer from a polarization that simplifies messages horribly. And the climate of war aggravates it. During the twelve days of war, it seemed that anyone critical of the Iranian regime should applaud the bombs. At the same time, for others, if you were against the attack, you should accept the regime as a sign of approval. Manichean discourses that, despite being contrary, coincide on one thing: ignoring and making invisible the women and men fighting for their rights. And a good way to combat this simplification is to recognize, listen to, and amplify the voices of Iranian women.
At the beginning of the war, activists and cultural figures like 2003 Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi rejected the war while reminding everyone that Iran's nuclear program did not respond to the interests of the people, but to those of its leaders.
"What Iranians want is solidarity, not war. If your vision of liberation only comes through the destruction of innocent lives, then it is not freedom you are seeking," Sahar Delijani, writer, activist, and daughter of political prisoners (actually, the daughter of political prisoners), reminded us.
In a lamentable demonstration of mansplaining, a journalist asked Delijani why Iranians didn't rise up against the regime in the midst of the war. She had to remind him that the Iranians were busy fleeing the bombs falling on them.
After the war, Tehran-based writer and artist Haleh Anvari highlighted the paradox that the three leaders involved in the war—Netanyahu, Trump, and Khamenei—declared themselves victors while the Israeli, American, and Iranian people had not benefited.
Indeed, Iran's critical and dissident sectors have lost a lot. On the one hand, because military attacks cause many people to close ranks with the regime, even if they are critical. On the other hand, because the regime has significantly increased its repression against the population, especially women, with increased harassment, arrests, trials, and executions.
As 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, a defender of feminist and human rights activists, imprisoned for many years and now under house arrest in Tehran, lucidly reminds us, "democracy and peace will not emerge from the dark and terrifying corridors of war; it will emerge from the struggle of the people for the establishment and consolidation of democracy."
