There have been a series of global marches that you may have even seen at our beautiful state Capitol and Washington Square these past few weeks, to bring awareness to the uprising that is occurring in Iran right now. The spark of this revolution started by the murder of Mahsa Amini on Sep. 16 for not properly wearing the compulsory hijab (head-covering) by the theocratic regime in Iran.
Utah Iranian-Americans and supporters have been staging marches chanting “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi,” a Kurdish slogan that translates to “Woman, Life, Liberty.” While this slogan was used among Kurds in the war against ISIS, it is now rallying cry for the death of Mahsa Amini. Since Masha’s death, there have been reports of at least 200 people killed by the brutal Iranian security forces confronting protests across Iran.
As an attendee of these marches, chanting and listening to speeches, I often wonder of the what ifs. What if this time, the Iranian women and their allies can take down a 43-year entrenched, brutal regime in the Middle East? The audacity of hope that this time (unlike previous uprising in 1999, 2009, 2017 and 2019) they might succeed.
What if the women of Iran and their allies succeed to form a new path for Iran and themselves? I wonder what it would mean to their neighboring countries, where it might not be compulsory, but dress codes are pressured across all institutional levels in their society. Could this spark in another Spring Revolution for liberty and freedom?
What if the women of Iran and their allies succeed and ignite a revolution that is bigger than just the Middle East? I wonder how this might challenge all of our values, even institutional norms in Western societies.
I think about how Copernicus in 1543 challenged the Catholic church by stating that the earth revolves around the sun, and not the other way around that was believed for over a millennium, which triggered a revolution that Catholic church never recovered.
What if the women of Iran remind the world that women don’t revolve around men? To have the audacity to think that women can enter a celestial kingdom on their own merit or have ultimate choice on their reproductive self-determination. I wonder if the women of Iran were to succeed, how this may be the biggest contribution from the Middle East to our global humanity since algebra.
As I stand in these small rallies, I wonder where are the supporters for such audacious hope, to join the march chanting “Woman, Life, Liberty?”
Siavash Ghaffari, Salt Lake City
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/6TSzwsk
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