November 11, 2022

Solidarity with Iranian women leading courageous protests for their lives

Mass protests have erupted in Iran and captured widespread attention after the September death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman who was murdered by the morality police while in custody for improperly wearing her hijab. Despite the brutality of the Iranian regime, which has arrested, beaten and killed, while attempting to block internet communication, the anti-government uprising has bravely persevered. Women, youth, and labor rights activists are speaking out against injustice and in their fight for social change. Alongside their call to end patriarchy, gender discrimination, and violence, they also fight to dismantle the Islamic Republic.

Radical Women sends our solidarity to the women, working class, and all the oppressed Kurdish, Arab and Baluchi nationalities in their ongoing struggle. We stand with those speaking out against the capitalist, patriarchal, and fundamentalist regime. We join in unison as activists chant, “down with the oppressor, whether it’s the king or the supreme leader” and “neither monarchy nor clergy.”

The feminist-led resistance in Iran reveals the immense power of grassroots organizing. Demonstrators have bravely engaged in acts of civil disobedience. Students are boycotting class and organizing rallies at their universities and schools. Women and girls are publicly taking off their headscarves in public acts of defiance. Workers in the oil, petrochemical and other industries and oppressed nationalities have also joined the protests. These uprisings point to the real possibility of revolution in Iran. As the resistance continues, Radical Women believes that an eventual overthrow of the dictatorship requires disciplined, strategic, and radical leadership. The most oppressed –women, workers, and LGBTQ+ activists – will lead this fight.

As a feminist socialist organization, Radical Women supports this struggle and the need for international solidarity as we organize in a collective fight for liberation. The fight to take control over our bodies has to be global. Women and girls in Afghanistan are also heroically battling for their human and civil rights against the tyrannical Taliban. As we organize for reproductive justice and bodily autonomy in Australia and the United States, we take inspiration from the people of Iran who have seized the streets to uncompromisingly make their demands known.

We join with feminists and protesters in Iran to demand an end to gender violence and oppression, the exploitation of poor and working-class people, capitalism, racism, and homophobia. We advocate for international coalition building and the necessity of a well-organized united front to fight against global persecution. Together we say, no more! Together we chant, Zhan, Zhiyan, ‘Azadi, (Women, Life, Freedom)!