“Women are the driving force of the movement because, in Iran, women are not given any rights and cannot do anything. Women have been oppressed in every fight, but we are not afraid anymore. It has made us go with all our strength to overthrow the regime of the mullahs [a term used to describe scholars of Sharia law]. We need our voices to be heard and everyone to recognise our revolution.”
While to many people outside Iran, it may seem like the protests came out of the blue, Mahsa’s death was a tinderbox for years of oppression which started long before many of the protestors were even born. The protests are about more than just the hijab, but about the government policing women’s choices about their bodies and their whole lives.
Another student, 21-year-old Leena*, who has been among the protesters, explained. “Being a young woman living in Iran is living a half-life. Not even that, you are just existing. I can’t even dream of a future because my dreams are locked in cages. We don’t have the same rights as men. But even the rights our religion gives us, we don’t get.
“Since the death of Mahsa, my friends and I all feel like we cannot breathe, and when you cannot breathe, your first instinct is to fight to survive, and that is what we are doing. My family is very strict, and if they knew I was participating in the protests, my father would be angry. My mother understands, so when I go to the protests, she hides it from my father, but she is scared I will be arrested or killed.
“When you go to protest, you don’t know if you will come back, but it is a risk we are all willing to take.”
“It is true when you go to protest, you don’t know if you will come back, but it is a risk we are all willing to take because freedom comes with a price, and it is a price we are willing to pay. We have nothing to lose. We don’t feel scared; we feel excited and emboldened.
“We have no choice. This is our only chance to speak up, or nothing will ever change. It is hard when the whole world is behind us, but our families are not. I can’t do much because I am only 18. I wish I could do more. But just one voice can change everything, even if that one voice is weak, joined with a thousand other voices, it becomes strong.”
The dangers for protesters extend beyond the borders of Iran. With two death warrants already on her head for her activism, Laila Jazayeri, Director of the Anglo-Iranian Women in the UK. She explained why it was important for women outside Iran to amplify the voices of the women in Iran:
“What is happening in Iran is unprecedented. The reaction of Iranians, and women in particular, has been extraordinary. There is a high sense of solidarity and closeness amongst them. They all have a sense of joy that this uprising is finally turning into a revolution and sadness because so many lives have been and continue to be lost.
“The people of Iran want an end to forty years of executions, suppression, misogyny, widespread poverty and corruption.”
“The murder of Mahsa in the custody of the so-called “Morality Police” provided the initial spark for the eruption of 40 years of condensed anger. But, from day one, it was clear that the people demanded the entirety of the ruthless regime to go. The people of Iran want an end to forty years of executions, suppression, misogyny, widespread poverty and corruption.
“The response by the women worldwide has also had a positive impact on the morale of the Iranian women inside the country.”
As I listen to Rania and Leena’s messages, it suddenly hits me that any day they could be killed for simply wanting the kind of life most of us take for granted.
I asked Rania if there was anything else she would like to say. “Just one thing,” she says “Please tell everyone my name means freedom.”
*Names have been changed.