In a showing of transnational solidarity and friendship with Iranian women, Muslim women from Turkey, India and Afghanistan, share their thoughts on the #WomanLifeFreedom movement.
One year ago, Mahsa (Zhina) Amini was killed while in the custody of the Iranian Guidance Patrol after being arrested for improperly wearing a hijab. The aftermath of her death has brought increased awareness to the politics surrounding mandatory hijab laws, which are detrimental to the lives and experiences of Iranian women. However, “To Veil or Not to Veil?” is just one aspect of the broader issue of bodily autonomy that Iranian women have grappled with for the past nine months.
The #WomanLifeFreedom movement has emerged after Amini’s death as a unifying force, bringing together Iranians across differences. All are striving to amplify their voices and demand recognition. This movement has sparked diverse conversations among Muslim women scholars both within their communities and in the diaspora.
We are activists advocating for the rights of Muslim women. We reached out to four friends from across the Muslim diaspora to discuss the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, in a showing of transnational solidarity and friendship. Here are their voices.
Hafza Girdap: “[We] must relentlessly and consistently speak out for women’s autonomy and gender equality.”
Hafza Girdap is a Ph.D. candidate in women’s, gender and sexuality studies at Stony Brook University, focusing her doctoral research on self-identification and gendered representation. In addition to her academic studies, Girdap conducts research at European Center for Populism Studies gender program as a nonresident research associate.
Girdap has been organizing and speaking at UNGA and U.N. CSW panels for three years and serves as the executive director and spokesperson for AST (Advocates of Silenced Turkey). She is a founding member of Set Them Free, which advocates for the rights of women and children arbitrarily imprisoned in Turkey.
It is crucial to recognize that the tragic death of Mahsa Amini and the discourse surrounding women’s bodily autonomy are influenced by political Islam (Islamism) and far-right populism, both of which seek to exert power and control over women’s bodies, using the hijab as a proxy.
Hafza Girdap
Yalda and Girdap’s friendship developed when Girdap joined Yalda’s Ph.D. program. Despite the differences in their observance of hijab, their friendship transcends such boundaries.
Hafza invited Yalda to her class during the early days of the uprising as a guest lecturer. Yalda discussed the issues of government violence and police brutality against Iranian women, drawing parallels to the racialization of Muslims and Islamophobia in the United States. Through their dialogue, Hafza and Yalda concluded that wearing a veil in solidarity with Muslim women in the West could be equated to burning one’s veil in the streets of Tehran during the early days of the #WomanLifeFreedom movement.
Hafza penned a statement of solidarity with #WomanLifeFreedom:
“I stand in solidarity with the people of Iran who are fighting against the despotism of the Iranian regime following Mahsa Amini’s tragic death while in custody of Iran’s morality police for wearing an ‘improper’ hijab. It is crucial to recognize that the tragic death of Mahsa Amini and the discourse surrounding women’s bodily autonomy are influenced by political Islam (Islamism) and far-right populism, both of which seek to exert power and control over women’s bodies, using the hijab as a proxy.
“In Iran, women are expected to submit to the regime’s tyranny and wear the hijab regardless of personal preference. The international human rights community and those advocating for global solidarity must relentlessly and consistently speak out for women’s autonomy and gender equality.”
Ather Zia: “I wholeheartedly support the demand for ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ by the Iranian people.”
Dr. Ather Zia is a political anthropologist, poet, short fiction writer, and columnist. She is an associate professor of anthropology and gender studies at the University of Northern Colorado Greeley. Zia is the author of Resisting Disappearances: Military Occupation and Women’s Activism in Kashmir, which received the 2021 Public Anthropologist Award and Advocate of the Year Award 2021. She is the founder-editor of Kashmir Lit and is the co-founder of Critical Kashmir Studies Collective, an interdisciplinary network of scholars working in the Kashmir region.
The Iranian government must acknowledge the disproportionate violence and oppression inflicted upon its own people, particularly the extreme subjugation of its exceptional women, and put an end to it swiftly.
Ather Zia
In November 2019, a group of Kashmiri and Indian feminists, including Zia, participated in a panel discussion with presenters from diverse Hindu and Muslim backgrounds coming together to raise awareness of the violation of human rights perpetrated by the Indian government.
At the same time, Iran was on the cusp of experiencing a wave of uprisings primarily involving the working class and urban poor. Yalda attended the conference when she faced an internet blackout, losing contact with her mother inside Iran. Zia informed Yalda that Kashmir had already endured a hundred-day internet blackout. This shared experience of violence fostered a friendship between Yalda and Zia.
“I wholeheartedly support the demand for ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ by the Iranian people, especially Iranian women and girls. The Iranian government must acknowledge the disproportionate violence and oppression inflicted upon its own people, particularly the extreme subjugation of its exceptional women, and put an end to it swiftly.
“I urge the Iranian government to restore the rights and liberties of its citizens, specifically women, cease human rights violations, and release all political prisoners. Additionally, I condemn the US sanctions against Iran, which exacerbate the humanitarian crisis and the gendered violence within the country.”
Tahmina Sobat: “Women of Afghanistan and Iran are re-defining the maps of resilience.”
Tahmina Sobat is a human rights lawyer from Afghanistan. Sobat began working as an assistant for women empowerment at Zardozi, then moved to the Independent Human Rights Commission in Afghanistan in 2017. She has done extensive research in legal analysis of women’s rights, including women’s harassment in the workplace in Afghanistan and women’s role in peace-building. Her Ph.D., titled “The Role of Grassroots Feminism in Demilitarization and Peace-Building in Afghanistan,” will offer a new perspective on the U.S. counterterrorism strategies and Afghan women’s advocacies for inclusion in peace negotiations.
In acknowledging the pain and sufferings imposed on women of [Iran and Afghanistan], we resist, protest and continue to build spaces of care and solidarity.
Tahmina Sobat
Sobat met Yalda and Dominik during her graduate studies in Mankato. The shared time in the program fostered a deep friendship and sense of solidarity. Tahmina’s fierce resistance in the face of the takeover of the Taliban’s regime in Afghanistan was an inspiration to her peers and a source of hope for Yalda.
Tahmina and Yalda were reunited in March of this year when Tahmina was invited as a guest speaker for a #WomanLifeFreedom series organized by Yalda and hosted by the Minnesota Humanities Center. In discussing transnational solidarities with the #WomanLifeFreedom movement, Tahmina highlighted the parallels between Iranian and Afghan women.
Here is an excerpt from Sobat’s statement:
“Since the death of Mahsa Amini and the beginning of the recent uprisings in Iran, I’m sure that every Afghan woman has felt triggered and traumatized by the ongoing atrocities against the protesters in Iran. This is because, Afghan women themselves have been experiencing war, state brutality, repression, and destructive foreign interventions in the name of ‘humanitarian assistance.’ As Afghan women, we show our solidarity with our Iranian comrades either in the form of Zahra Hasti’s dance on top of the roof of her house, or others in the streets of Herat and Kabul.
“In recognition of our shared struggles, we scream ‘freedom’ and ‘education’ while the Taliban are actively shutting down the voices of our chants. In acknowledging the pain and sufferings imposed on women of the two countries, we resist, protest and continue to build spaces of care and solidarity between the two movements, one that is inspired by a transnational approach, pays attention to the relations and inequalities of power, and takes the histories of colonialism, imperialism, militarism and settler colonialism seriously.
“As part of these solidarities, based on our experiences of war and invasions we share insight on what movements of social justice should be aware of and how to keep these movements away from being read through the lens of global sisterhood, the danger of war and invasion in the name of ‘saving’ Iranian women as it happened to Afghanistan in 2001. Women of Afghanistan and Iran are re-defining the maps of resilience, I invite everyone to join them by hearing their demands and standing beside them!”
Sanober Umar: “I stand in awe of the Iranian women … just as I stand in solidarity with my fellow Muslim women in India.”
Sanober Umar, an assistant professor of politics at York University, was a panelist during a discussion titled, “The Possibilities and Perils of Transnational Feminist Solidarity with the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ Movement.” Yalda and Dominik had the opportunity to listen to Umar as she explored the complexities of solidarity by examining how the Indian right wing, which largely ignores the lives and bodies of Muslim women within India, suddenly showed solidarity with the #WomanLifeFreedom Movement.
In her enlightening statement, Umar expresses her support and delves further into these crucial conversations:
“As the words ‘Woman, Life, and Freedom/Liberation’ echo throughout Iran, among the Kurdish people and around the world, we must recognize that this slogan goes beyond the mere act of donning or discarding a headscarf. It speaks to issues of control, desirability, performance, and discipline—how nation-states dictate the terms of life and freedom for diverse women. Our analysis should not be limited to a simplistic universalist notion of women having the choice to dress as they please but should encompass the understanding that these choices are embedded in structures that seek to confine our identities.
“I stand in awe of the Iranian women who courageously challenge the violent and oppressive strategies of their country, just as I stand in solidarity with my fellow Muslim women in India. Indian Muslim women are presently confronting the far-right Hindu nationalist regime that stigmatizes them on multiple fronts and now seeks to prohibit the wearing of headscarves in certain provincial university spaces.
“As feminists and sisters in transnational solidarity, we refuse to be constrained by the perils of right-wing nationalist boundaries within our respective countries. We must be cautious and vigilant about imperialist and liberal feminists attempting to co-opt our discourses of liberation from patriarchy and authoritarianism without contextualizing our unique political, cultural-religious, and historical trajectories. Rumi’s call (often mistranslated by orientalist scholars) resonates deeply in these times, ‘Out beyond ideas of belief and unbelief, there is a field. Let us meet there.'”
The Need for Transnational Solidarity
These four Muslim women activists from Turkey, India and Afghanistan express their support for the #WomanLifeFreedom movement, acknowledging the shared struggles women across different nations face. They emphasize the need for transnational solidarity.
Ms. stands with the #WomanLifeFreedom movement. We believe in the power of transnational solidarity. These influential statements shared here are a reminder to all of us that we must stand together and address the injustices witnessed. The Iranian government is purposefully mutilating the bodies of young Iranians, robbing them of their lives simply because they demand freedom. This state violence must stop now. Change takes time, and so does revolution. We cannot remain silent. Young Iranians deserve freedom; they deserve to live.
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