"Women, Life, Freedom" - Protests in Iran

Since mid-September 2022, thousands of people in Iran have been protesting against the Iranian regime with the slogan „Woman, Life, Freedom“. The protests began with the police-involved death of Iranian Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amin, a 22-year-old woman who was arrested by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly violating the state’s Hijāb law. Shortly after her death in police custody, there were nationwide protests in Iran against the ruling order in the country.

The protests are not only about women’s self-determination, but also about the liberation of the entire Iranian society from a violent, patriarchal and authoritarian regime. The Iranian regime, in turn, is responding to the protests with extreme brutality; already over 500 people have been killed and more than 20,000 people have been arrested. A nationwide wave of poisonings of schoolgirls also made headlines, in which schoolgirls were apparently deliberately exposed to poison attacks by supporters of the Iranian regime. At the same time, Iranian head of state Ali Khamenei blames the US and Israel for the protests in the country – a narrative also pushed by President Ebrahim Raisi and the state media. Despite the regime’s brutal crackdown, protests in Iran continue and people continue to fight for their rights through general strikes and civil disobedience, among other means. We are very pleased to welcome the Iranian activist and author Sanaz Azimipour, co-founder of the Women* Life Freedom Collective Berlin, which has so far organised the largest demonstration against the Iranian regime outside Iran, as our guest on this topic on 22 May 2023.

Together with you and Sanaz Azimipour we want to discuss the following questions and more: What does the current Situation in Iran look like? What forms of protest are being used? How does the regime react and what can be said about this? How can the protest be supported from Germany? Will the goals be achieved? Is positive change in reach?

We look forward to your participation. We kindly request a binding registration by May 21.