Uno sguardo a est

Pubblichiamo alcuni estratti degli elaborati scritti dalle studentesse e dagli studenti di 3A classico:

It was December everyone was ready to celebrate the Christmas holidays with family and friends, as it has always been before the Covid-era, however there was something we all felt uneasy about…it was the destiny of young people like us, exactly in those days, in particular girls, who were arrested, tortured, ruined forever or simply sentenced to death with no penalties or even a decent trial….In order to know more we started reading about was going on and here are three articles we have written to allow a deeper knowledge of the subject. Today the international media stop dedicating articles and attention to the subject  ….nevertheless  the problem is not solved, injustices are still perpetrating and this unfair silence “kills” on another  level all those who fought and are fighting for a better future.

In Iran more than 560 people have been executed by the Iranian regime for supporting the protest that started after Mahsa Amini’s death. In this group are included young women, men and even children. But who was Mahsa Amini and why had she been killed?

Mahsa Amini was arrested on December 13th by the Iranian police because she wasn’t wearing the hijab properly. She was moved to a detention centre where she had been beaten to death to the point that she had a cerebral haemorrhage. Because of this she was quickly transferred to a hospital where she died two days later. The police claimed that she died from a stroke. The moment when she was arrested she was with her brother who was told that Mahsa was being transported to a reeducation centre, so he and his parents went to the police station. Once there, they were told that she would have been released in few hours. In reality the next time they saw her, they saw her corpse (which they weren’t allowed to photograph).

Similar stories just keep happening everywhere, such as Nika Shakarami’s story, a seventeen years old girl, who vanished during the protest in Iran. After a week the security force delivered a dead body to her family with a smashed nose and broken skull. The security force had hidden Nika for a week after they arrested her.

Another example that shows that the police don’t stop with anyone is the example of Parmis Humnava, a 14 years old girl. The police discovered a picture of opponents in her diary during a search at her school. They then proceed to beat her in front of her whole class. She was brought to a hospital where she died. The police threatened her family and the witnesses not to dare speaking  about this act to anyone otherwise they wouldn’t hand back her body. But this isn’t a problem that concerns only women but also men, as Abbas Monsoury demonstrated. He was only 19 years old and was arrested handing out chocolates  with “women life, freedom” written on them. He was released a few days after but he committed suicide due to the trauma. He is the third political prisoner who committed suicide after the release. 

These are just a few examples of the thousands of crimes and atrocities that have happened in the past months. They’re fighting and won’t stop but they need our help by not forgetting them and putting pressure on the regime, they need and deserve at least this.

Iranian girls

We all know what is happening in Iran, maybe because we have heard about it or seen the news, but we decided to look deeper into the country’s situation, analysing its history, the protests and the victims there.

The situation has not always been so dramatic, it has worsened in recent years, in fact, before certain events Iran was a country that was open to the West and granted freedom to women. In the early 1900s, women were free and there were no major problems, until the 20s. In that time women’s freedom started to slowly fade away, due to the wanting of religious leader to have also the political power.This happened because the king, who imposed himself Smith a coup d’etat, introduced, many laws wich were in disagree with islamic beliefs.

Some examples are: mosques were required to use chairs, most men were required to wear western clothing, women were forced to not wear the hijab, men and women were allowed to congregate freely, violating the rule on the mixing of the genders.  Protests against the king started in the 30s and have continued until the 70s, when the tensions exploded, leading to the revolution.

In the 60s a lot of people started to support Ruhollah Khomeini,a religious leader, an opponent of the shah.After these events and other, like the murders of some politician, Iran’s internal security service, the SAVAK, tightened its repressive methods. In the decade before the revolution, the internal security service killed almost a hundred Iranian political prisoners, while many others were arrested and tortured.

The revolution began in January 1978, with the first large demonstrations, and ended with the approval of the new theocratic constitution in December 1979, headed by Khomeini. Laws and schools were islamised and Western influences banned. After Khomeini’s government there were only religious leader, making rules based on the Quran, the holy book of muslims. An example is the order of wearing always the hijab since women turn 7 year old and to dress modestly.

In the early 2000s, anti-government protests by several thousand students took place in Tehran, in which they also focused on the defence of human rights. Although a lot governments have succeeded, the situation has not changed much,in fact it has become even worse: many radical groups (governmental and not) punish women for not wearing the hijab or the abaya “properly”. Some women have been sentenced for 30 years in jail and/or to receive physical punishments, like lashes.

Recently, there have been a lot of victims, more than in the past because women are trying to gain their freedom back.

After looking at the past of the country, we looked more in dept at the current situation, analyzing some victims’s stories.

THE SONG USED IN THE PROTESTS
ZAN, ZENDEGI, AZADI by Madgal

The song, whose original title in Persian is “آزادی زندگی زن) ” woman, life, freedom), it was written in October 2022 by the Kurdish singer Madgal with the aim of raising awareness in the Western world and fortifying
those who, day after day, face the Iranian authoritarian regime. The song is a hymn to freedom that shows, in its short text, the will of the Iranian people, especially women, to oppose the countless years of oppression. Furthermore, the text alludes to the memory of Masha Amini killed by the morality police for carelessly wearing the hijab.

Why choose “Zan, Zendegi, Azad” as the slogan, why “Woman, Life, Freedom”?
Iranian women are now tired of the treatment reserved for them, the treatment of a theocratic regime which bases its laws on a sacred text from two thousand years ago, which reveals the backwardness of the Islamic religion which does not allow a woman to show herself for what she is and act freely. The slogan exalts life and the beauty of living in a world where gender discrimination is overcome, where women can aspire to become a doctor, a lawyer or simply go to school; in a contest where death does not happen through murders justified by the law or covered up by the same authorities but on the contrary communities where there is freedom of speech and artistic expression. In a world in which everyone is worth the same.

(I go against the light)
نور سمت میریم

(Even if you do, blind me)
کور منو بکنی اگه حتی

بکنم چیکار بدنم با بگم میخوام بهت اینو
(I want to tell you what to do with
my body)
“بکنم پنهان دنیا از زیبامو موهای نمیخوام “
(I do not want to hide from the
world my pretty hair)

بشنون ، عقبن که اونا برای
(for those who are behind, listen)
آزادم من
(I am free)
آزادم ، آزادی ، آزادی زندگی زن
(I am a woman of freedom,
freedom, freedom)

Sitography:
(https://open.spotify.com/album/3B8UBuaNp1
uGxq7jkJAAua )
(https://www.instagram.com/mad.gal.music/ )