Incredibly brave young women in Iran...

[C R]

Well I do, lots of us do.

But it feels a bit of a feeble effort, in comparison with what the people on the ground are going through..

Still, better than turning away in despair, I suppose.

Talking about it and keeping it in people's minds does help to show the protesters that they're not alone. For instance, Nika Shakarami being in the front page of the BBC news website now will serve as a reminder that the wold is indeed watching.

Today is the 40th day since Nika's death, and the protests continue to gather pace. Remember she was 16, just a year older than our oldest. So many like her are brave beyond anything I can imagine, knowing the risks and yet they do not stop.

Finally, this is doing the rounds today. The singers are all Iranian pop divas now in exile. Not my kind of music, but the arrangement of the images of the young women protesting really pulls my heart strings. Please, share far and wide.


View: https://youtu.be/BX1LFYDLRwE

 

[C R]

Steven Moffat shared this in Instagram

 

[AuroraSaab]

Women have been actively campaigning to improve the lives of women in the Middle East, India, and Africa for years. The idea that feminists have been silent on women's oppression in Iran or elsewhere is simply nonsense.

They don't control the media however so much of this work goes unnoticed. There was a big feminist conference in Wales last week. Speakers included Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe discussing her experiences and the current situation in Iran. Very little news coverage of it.

 

[mudsticks]

Steven Moffat shared this in Instagram
View attachment 2402

To be fair to NYT they have covered this a lot in their IG feed, and elsewhere.
They are putting out film footage repeatedly
Maybe not enough, but what is enough ??

And the feminist media that I follow covers it extensively too.

And the Guardian BBC as well..
As AS says , feminists, women in general do not have anything like parity in terms of what is chosen to be reported, or given good coverage.

But women are definitely trying to keep this current, in a system in which patriachy and it's interest is still the overbearing power in the media.

Not sure what Moffats agenda here is but to be blaming feminists for 'not doing enough' seem very unfair. There are many others with far more power who could stand up, and be far more vocal.

 

[dutchguylivingintheuk]

Women have been actively campaigning to improve the lives of women in the Middle East, India, and Africa for years. The idea that feminists have been silent on women's oppression in Iran or elsewhere is simply nonsense.

They don't control the media however so much of this work goes unnoticed. There was a big feminist conference in Wales last week. Speakers included Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe discussing her experiences and the current situation in Iran. Very little news coverage of it.

What about Afghanistan? The west sponsored a complete makeover to introduce them to the idea of democracy, the moment they got to stand on their own feet intolerants took over again.
In reality they where never gone, just laying low.

The only way Iran and any other such country is going to be let's call it modern an free is by winning form the ideology. Because the regime justifies all their fear by pointing to the Quran. if they can't use that anymore their basis of power will crumble.

 

[C R]

Women have been actively campaigning to improve the lives of women in the Middle East, India, and Africa for years. The idea that feminists have been silent on women's oppression in Iran or elsewhere is simply nonsense.

They don't control the media however so much of this work goes unnoticed. There was a big feminist conference in Wales last week. Speakers included Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe discussing her experiences and the current situation in Iran. Very little news coverage of it.

I've been trying to find the original text that Moffat quoted, but without much luck. The reference to the NYT makes me think that it was probably originally written in the US.

It was my daughter who forwarded Moffat's message to me, as it struck a chord for her. She commented that a lot of social media accounts that are very hot on feminist topics were conspicuously silent about Iran, and particularly singled out J K Rowling. I think Moffat's comment needs to be seen as much in the context of local culture wars as in raising the issue of Iranian women's rights.

Regarding coverage, on Thursday the BBC News website top headline was a story about Nika Shakarami's death and 40th day protests. However, that story didn't make it to the top ten most read. This ties with my daughter's perception of a lack of interest in the general public, which to some extent is what the text quoted by Moffat alluded to.

I am very grateful to the people posting in this thread for their support, and I am sure that if we keep sharing these stories as much as we can, the public profile will grow.

In the meantime, news from Iran are that ex president Khatami has made some noises supporting the protests. Also there are rumours that the regime is trying to reach out to the reformists pushed out in 2009 by the election of Ahmadinejad. The reformists are reportedly asking for a public acknowledgement that Ahmadinejad lost that election as a precondition for talks. If this is true it would mean that the regime are rather rattled, and probably not very secure on their hold to power.

I'll finish with this video from Coldplay in Buenos Aires singing Baraye


View: https://twitter.com/Omid_M/status/1586268201486360576?s=20&t=C04Cjsa2XUvulpMhak4kEA

 

[dutchguylivingintheuk]

I am very grateful to the people posting in this thread for their support, and I am sure that if we keep sharing these stories as much as we can, the public profile will grow.

The lack of ''interest'' is a direct result of left wing media giving the extreme and even extreme classed as moderate voices the voice to claim the slightest from of criticism as ''islamophobia'' or similar terms.
There are lots of examples of talented, speakers, writers etc. who also happen to be Muslim and having criticism on their onw religion being ''silenced'' not only due to the expected and unacceptable death threads from their own community/religion but also by those media always claiming to do the right thing.

it's not that their is no interest, it's that people simply don't want to be framed as the bad guy, we see that on other topics too.

 

[C R]

The lack of ''interest'' is a direct result of left wing media giving the extreme and even extreme classed as moderate voices the voice to claim the slightest from of criticism as ''islamophobia'' or similar terms.
There are lots of examples of talented, speakers, writers etc. who also happen to be Muslim and having criticism on their onw religion being ''silenced'' not only due to the expected and unacceptable death threads from their own community/religion but also by those media always claiming to do the right thing.

it's not that their is no interest, it's that people simply don't want to be framed as the bad guy, we see that on other topics too.

?

 

[C R]

?

For the record, in the UK seems to be mostly the lefty Guardian and BBC that carry stories about what's happening in Iran. I haven't seen much in the Daily Mail, The Telegraph or Fox News.

 

[Rusty Nails]

She commented that a lot of social media accounts that are very hot on feminist topics were conspicuously silent about Iran, and particularly singled out J K Rowling.

I’ve just done a quick google check on Rowling and the current Iran situation and she has written quite a lot about it on Twitter recently.

Who decides on what the correct number of comments should be, and who should make them? Why was Rowling particularly singled out, I wonder?

 

[C R]

I don't do social media other than CC, so took my daughter's word for it, not sure if she is on twitter, I think only Instagram. I don't know why Rowling would have been singled out.

 

[C R]

This doesn't bode well

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/29/iran-protests-mahsa-amini-hossein-salami-last-day

The head of the revolutionary guard issues a threat to protesters, saying that today is their last day on the streets. We'll have to hope that he'll not be able to make good on that threat.

 

[AuroraSaab]

It's always women's responsibility to sort out male violence it seems, whether it's feminists in general or one woman in particular.

Where are the male footballers taking the knee over the death of Mahsa Amini?

 

[mudsticks]

It's always women's responsibility to sort out male violence it seems, whether it's feminists in general or one woman in particular.

Where are the male footballers taking the knee over the death of Mahsa Amini?

Yup, wherever its happening it would seems that VAWAG is framed as a 'womens issue'..
But who is doing the violence??

Is it women doing it ?

But you suggest that it's very much a mens issue to tackle male violence against women and suppression of their rights .

You generally get variations on

Oh but It's not all men.

Or those men* over there do it far worse than us.

* Insert cultural or ethnic grouping of your choice.

The lack of ''interest'' is a direct result of left wing media giving the extreme and even extreme classed as moderate voices the voice to claim the slightest from of criticism as ''islamophobia'' or similar terms.
There are lots of examples of talented, speakers, writers etc. who also happen to be Muslim and having criticism on their onw religion being ''silenced'' not only due to the expected and unacceptable death threads from their own community/religion but also by those media always claiming to do the right thing.

it's not that their is no interest, it's that people simply don't want to be framed as the bad guy, we see that on other topics too.

Please show me evidence of this.
Otherwise we can call total bollix on it.

From what I've seen its overwhelmingly the 'left wing' press reporting on all this.

I'd like to see more extensive coverage from other outlets.
Where is it?

 

[AuroraSaab]

Another factor is that it's been rather overshadowed by the unprecedented merry go round at the top of the Tory Party. Domestic strife will always take precedent over foreign news. Ukraine has been similarly sidelined.