Nazanin Booniadi calls for Hollywood to do more to bring attention to the political turmoil over women’s rights in Iran.
The “Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power” star gave an impassioned speech Wednesday afternoon at the Academy Ladies Luncheon hosted by Chanel, which was held at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles.
“Iranian women have caused a paradigm shift by publicly challenging the misogynistic patriarchy that subjugated them for four decades, and have gained allies across different sectors of Iranian society as they do so,” she told the crowd, which included Claire Foy, Tessa Thompson, Janicza Bravo, and Kerry Condon, And Gina Prince-Bythewood, Diane Warren, Marlee Matlin, Chloe Zhao, Ruth Carter, Rita for sure, we have a lot to learn from Wilson and Academy President Janet Yang.
“How can we, the creative community, turn our anger into meaningful action and prevent the Iranian authorities from crushing another uprising?” Boniadi said. “One way is to use our profile and platform to shine a light on injustice.”
In September, 22-year-old Mohsa Amini was arrested by Iran’s “morality police” for allegedly wearing a headscarf inappropriately. She later died in custody after witnesses said they saw her being beaten in a police car.
“There is a lesson to be learned from Alfre Woodard, Danny Glover, Blair Underwood and many other longstanding anti-apartheid activists in the creative community, who in 1989 founded Artists for a Free South Africa and were pivotal in helping to turn the tide,” she continued. “They’ve successfully used their platforms to amplify and elevate the traffic and that’s exactly what we need to do for Iran right now.”
Read Boniadi’s letter in full below.
Good afternoon. Thanks to the Academy and to Chanel for organizing this wonderful banquet.
It is an honor to be here with you today. The word privilege is often used in these contexts, but let me explain why it holds a deeper meaning for me.
You see, as I was thinking about what I’m going to talk about in these few minutes—what to say to a group of amazing women and industry leaders—there were a lot of issues that came to mind: pay parity; acting bodily independence; An industry in which we still too often undercut or turn a blind eye to women who report abuse in the workplaceProcedure And there is still tacit agreement that speaking out makes us unemployed.
But while there is still much work to be done to change the conditions in which we find ourselves as women here at home, the resounding voice in my head kept echoing the words “Woman’s Life Liberty.”
Because for two months now, this has been the battle cry of women in Iran, in what has become the first women-led revolution of our time.
Advocating for women in Iran has been my passion for 14 years, but let me take a step back. For me, the struggle for women’s rights began when I attended my first protest in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution in 1979, while still in my mother’s womb. She was 19 years old and bravely joined the tens of thousands of demonstrators who opposed the new religious order. My parents understood the dangers of raising a daughter in an increasingly oppressive social, political, and legal climate, particularly toward women and girls. Despite being granted political asylum in London when I was only three weeks old, the challenges facing women in Iran have become ingrained in me. And after traveling through Iran when I was 12, and a harrowing encounter with the so-called “morality police” — tasked with enforcing the country’s Islamic dress and behavior codes — I knew I had to use my voice to promote theirs.
While Iran used to have uprisings about once every decade, there were no previous protests Compare at fervor or the scale of the current protests, where for the first time since the beginning of religious rule, people are actively fighting to defend themselves against the security forces.
But the most unprecedented part of these protests is that they were led by women. The murder of 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman Mohsa Zina Amini, who was arrested on charges of indecent veiling, was a gunpowder moment that sparked the latest uprising. Women took to the streets and not only did they take off their headscarves and wave them, but also set fires and cut their hair in protest. Despite the threat of being beaten, raped, imprisoned, or even killed, school girls remove their mandatory headscarves and chant “We don’t want an Islamic Republic. The motto of the movement” is a woman. life. Freedom strikes” at the heart of a system that has built itself on being misogynist, pro-martyrdom and oppressive.
To be clear, this uprising isn’t just about strict dress codes. But compulsory veiling has become a symbol of Iranian women’s struggle since its imposition 43 years ago. There are no laws protecting women in Iran from gender-based violence. Rolling back many hard-won rights for women at the start of the Islamic Revolution, the legal age of marriage was lowered from 18 to 9. This age was later raised to 13, but young girls still married with their father’s permission or ruling. In today’s Iran, a woman cannot travel without the permission of her husband or other male relatives.
It is hard to believe that women in Iran gained the right to vote nine years earlier than women in Switzerland. Or that the country once had a respected national ballet company and regionally famous pop artists.
Because for four decades now, women in Iran have not only fought against compulsory veiling, but also for their right to choose what they can study and what jobs they can take. Their testimony and inheritance is equal to half of what a man has. Women are prohibited from becoming judges, serving on the Guardian Council, or becoming president or supreme leader. Despite this, women are more educated than men in Iran: evidence of their perseverance and a driving force in their struggle for freedom.
But the bitter truth is that the Islamic Republic is an apartheid state for women, who are segregated from men in the workplace, in classrooms and on beaches. They are forbidden to attend sports grounds, ride bicycles and sing solo in public places; And you have to sit at the back of the bus.
According to the World Economic Forum 2022 Global report on the gender gap, Iran ranks first43 from 146 countries.
To deny this like “Cultural differences “exclude countless Iranian women who risk everything for their basic rights. Cultural norms need not be enforced with death threats.
There is a reason why Iranian women are called “sherzan” or “lioness” because of their resilience in the face of oppression. They know that in a closed society, fighting oppressive laws sometimes means breaking them. Unfortunately, sometimes improving lives means sacrificing your life.
These women are the Rosa Parks of Iran and their courage is infectious.
This is why the protests quickly developed into a full-scale pro-democracy uprising.
Now, Iranian men and women stand side by side against the gender apartheid system in the Islamic Republic that has maintained its power not only by segregating and oppressing women in Iran, but by denying all Iranians their most basic rights and stifling all dissent.
Today, university students, labor unions, ethnic minorities and others have joined the protests, calling for an end to the regime, as the broader Iranian society witnesses the intersection of gender equality and other basic human rights.
As I watch their unbreakable spirits with awe, I can’t help but wonder how my life would have ended if my parents had not been spared the persecution.
So when I say I am fortunate to be able to speak to you today, it is because I stand before you with my rights so brilliantly, while human rights lawyers like Nasrin Sotoudeh and Soheila Hijab languish in prison in Iran. I stand here to deliver a keynote speech while activists like Narges Mohammadi, Fatemeh Sepehri, and Saba Kordafshari are silenced and imprisoned in Iran. I stand here with the power to protest against injustice, while over 15,000 protesters have been arrested and hundreds killed – including women and children – for peacefully protesting in my home country over the past two months.
I don’t risk losing my career or my freedom to publicly stand in solidarity with Mahsa Amini, but actresses in Iran like Taraneh Alidoosti and Katayon Riahi do. You don’t have to contend with clubs to the head or bullets to the heart. Nor do you have to worry about incommunicado detention and torture like rap artist Toumaj Salehi and dissidents Majid Tavakoli and Hossein Ronaghi. Or the death penalty for expressing my views. I never had to beg for abortion pills after being raped by security forces.
As they risk everything for freedom, I can’t help but feel an urgent need to join the brotherhood with the women of Iran, because we are undoubtedly stronger in achieving our goals when we are united on a global level.
In short, our battles cannot be won without caring about theirs.
Iranian women have caused a paradigm shift by boldly challenging the misogynistic patriarchy that has subjugated them for four decades. And they have gained allies across different sectors of Iranian society in doing so. Certainly, we have a lot to learn from them.
The murder of Mahsa Amini has forced us to appreciate our complacency in protecting women’s rights globally.
Perhaps it is an understanding of the fragility of our freedoms that has galvanized the world about the Mahsa and the plight of women in Iran. Not since the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa have we seen this level of global interest in the struggle to end any kind of apartheid anywhere.
But how can we – the creative community – turn our anger into meaningful action and prevent the Iranian authorities from crushing another uprising? One way is to use our profile and platforms to highlight injustices.
There is a lesson to be learned from Alfre Woodard, Danny Glover, Blair Underwood and many other longtime anti-apartheid activists in the creative community, who in 1989 founded Artists for a Free South Africa and were pivotal in helping to turn the tide. They have successfully used their platforms to amplify and elevate the movement. This is exactly what we need in Iran right now.
We need the world to send a strong message to the Iranian authorities that their crimes will not go uninvestigated or go unpunished. We must demand that our representatives stand unequivocally with the Iranian people and hold the Islamic Republic regime accountable for its crimes under international law.
Please continue to amplify the voices of the Iranian people on social media by following and sharing information from credible activists and organizations. Please use the correct hashtags in these posts: #MahsaAmini and #IranRevolution.
Participate in protests and reach out to Iranian activists to take strategic actions, such as creating informational videos.
Donate to trusted Iran-focused human rights organizations – such as Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA), Abdolrahman Borumand Center and Amnesty International in Iran – that document and report on abuses.
As creators, we rely heavily on freedom of expression in our work, so we must do everything we can to protect it wherever it is violated. Artists have a unique ability to reach audiences and influence change, which is perhaps why silencing artists has become a hallmark of repressive states such as the Islamic Republic. We owe it to our counterparts in Iran to stand with them as they fight for their basic rights.
So, now I ask you – our greatest artistic community – will you join us in our fight for freedom Iran?
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