When the Iranian-Kurdish student Mahsa Jina Amini was beaten to death by Iran’s morality police, it was a spark that ignited an entire country. The protests spread throughout Iran and do not appear to be abating any time soon. Women are burning their hijabs and cutting their hair. The regime’s response has been ruthless. Earlier this week, Iran Human Rights reported that at least seventy-six protesters have been killed.
What is happening in now in Iran concerns us all, but naturally those with roots in Iran are particularly affected. Those who have family and friends in the country. Therefore we have asked people with ties to Iran who are active in the Nordic art world – there are many of them! – how they are experiencing the protests and what consequences they think the movement will have. A total of twelve artists, critics, and curators from different backgrounds have responded. Some were born in the Nordic countries, others fled here with their parents as children, still others have come as adults to study or escape the repression of the Iranian regime.
It is noteworthy that several respondents have declined to participate for reasons of self-protection. Some who have answered have asked to appear without a picture or without printing their full name; some respondents have also chosen to use an alias. The artist Madihe Gh, who has chosen to participate without a picture, notes: “I am an Iranian woman in her twenties, just like Mahsa, and I could easily have been her.”
All the respondents express despair over the violence and oppression in Iran, but many are also hopeful that the protests will lead to change. And everyone agrees that the dictatorial regime must be overthrown. “When I see the protesters, I feel like I should be there with them,” says artist Mandana Moghaddam, who fled to Sweden after the Islamic revolution in 1976. Danish-Iranian art student Marine Morel has travelled home to be with her parents in Jutland. Like many Iranian families, they are now glued to the news.
The issue of access to information is important, especially after Iranian authorities shut down the internet in the country earlier this week. Many of the participants also emphasise the importance of staying informed and spreading information in any way we can: “In this case, activism on social media is not just empty posturing, it is fuel for them to have the strength to go out and risk their lives,” the Iranian-Swedish artist Nasim Aghili emphasises. And the poet Fatemeh Ekhtesari – who fled to Norway in 2017, after being sentenced to 11.5 years in prison and ninety-nine lashes in Iran – addresses artists directly: “Use your art to be a voice against the injustices in Iran.”
In an article in the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter, the Iranian-Swedish critic Sara Abdollahi points out that when George Floyd was murdered by police in the United States, there was great support from people in Syria and Iran, and that the least we can do now in the West “is to stand in solidarity with the people of Iran and Kurdistan.” But although rallies have been organised, so far there haven’t been many public manifestations of support from cultural workers in the Nordic countries. Yesterday, however, a letter from some one thousand Swedish artists and cultural workers to colleagues in Iran was published. Perhaps more initiatives will follow?
“Right now, the world’s biggest feminist revolution is taking place, one which may have consequences far beyond Iran’s borders,” Aghili, one of the letter’s initiators, told Kunstkritikk. An astonishing claim, which, among other things, refers to the fact that the protests include LGBTQI+ rights. A claim that should be reason enough for anyone to turn their eyes towards Iran.
Below you can read contributions by Nasim Aghili, Azar Alsharif, Khahar Begu, Fatemeh Ekhtesari, Roxy Farhat, Madihe Gh, Asrin Haidari, Hanni Kamaly, Mehregan Meysami, Mandana Moghaddam, Marine Morel and Sara R. Yazdani.
Mandana Moghaddam: ‘When I see the protesters I feel like I should be there with them’
Can you briefly tell us about your personal ties to Iran?
As a woman from Iran, a country which has oppressed women in so many ways since the revolution in 1979, I have a strong urge to convey what I have experienced and I often use myself in my art. After the revolution, when they had executed my father, who was innocent, I had to flee the country. When I was 20, I applied for asylum in Turkey and was then allowed to come to Sweden. I never thought I would live in exile for so many years. The regime has been killing people since it came to power and all previous protests have been extinguished by violence and executions.
What is your response to the recent wave of protests following the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini?
I am extremely angry and sad. Mahsa Amini was so young and innocent. 22 years old. They killed her because she showed her hair a little outside the veil. But after all the protests that have been quelled and all the protesters that have been killed, people in Iran were empowered by their anger. Especially young people took to the streets to protest. When I see the protesters, I feel like I should be there with them. It is the first time that the entire Iranian population is protesting together, hand in hand. I find it very powerful, and it gives hope for a better future.
What do you think it will take for the protests to bring about real and positive change?
A revolution, a regime change. But that will be possible only when the world acts. What good are the protests as long as world leaders shake hands with the Iranian regime after forty-four years in power? They brought Khomeini to power, so they can and must remove the Islamic Republic.
Is there anything else that you would like to convey to the Nordic art world about the situation in Iran?
Be their voice! Don’t abandon the protesters, act!
Mandana Moghaddam (1962, Tehran) is an artist based in Stockholm.
Nasim Aghili: ‘Right now, the world’s biggest feminist revolution is taking place’
Can you briefly tell us about your personal ties to Iran?
I was born in Iran and fled the country along with my family in 1986. I’m Swedish, Iranian, and bilingual – both in my everyday life and in my artistic practice, which is deeply impacted by my experience of living in an Iranian diaspora.
What is your response to the recent wave of protests following the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini?
What has happened in recent weeks has been truly revolutionary. Right now, the world’s biggest feminist revolution is taking place, which may have consequences far beyond Iran’s borders. We see how the feminist movement, which also includes LGBTQI+ rights and other intersectional understandings of protest and struggle, also leaves a positive mark on those of us who support the protests from the outside. For me, maybe I dare nurture some hope for change. It’s hard because we’ve waited so long for the big change to come. It could mean that I can go back to Iran for the first time in thirty-six years.
What do you think it will take for the protests to bring about real and positive change?
What it would take is for the protesters in Iran to rule with the support of the rest of us. No foreign military actions or undemocratic movements to step in and take over in the event of a possible change of power. No one wants to relive the consequences of the revolution in 1979. That is, that a democratic process is impeded and transformed into a new dictatorship. But that the dictatorship must fall is a fact.
Is there anything else that you would like to convey to the Nordic art world about the situation in Iran?
What’s happening in Iran concerns us all. For those of us with ties to the country, it also affects us directly since we have friends, relatives, and family who are risking their lives taking responsibility for freedom (do ask us how we are doing and whether we need anything). But it concerns us all because all struggles for democratic rights and to live in dignity have consequences far beyond national borders. My advice is: read up, follow news reports, and spread the word. The protesters in Iran need us to spread the word. We must be their voice and put pressure on those in power inside and outside Iran. In this case, activism on social media is not just empty posturing, it is fuel for them to have the strength to go out and risk their lives. Use hashtags so they can find your messages and don’t forget them. We cannot let this die out. This could change everything.
Nasim Aghili (1980, Tehran) is an artist and director based in Stockholm.
Azar Alsharif: ‘Art must take more risks’
Can you briefly tell us about your personal ties to Iran?
I was born in Iran (Bushehr) in 1984 and fled to Norway in 1986. I have gone there for visits three times as an adult.
What is your response to the recent wave of protests following the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini?
I am stunned with admiration for the courage of the young people who are angry and have taken to the streets. They risk so much in order to stand up for us all. I thank them and am proud of them. I sincerely hope that there is a different future Iran in store for them, one created by minds who think in new ways, a place which is the homeland they deserve. I myself have been watching every video I come across with mingled despair and hope.
What do you think it will take for the protests to bring about real and positive change?
I don’t know enough about this to make a definite statement, but I would think broad support for a new alternative is essential.
Is there anything else that you would like to convey to the Nordic art scene about the situation in Iran?
We have become accustomed to calling ourselves privileged in the Nordic region, to the point where it begins to mean the same as ‘bewildered’ or ‘at a loss’. It has become a platitude, a kind of laziness we need to reject. Because I think democracy is always at stake, everywhere. Those who are unfree and unsafe risk everything, while those of us who are lucky, safe, and secure do not. I agree with Hannah Arendt’s understanding of the democratic way of life: it must be a realm of freedom, and not one of instrumentality, with an emphasis on plurality of opinions and equality of the participants. Strengthening democracy, therefore, means questioning the status quo at all times – no matter what. Following through on that may well be something of a challenge when you don’t have to, but it is not impossible to keep a vigilant eye on what might create new beginnings in our own society. That is how we can join in and help share the load. The same holds true in art; we have a special opportunity to do radical things, and I believe that true solidarity requires exactly that. The field of art must take many more risks – not for the sake of risk, but for the sake of art and freedom.
Azar Alsharif (1984, Bushehr) is an artist who lives and works in Bergen, Norway.
Marine Morel: ‘There is this great fear that the West will suddenly lose interest’
Can you briefly tell us about your personal ties to Iran?
One of my parents is from Iran, and I have Iranian family in both Denmark and Iran. I have never been to Iran myself, and my personal experience of what is going on right now is strongly influenced by that fact. My attachment to Iran is a case of that whole diaspora thing where at some points in my life I can distance myself from it all emotionally so it’s all kept under the surface, but at other times, like right now, I can’t maintain any distance at all.
What is your response to the recent wave of protests following the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini?
I’ve been following the protests for the past few weeks, my eyes glued to my phone with those strangely torn feelings that come from watching from a safe distance. I have gone to Jutland to be with my Iranian parent, and like so many other Iranian families we spend all day watching the news. We try to form some overview of the many fragments from the street, but it is really difficult to get a real overview from lots of different phone recordings. Still, something changes inside you when you see so much courage all at once. So many young people have lost their lives already fighting for their freedom, and their deaths should not be in vain. There is a historic momentum right now which stirs up all sorts of things inside you, with so much hope and terror mixed together because of the uncertainty of it all. This momentum must be kept alive at all costs!
What do you think it will take for the protests to bring about real and positive change?
It’s hard for me to say, but it will certainly require immense struggle. Right now there is talk of strikes, for example, among people who work in the oil industry, and that’s going to put pressure on everything. It is important that the voices of Iranians and Kurds in Iran are the ones to be heard. They are not asking for more sanctions, war, or Western intervention, but to have their voices amplified, their videos shared and just for any kind of visible support that can be given. I hope the West will understand that it is the people of Iran who must win this battle. Iran has a terrible history of imperialist meddling, and that is not how this battle should be won. There was a protest rally in Iran where the protesters shouted, “If we don’t stand together one by one we will be killed one by one.” We in the West must keep sharing what we can from the protests; that in itself helps keep morale high, and international solidarity is so important to maintain this momentum! There is this great fear that the West will suddenly lose interest. People are really risking everything right now, and if the protests don’t end successfully, it’s going to have huge consequences for people afterwards.
Is there anything else that you would like to convey to the Nordic art world about the situation in Iran?
I saw someone on Instagram point out that Kim Kardashian was more outspoken about the protests than the art world. I would like to encourage everyone to read this open letter, which sums up the complexities of the situation very well and evades some of the misunderstandings you can so quickly pick up through Western bias.
Marine Morel (1991) is currently a student at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen.
Fatemeh Ekhtesari: ‘History won’t forget’
Can you briefly tell us about your personal ties to Iran?
I was born in Iran where I studied and worked as a midwife. Today, I am a writer. I’ve published three poetry collections and many articles in Iran. My literary works and, better to say, my artistic being, were not tolerated by the Iranian government. So they censored me, tried to shut me up, arrested me at different times, and put me in solitary confinement. Then, in 2015, I was sentenced to 11.5 years in prison and ninety-nine lashes. I escaped Iran illegally and went to Turkey. In 2017, I came to Norway as a guest writer. I write in Farsi, even though I published my poetry books here in Norway. Since I live in exile and my name is on the blacklist in Iran (which means that I cannot publish anything there anymore), I publish my poems, short stories, articles, and even books on the internet and social media for free for my Iranian audiences as well.
What is your response to the recent wave of protests following the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini?
After the revolution in 1979, Iran has experienced several revolutions. The most important being the student protests in 1999, the Iranian Green Movement in 2009, and the Iranian protests during 2019 and 2020 – and now the protests following the murder of Mahsa Amini. Of all the other protests in recent years, none have received as much support from the rest of the world as this one.
Iranian women have taken part in earlier demonstrations, but this time they have become a symbol of freedom. They have tried to send their message to the world by cutting their hair, burning their hijabs, and staying in the streets. There is a stereotype about Middle Eastern women that says they can’t be political subjects. Iranian women have showed that they can. They demand their rights which have been abused for years by Islamic law.
What do you think it will take for the protests to bring about real and positive change?
The protests have in themselves been a change. Now there is a big gap between Iranian protesters and the rest of the people who belong to the Iranian government and the armed forces. Iranian protesters (whether those who are on the streets or those who supported them) cannot tolerate being and working with the people from the other side, with the governmental families. So this fragmented government cannot do its job. Anyway, the real change will be the destruction of the Islamic Republic of Iran. And I think that this has already been started by brave Iranian people, and that it should push forward with the support of democratic countries. All the governments around the world should take part in this movement to remove another dictator.
Is there anything else that you would like to convey to the Nordic art world about the situation in Iran?
If you are an artist, please use your art, use your artistic being, to raise a voice against the injustice in Iran – a voice that asks your country’s authorities to stand on the right side of justice and freedom. History won’t forget these moments.
Fatemeh Ekhtesari (1986, Kashmar) is a poet currently based in Lillehammer, Norway.
Asrin Haidari:‘The regime must fall’
Can you briefly tell us about your personal ties to Iran?
My parents’ opposition to the Islamic regime in Iran and their struggle for the rights of Kurds and women are the reasons why they came to Sweden as political refugees in the mid-1980s. No one in the family has been able to visit Iran since then. This is a huge sorrow that we share with many.
What is your response to the recent wave of protests following the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini?
I feel a strong solidarity and an affinity with the Iranian people who are now showing their disgust with the regime and fighting for justice, with their lives at stake. I have mixed feelings. I am concerned, excited, and full of admiration for the courage manifested in the streets – maybe freedom is finally coming? There are unifying principles in this movement that inspire hope. Persians, Kurds, Baloch, and other ethnic groups stand side by side chanting: Death to the dictator; Woman, Life, Liberty; and Kurdistan, Kurdistan: the eyes and the light of Iran. What we are seeing is more than just protests, it is an attempt at a revolution. And at the centre are the rights of women and minorities. The uprisings started in Saqqez and Sanandaj, in the Kurdish areas, and have since spread across the country. Let us always remind ourselves that Jina was Kurdish and thus doubly vulnerable.
What do you think it will take for the protests to bring about real and positive change?
The regime must fall. The abuse must end. For this to be possible, we must make sure that the struggle is heard and seen. It is our duty to lend our voices until politicians and the world community begin to act. Attend support rallies. Keep the flow of information from within the country going. This gives energy and strength to the movement. It makes a difference.
Is there anything else that you would like to convey to the Nordic art world about the situation in Iran?
Words and images need to be in constant circulation. Let’s make an effort to seek out information, discuss, and contribute to giving a platform to the culture of resistance in Iran and in exile. We must believe in what art and poetry can do, which is to clearly delineate, nuance, specify, and deepen knowledge about what is going on in Iran. I will do what I can, and I urge the entire Nordic art world to do the same thing. Share articles and analyses, read and share poetry, show art and films!
Asrin Haidari (1988) is a curator based in Stockholm.
Madihe Gh: ‘I could have easily been her [Mahsa Jina Amini]
Can you briefly tell us about your personal ties to Iran?
I spent the first twenty-five years of my life in Iran, so I have deep roots in the Iranian culture and society. However, my connection to Iran has changed considerably since I moved to Norway, and the distance from my home country has given me a wider lens on its culture, history, and language.
Living in a situation where I am being asked questions such as yours has made me rethink my identity and nationality. The exile has also brought me a sense of guilt for being absent and not being part of my own society. And one way of responding to this guilt has been to get more involved in the news from Iran, all of which is reflected in my work as an artist.
What is your response to the recent wave of protests following the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini?
I cannot deny how emotionally involved I’ve been. I am an Iranian woman in my twenties, the same as Mahsa, and I could have easily been her. We have all grown up with the fear of the morality police. Now, I’m desperate and furious. But this fury is as old as I am. For many of us, the murder of Mahsa was the last shot. We want to scream out our suppressed rage and anger.
At the same time, the current protests are hardly a surprise. Looking back to the recent protests in Iran since 2009 – and after the so-called Bloody November protests during 2019 and 2020, when 1,500 people were killed – many us were expecting the new protests to happen soon. And now, just like in 2019, the government has shut down the internet, which has made the protests more complicated both for Iranians inside and outside Iran. To me, losing a connection to Iran means exile on an empty island not knowing what is happening to my homeland and my people. Fortunately, this time the world has reacted, and the impact of the international response to the protests in Iran is undeniable.
What do you think it will take for the protests to bring about real and positive change?
There are many factors, so it’s not easy to give a clear answer, but I’d rather talk about what we have accomplished so far. First of all, I’m super proud that this is the first women’s movement in Iran to break the hijab taboo since the Islamic revolution forty years ago. I see many photos of women and girls walking in the city without hijabs.
Moreover, the women are not alone. We see men and women fighting next to each other. Also, we would normally experience protests from separate spheres of society, but now there is solidarity between classes and ethnic groups, which is highly important. Lastly, many protestors risking their lives are between 15 and 22 years old, which shows that Iran has a new, politically conscious, and brave generation which believes it has the power to create its own destiny.
So, whatever the next step is, I believe the situation in Iran is irreversible. No matter how slow or fast things will evolve, there has been a huge change already.
Is there anything else that you would like to convey to the Nordic art world about the situation in Iran?
I’ve used the word “exiled” several times since that’s how I feel about my own political situation. I grew up in a country where sharing our political opinions at home, at the university, or any other gathering has been routine. Coming to Norway, where there is no urge to talk about politics has been a great shock to me. Rarely have I been able to share my political opinions in the art community that I’ve been a part of. One reason is that there is little knowledge about countries outside of Europe. I have often been confronted by stereotypes about Iranian culture, which could be due to people getting their knowledge about a country like Iran only through media reports. And such reports seldom give you a sense about a society in all its complexity.
Therefore, it’s amazing how people around the world are now responding to the murder of Mahsa Amini, but this is a chance for us as artists to go deeper into women’s situations and increase our own and other people’s knowledge about the world around us. The media works with words and numbers, but as artists, we should work with humans.
Madihe Gh (1995) is an artist based in Oslo.
Hanni Kamaly: ‘Iran is not a monoculture’
Can you briefly tell us about your personal ties to Iran?
I am Baloch, from Balochistan, a part of southern Iran. The Baloch are a minority population who live in Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.
What is your response to the recent wave of protests following the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini?
I have been worried. This is yet another reminder of the existing oppression, and that we live un uncertain times.
What do you think it will take for the protests to bring about real and positive change?
That’s a complex question which requires a deeper and more detailed analysis than I can contribute in a short answer. But I hope that the power of the people and their struggle, alongside international solidarity, can bring about change.
Is there anything else that you would like to convey to the Nordic art world about the situation in Iran?
First of all, it is important to remember that Iran is not a monoculture, but a vast geographic landscape consisting of multiple ethnicities and populations that have different experiences and histories of structural oppression in Iran. Mahsa Jina Amini was a Kurd from the Iranian part of Kurdistan and was arrested at a metro station in the capital Tehran. Kurds, like other minorities in Iran, are more exposed to state violence and oppression than the majority population. In addition, people who take public transport, who don’t travel in private cars, often belong to a social class that is monitored and controlled more than the socio-economically privileged part of the population.
Secondly, it is important to remember that the battle being waged is for women’s rights, human rights, and religious freedom. The enemy is not the hijab. The enemy is the state oppression that has used a dress code as a tool in the violence that has been carried out. Now, in Iran, it is about the freedom to not wear the veil. But here in the Nordic countries and in Europe, on the contrary, we are fighting for the right to wear the veil; the common thing is the fight for the freedom to choose. I, therefore, hope that we can also listen to those who wear the veil and who are daily subjected to discrimination and oppression in Sweden.
Hanni Kamaly (1988, Hamar, Norway) is an artist based in Malmö.
Mehregan Meysami: ‘The current protests have once again revealed the real face of this diabolical regime’
Can you briefly tell us about your personal ties to Iran?
I was born, raised, and lived in Tehran for the first twenty-five years of my life. I left the country seven years ago.
What is your response to the recent wave of protests following the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini?
I’ve been following the news about Mahsa Jina Amini ever since it went viral on social media right after her arrest. I felt heartbroken and angry over her murder by the so-called “morality police” in Tehran. It is not acceptable, and she should be alive today. I am in close contact with my family and friends who live in Iran and I constantly follow the news.
What do you think it will take for the protests to bring about real and positive change?
This is a very important, yet difficult question which doesn’t have a simple answer. I personally believe the protests have already accomplished a lot. People in Iran have shown that this is a feminist movement in which women are in the front line, bravely burning the symbol of oppression mandated by a patriarchal regime. When the progressive slogan of Woman, Life, Freedom becomes a headline all over the globe, it means that the message has been delivered to the world: the people of Iran demand bodily integrity and freedom for all. They want to end this oppressive misogynist regime (aka Islamic republic) after forty years of destruction, corruption, systemic violence against women, ethnic/religious/sexual minorities, and any opposition. The current protests have once again revealed the real face of this diabolical regime, which brutally shoots the protestors on the streets and uses ambulances to transport detainees to unknown places.
I want to emphasise that not all responsibility lies with the protestors in Iran. This is a fight against the global sickness of patriarchy, neo-colonialism, “oil-thirst,” and toxic power structures that use many forms, tools, and languages to oppress and abuse women. Therefore, we – humans, all over the world – should join the international community in demanding equality, bodily autonomy, human rights, and freedom for all, and holding all the responsible agents accountable.
Is there anything else that you would like to convey to the Nordic art world about the situation in Iran?
I would like to say a few words about the slogan of the current protests – Woman, Life, Freedom – which has become the symbol of unity of the oppressed and dispossessed. Woman, Life, Freedom originates from Kurdistan and indicates that until all women are freed, society will not be freed. Atefeh Nabavi (a former political prisoner in Iran) mentioned in a tweeted message that the first time she saw the slogan was in Evin Prison, written by Shirin Alam Houli [a 29-year-old Kurdish woman] on the wall next to her bed. Shirin was executed by the Islamic republic authorities in May 2009.
Women in Iran and Kurdistan have a long history of resistance against this dictatorship, which has responded in the last forty years by imprisoning, censoring, oppressing, and killing political dissidents. Every time women spoke, they were silenced. Now the voice of Iranian women is the voice of the Iranian nation’s desire for freedom. Let each of us, wherever we are, and however we can, be the voice of Iranian women. No one is free until all are free.
Mehregan Meysami (1990, Tehran) is an artist based in Stockholm.
Roxy Farhat: ‘It’s like witnessing humanity at its lightest and its darkest at the same time’
Can you briefly tell us about your personal ties to Iran?
I was born in Iran, but my family and most of my relatives fled the country during the Iran-Iraq war. Since then my relationship to Iran has mostly been from outside in.
What is your response to the recent wave of protests following the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini?
I’ve been following the news with a combination of hope and despair. What’s happening in Iran is unusually big. People are standing up and risking everything for their freedom. At the same time, it is very scary to think about the harsh response of the regime. It’s like witnessing humanity at its lightest and darkest at the same time.
What do you think it will take for the protests to bring about real and positive change?
That is such a hard question, and if there were an easy answer to it, perhaps there wouldn’t be as many dictators in the world. But I think it is very important for Kurds and Iranians to continue fighting side by side, with the objective of freedom being larger than the differences between peoples. I also think it is important for us outside of Iran to continue to show our support for the Iranian people. This goes for ordinary citizens, but world leaders also have to clearly stand up against the Iranian regime.
Is there anything else that you would like to convey to the Nordic art world about the situation in Iran?
This may not answer your question, but I can’t help but think that in Iran, people have to risk everything, life itself, to emancipate themselves from a dictatorship, while anti-democratic parties are being elected to parliaments all over Europe. The election here in Sweden has left me with a feeling of deep despondency. The Sweden Democrats are Nazis and racists and now they are our second largest party. We must not be passive in the face of it, but must organise in every possible way to fight for our democracy. It is much more fragile than we think.
Roxy Farhat (1984, Tehran) is an artist currently based in Stockholm.
Sara R. Yazdani: “This is biopolitics at its most powerful”.
Can you briefly tell us about your personal ties to Iran?
I am half Iranian, born and raised in Sweden. My father came to Sweden in 1976 to study, right before the revolution, which was followed by the Iran-Iraq war. Large parts of my family live in Iran, and I cannot wait to take our newborn daughter there.
What is your response to the recent wave of protests following the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini?
I feel very affected by what happened to Mahsa Jina Amini and the protests taking place in large parts of the country, where people are giving their lives for freedom and human rights. It is devastating to see how people are being tortured and murdered by Iranian authorities. What is unique about these protests – as my friend and colleague, the researcher Banafsheh Ranji recently stated in the Norwegian newspaper Klassekampen – is that they are about women’s rights, freedom of speech, and the right to dignity. But the protests aren’t only about women. What we are seeing is a people fighting for their lives against oppression and inadequate conditions for dignified lives – in an economic, social, and legal sense. I find it incredibly moving that some many people are standing together in solidarity, regardless of background.
What do you think it will take for the protests to bring about real and positive change?
It’s a powerful experience to witness the enormous energy and courage of the protests – how far people are willing to go – and that they are happening all over the country, in small towns and big cities. I dream of change, new possibilities, freedom, and I absolutely believe that we can get far by applying pressure and fighting. I urge everyone to use their voices alongside and for the women and all people of Iran. Unfortunately, I have a hard time imagining any radical change. The regime is harsh and powerful, with the Basij – a paramilitary volunteer militia. This is biopolitics at its most powerful. The authorities are spreading their propaganda and their ideological system is propagating like weeds throughout the country. But I believe in the people, and I believe in Iran. It’s important to see the light and to stay with the trouble, as Donna Haraway puts it, in a world that hasn’t fallen, yet.
Is there anything else that you would like to convey to the Nordic art world about the situation in Iran?
I would urge everyone to be nuanced, to use an optic that reads the situation beyond conventional Western dichotomies, beyond the white imperialist gaze. I believe change can only come from within the country, but that at the same time we can apply pressure from the outside. We can support activists and artists and put pressure on Iranian authorities. Due to the sanctions, Iran today is very isolated internationally, and here we can hopefully help from the outside, including through the arts.
It is also important to mention that Iran is much more than the regime. Art and culture are something else, bringing new and important perspectives on today’s crises, including those unfolding in Iran. Watch the films of Abbas Kiarostami, Shirin Neshat, and Jafar Panahi, and read the poetry of Forough Farrokhzad. I highly recommend the Norwegian author Mazdak Shafieian’s recent novel Skinnende Døde (Shining Dead, 2022) based on his childhood experiences during the Iran-Iraq war, as well as Banafsheh Ranji’s Journalistic Practices in Restrictive Contexts: A Sociological Approach to the Case of Iran (2022) just published by Routledge.
Sara R. Yazdani (1984) is an art critic and associate professor in art history and theory at Oslo National Academy of the Arts. She lives in Oslo.
Khahar Begu: ‘The military must go over to the people’s side and the government must be overthrown’
Can you briefly tell us about your personal ties to Iran?
One of my parents is Iranian, and so I have a large Iranian family that I visit regularly. It is important to mention that in Iran there are many different ethnicities, customs, and religious minorities. Mahsa Jina Amini was Kurdish, which is one of the most oppressed groups in Iran; they are not even allowed to give their children Kurdish names.
What is your response to the recent wave of protests following the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini?
I was in Iran when the protests broke out after the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini. I have been able to follow how the protests gradually spread throughout the country – they began in the Kurdish towns and grew bigger and bigger. I’ve seen how more and more people took to the streets throughout the country, especially young people. I could feel the fear and joy, but most of all anger.
What do you think it will take for the protests to bring about real and positive change?
First of all, the military must go over to the people’s side. Right now, the people are fighting armed forces with sticks and stones. The military must go over to the people’s side and then the government must be overthrown. I don’t believe the Islamic Republic can endure after this. And when I say, “the people,” I do so advisedly because it is my impression that a huge majority want to see the regime fall, but the regime is doing everything in its power to suppress, eradicate, and obscure what is happening, both internally to the population, but especially also in the eyes of the outside world. This is not the first time in Iran’s history that people have been beaten and executed for fighting for the right to life, all while national Iranian television is broadcasting scenes of a huge pro-regime demonstration in which the footage is clearly not current, but perhaps shot on [Ayatollah] Khomeini’s birthday.
Is there anything else that you would like to convey to the Nordic art world about the situation in Iran?
I haven’t thought about art or the art scene since the protests broke out. But what I would like to convey to everyone in the West is that it is important to keep sharing knowledge about what is happening in Iran. The Internet has been shut down there, which is an entirely deliberate act on the part of the regime as it seeks to carry out a massacre in the dark.
We need to share everything we can and talk about the issue with our friends, family, and colleagues. We must not allow these protests and all the people – especially young people – who are dying right now to be made invisible. It is our responsibility to do something. So, if you’ve ever called yourself an intersectional-feminist or humanist or artist or woke or whatever, then this is it; it’s time to act now! This is a feminist movement, and everyone who is in any way in a position to prompt other people to learn more about what is going on should do so! And you need to be critical of your sources of information; in all movements of this kind, you will find people who try to hijack the narrative for their own gain, both in terms of international politics and right down to small-fry influencer levels. Jin Jian Azadi, Zan Zendigi Azadi; Woman, Life, Freedom.
Khahar Begu is an alias for an artist in Copenhagen. Their identity is known to Kunstkritikk’s editors.
