A diversity of voices in and from Iran
As protests in Iran continue and supporters hold rallies around the world in solidarity with the Iranian people, Fred Petrossian, an Iranian journalist, blogger, and researcher based in Europe, is documenting the new and old struggles. Iranians are preparing for a mass protest on the 22nd of October in Berlin.
We are making some of his work available through the GTTO website to document the great diversity of perspectives and issues in relation to religion in Iran.
Assad Binakhahi, Germany
Iranian Christian Converts in Europe: Persecution there, exclusion here
The “I am A Christian too” campaign was launched by a group of Iranian Christian converts living in Stockholm, Sweden, in October 2020 in order to pursue policy change in Sweden and Iran. “I Am A Christian Too” is a loosely organized but sustained campaign among a group of Iranians who share Christianity as their core belief and set their main goal of being recognized as refugees by the Swedish government.
Christian converts (Muslims who get converted to Christianity) unlike ethnic Christians (Armenians and Assyrians) are not recognized in the Constitution. The Islamic Republic transformed millions of citizens like Christian converts, Baha'is, and followers of the Yarsan faith, who belong to the unrecognized religious minorities, into “ghosts”, deprived of basic human rights.
As of July 2022, this campaign has held almost 50 gatherings in Stockholm, making it the most persistent street movement among Iranian religious minorities and even Iranian asylum seekers in the diaspora.
You can read more here and here.
Solidarity rallies in Europe support Iranian protesters
The stories of brave Iranian protesters, especially women, defying the Islamic Republic’s security forces and fighting for their freedom continuously made headlines throughout the world. There are also sad photos of murdered teenagers like Nika Shakarami.
In addition, on Saturday, October 1, thousands of Iranians in diaspora, from different walks of life, beliefs, and ethnic origin, demonstrated shoulder-to-shoulder in more than 150 cities around the world, including many European cities such as London, Brussels, Paris, Stockholm, and Zurich.
“Woman, Life, Freedom”, “Mahsa Amini”, “Down with the dictator”, and “We do not want the Islamic Republic” were among the slogans chanted in rallies in Europe and beyond.
The original protests in Iran were triggered after Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, 22, died while being detained by the country's morality police for allegedly violating the hijab rules on September 16, as parts of her hair were visible under her hijab.
Demonstrations go on in Iran and around the world including many European cities.
There is a rare or even unique feeling of national unity and togetherness in the air, both in Iran and in demonstrations outside the country.
You can read the full article here.
Iranvisibilia, a podcast with testimonies from Iran, will soon be available at https://mvoicesiran.com/ Check this page for updates!
Fred Petrossian, Europe
Fred Petrossian is an Iranian journalist, blogger, and researcher based in Europe. He joined Global Voices in summer 2005 and used farid pouya and hamid tehrani as nicknames. He was the Iran editor of GlobaI Voices from May 2006 to January 2015. he has also been involved with several digital projects such as Digiactive and March 18 Movement [Think Social award 2009]. He co-edited and co-wrote the “Hope, Votes and Bullets” book about Iran’s protest movement and social media. For about 9 years he was the Online Editor in Chief of Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty's Persian service (Radio Farda) in Prague.
Twitter: @fredpetrossian
