Women in particular are fighting for their own future. The regime hit back brutally.
(Photo: dpa)
Tehran A shaky cell phone video shows a woman standing on the street and suddenly breaking down screaming and crying. The scene is believed to show the mother of Mohsen Shekari, who was executed by the Iranian regime. She receives the news that her son was hanged in the early hours of the morning.
Even if the origin of the video cannot be conclusively verified – the woman’s cries of pain reflect what an entire country is suffering at the moment. After people took to the streets to rebel against everyday oppression, the Iranian regime hit back with incredible brutality.
Examples are currently being made of Mohsen Shekari, Majid Reza Rahnavard and many other, mainly young, people. Executions, rapes and torture are intended to discourage the protesters from continuing to stand up for a self-determined future.
A future that women in Iran in particular want to reclaim – at the risk of their lives. Because the future they were offered, in an institutionalized patriarchy based on pseudo-religious dogma, was not.
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Whether the protesters in Iran win this fight for the future also depends on how many allies they find in the world. Real change requires internal and external pressure. Without the support of the international community, the Iranians have no chance.
International solidarity is needed
Since 2005, the global community has committed itself to the “Responsibility to Protect”. Behind this is the promise that no more atrocities by governments against their own people will be allowed.
But what are such principles and promises as a “feminist foreign policy” worth if hardly any action follows from them? Although individual responsible actors are subject to sanctions, the effectiveness of these measures is doubtful.
>> Also read here: EU approves further sanctions against Tehran
There are effective levers: The EU could classify the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization, as the USA has already done. Germany is also Iran’s most important trading partner in Europe. Politicians and companies would have to start using this influence to a greater extent in order to put pressure on the regime.
The paradox: So far, such steps have failed due to hopes of a revival of the nuclear agreement and a taming of Iran’s nuclear intentions. So the regime’s threatening gestures are having an effect. Not with their own population, but with the countries of this world.
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