Tea Talk: What's happening in Iran?
Impressions from our Tea Talk: What’s happening in Iran? Personal experiences from inside and outside the country.
Iran, Western Asia
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Published on October 14, 2022.
Reading time: 4 minutes
As of 26 September, 2022, protests in Iran had taken place in 80+ cities, injuring over 733 and killing over 41 people. The spark: on 16 September, 2022, Mahsa Amini, a 22-year old Iranian woman, dies after the religious police has arrested her for not wearing her hijab in line with the strict laws.
Protests are growing in number, and frequency: large scale demonstrations have taken place in 2019, 2018, 2017, 2011, 2009, 1999, and all have one common theme: they are cries for freedom.
Many of us have seen these protests in the news. Few of us have actually talked to those Iranians who are directly or indirectly living this period.
On 1 October 2022, Correspondents of the World therefore organized a Tea Talk: What’s happening in Iran? Personal experiences from inside and outside the country. Here, participants from all over the world had the opportunity to speak with Iranians from in- and outside the country. While there were Iranian participants from outside Iran, those inside Iran could not join due to the internet crackdown implemented by the regime.
With 28 participants from Iran, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Italy, and many more countries, we had a truly global conversation about deeply personal experiences. The best way to cover this, is by sharing some of the words spoken:
“I always dreamed of living abroad. For my whole life I was working towards this because of the restrictions in my home country… but for the last two weeks, being in a foreign country [the Netherlands] while my brothers and sisters are fighting for their basic rights, I wish I could be next to them and fight with them, shoulder to shoulder.” (Ardavan)
“When we left Iran, we left our hearts at home. We might be here but all of our attention is there.” (Mani)
“Most people think this is a fight about hijabs. It is not. We are protesting about basic human rights. I love Iran. I want to be there. But when I am there I have to pretend to be someone I am not.” (Shadi)
“I realized we should not be afraid of the regime. They should be afraid of us.” (Shadi)
Getting a personal perspective from people we can actually talk to - that is the goal of the Correspondent of the World Tea Talks. Or, in the words of one of our participants: “When we just read these pieces of news, we often forget in our daily lives. We just treat it as just more news from another country. We forget that there are real people being affected.”
Thanks to our Iranian friends Ardavan, Mani, Shadi, Hoda, Alireza, Atousa, Farzad, Kharazm for being there or giving your input. Lots of strength to you!
The next Tea Talk will be held soon. Want to stay up to date? Subscribe to our mailing list on the homepage of www.correspondentsoftheworld.com or send an email to joost@correspondentsoftheworld.com.
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