Woman Life Freedom Uprising

The Living Dead: Beyond Martyrdom?


In literature surrounding the afterlife of the WLF movement, a common through line was the societal toll exacted by the regime’s ordinances and the toll it takes on life. This stress placed upon women, the patriarchal ideal upheld above all else, all factors that contribute to the potency of the WLF. In “To Summon Life in a Cemetery,” Nahal Nikan synthesizes the “feminine and earthly” character of this movement in juxtaposition with the “masculine and sacred” identity fostered upon the birth of the regime after the 1979 revolution. (Nikan)

There exists a certain irony that the morality police make contentment in the afterlife a goal at the direct expense of the living. This creates a
dichotomy of rebirth through death, and permanent life in a rejection of all that death may constitute: sterilization, defeat, or tranquility. This powerful continuance of resistance is far-reaching into the future and the past. In “Crossing the Red Lines,” Chowra Makaremi posits that
the WLF is not strictly a new phenomenon, where the sudden unveiling marks the “waking up” of Iranian women. (Makaremi) No, instead, this awareness has existed, something every Iranian woman has been hyper-cognizant of, in a society structured around implicit and explicit societal norms, aka red lines. Resistance has been nuanced, subtle in some cases, overt in others, yet always present. Therefore, the theme of the afterlife as a continuance of resistance is stressed again, as the longevity of protest is emphasized by acknowledging both the culmination of societal grievances and the memory of those who were killed by the regime for doing just that, as well as the long history of crossing the red line. Likewise, the endurance of the movement persists based on adaptability and the everyday actions of women. Once again, the personal is the political. In this article written by Parva, entitled “Inflection Points of a Feminist Revolution,” it is stated that this dimension of social life is often overlooked by political thought, however, this article speaks of revolution in terms of birth. If the beginning of the life of the revolution is the
framing of women’s rights as foreign, then the afterlife would not just be the infallibility of the revolution but to achieve the sacredness that the morality police claim to preserve; it would result in not just unveiling, but normalcy, not just individual rights for women, but the ability to
stand “shoulder to shoulder with men” as was promised to them at the onset of the 1979 revolution. (Osanloo)

-Satchel Williams

References:
      Hatami, Negar. "Heads Without Headscarves." e-flux Journal, no. 145 (May 2024). Accessed December 2, 2024. https://www.e-flux.com/journal/145/606004/heads-without-headscarves/

      Nikan, Nahal. "To Summon Life in a Cemetery." e-flux Journal, no. 145 (May 2024). Accessed December 2, 2024. https://www.e-flux.com/journal/145/604938/to-summon-life-in-a-cemetery/

      Makaremi, Chowra. "Crossing the Red Lines." Society for Cultural Anthropology, June 29, 2023. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/crossing-the-red-lines

      Ghanbari, Elham. "Rights in the Age of Benevolence: Women's Revolutionary Uprisings in Iran." Society for Cultural Anthropology, October 26, 2023. Accessed December 2, 2024. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/rights-in-the-age-of-benevolence-womens-revolutionary-uprisings-in-iran.


 

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