Protests in Iran: women leading the way

Protests in Iran: when women are leading the way
An exchange with Masih Alinejad

Wednesday 19 October 2022 | 5:00pm - 6:30pm

Amphitheater Chapsal, 27 rue Saint-Guillaume

Read the summary of the event.

Watch the replay of the event:

>In mid-September 2022, protests broke out across Iran after the death in detention of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman picked up by the morality police. Ever since, Iranian women and men alike have taken to the streets nationwide to protest their government’s abuses of power and human rights violations. The focus, scope, and length of these protests in Iran, as well as the level of participation, in Iran and abroad, have been unprecedented since the 1979 Revolution. 

This conference will be an opportunity to unfold recent events in Iran, but also to discuss the specific role of women in this movement. Indeed, women’s involvement in these protests has been particularly strategic and unparalleled. Observers note how it may well be the first time in history that women have been both the spark and engine for an attempted counter-revolution. Since recent research has emphasized how the participation of women in mass movements facilitates the likeliness of success of such movements, the discussion will also explore the possible outcomes of these protests.

Guest Speakers:

• Masih Alinejad (joining via zoom), Iranian journalist and activist, founder of My Stealthy Freedom, an initiative launched in 2014.
• Dr. Elisabeth Marteu, Lecturer at PSIA, political scientist, and expert on gender, peace and security related issues.
• Dr. Maria J. Stephan (joining via zoom), Co-Lead & Chief Organizer, The Horizons Project, and co-author (with Dr. Erica Chenoweth) of Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (2012)

Welcome remarks:

• Arancha González, Dean, PSIA

Moderator:

• Dr. Tina Robiolle, Academic Advisor and Lecturer, PSIA

Masih Alinjead

Masih Alinjead is the founder of My Stealthy Freedom campaign against compulsory hijab which since its launch in 2014 has become the largest civil disobedience campaign for women’s rights in the history of Islamic Republic. Masih is a prominent voice advocating for women’s rights and empowerment and has been recognized by BBC Persian and Iran Wire as one of the 50 most influential women in Iran.

Born and raised in Iran, Masih was a parliamentary journalist in Tehran, where she exposed corruption among the lawmakers. Later, as a columnist for Iranian newspapers, she challenged establishment political figures including former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Forced to leave the country in 2009 in the aftermath of the disputed Iranian Presidential elections, Masih spent five years documenting human rights abuses in the Islamic Republic. She wrote and produced a 57-part radio series on the victims of the crackdown on protesters against the rigged 2009 elections and followed it up with a 2-hour TV documentary on the families of the victims.

Masih has written a memoir: “The Wind in My Hair: My Fight for Freedom in Modern Iran,” an intimate story of her life growing up in a village to her campaigns championing women’s rights. The memoir was selected by The New York Times as one its books of the summer. In its review, the New York Times described Masih, as “The woman whose hair frightens Iran.” She has won millions of followers in Iran through her campaign of challenging the Islamic Republic’s discriminatory laws against women.

Masih is the writer and host of satirical news show Tablet, shown on Voice of America, and has written articles for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and the Independent. 

Elisabteh Marteu

Dr. Elisabeth Marteu is an Associate Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). She has carried out research on Middle East politics and Gender & Conflict issues since her PhD thesis on women’s movements in Israel-Palestine (Sciences Po Paris 2009). 

Since then, she has co-coordinated a four-year research program on the globalization of gender norms and narratives (funded by the French National Research Agency) that led to the publication of an edited volume The Globalization of Gender by Routledge in 2019. She has analyzed the implementation of UNSCR 1325 “women, peace and security” in conflict related contexts and has documented Palestinian women’s involvement in political violence.

Maria J. Stephan

Dr. Maria J. Stephan focuses on the role of civil resistance and nonviolent movements in advancing human rights, democratic freedoms, and peace globally, bridging the academic, policy, and non-profit sectors. She is the Co-Lead and Chief Organizer for The Horizons Project, which works to build relationships and connections between the social justice, peacebuilding, and democracy communities in the United States, with the goal of strengthening collective efforts to address systemic injustices and build a truly inclusive and pluralistic democracy. She has served previously as an advisor to Freedom House and Humanity United. Stephan formerly directed the Program on Nonviolent Action at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Stephan is the co-author (with Erica Chenoweth) of Why Civil Resistance Works: The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict, which was awarded the 2012 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Prize by the American Political Science Association for the best book published in political science, and the 2013 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. She is the co-author of Bolstering Democracy: Lessons Learned and the Path Forward (Atlantic Council, 2018); the co-editor of Is Authoritarianism Staging a Comeback? (Atlantic Council, 2015); and the editor of Civilian Jihad: Nonviolent Struggle, Democratization and Governance in the Middle East (Palgrave, 2009).

Stephan served in the U.S. State Department from 2009-2014 including in Afghanistan; co-directed the Atlantic Council’s Future of Authoritarianism initiative; directed academic and policy engagement at the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, and taught at Georgetown and American Universities. She received her PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.