Protests Are the First Counter-Revolution Led by Women in the world

Despite the dangers of arrest and death, women of disparate ethnicities have united in imaginative ways. The spark was the abrupt death of Mahsa Amini, a twenty-two-year-old Kurd, after she was sent to a reëducation center for “inappropriate attire”—too much hair protruding from a head. She ended up in a coma on a ventilator and died three days later, on September 16th. Protest chants about her death quickly evolved into calls to oust the regime: “Death to the Dictator,” and “Our disgrace is our incompetent leader,” and “We don’t want the Republic.” The slogan—and hashtag—of the protests became #WomanLifeFreedom.

October 9, 2022 | 8:31 pm