5 Steps to Empowering Change: Somayeh (Servin) Sabetghadam’s Journey from Regime to the West

Somayeh (Servin) Sabetghadam’s journey to Toronto from her hometown of Zanjan is a remarkable story of the transition from a dictatorship to freedom in the West. As she maneuvers through this fundamental change, Sabetghadam realizes she is standing at the crossroads of two completely different worlds, which shape her identity differently.

Moreover, in Zanjan, Servin experienced the constraints placed on her by the Islamic Republic, as her political and activist engagements were subject to surveillance and disapproval. Nonetheless, despite these difficulties, she fought, propelled by her zeal for women’s rights advocacy against oppressive norms. At one point in her life, when she thought of effecting change within the system, she was serving at Zanjan City Council.

However, because living within such limits was no longer possible, Sabetghadam fled to the West. In Toronto, however, she regained her sense of freedom and opportunity that had been denied by the limitations she lived under before. She continues with her activism here, utilizing what she has gone through to give voice to marginalized communities and fight for social justice.

April 11, 2024 | 5:22 pm