Since 1979, the Iranian theocratic regime has transformed Iran into a
gigantic open-air prison. Two important works have analyzed its
different aspects. ---- Chahla Chafiq's book, The Political Prison in
Iran is a remarkable analysis and perspective of the mechanisms of
terror. Like all totalitarian regimes, prison, arbitrariness and
coercion are the elements by which the regime establishes its domination
over the population. ---- After a historical background in which the
author returns to the repressive system of the Shah of Iran. He details
at length the establishment of the theocratic state of Ayatollah
Khomeini. From 1979, the arrests of opponents. The regime invents new
categories of enemies: blasphemers and impious, associationists,
hypocrites who serve to categorize the opponents of the regime. As in
all totalitarian regimes, it uses repentance and public confessions as a
means of putting pressure on public opinion, public execution promoted
as an exemplary system. It relies on newly created social bodies such as
the Revolutionary Guards to shape society to its own ends, its henchmen
being entirely indebted to it.
For 45 years, despite numerous protests, the regime has remained solid
thanks to this repressive base and the active complicity of its
servants. Opponents have not been able to break through the fortress
around which power has been built.
Prison is also a means of shaping society, creating an ideal subject,
obedient and believing in the regime, and of sending women back to a
supposed demonic nature, thereby building a uniform society.
It is one of the central elements that allows us to understand the
meaning of the Iranian women's fight for their freedom, but which also
joins the universality of emancipation struggles.
The second book is the result of the collective work of activists
supporting women's rights in Iran, which is proof of this. It is
composed of two distinct parts. First, it takes up and republishes the
declarations of the various Iranian feminist collectives published
during the revolution during which an immense hope for liberation was
born. The leaflets bear witness to this. It discusses all the dimensions
of liberation, from the right to abortion and contraception to the
recognition of homosexuality and equal pay. Very quickly, the mullahs
took power and banned fundamental freedoms. The theocratic and
patriarchal dimension of the regime immediately appears, the
fundamentalists ban public space for women who question the very nature
of political-religious power. The book provides many testimonies
collected in 1979 and some completed in 2023. It is also augmented by
extracts from feminist newspapers published in France and reports of
demonstrations carried out in solidarity with the Iranian oppressed.
Having become underground, clandestine, persecuted, the movement
reappears in a new form in 2022 with the slogan woman, life, freedom.
The movement has changed in nature, because it is about getting rid of
an oppression that has covered the country. The activists choose
symbols, removing one of the main attributes of oppression, the chador.
At the risk of their lives, many of them have been arrested, assaulted
and murdered, these activists continue to carry out this fight for
freedom. Here again, the book gives them a voice, some exiles testify
and the book provides reading of some demonstrations of solidarity
carried out in recent years.
Two books that usefully complete the analysis of Islamist totalitarianism.
Political Prison in Iran
Chahia Chafiq
Le Félin 2024 206 p. 22 EUR
Iranian Women
Women, Life, Freedom 1979-2004
Éditions des femmes/Antoinette Fouque 2024 240 P. 25 EUR
https://monde-libertaire.fr/?articlen=8035
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
gigantic open-air prison. Two important works have analyzed its
different aspects. ---- Chahla Chafiq's book, The Political Prison in
Iran is a remarkable analysis and perspective of the mechanisms of
terror. Like all totalitarian regimes, prison, arbitrariness and
coercion are the elements by which the regime establishes its domination
over the population. ---- After a historical background in which the
author returns to the repressive system of the Shah of Iran. He details
at length the establishment of the theocratic state of Ayatollah
Khomeini. From 1979, the arrests of opponents. The regime invents new
categories of enemies: blasphemers and impious, associationists,
hypocrites who serve to categorize the opponents of the regime. As in
all totalitarian regimes, it uses repentance and public confessions as a
means of putting pressure on public opinion, public execution promoted
as an exemplary system. It relies on newly created social bodies such as
the Revolutionary Guards to shape society to its own ends, its henchmen
being entirely indebted to it.
For 45 years, despite numerous protests, the regime has remained solid
thanks to this repressive base and the active complicity of its
servants. Opponents have not been able to break through the fortress
around which power has been built.
Prison is also a means of shaping society, creating an ideal subject,
obedient and believing in the regime, and of sending women back to a
supposed demonic nature, thereby building a uniform society.
It is one of the central elements that allows us to understand the
meaning of the Iranian women's fight for their freedom, but which also
joins the universality of emancipation struggles.
The second book is the result of the collective work of activists
supporting women's rights in Iran, which is proof of this. It is
composed of two distinct parts. First, it takes up and republishes the
declarations of the various Iranian feminist collectives published
during the revolution during which an immense hope for liberation was
born. The leaflets bear witness to this. It discusses all the dimensions
of liberation, from the right to abortion and contraception to the
recognition of homosexuality and equal pay. Very quickly, the mullahs
took power and banned fundamental freedoms. The theocratic and
patriarchal dimension of the regime immediately appears, the
fundamentalists ban public space for women who question the very nature
of political-religious power. The book provides many testimonies
collected in 1979 and some completed in 2023. It is also augmented by
extracts from feminist newspapers published in France and reports of
demonstrations carried out in solidarity with the Iranian oppressed.
Having become underground, clandestine, persecuted, the movement
reappears in a new form in 2022 with the slogan woman, life, freedom.
The movement has changed in nature, because it is about getting rid of
an oppression that has covered the country. The activists choose
symbols, removing one of the main attributes of oppression, the chador.
At the risk of their lives, many of them have been arrested, assaulted
and murdered, these activists continue to carry out this fight for
freedom. Here again, the book gives them a voice, some exiles testify
and the book provides reading of some demonstrations of solidarity
carried out in recent years.
Two books that usefully complete the analysis of Islamist totalitarianism.
Political Prison in Iran
Chahia Chafiq
Le Félin 2024 206 p. 22 EUR
Iranian Women
Women, Life, Freedom 1979-2004
Éditions des femmes/Antoinette Fouque 2024 240 P. 25 EUR
https://monde-libertaire.fr/?articlen=8035
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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