The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com Michigan in Color 8 — Wednesday, November 16, 2022 Iranian Women’s Long-Standing Fight Against State Brutality In recent weeks, Iranians have taken to the streets in large num- bers to protest the death of Jina (Mahsa) Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman who died at the hands of Iran’s morality police. Protestors are honoring the lives lost to state brutality forces and challenging socio-political systems that enable the violent enforcement of laws that no longer serve the interests of Iranian citizens. Iranian police forces have responded violently to Iranian women on the front line of protests who are chanting: “Zan. Zindigi. Azadi” — the Farsi version of a Kurdish motto that translates to “Women, Life, Freedom.” For the last month, their protests have been met with physical brutal- ity, mass imprisonment and unjust surveillance that suppress their revolutionary efforts. Despite the ever-present threat of imprison- ment and violence at the hands of the state, Iranians are continu- ing to protest. Workers are strik- ing, children aren’t showing up for school and women across the nation are relentlessly chanting “Zan. Zindigi. Azadi” — knowing that those may be the last words they ever utter. Zan. Zindigi. Azadi. Iranian women have been denied these seemingly simple demands for life and freedom for nearly a century. The desire to live freely and uphold bodily autonomy has persisted across generations of Iranian women who have lived under various socio-political sys- tems that enforce violent control on their citizens. In the past 70 years, Iranians have been con- trolled by several regimes that have utilized state-sanctioned vio- lence to monopolize every aspect of their citizens’ lives. Through American intervention efforts, the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty and the current rule of the Islamic Republic, a century of Iranians have experienced regime after regime of state brutality promising to somehow correct the state bru- tality that preceded it. The American role in the current state of Iranian affairs dates back to 1953, when a CIA coup over- threw Iran’s democratically elect- ed leader, Mohammed Mosaddegh. This coup was part of an American effort to reinstate the monarchy in Iran; by seating Shah Reza Pahlavi on the throne, Iranians fell under the rule of a U.S.-backed royal dic- tatorship. Under the influence of American puppeteers, the Pahlavis measured success through a west- ern lens, putting great emphasis on urbanizing the nation. Urbaniza- tion efforts were hailed as signs of progress and economic recovery, but the failures of these efforts were transparent. Under the Shah, a large portion of Iranians liv- ing in rural areas lacked access to education and health care. This was a consequence of the Shah’s repression of rural lifestyles that accompanied his censure of many traditional aspects of Iranian cul- ture. In an effort to suppress oppo- sition to modernization efforts, traditional symbols of Islam were criminalized — particularly hijab. Kashfe Hijab was the movement to ban women in Iran from being veiled, and it encompassed the broader efforts of the Shah to control women under the guise of liberating them. It is clear that Iranian women have long been familiar with the administration of oppressive forces dictating their right to choose. After a long period of civil unrest under the Pahlavi dynasty, Iranians began to revolt. Critics of the Pahlavi regime — including veiled women, inhabitants of rural Iran, Shiite Iranians and Marx- ist groups like Iran’s Tudeh Party — sought to conquer the oppres- sive rule of the Pahlavi dynasty, and its unwavering allegiance to the West. Unsurprisingly, protes- tors were met with brutal forces that imprisoned revolutionaries, restricted efforts for liberation and committed violence against civilians — all repressive tactics that have been maintained by the current regime. Despite efforts to suppress opposition, insurgence under the Shah continued to increase. This was made possible by the mass mobilization of Shiite Iranians, inspired by the work of Ayatol- lah Khomeini. Khomeini, who had been exiled by the Pahla- vis, became the catalyst for the Islamic revolution upon his return to the country in 1979. After the Shah was overthrown, he became the supreme leader of the newly founded Islamic Republic. Khomeini’s victory restored hope for many Iranians — who viewed the Islamic revolution as a means for liberation — while prompting many others to flee the country. Alas, it wasn’t long before the promises made to the 1979 revolutionaries were broken. The Shah’s implementation of state brutality was quickly reconstruct- ed to serve the Islamic Republic’s vision for the homogenization of Iran. In either direction of homog- enization, women have been dis- proportionately scrutinized and subjected to violent law enforcement. The fall of the Pahlavi Dynasty only momentarily silenced cries for liberation. Iranians quickly became governed by authoritarian forces under a new guise. In many ways, the Islamic Republic estab- lished a socio-political system that would mimic the Shah’s efforts to homogenize the nation, while directly opposing the Shah’s vision for homogenization. This is epito- mized by the republic’s hijab man- date, which prompted people to assemble in protest, chanting the slogan: “In the dawn of freedom there is an absence of freedom.” These women, advocating for the right to choose, were echoing the same cries of veiled women living under the Pahlavi dynasty’s 1936 Kashfe Hijab mandate. The newly formed republic began to target the autonomy of Iranian women in a new, but familiar, way. Unsurprisingly, Iranians cur- rently protesting the death of Jina Amini are being met with the same violent forces that killed her. Protestors are being subjected to heavy surveillance, police violence and unfair imprisonment. Current and past political protestors are being held in Evin Prison, which was founded toward the end of the Pahlavi era and maintained under the Islamic Republic. As the goals of each government seemingly changed, Evin Prison serves as a tangible symbol for the longstand- ing and remaining state brutality and tyrannical justice system that has been present since the Pahlavi era. The Shah set the precedent for using Evin Prison to unjustly imprison political prisoners and subject them to torturous, inhu- mane living conditions. Ironically, Evin Prison became occupied by those who were involved with the Pahlavi regime after 1979, but the prison population soon broadened to include anyone opposing the Islamic Republic. MARYAM KHORASSANI MiC Columnist Read more at MichiganDaily.com Design by Melia Kenny My Brown Heroes: Part I Modern Indian American mythology consists of recur- ring epics. The daring quests for the coveted M.D. The hero- ines who got admitted to Har- vard. Tales of valiant engineers and fearsome physicians (Just like my Amma, this article has already brought up being a doc- tor too much). Growing up, I was regaled with these tales of Indi- an excellence. However, there are many lost scripts — stories that remained untold, scratched from the official tablet. Why aren’t they shared? My hypothesis: they don’t feed into the reverence of unfalter- ing perfection, safe decisions, money and status. Because they don’t support parents being munnari deivam, your “first god.” Because they don’t involve a “risqué” change from engi- neer to doctor — they are about switching from Zoloft to Lexa- pro. They’re embodiments of subjects that are more comfort- able left unsaid. That’s where my cousin’s tale comes in — to fill in these gaps. Suja Akka has a tall, com- manding presence. Her hugs make it feel like the world can’t touch you. At 16, Suja Akka was diag- nosed with depression. She says if her older self had been pres- ent, she would have recognized the signs years prior. But it was the quintessential motif: igno- rant parents who are unable to understand how to deal with mental illness. Mental health falls under many labels in our family: a sickness, an excuse, a weakness. Therefore, her battles were shrouded in silence — a shameful secret. At the same time, her par- ents were divorcing. Divorce during the ’90s was unheard of in our Indian community (and, to a point, still is). Her parents’ divorce was the first in our extended U.S. family — anoth- er challenge met with silence in our community. Another taboo topic that Akka had to cope with alone. As the divorce unfolded, her parents grew neglectful. Parents who used to ban her from dates and home- coming suddenly didn’t care what she did. They didn’t know which colleges she had applied to or how she was doing in life. To make matters worse, her amma channeled her own anger towards Akka, tormenting her at home, castigating and demean- ing her. She would find any lit- tle reason to unleash her anger on Akka, especially when she had the gall to show an ounce of personality. When Suja Akka finally started standing up for herself against these unwar- ranted attacks and yelling back, her Amma gave her uncles and grandparents an ultimatum: stop talking to Suja or stop talk- ing to me. Did they defend the girl going through unimagina- ble battles? No. Suja Akka was unceremoniously thrown out of her grandparents’ house where she had lived. A friend had to pick her up from the curb. She was no longer invited to family gatherings. There would be no Thanksgivings, no Christmases, no phone calls or check-ins for many years to come. KUVIN SATYADEV MiC Columnist Read more at MichiganDaily.com Molly Joyce and Musical Commentary on Disability in ‘Perspective,’ Released on Oct. 28 in celebra- tion of Disability Employment Awareness Month, Perspective is Molly Joyce’s second studio album and the newest entry in her growing collection of activ- ist thinkpieces. Across 12 tracks, each focused on a core element of disability or societal percep- tion of disability, Joyce weaves together her minimalist-esque music compositional styles with interview clips and statements from a tremendously wide range of people, from performing art- ists to academic activists. The spoken audio clips are engaging, personal and often emotional in nature due to the intimacy of disability conversations. Joyce pays specific attention to shar- ing diverse viewpoints within the disability community and features many POC and LGBTQ+ perspectives. Thus far, it has received fairly positive criti- cism, but her status as a mar- ginalized composer has limited the exposure of her work. I’d like to tell you a bit more about her and the significance of this work both in terms of her activ- ism and her trailblazing musical visions. In full transparency, I do not identify myself with the disabled community. With that in mind, I do not intend for this piece to speak to the disabled experience in any way; rather, I hope to shed light on the work that Joyce has done thus far, and hopefully convince you to expe- rience her music. Molly Joyce is a composer and performer. Much of her work is multimedia, making use of both audio and visual components. She is best known for play- ing her vintage 1960s Magnus toy organ, which she uses as an instrumental reflection of dis- ability in her work; according to Joyce, the organ “allows (her) to engage and seek the creative potential of disability.” She is a graduate of Juilliard, the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and the Yale School of Music. She has won numerous awards, col- laborated with many significant contemporary music artists and has written for various academic publications as wwell as given a TedX presentation about persist- ing in music after being impaired in an accident. Prior to Perspective, she released performances of her music on her 2017 EP Lean Back and Release and her 2020 debut album Breaking and Entering. She has also composed works for other performers and ensembles of various mediums. I first learned about Joyce in a contemporary music course by Dr. Ryan Olivier that I took at Indiana University South Bend before I transferred to Michi- gan. I was really interested in minimalist music at the time, so her postminimalist compo- sitional style intrigued me; I found her works evocative and direct in messaging, yet some- what open to artistic interpre- tation. I had little exposure to contemporary women compos- ers prior to the course, and had absolutely no reference for pos- sible intersections between dis- ability and music, so her work CEDRIC MCCOY MiC Columnist Read more at MichiganDaily.com alcohol ink painting by teresa kovalak Come see what we’ve made for you! handmade arts & crafts by local artisans juried market Sundays 11am -4pm April ‘til Christmas Ann Arbor Farmers Market Pavilion, 315 Detroit St. Facebook: Sunday Artisan Market Instagram: TheSundayArtisanMarket WebsIte: SundayArtisanMarket.org