Zhina is a reminder of life and the struggle for freedom. The murder of Zhina (Mahsa) Amini was yet another attack in an endless line of state-sponsored bloodshed committed by the Islamic Republic against women*, non-binary, queer, and trans people. The shocking murder of Zhina by the regime’s “morality police” due to compulsory Hijab, has touched many souls and brought them to the streets, both within Iran and beyond its borders.
‏Zhina’s murder is another step in furthering Islamic Regime’s long tradition of misogyny, state violence, illegal detentions, incarcerations, and capital punishment. We remember Sepideh Rashno, Sareh Zahra, Sedighi-Hamedani and Elham Choobdar, Elaheh (FM) and Henar (FM), and Siavash (FM), among many others who were robbed of their lives and freedom by the state’s murder machine its brotherhood of hetero-patriarchy and religious masculinism. For decades, the fascist regime of the Islamic Republic has institutionalized suppression through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the state police. Whereas the state militias, armed forces, and agents are terrorizing and shooting people in the streets, people from Kurdistan to Tehran, with empty hands, chant "Zan, Zendegi, Azadi" - Women, Life, freedom. With their raised fists, people are more enraged than ever before.
We are angry and we need to unite around this anger in solidarity against the source of our oppression. For this cause and at this defining moment, we welcome all who share this anger with us and want to show solidarity with the protestors fighting for women*, life, and freedom.