The Important Role of Independent Activists and Civil Society Organizations in Sustaining Demands and Breaking the Silence
How does the cry for justice and demands of citizens whose rights are being trampled reach the ears of those in power? How is the flame of rights-seeking and justice-seeking kept alive in the shadow of declining public trust in political parties and organizations every day? What fate awaits those who, in the face of obvious oppression of people by the authorities, do not prefer silence?
Can one imagine, given the authorities’ track record in dealing with justice-seekers and independent organizations, any possibility of meeting the demands of protesters and critics? Although continued protest and refusal to remain silent in the face of oppression entails countless consequences for protesters and critics, the spread of injustice and violation of citizens’ rights has become so severe that neither independent organizations nor many individuals can bear silence.
The Cry for Justice of Activists and Activists in the Shadow of Forced Silence
The process of the authorities in suppressing and applying security and judicial pressure on civil activists and independent activists in Iran has continued for years in various ways and methods; from arbitrary arrests to increasingly worsening conditions for lawyers and independent civil activists. Despite these obstacles, civil activists and human rights lawyers in Iran have always strived to keep the voice of demands and justice alive and to defend the lost rights of the people, and many of them, despite being aware of the possibility of further security and judicial confrontations, have not remained silent and have been the voice of those who have no means to demand their rights.
This form of advocacy can be seen especially in the form of activism of civil and human rights activists who, both during imprisonment and when sent on leave, do not stop their activities and in every possible way help expose the truth and reveal oppression, discrimination and cases of human rights violations.
A while ago, Sepideh Qolian, a civil activist on leave from prison, wrote on her Instagram page about the appalling conditions in the women’s ward of the central prison in Bushehr and about torture, mistreatment and the conditions of detention of imprisoned women. Following the publication of this report, the General Department of Prisons of Bushehr Province filed a complaint against Sepideh Qolian, and the Second Branch of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Revolutionary Court of Bushehr summoned Ms. Qolian on charges of “spreading computer falsehoods and propaganda activities against the system.”
In recent months, Nasrin Sotoudeh, who was recently released from prison, has repeatedly spoken and written about numerous cases of violation of prisoners’ rights.
Alongside these activists who never agreed to silence and insisted on continuing their path in advocacy and justice-seeking, one should not overlook the important role of some lesser-known civil activists. Those who, in support of civil activists and justice-seekers or in reporting about them, have faced many difficulties in their ordinary lives. People who, aware of the high cost of continuing justice-seeking, still spared no effort in every possible way to give voice to the oppressed.
Arrest and Erasure: The Price Paid by Those Who Would Not Remain Silent
The growing distance between political parties and their policymaking process and the wishes and demands of the majority in society gradually led to the weakening of the role of these political parties in advancing the voice of justice-seeking and advocacy. An event that became more apparent, especially from the mid-1990s, and was evident in the slogans of people’s protests during the December 2017 and November 2019 protests.
Although keeping the voice of protests and advocacy alive continues in two contexts of professional and labor protests as well as the continued activities of independent civil individuals, in recent years and especially with the expansion of social networks and the possibility of information dissemination, some well-known figures in various artistic, sports and scientific fields, by taking a stand against suppression and violation of citizens’ rights, chose to support justice-seekers and social and civil advocates over silence and turning a blind eye to truth. Although these individuals were sometimes forced to pay heavy prices such as arrest and being banned from work.
The application of security and judicial pressures and ultimately the banning or marginalization of some of these artists and well-known figures has been a repetitive process by the authorities in recent years.
Jafar Panahi, a well-known Iranian filmmaker, during the nationwide 2009 protests, was convicted on charges of assembly and conspiracy and propaganda against the Islamic Republic with six years in prison and 20 years of deprivation from filmmaking, 20 years of deprivation from screenwriting, 20 years of ban from leaving Iran and 20 years of prohibition from any type of interview with domestic and foreign media and press.
Mohammad Rasoulof, a filmmaker who was also engaged in making a film about the 2009 elections with Jafar Panahi, was arrested and sentenced to imprisonment. Apart from these two directors, other figures among artists did not remain silent in 2009 and in support of popular protests and in various ways declared their solidarity with protesting people and their opposition to the policy of suppression and forceful treatment of the authorities.
Pegah Ahangarani, a film actress, was another artist who was arrested and imprisoned for some time for participating in the 2009 protests.
In those same years, Ramin Parcham, an actor in cinema and television, was arrested during the February 10, 2011 protests in Tehran and transferred to Evin Prison. On April 20, 2011, it was announced that Parcham was sentenced to one year in prison on charges of acting against national security through participation in an illegal gathering, filming and disrupting public order.
Examples of such treatment of artists and well-known figures continued in subsequent years; Noushin Jafari, a photographer in the field of cinema and theater, was imprisoned on charges of holding a photography exhibition with the aim of supporting victims of acid attacks and also insulting sacred values.
Judicial treatment of artists who did not remain silent in the face of oppression and discrimination is not the only method of the authorities in confronting artists; intensifying restrictions on artists’ activities and laying the groundwork for their gradual elimination from their professional sphere is another method of the authorities. After the 2009 elections, Rakhshan Bani Etemad, a well-known film director, along with her daughter Baran Kosari, appeared on the stage of the Cinema House ceremony with green shawls and symbols. A while later she also appeared in the gathering of bereaved mothers in “Laleh Park.” These activities caused cinema officials of the country for years to make filmmaking conditions difficult for Rakhshan Bani Etemad through numerous obstacles.
Fatemeh Motamed-Aria, a prominent film and television actress, was also summoned to the Evin Prison Prosecutor’s Office just a few months after the 2009 elections due to visiting the family of Sohrab Arabi, one of those killed in the 2009 protests, and supporting the Green Movement in post-election interviews, and was sentenced to a fine. In those years, many restrictions were imposed on Ms. Motamed-Aria’s activities.
One could say that after the December 2017 protests, the protest of artists and well-known figures among people took a new form; the severe weakness of political forces in playing the role of mediator between the people and the authorities made the position of artists in confronting discrimination more important than before.
After the 2017 protests, a large number of artists reacted in cyberspace to the authorities’ forceful treatment of protesting people. Including actors such as Tarane Alidoosti, Mahnaz Afshar, Hamid Jebli, Hediye Tehrani, Hamid Farrokhnejad, Navid Mohammadzadeh, Farhad Aslani, Mohsen Tanabandeh, Houman Seidi, Parasto Salehi, Perinaz Izadyar and directors such as Tahmineh Milani, Jafar Panahi, Hassan Fathi and Asghar Farhadi.
Despite the expansion of social networks and of course the intensification of many crises in recent years, the sensitivity of society and certainly the authorities regarding critical and protest reactions of artists and their support for the voice of justice and people’s protests increased; the massacre and brutal suppression of people in November 2019 and subsequently the crash of a Ukrainian passenger plane, were among the most important events that provoked critical and protest reactions from some artists.
A few days after the end of widespread November 2019 protests, a statement was issued by a group of prominent Iranian artists. At the beginning of this statement, addressing the rulers of the Islamic Republic: “What are you doing with the people? Which window have you left open to hear the voice of the people? Which protest gathering of the people have you tolerated? Which party and organization have you left that could be an expression of people’s wishes? Are you still determined to deprive people of the most basic human rights and the most obvious needs of citizenship through violence?”
Artists such as Hossein Alizadeh, Kiyahan Kalhor, Bahman Farmanara and Leila Golestan were among the signatories of this online statement. A statement that was also published on the personal pages of these individuals.
The ceremony of the thirteenth festival of Iranian film critics and writers in 2019 was held as the winners of this festival dedicated their awards to the victims of November 2019 protests and the Ukrainian plane crash.
Hamayoun Ghaniazadeh, while receiving his award at this ceremony, asked artists not to remain silent about the “2019 massacre.” Ghaniazadeh dedicated his award to Pouya Bakhtiari, one of those killed in November 2019 protests. Hamayoun Ghaniazadeh said at that ceremony that silence about tragedies like November 2019 is a “disgrace.”
To some extent, one could say that in today’s space of advocacy and justice-seeking in Iran, it is these individuals and independent organizations that compensate for the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of political parties in keeping alive the voice of justice-seeking and advocacy and are constantly striving to keep the flame of people’s protest and cry for rights burning.
Alignment and Support of Independent Civil Organizations and Professions in Advocacy and Rights-Seeking
The expansion of protests among different segments of society and the daily erosion of public trust in the authorities’ policies in hearing the voice of the people and meeting their demands and aspirations has subjected the process and manner of professional and labor protests in Iran to many changes. The intensification of economic crises and the increase of hardships and problems for a wide segment of society has caused a larger segment of society to participate in professional protests in various sectors.
Although the obstacles to independent organizational work in Iran have always been fraught with difficulties, in the past few years one can find examples of continuous protests and strikes among workers and teachers across the country that show how the scope of these professional and independent protests, without any political affiliation to any particular party or faction in the country, have been determined to advance their demands.
The continuous protests of Haft Tappeh workers, which ultimately led to the removal of the owner of this large factory, is one of the most important examples of labor protests arising from coordinated and independent organizational work that in a sense served as a model for many other labor protests in the country. The strikes of oil workers reached different cities of Iran and during which a large number of workers stopped working in protest of their conditions. Recently, continuous protests of teachers across the country and the announcement of readiness for nationwide strikes in the near future have brought another form of protests arising from independent civil and professional organizations to the arena.
Apart from the continuation and persistence of independent civil and professional organizations to continue their activities in the path of advocacy, the support of these organizations for each other’s activities also shows the alignment and mutual support of these movements and expresses the desire of all of them to maintain independence and commitment to basic and shared demands and aspirations.
Many examples appear in the course of protests and strikes of different groups of workers and professionals in which various organizations formally announced their support for the protests and strikes of other professions and classes, showing their support and assistance for the effort to advocate.
One day after recent gatherings of teachers in Gilan Province, Aziz Gasemzadeh, a member of the Teachers’ Professional Council of this province, was arrested at his home while engaged in a live video interview. Following this illegal arrest, the Tehran Bus Drivers Syndicate and also the Haft Tappeh Company Workers Syndicate issued a statement in support of Aziz Gasemzadeh and condemned threats, arrests and imprisonment of teacher activists.
The existence of countless cases of individuals who, in various social, cultural and artistic fields, did not remain silent in the face of oppression and obvious violations of human rights in Iran, testifies to the fact that the current era of struggle and protest against the existing situation is the era of independent individuals and organizations who, without affiliation to existing political movements, constantly insist on advocacy and rights-seeking.
Source: Human Rights Campaign
