Sisterhood in Struggle: Kurdish-Iranian Women Opposition
Photography by Paul Trowbridge. Written by Erin Monahan with contributions from Paul Trowbridge.
*We’ve added a resource list at the bottom of this page for further education and learning.
Widespread anti-government protests to fight for bodily autonomy broke out in Iran in September 2022 following the brutal murder of Jina Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish student from Saqqez, a city in the Kurdistan Province of Iran, by the hands of the Islamic Republic’s so-called “morality police,” or Gasht-e Ershad (guidance patrol). While being taken into custody for allegedly violating compulsory veiling laws, Amini was violently beaten into cardiac arrest. After three days in a coma, she died in the hospital on September 16, 2022. Although authorities put their hands up and claimed that she had suffered a stroke, this is only one of countless times that the Islamic Republic has responded with extreme, brutal violence after arbitrarily deciding that a woman has transgressed the strict rules based on sharia law.
“Jin, Jiyan, Azadi,” or “Women, Life, Freedom,” is the Kurdish rallying cry of the current and ongoing fight for bodily autonomy against the Islamic Republic of Iran. This phrase “...was first used during Kurdish feminist resistance movements in the late 20th century and has historical ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and their women’s military wing, the YJA STAR. The phrase was born out of anti-capitalist, anti-patriarchal, Marxist-Leninist grassroots activism in response to Kurdish persecution from the governments of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria,” Jiyan Zandi writes for Time Magazine. Zandi emphasizes that because of the ongoing Kurdish struggle against state oppression, “...it’s vital to center Jina Amini’s Kurdish identity.”
Rezan, member the all-women unit of the left-wing Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK)
Rezan recently fled Iran because of her participation in the ongoing protests there. Iranian authorities visited her family house daily, threatening to arrest her family members if they did not call her back to Iran. Her mother finally told them: "You can arrest all of us. My daughter is not coming back." Rezan's story presents a devastating example of how oppression leads from protest to armed struggle.
Maprise, member the all-women unit of the left-wing Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK)
Maprise also recently fled Iran after facing persecution by the Iranian regime for her participation in the protests.
As one of the largest ethnic minorities in the SWANA region* (the so-called Middle East), Kurdish people have faced centuries of dehumanization and oppression. The Kurdish liberation movement has been resisting colonialism, imperialism, patriarchy, foreign intervention, repressive regimes, and religious fundamentalists for over 40 years, in an effort to become an independent nation state.
A school of a refugee camp in Koya was bombed by Iran on Sept 28th. The school was completely destroyed by the Iranian bombing.
The political protests and unrest happening in Iran right now at the time of this writing in March 2023 are a part of the long, rich, powerful, and revolutionary legacy of Kurdish feminist resistance. In an ongoing effort to assert their legitimate right to sovereignty in Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, important left-wing Kurdish political organizations have formed: The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (KDPI), the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), the Komala of Iranian Kurdistan, and the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK). These political parties are involved in armed struggle against the Islamic Republic of Iran, and women make up nearly half (40%) of the resistance. All-women fighting units of these groups also fought against ISIS.
Zanyar Rahmany, 28, mourns by the graves of his wife and child. His wife, Rehana Kanany, 31, was killed on September 28th, 2022 by an Iranian bombing while she was pregnant. Doctors performed an emergency surgery to deliver the baby, Wanyar Rahmany, but he only survived one day. Wanyar experienced brain damage and two broken ribs through the womb from the bomb impact. The mother, Rehana, was killed instantly.
A mural depicting two women comrades of the left-wing Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan martyred in 2018 by an Iranian bomb strike. The mural was damaged in November during another Iranian bomb strike.
This photo essay depicts images of Kurdish-Iranian women who have found their way into opposition groups for a variety of reasons including being exiled, losing loved ones, and feeling the call to fight. It’s not uncommon for someone to join these groups in the same way that Rezan did. Rezan recently fled Iran because of her participation in the ongoing protests there. Iranian authorities made daily visits to her family’s house threatening to arrest her family members if they did not call her back to Iran. Her mother finally told them: "You can arrest all of us. My daughter is not coming back."
Rubar (center) is the commander of the unit.
Rubar is the Commander of the all-women unit of the left-wing Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK) pictured above. After learning about the war crimes and atrocities perpetrated by ISIS, Rubar joined the PAK in 2016 to fight alongside her sisters. At that time, the PAK was the only Iranian group actively fighting ISIS. This fact, plus the knowledge that PAK was founded on her birthday, is what motivated Rubar to join the group. She expressed that joining the PAK is a manifestation of her destiny.
In defiance of Iranian authorities, and in an effort to assert their agency and autonomy, Kurdish-Iranian opposition groups, banned and exiled from Iran and operating from bases in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region of northern Iraq, (which borders Syria to the west, Iran to the east, and Turkey to the north), face intense pressure from Iran, the Kurdistan Regional Government, and the Republic of Iraq. The Iranian government claims that these Kurdish opposition groups are the cause of the political unrest, but this is just another one of the regime’s lies to obscure and deny their legacy of intense and violent oppression.
Peshmerga of the PAK during morning exercises. Peshmerga is a Kurdish term for fighter or soldier. The word translates literally in English as "Those who face death." This all-woman unit of the PAK fought ISIS.
An all-women unit of the left-wing Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), an armed Iranian opposition group, during morning training exercises in the mountains of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region of northern Iraq, bordering Iran.
As retaliation, the Iranian government began a bombing campaign in September against these Kurdish opposition groups and their adjacent refugee camps. More than a dozen people have died, and upwards of 60 have been injured as a result of the bombings. Rehana Kanany, a 31-year-old, pregnant woman who was married to Zanyar Rahmany, was killed on September 28th, 2022 by an Iranian bombing. Kanany was killed instantly, but doctors performed an emergency surgery to deliver the baby, Wanyar Rahmany. Unfortunately, the baby only survived a day.
The violence isn’t limited to protests. The Islamic Republic has wrought chemical attacks against schools, in an effort to prevent girls from getting an education. More than 1,200 Iranian school girls from at least 60 different schools have fallen ill since November due to these targeted chemical campaigns. “That number may be far higher, with one prominent Iranian lawmaker claiming as many as 5,000 students have complained of falling ill across 230 schools, though no other officials or media have reported such a high number,” writes Ramy Inocencio for CBS news. According to Tawusan, “School girls have played a central role during the Jina revolution as they marched the streets and chanted slogans against the regime, and even openly protested against their school principals. Despite the international community’s silence against these crimes of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the simultaneous incidents show the deliberateness of these acts and the desperate measures of a falling regime clinging on to remain in power.”
Shantal joined the PAK after her fiance was killed. She said that her experience fighting ISIS with her sisters has taught her that together, they can face any adversity and achieve any goal.
Aso joined the PAK after her brother was killed by an ISIS landmine.
A peshmerga of the Kurdistan Freedom Party.
A peshmerga of the Kurdistan Freedom Party.
A peshmerga of the Kurdistan Freedom Party.
A peshmerga of the Kurdistan Freedom Party.
A peshmerga of the Kurdistan Freedom Party.
Torture and public execution of protesters has become daily occurrence in Iran. These ongoing protests are the largest, most sustained challenge to the authority of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Due to internet blackouts and journalists being met with violence and arrest, it has been difficult to confirm just how many innocent people’s lives have been taken. After five months of collective resistance and action, mass executions, rape, and torture, and nearly 20,000 people imprisoned, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to estimate that hundreds of thousands have lost their lives to this obscene, gruesome, and horrifying crackdown. “Many people have speculated that the number of the deaths in the crackdown is way higher, but the families of the victims are threatened not to talk to the media and bury their loved ones without large funeral services or mourning ceremonies,” reports the Iran International News Room.
The PAK unit gathers to cook in one of their mountain locations in northern Iraq.
A PAK peshmerga sits by a fire in their mountain camp.
Members of the PAK singing protest songs.
Women members of the PAK gather in a circle and discuss important issues of Kurdish oppression and resistance. During the Women's movement in the 1970s in the United States women activists did the same thing, calling it "consciousness raising." By coming together and talking through issues Kurdish people face, the women develop stronger critiques of oppression and sharpen their opposition. These sessions also bolster education and history for group members.
In October 2022, to show solidarity with the protestors in East Kurdistan and Iran, Iranian climber Elnaz Rekabi climbed without her hijab while competing at the 2022 IFSC Climbing Asian Championships in Seoul, South Korea. After going missing for a few days following the competition, and with concerns for her safety mounting, Rekabi posted a cryptic Instagram post (which has since been taken down) with a caption explaining that she would be returning to Tehran with her team, and that climbing without her hijab was an accident. Greeted by a large crowd cheering for her at the airport, Rekabi repeated the message in her Instagram post to the crowd and press, her face downturned, voice monotone, and eyes desolate, stating that “...what happened was unintentional.”
In our research we haven’t found any news of what has happened to Rekabi since that day at the airport. Her last Instagram post was on October 21, 2022 in which she wrote, “I sincerely thank all those who came to the airport for welcoming me, I love you.” According to NPR, “The Iranian government routinely pressures activists at home and abroad, often airing what rights groups describe as coerced confessions on state television — the same cameras she addressed on her arrival back home,” reports NPR. We hope Rekabi and her family are safe.
In courageous acts of defiance and rebellion that have led to untold violence, women, femmes, trans, and queer people have publicly cut their hair (a symbol of grief as Dr. Kat Eghdamian says), and burned their headscarves, all while chanting, “Death to the dictator!” referring to the regime dictator, or Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. To this day the protests continue and show no signs of letting up with posters declaring, “Until our last breath.”
Damage to PAK headquarters from Iranian bombing.
PAK peshmerga guard the perimeter of their camp.
Damage to the Kurdistan Freedom Party headquarters from Iranian bombing.
Like Angela Davis said most succinctly at a meeting in Berlin, Germany, “Kurdish women, who have shown us the way for a very long time, and who have allowed the world to understand that there can be no liberation of human beings without liberating women, and I think we all benefit from the leadership that Kurdish women have been exercising and we must recognize and be involved in that struggle.”
Jin, Jiyan, Azadi.
PAK peshmerga holding the flag of Kurdistan and giving the hand gesture of Victory (the V sign).
*The SWANA Alliance writes, “S.W.A.N.A. is a decolonial word for the South West Asian/ North African (S.W.A.N.A.) region in place of Middle Eastern, Near Eastern, Arab World or Islamic World that have colonial, Eurocentric, and Orientalist origins and are created to conflate, contain and dehumanize our people. We use SWANA to speak to the diversity of our communities and to forward the most vulnerable in our liberation.”
For further research and education see our resource list below complete with podcasts, articles, and books that we recommend, as well as social media accounts to follow.
It's important to keep educating ourselves, family, and friends, and organizing/attending vigils and demonstrations.
Accounts to follow:
Diaspora for Iran Suggested these Podcasts:
NPR’s Throughline: The Woman Question
Kurdish Women Podcast: The Politics of Kurdish Names
Black Power Media: Iranian Activists Speak on Uprising, Murders, Arrests and Media Lies
BBC’s The Documentary Podcast: Protests in Iran
The Dig (a four part series): Iran: 1906-1941 w/ Eskandar Sadeghi & Golnar Nikpour
Articles:
What to Know About the Protests in Iran by Bindu Bansinath
Jina Amini’s Death Has Sparked a Fight for Freedom in Iran by Shadi
LGBTQI+ People are at the Forefront of Iran’s Revolution – They Should Not be Forgotten by Katayoun Jalilipour
Our History is Not Insta-Activism: on Jina, Mahsa, and the Trendification of Kurdish Feminism by Amed Yones
Twitter, Women, and Protest in Iran by Mandy Van Deven
Iranian Americans Are Not Political Pawns by Bitch Media
“Aria” Looks at Revolution through the Eyes of Children by Hillary Gerber
The Vampire Vigilante by Kamelya Youssef
War Begets Horror in “Under the Shadow” by Elizabeth King
Iraqi Kurdistan Under Attack as Iran Targets Kurdish Opposition Groups by Laura Welfringer, Sharon Gaffney, Stéphanie Cheval, and Yong Chim
Christiane Amanpour Speaks with Iran's Foreign Minister Source: CNN
The Feminist Transformation in Radical Kurdistan by Spencer Sunshine
Books to read:
The Women’s Rights Movement in Iran: Mutiny, Appeasement, and Repression from 1900 to Khomeini by Eliz Sanasarian
Women’s Activism in the Islamic Republic of Iran by Samira Ghoreishi
Populism and Feminism in Iran: Women’s Struggle in a Male-Defined Revolutionary Movement by Haideh Moghissi
Paul Trowbridge is a photographer and photojournalist who focuses on human rights, social justice, inequality, and poverty. He covers global issues with a focus on Latin America and the S.W.A.N.A. region.
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