Speaker 1: You know, show that we're in this connected world. We
Speaker 1: really are connected, and um don't let them feel like
Speaker 1: they're they're being subjected to this brutal violence on their
Speaker 1: own in one corner, and that nobody else cares. There
Speaker 1: are No Girls on the Internet. As a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and Unboss Creative. I'm Bridget Todd and
Speaker 1: this is There Are No Girls on the Internet. On
Speaker 1: September six, Massa Amini, a twenty two year old Kurdish woman,
Speaker 1: was killed in custody while visiting Tehran. She was stopped
Speaker 1: by what's known as the morality Police, or a roving
Speaker 1: group of people in Iran who police help people, mostly women,
Speaker 1: present themselves, policing everything from how head scarves are worn,
Speaker 1: their clothing, or even their makeup. Massa's death and custody
Speaker 1: sparked anger, protests and the largest uprising in Iran since
Speaker 1: two thousand nine, and it's being led by women. My
Speaker 1: name is Niggar Mortaza Vi. I am an Iranian American
Speaker 1: journalist and political commentator and hosts of the Iran Podcast,
Speaker 1: and I'm based in Washington, d C. Nagar has had
Speaker 1: an incredibly storied and accomplished career. She studied international development
Speaker 1: and worked at the u N. But in two thousand nine,
Speaker 1: after incumbent President Amadinajad declared victory in the two thousand
Speaker 1: nine presidential election, protests broke out in support of the
Speaker 1: opposition candidates Musavi and Karobi, sparking what's often called the
Speaker 1: Green Movement. The wave of protests was the largest since
Speaker 1: the Iranian Revolution in the late seventies, and it changed
Speaker 1: the entire course of Nagar's career and her life. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: it was one of those moments. Sometimes I hear about
Speaker 1: civil rights activists saying that the civil rights movements sort
Speaker 1: of changed the course of their lives. It was one
Speaker 1: of those things that changed their careers, family, everything personal
Speaker 1: and professional. And I think the Green movement was also
Speaker 1: a moment that, just like the nineteen seventy nine revolution
Speaker 1: before I was born, the two thousand nine greevement Green
Speaker 1: movement was also a turning point that changed the course
Speaker 1: of professional and personal lives of a lot of Iranians.
Speaker 1: A lot of journalists had to escape the country. There
Speaker 1: was a mass exodus of journalists and political activists after
Speaker 1: the government crackdown of protesters, and also some of us
Speaker 1: who worked abroad in the diaspora were forced into exhaust
Speaker 1: so at a professional level, also changed my life. I
Speaker 1: haven't been able to return travel back to my homeland
Speaker 1: since two thousand nine. I've been living in exile and professionally,
Speaker 1: it also sort of pulled me into this media world.
Speaker 1: So you've lived it around and you've had to deal
Speaker 1: with the morality police or the guidance police personally, what
Speaker 1: was that for you? Well? As a journalist and analyst,
Speaker 1: you know, you tend to look at things from a
Speaker 1: bird's eye view or try to report staying outside of
Speaker 1: the scene. But in this case, it's just inevitable because
Speaker 1: I was also an average citizen, a young woman living
Speaker 1: in Iran until I was about twenty twenty years ago.
Speaker 1: Now you have my age when I moved to the US,
Speaker 1: So I yes, I dealt with the morality because I
Speaker 1: was never arrested by the morality pople is. That was
Speaker 1: one of the lucky ones. But it doesn't matter if
Speaker 1: you're arrested or not. You live with this constant fear.
Speaker 1: So the morality police, actually the literal term for it
Speaker 1: is gashed air shot, which is the guidance patrol. So
Speaker 1: they're supposed to patrol. You don't know where they are
Speaker 1: exactly they patrol and any moment you can encounter them
Speaker 1: in the public spaces. So there's this constant fear. Sometimes
Speaker 1: even women walking down the street telling you should be like, oh,
Speaker 1: don't go to that cross roads. There's a there's a
Speaker 1: gash or this petrol standing their harassing moment. Essentially it's
Speaker 1: a form of public harassment over the years, and um,
Speaker 1: so it's yeah, it's it's humiliating for someone to be
Speaker 1: telling you how to dress, and in a very subjective
Speaker 1: way because it's not like a very clear code. Over
Speaker 1: the years, in different areas of the country, different local cultures,
Speaker 1: women dressed very differently, So it's very it's become very
Speaker 1: subjective based on what the specific agent at the moment deems,
Speaker 1: very humiliating, very intrusive, and also from just this fear
Speaker 1: that women constantly have. And it's not only on the
Speaker 1: way they dress, it's just it's way of the life
Speaker 1: that's being imposed with the most visible aspect of it
Speaker 1: is the mandatory hitgeob Yes, I've heard that it can
Speaker 1: be clothing, makeup. Um, these incredibly subjective things. And when
Speaker 1: I think about what's triggered the protests happening in around
Speaker 1: right now. Um, the young woman my I mean her death,
Speaker 1: or some might say her murder. Um, you know, really
Speaker 1: tapping into a kind of anger that I think we're
Speaker 1: releasing explode. Now, can you tell us a bit about
Speaker 1: what's been triggering these protests. So the initial spark for
Speaker 1: the protest was the death in custody, regardless of what
Speaker 1: the exact circumstance of the moment of God, because the
Speaker 1: state is disputing the family's narrative, the family saying she
Speaker 1: was a healthy two year old with no underlying conditions
Speaker 1: and that she was subjected to violence under arrest. The
Speaker 1: state is saying, no, she had this heart attack and
Speaker 1: we didn't commit any violence, regardless of the exact details.
Speaker 1: And I'm not a medical expert, but she died in custody.
Speaker 1: The death came in police custody with their responsibility for
Speaker 1: well being her life and for what. Now you have
Speaker 1: even some religious serrounding us, some hit Jabi women saying
Speaker 1: what exactly was wrong with the way she was dressed?
Speaker 1: Because I've seen video of her in the detention center.
Speaker 1: So now the old country knows what the whole world
Speaker 1: knows exactly how she was dressed when she was detained,
Speaker 1: and this long mon too as we call it, or
Speaker 1: just cover up. She's long scarf, you look like you're average,
Speaker 1: small tongue girl. And a lot of women seeing are
Speaker 1: seeing themselves on her. They're saying, this could have been me,
Speaker 1: this is how I dressed yesterday, so how I'm going
Speaker 1: to dress tomorrow. A lot of men are seeing their
Speaker 1: own sisters on her. I heard from this one protesters
Speaker 1: and another small town saying, my own sisters were visiting
Speaker 1: Tehran on that same day, and this is how they dress.
Speaker 1: So would they would they also be killed for the
Speaker 1: way they're dressing. So it's it's how she was dressed.
Speaker 1: It's it's this whole episode of the death and custody
Speaker 1: and essentially the morality police now is a lethal, violent
Speaker 1: force that is imposing this subjective dress good on women.
Speaker 1: That you even have some religious scholars speaking up. I
Speaker 1: guess there was a Grand Ayatola. There was a couple
Speaker 1: of religious scholars saying this is not even moral or Islamic.
Speaker 1: You're not supposed to use violence to impose a faith
Speaker 1: based value or virtue on people who don't believe in it,
Speaker 1: and some of these women are not even Muslims. There's
Speaker 1: a Christian community around, there's a Jewish community, they're visitors.
Speaker 1: Some of them are nonbelievers. You know, it's just forced
Speaker 1: on everyone. And now you have some scholars even challenging
Speaker 1: that from a religious viewpoint. You were talking about people
Speaker 1: being visitors, and that's something about this situation that really
Speaker 1: sticks with me for some reason. You know, she was
Speaker 1: just visiting Tehran, she was a guest there, and this
Speaker 1: is what happened to her. And it makes me think
Speaker 1: that a lot of the anger and emotion in the
Speaker 1: situation is because people can really see themselves and their
Speaker 1: loved ones in her story. Exactly. That's what we're hearing
Speaker 1: from a lot of protesters in Tehran, saying, I am
Speaker 1: so sorry you were visiting my city and this is
Speaker 1: how you are treated. This is how you end up
Speaker 1: a dead body in a hospital. And I also buy visitors,
Speaker 1: I mean visitors from outside the country, So tourists who
Speaker 1: are not even Muslim, they're not even on the end um,
Speaker 1: and they're forced to observe this mandatory head job. So
Speaker 1: some religious communities and some religious scholars are challenging, saying
Speaker 1: what is the logic in that. I mean nowhere in
Speaker 1: religious did I was saying? Nowhere and nowhere in the
Speaker 1: religion is specified that Muslim should use this kind of
Speaker 1: violence and forced to impose their own religious value on others.
Speaker 1: He called it irrational because he says, this is backfiring,
Speaker 1: This is achieving the exact opposite. You're driving young people
Speaker 1: away from her job, from religion. What you're trying to
Speaker 1: guide them to accept is turning into the opposite of
Speaker 1: a sudden He also called it illegal. He said, nowhere
Speaker 1: in Iranian law is specified despite the mandatory hed job,
Speaker 1: which is a discriminatory rule, but it's not specified that
Speaker 1: you're supposed to put this in the hands of the
Speaker 1: police to enforce it and treat these women. They're treating
Speaker 1: women essentially like criminals. They arrest them like criminals. They
Speaker 1: throw them in these police vans. So they're famous for
Speaker 1: having these vans that they fill up patrolling around the cities.
Speaker 1: They fill up and then they go to the station
Speaker 1: to drop them off for further quote quote guidance or
Speaker 1: training sessions. What are these training sessions? Can you tell
Speaker 1: me about those? I've never attended one, thankfully, but um
Speaker 1: so you go in there. Sometimes you have to sign
Speaker 1: a paper acknowledging your violation of the dress code and
Speaker 1: committing that you're not going to commit it again. This
Speaker 1: violation again basically goes on your record like a criminal.
Speaker 1: The training teaches you how you're supposed to dress or
Speaker 1: behave according to the dress code. There are quote unquote
Speaker 1: experts there who will be talking to you and further
Speaker 1: quote unquote guiding you. All of this is just something
Speaker 1: that is very intrusive, very humiliating, and now you even
Speaker 1: have communities of religious Hijabi women. I saw this campaign
Speaker 1: on Instagram. Hundreds of thousands of UM posts were added
Speaker 1: that said I am Hijabbi and I oppose the morality police.
Speaker 1: So essentially women who observe it themselves saying, don't do
Speaker 1: this in my name. Um. I've even heard stories of
Speaker 1: religious women being stopped by the morality police. So women
Speaker 1: who observed the job in the private of their home
Speaker 1: go outside with their own interpretation of how they're supposed
Speaker 1: to cover up, and the morality police it's not acceptable
Speaker 1: by them. So a religious woman who even believes in
Speaker 1: that when the morality police is not around in the
Speaker 1: private of their home then get stopped by them because
Speaker 1: subjectively it's not the way they want them to be.
Speaker 1: So the opposition is not just coming from the youth,
Speaker 1: is not just coming from the secular communities. It's also
Speaker 1: coming from religious communities. That's coming from multi generational women
Speaker 1: and men or women and allies and even some scholars.
Speaker 1: There was a sitting member of parliament who went on
Speaker 1: national television challenging this what are we doing? What is
Speaker 1: this kind of violence? There were a few debates on
Speaker 1: national television that were unprecedented, people going out there really
Speaker 1: criticizing both the mandatory job and the and the morality police.
Speaker 1: And then there's also very radical slogans on the street
Speaker 1: that go beyond just the mandatory police on her job
Speaker 1: iss she was targeting the entirety of the system, the
Speaker 1: political elite, the corruption, the repression, and it's just layers
Speaker 1: of grievances that have been piling up and this is
Speaker 1: on top of that. Let's say, quick break at our back. Obviously,
Speaker 1: this death and custody is what triggered these protests, but
Speaker 1: are we also seeing other kinds of frustrations, political frustrations, economic,
Speaker 1: social sort of being layered in Tell why people are
Speaker 1: so angry, definitely. So there's an economic element to this.
Speaker 1: A lot of the Irani economies and very bad shipped
Speaker 1: Iranian you don't see much prospect for themselves. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of corruption in the in the political class, a
Speaker 1: lot of mismanagement of the resources, mismanagement of the whole
Speaker 1: COVID pandemic. Add to that U S sanctions, economic and
Speaker 1: political isolation from the world that plays a very significant
Speaker 1: role in the economic situation. There's also political demands. The
Speaker 1: political space is very it's close, it's very repressive. Last
Speaker 1: year the president was elected in a very controversial election.
Speaker 1: His competition and moderate competitors were disqualified, so a lot
Speaker 1: of people see him as like a shoeing candidate in
Speaker 1: a whose path was clear to win in the election.
Speaker 1: So um, it's it's also political, it's cultural, social. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of pressure on artists, on filmmakers. Even before
Speaker 1: Master's death, filmmakers were arrested, they were pressured artists, and
Speaker 1: now we're seeing even athletes, some football players that are
Speaker 1: speaking up are getting pressured. So it's it's multi layered.
Speaker 1: For or and everyone is on the street with their
Speaker 1: own grievance, But also this collective sense of multiple layers
Speaker 1: that people have taken to the street before in previous protests.
Speaker 1: In two thousand nineteen, I wasn't mostly sparked on economic
Speaker 1: issue a hiking fuel prices. In two thousand nine, that
Speaker 1: sparked with a political issue, the contests of presidential election.
Speaker 1: But when it's met with a crack with a violent
Speaker 1: crackdown without the actual demand being addressed, so people may
Speaker 1: go back home, but then the next time they come
Speaker 1: out bringing all of those grievances and demands with them.
Speaker 1: What are some ways that the protests that we're seeing today,
Speaker 1: how are they different than some of the ones that
Speaker 1: we saw in well in two thousand nineteen, the spark
Speaker 1: was an economic issue. It was a sudden hike in
Speaker 1: fuel prices, So you saw a lot of working class
Speaker 1: Iranians whose life costs suddenly dramatically changed just because of
Speaker 1: this fuel price. UM take to the streets, and a
Speaker 1: lot of young men were centered in those protests. Also,
Speaker 1: from the number of UM deaths people who were killed
Speaker 1: in the protests and the arrest UM there was more
Speaker 1: leaning to that. The middle class also participated. It was
Speaker 1: in UM cities and UM towns, but the demographics was
Speaker 1: a little bit more leaning towards that issue. This time around,
Speaker 1: it's the sparks of women's rights issues, So you have
Speaker 1: a lot of women, young women really leading these protests
Speaker 1: or taking the um being on the front line. The
Speaker 1: symbolic images of them burning their scarf essentially or cutting
Speaker 1: their hair, which is a sign of grief, it's also
Speaker 1: a sign of defiance and resistance. UM So the visibility
Speaker 1: of women is very strong. You see a lot of
Speaker 1: middle class um Iranian joining in the protests. It's still
Speaker 1: difficult to be because there's internet disruption. There isn't easy
Speaker 1: access to the media to cover these protests, so it's
Speaker 1: hard to gauge and do a fair comparison to something
Speaker 1: that's happened in the past and we saw the images later,
Speaker 1: but this time around, I think one of the most
Speaker 1: visible differences, or just one of the most visible aspects
Speaker 1: who sees that a lot of young women are at
Speaker 1: the forefront of this and very understandably it's a woman's
Speaker 1: right to issue and it's the death of a young woman.
Speaker 1: As we know, protesting in Iran is is dangerous, it's deadly,
Speaker 1: and you know these young women are taking to the
Speaker 1: streets and by doing so, they're truly risking their lives
Speaker 1: by shoving up and the images and videos that we're seeing,
Speaker 1: you know, women shaving their heads, not just taking off
Speaker 1: their scarves, but burning them. I feel like there's such
Speaker 1: a clear, visual, visceral defiance and the way they're showing
Speaker 1: up to the streets. It certainly is Yes, and as
Speaker 1: you said, it's incredible bravery and courage that we're seeing
Speaker 1: from this young generation brusking their lives. Essentially, we've seen
Speaker 1: the number of death dozen't have been killed, the number
Speaker 1: of arrest there's a lot of women. Human rights activists
Speaker 1: are saying there's a lot of women among the death
Speaker 1: those who were killed, there's a high percentage of women
Speaker 1: among the arrests, among the journalists were arrested. A prominent
Speaker 1: female journalists, Nil Parhamadi, who went to the hospital and
Speaker 1: covered the story, was arrested along side others. Um So, yes,
Speaker 1: it's it's incredible courage and bravery and also very raw anger.
Speaker 1: Women have been fighting this mora articalies and mandatory h
Speaker 1: job for forty years. They have been pushing back individually
Speaker 1: and now there's this collective um pushback that we're seeing
Speaker 1: in the form of these protests. More after a quick break,
Speaker 1: let's get right back into it. When you think about
Speaker 1: the role that technology, the internet and other telecommunication services
Speaker 1: plays and protests, it's easy to see the ways that
Speaker 1: this is a clear tech issue. Earlier this year, the
Speaker 1: Iranian government announced a plan to use facial recognition technology
Speaker 1: on public transportation and and other public places to identify
Speaker 1: women who don't comply with very strict laws around dress
Speaker 1: and wearing headscarves. And as the protests raged, outages of
Speaker 1: internet and cellular services created a barrier for women to
Speaker 1: spread their message and connect with each other. Many took
Speaker 1: to social media platforms like TikTok and asked anyone with
Speaker 1: a platform to share their messages and amplify their voices
Speaker 1: because they couldn't reliably do so without consistent internet. And
Speaker 1: this is not the first time that internet disruptions were
Speaker 1: used at the tactic to silence protests in Iran? Why
Speaker 1: is that better tactic that the state has used during
Speaker 1: times of protests? So the state wants to minimize coverage
Speaker 1: or evidence of violence committed by security forces. When they
Speaker 1: deny it, they say it's the protesters were being violent,
Speaker 1: it's being fomented by our foreign enemies, and we have
Speaker 1: no problem with peaceful protests. So according to the Iranian
Speaker 1: law the constitution, peaceful protests without arms should be allowed
Speaker 1: in the country. But that's not the case. And there
Speaker 1: was even a conservative group, not among more of the
Speaker 1: conservative camp or the hardline camp, who requested permission for
Speaker 1: a protest against the mandatory realize and it was denied. UM.
Speaker 1: So the internet disruption and the limitations on media as
Speaker 1: far as coverage of the protests um One of them
Speaker 1: is to discourage or limit protesters from recruiting more protests
Speaker 1: or organizing more protests. The other is to limit protesters
Speaker 1: from communicating with each other, so when they're out in
Speaker 1: the protests, they won't be able to find each other
Speaker 1: and others, to prevent them from disseminating the information to
Speaker 1: the larger communities, so if you live in a city,
Speaker 1: you find that there's a protest, you can go join it.
Speaker 1: If you don't, then you can't. And also from prevents
Speaker 1: them from sending images, videos, photos, and essentially evidence UM
Speaker 1: out outside of the country to the global media, to
Speaker 1: human rights organizations. All of these are ways that go
Speaker 1: hand in hand with the suppression and the crackdown. We
Speaker 1: saw it in two thousand nineteen and near shutdown, a
Speaker 1: total blackout of internet access, social media access, and it
Speaker 1: took a while for us to understand what exactly was
Speaker 1: going on and to see it visually. UM weeks later
Speaker 1: when the citizen of eyewitnesses were able to send these
Speaker 1: images out. I I report on social media a lot,
Speaker 1: and it was really TikTok where I saw so many
Speaker 1: women in around saying, you know, our internet services have
Speaker 1: been disrupted, so please help us share this message, boost
Speaker 1: this message if you can repost this message. And I
Speaker 1: thought it was really interesting and quite savvy that that
Speaker 1: was the clear ask that these women had. They were
Speaker 1: bringing it to social media asking people to boost that
Speaker 1: message and really help amplify it because they couldn't rely
Speaker 1: on having reliable internet access or media coverage exactly. So
Speaker 1: I running protesters have actually been running citizens. The young
Speaker 1: generation have been very savvy in using Internet and social
Speaker 1: media because they have to rely on these alternative sources
Speaker 1: because there isn't much free and independent media and um
Speaker 1: access in the country. So a lot of times even
Speaker 1: for an outlet, rely on these citizen journalists on everyday
Speaker 1: um eye witnessed videos with mobile phones to document and
Speaker 1: to report on these issues and cover them. And uh,
Speaker 1: we saw it in two thousand nine. Back then Facebook
Speaker 1: was really big and to some extent Twitter, but mostly Facebook.
Speaker 1: In two thousand nineteen we also saw there's another messaging
Speaker 1: app that's very popular and around Telegram that was very big.
Speaker 1: And then this time around, I think TikTok also talks
Speaker 1: to the generation that's really protesting. It's a lot of
Speaker 1: younger Iranians. And another thing I noticed is a lot
Speaker 1: of influencers on the social media who are not necessarily Irannia,
Speaker 1: but they're being um contacted and asked or urged by
Speaker 1: the Iranian followers to speak up. And I saw some
Speaker 1: influencers who are not even political, like on cooking or lifestuff,
Speaker 1: that are speaking up and bringing light to this issue
Speaker 1: and showing solidarity. And it's it's all going back to
Speaker 1: the savviness of the population. It's also a very young
Speaker 1: population around seventy percent of the countries under the age
Speaker 1: of forty and UM so it's just very young and
Speaker 1: connected and savvy popular nation. Despite all the limits that
Speaker 1: the government is putting on Wow, that's really something to
Speaker 1: have such a young citizenry. I think it speaks to
Speaker 1: this idea of feeling like you have the right to
Speaker 1: control your future and the right to demand something better
Speaker 1: for how your life can be and how you'll be
Speaker 1: treated from your government. And even if the government erects
Speaker 1: all of these barriers, young women are still being savvy
Speaker 1: enough to go around those barriers to make their voices heard.
Speaker 1: It is, it is, and it's not just women, it's
Speaker 1: men also, But it's so much more severe for women.
Speaker 1: The discrimination and family law in occupation, even in universities, UM,
Speaker 1: in child custody in UM, the glass ceiling that is
Speaker 1: above their head in life, in their career and their
Speaker 1: personal life, and women have to just strive and and
Speaker 1: put so much more effort and more compared to their
Speaker 1: male counterparts UM to to be successful. So it's very frustrating,
Speaker 1: and uh, it's very understandable that there's just so many
Speaker 1: multiple layers of anger that we're seeing outpouring on the streets,
Speaker 1: not just by women, but also there are men and alas. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean something that you that you talked about earlier.
Speaker 1: It's this idea of treating women like criminals just for
Speaker 1: being I mean not even I was gonna say, just
Speaker 1: for being outside of their home, but not even that right.
Speaker 1: And so I do think there's something about how difficult
Speaker 1: that makes it to participate in public life as a
Speaker 1: woman or a girl. If you, if you, if you
Speaker 1: can be treated this way just for existing, just for
Speaker 1: showing up, it's an incredible barrier just for being able
Speaker 1: to just to to live a life. Indeed, yes, it
Speaker 1: is a lot of women are essentially saying, in many
Speaker 1: cases we feel like second class citizens. The discrimination is
Speaker 1: just so suffocating. Um. There's also a vibrant movement women
Speaker 1: have been pushing back, demanding their rights, and they've made
Speaker 1: a lot of successes. And it's not just in recent years.
Speaker 1: It's been a century, a hundred years of their striving,
Speaker 1: from the Constitutional Revolution, through the seventy nine Revolution, through
Speaker 1: the Reformed days, and until today that women have been
Speaker 1: pushing they've made some successes. Um. But there's also this
Speaker 1: pool and push there's a pushback from not just the state,
Speaker 1: but also the foundations of patriarchy. This is not all
Speaker 1: necessarily wo did in religion. There's also that foundation of patriarchy.
Speaker 1: You sometimes even see it amongst secular Iranians and the traditions,
Speaker 1: and then combined it with this religious layer in the
Speaker 1: Islamic Republic. Obviously it takes UM a lot of its
Speaker 1: uh foundations and religions. So it's it's something that women
Speaker 1: have been pushing back and globally. It's not just the
Speaker 1: women in Iran or in the Middle East, UM, but
Speaker 1: it's something that I'm just in awe of the bravery
Speaker 1: and the courage of these young women in Iran. I'm
Speaker 1: so glad that you're mentioning how all of this is global.
Speaker 1: I feel like we're seeing women led protests and movements
Speaker 1: all over the world, in the Middle East, in the
Speaker 1: United States, in the global South, And I wonder, how
Speaker 1: can we make sure that we're really being in solidarity
Speaker 1: with each other and learning from each other and supporting
Speaker 1: each other in what we know is this global movement
Speaker 1: led by fed up, angry women. How can we keep
Speaker 1: these conversations rooted in global solidarity. Well, yes, it's very
Speaker 1: important to not lose sight of the fact that this
Speaker 1: is a global and historical fight. It's happening in different
Speaker 1: shapes and forms across the world. In each community, different
Speaker 1: issues are in the spotlight. Of course, we don't want
Speaker 1: to minimize the kind of violence and the severity of
Speaker 1: some of these issues that around women are dealing with,
Speaker 1: or the fact that massa man he died because of
Speaker 1: the way she was dressed, because of the vials of
Speaker 1: the morality police. But in different on different levels and
Speaker 1: different shapes and forms, women are dealing with this issue
Speaker 1: across the world. Here in the U S it's reproductive
Speaker 1: rights that's taking center side these days, and across the
Speaker 1: Global South, the Global North, different issues for minorities, for
Speaker 1: the majority of women. UM in this intersectionality of all
Speaker 1: of these issues that we're talking so, I think it's important.
Speaker 1: And Irunian women are also receiving a lot of messages
Speaker 1: of solidarity and sisterhood from some of their neighbor and countries.
Speaker 1: I've seen Turkish women joining, I've seen messages from Arab
Speaker 1: women in solidarity and also from not the region, from
Speaker 1: from the global UM collection of women activists, artists, celebrities, actors, athletes.
Speaker 1: It's just been an outpouring of support and solidarity, and
Speaker 1: I think that's something that UM gives a lot of
Speaker 1: hope and encouragement to them. Absolutely, if for folks who
Speaker 1: are listening. What can people do to help support? Are
Speaker 1: their causes people should be looking to donate to. How
Speaker 1: can books get involved? Okay, well, I would say listen
Speaker 1: to a lot of the voices from inside Iron. It's
Speaker 1: a grassroots movement, it's an indigenous movement, and a lot
Speaker 1: of women inside the country are risking their lives as
Speaker 1: we spoke, UM pushing for this issue. Try to echo
Speaker 1: their voices, share information about these issues, show solidarity, use
Speaker 1: the hashtags or as I Roundian women are saying, say
Speaker 1: her name Massa Mini. That's been one of the slogans.
Speaker 1: One of the other slogans was woman Life Freedom. It's
Speaker 1: I think such a progressive and forward looking and and
Speaker 1: all income passing slogan, women Life Freedom. Zan zendegi azadi.
Speaker 1: Um just you know, repeat this chance, use the hashtags,
Speaker 1: share the stories, show solidarity. If you have Ronnie in friends,
Speaker 1: talk to them, see if they need support. Here the stories, um,
Speaker 1: just you know, show that we're in this connected world.
Speaker 1: We really are connected, and UM, don't let them feel
Speaker 1: like they're they're being subjective to this brutal violence on
Speaker 1: their own in one corner and that nobody else cares.
Speaker 1: You know, you're doing such an incredible job of curating
Speaker 1: these conversations about life and Iran and the cultural and
Speaker 1: political aspects of the of the country. Where can folks?
Speaker 1: Can you tell us about the podcast and how folks
Speaker 1: can listen to it? Sure? So, the irun Podcast started
Speaker 1: over two years ago as a pandemic podcast. It's a
Speaker 1: weekly interview style conversation on Iranian politics, society, culture. We
Speaker 1: talk about these issues, women's rights, human rights. UH and
Speaker 1: we try to go beyond just your average, UM five
Speaker 1: minute mainstream media segments which mostly is about the nuclear
Speaker 1: program and the nuclear issue, and try to bring in
Speaker 1: feature experts that know so much about their field. Also
Speaker 1: you don't necessarily see them as the your everyday commentator
Speaker 1: on mainstream media. UM and Yes, so the podcast is
Speaker 1: available on major platforms Apple, Spotify, Google, cast Box. I
Speaker 1: think around ten or twelve platforms. UM. It's also available
Speaker 1: on Anchor, dot fm, slash the Iran Podcast. That's the
Speaker 1: main link where they can go and seal the platforms
Speaker 1: that's available, or just search the Iran Podcast on their
Speaker 1: favorite podcast app. I'm also very active on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Nigo Mortazavi, where I share all of my interviews, a
Speaker 1: lot of the information and also podcast episodes so UM
Speaker 1: and just also great outlets that are covering the news
Speaker 1: in Persian and also in English. UM and some organizations
Speaker 1: and NGO as an activists that are trying to bring
Speaker 1: this issue and keep the reporting alive in the global stage.
Speaker 1: I am in complete all of the bravery of these
Speaker 1: women risking their lives to fight for change in Iran
Speaker 1: and Irani and women deserve to be heard. So let's
Speaker 1: keep sharing their stories and amplifying their voices because solidarity
Speaker 1: is global and their voices are powerful. If you're looking
Speaker 1: for ways to support the show, check out our mark
Speaker 1: store at tangodi dot com slash Store. Got a story
Speaker 1: about an interesting thing in tech, or just want to
Speaker 1: say hi, You can reach us at Hello at tangodi
Speaker 1: dot com. You can also find transcripts for today's episode
Speaker 1: at tangdi dot com. There Are No Girls on the
Speaker 1: Internet was created by me Bridget Toad. It's a production
Speaker 1: of iHeart Radio and Unboss Creative, edited by Joey Pat
Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland as our executive producer. Terry Harrison is our
Speaker 1: producer and sound engineer. Michael Amato is our contributing producer,
Speaker 1: I'm your host, bridget Toad. If you want to help
Speaker 1: us grow, rate and review us on Apple podcasts. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from I heeart Radio, check out the iHeart
Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts