Category: Notes
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World Hijab Day and the Political Alchemy of Turning Coercion into Choice
Maryam Namazie French: La Journée mondiale du hijab et l’alchimie politique qui transforme la coercition en choix Every year on 1 February, World Hijab Day invites women, primarily those whose refusal carries no consequence, to wear a hijab for a day. This invitation is framed as empathy: an opportunity to understand and affirm tolerance. In…
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Iran: On Power, Inheritance, and the Disciplining of Women’s Bodies
Iran: On Power, Inheritance, and the Disciplining of Women’s Bodies, The Freethinker, 25 January 2026 Farsi: ایران: دربارهٔ قدرت، حکومت موروثی، و کنترل بدنهای زنان This essay responds to critics of my 12 January 2026 Freethinker article Neither turban nor crown but Woman, Life, Freedom and of the FEMEN topless protest in Paris, during which photos of Ali Khamenei and Reza…
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After 100 years of dictatorship, people in Iran have a right to decide their own fate, Interview with Times Radio
This is an edited transcript of Rod Liddle’s interview with Maryam Namazie on Iran protests, Times Radio, 17 January 2026 Persian Translation: مصاحبه با رادیو تایمز: پس از ۱۰۰ سال دیکتاتوری، مردم ایران حق دارند سرنوشت خود را تعیین کنند Rod Liddle: The uprising or revolution whatever you want to call it in Iran seems…
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Iran: The generation that broke faith with theocracy
First published by the National Secular Society. British-Iranian secularist and human rights activist Maryam Namazie explains why the Iran protests are different this time – and why young Iranians are embracing secularism. The people of Iran are in open revolt. Since late December 2025, protests have erupted across the country in 73 cities. They rapidly…
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Neither turban nor crown but Woman, Life, Freedom
Persian: نه به عمامه و نه به تاج French: Ni turban ni couronne, mais Femme, Vie, Liberté Italian: Né turbante, né corona, ma Donna, Vita, Libertà Greek: Ιράν: Ούτε τουρμπάνι ούτε στέμμα! Ούτε κληρικός ούτε βασιλιάς! Γυναίκα, Ζωή, Ελευθερία Russian: Ни тюрбана, ни короны – Женщина, жизнь, свобода! A new nationwide wave of protest has…
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On Israel, Hamas, and Refusing the Binary
Reflections on the 2025 FiLiA Conference and Fringe Event Controversy On Israel, Hamas and Refusing the Binary, first published in The Freethinker on 9 December 2025 In French: Israël, le Hamas et le refus du binaire, Entre les lignes entre les mots Maryam Namazie spoke about the undoubted harm that militaristic, Islamic organisations such as…
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Abortion and Bodily Autonomy: Restriction, Repression, and Feminist Fightback
This is the amended text of a speech given by me at the International Conference on Science for Choice, held in Split, Croatia, on 27 September 2025. I spoke in place of Ibtissame Betty Lachgar, who has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison in Morocco for wearing, in London, a t-shirt stating…
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For Mahsa Jina Amini and Woman, Life, Freedom: Summoning an Age of Humanity in an Age of Hate
This is the slightly amended text of a speech given on 14 September 2025 at a commemorative event for Mahsa Jina Amini in London organised by Jiyan Women’s Assembly. It was first published in The Freethinker on 16 September 2025. We live in what feels like the worst of times, an Age of Hate that conspires against…
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La liberté d’expression prend vie là où le délit commence : pour la défense d’Ibtissame Betty Lachgar
Maryam Namazie L’article a été publié en anglais dans The Freethinker. La liberté d’expression prend vie là où commence le délit. Offenser c’est mettre en question les certitudes, dépouiller le sacré de ses privilèges, et de se moquer de la peur et des menaces. Une société qui bannit l’offense bannit la pensée elle-même. Le Maroc…
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Freedom of expression lives where offence begins: In defence of Ibtissame Betty Lachgar
By Maryam Namazie Published 3 September in The Freethinker IN FRENCH: La liberté d’expression prend vie là où le délit commence : pour la défense d’Ibtissame Betty Lachgar Freedom of expression lives where offence begins. To offend is to question certainty, to strip the sacred of its privilege, and to laugh in the face of…
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It is time to recognise sex apartheid as a crime against humanity
It is time to recognize sex apartheid as a crime against humanity, The Freethinker, 21 March 2025 The 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women is taking place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 11 to 22 March 2025. The main focus is an appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and…
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No Hijab Day, 1 February: Confronting Misogyny
Read full piece in The Freethinker. As a challenge to World Hijab Day on 1 February, No Hijab Day aims to confront the dominant narrative that packages the hijab as aAs a challenge to World Hijab Day on 1 February, No Hijab Day aims to confront the dominant narrative that packages the hijab as a symbol of women’s ‘empowerment’…