#Sing4Freedom marked the one year anniversary of the murder of Mahsa Jina Amini and the start of the Woman, Life, Freedom revolution in Iran on Saturday 16th September, Piccadilly Circus, London
The global fight for women’s rights and freedom took centre stage as prominent women’s rights organisation One Law For All and the feminist liberation charity FiLiA again joined forces to stand in solidarity with our Iranian sisters, and to call for an end to the Islamic regime of Iran. The #Sing4Freedom initiative, an integral part of the ground-breaking Hair4Freedom campaign initiated in November 2022, and the subsequent Dance4Freedom campaign in April 2023, set to inspire and mobilise women across the UK and world.
Women gathered to sing the Equality Song which has become a rallying cry for protestors in Iran; the singing was led by activist Faranak Heidari and Body-artist Victoria Gugenheim. Lyrics and translations of the Equality Song were made available in both English and Persian. Notably, the song gained international attention in 2018 when three unveiled women’s rights advocates sang it in the Tehran metro to mark International Women’s Day.
The event was covered extensively by media outlets:
Activists in Europe mark the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death in police custody in Iran, AP, 16 September 2023
Also on Toronto Star, CP24, Euronews, National Post, Newslooks, Newsjax, Taiwan News, amongst others. Namazie was also interviewed live by Steve Holden of LBC Radio. A section of the interview can be found here at 1:50:03.
See coverage by AP:
The #Sing4Freedom protest aimed to amplify the voices of those who will not be silenced, bringing attention to the daily inhumane treatment faced by the women and people in Iran.
Photos courtesy of Junia Papamacariou
Photos credit: Raha Farvadin
Other photos:
Freya Papworth’s speech at the event:
About One Law For All
One Law For All is a prominent women’s rights organisation. Through dynamic campaigns and powerful initiatives, they oppose religious laws and theocracy that discriminate against and encourage violence against women and strive for women’s rights, equality and secular societies.
About FiLiA
FiLiA is a feminist liberation charity committed to amplifying the voices of women less heard, defending women’s rights globally, and building sisterhood and solidarity.
Together, we sing. Together, we stand. Together, we rise.
Social media hashtags: #Sing4Freedom #Hair4Freedom #Dance4Freedom
Comments For Use:
Maryam Namazie – Spokeswoman for One Law For All @MaryamNamazie
In Iran, women are banned from showing their hair, singing or dancing in public, hence why so many women and girls have been doing just that during the Mahsa Jina Amini revolution in Iran. They are also barred from working, studying and travelling without their male guardian’s permission. Women’s testimony is worth half that of a man’s; she gets half the inheritance men do, and women have to sit at the back of a bus and use separate entrances. It’s a system of apartheid, no different from race apartheid, but one based on sex. It’s no wonder that women and girls are leading the fight back. Their message has reverberated across the world: we don’t want an Islamic regime; we don’t want a misogynist state. In a country where the state controls all of society via its suppression and control of women, it is fitting that it is the women – and young girls – who are bringing the Islamic regime to its knees. We see it as the historical task of women everywhere to defend the Jina revolution. Our revolution.
Freya Papworth – Spokeswoman for FiLiA Charity campaigns@filia.org.uk
The past few years have seen a brutal crackdown on women’s rights around the world, with the clock ticking backwards as hard won freedoms have been removed either with the swipe of a pen or with brutality reminiscent of a dystopian novel. Women are under sustained and increasingly violent attacks and so we stand with our sisters in Iran who are fighting back, against such high odds. I am proud of our sustained protests throughout the last year which have seen hundreds of women cut their hair and dance, and I hope many more will join us on the 16th April both in person and at home on social media.
Useful Links:
Video of Hair4Freedom protest 2022
Podcast episode with Maryam and Freya
Previous Protests by One Law For All and FiLiA
Hair4Freedom
The first #4Freedom joint action, #Hair4Freedom saw women queuing up for over an hour to cut their hair, a symbol of the women led revolution, to the sound of drumming, chanting and singing. Our action was broadcast around the world on: Daily Telegraph Australia, VOA, ABC News, Cyprus Mail, Alein Farsi, Independent Persian, Kayhan London, VOA 365, Sri Lanka News, Yahoo, Reuters and others. Attempts were made to throw the gathered hair on the regime’s embassy in London. Activists were prevented from doing so because the police said ‘it would distress the embassy personnel’.
#Dance4Freedom
On April 29th 2023 women again gathered to learn and perform an Iranian dance set to the protest song Girls of the Land of the Sun. This action was in solidarity with the women’s revolution in Iran via protest dance. The dance-in was for 45 minutes, symbolic of the time it took for morality police to call an ambulance after Mahsa Jina Amini collapsed in detention.