Social media videos of women riding motorbike and dancing in the streets in the Islamic Republic have gone viral. But after war, and the crushing of the ‘Women, life, freedom’ movement what is life really like? Deepa Parent reports
In recent months videos of women in Iran riding motorbikes, dancing in the streets, and defying mandatory hijab laws have been popping up across social media. It seems that three years after the ‘Women, life, freedom’ movement swept across the country, women’s lives have been transformed. But is this the real picture?
Photographer Kiana Hyeri recently visited for the first time in three years. She says she was amazed at the number of women in Tehran, the country’s capital, with bare heads and crop tops. Especially because the protest movement sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman, picked up by the morality police for infractions of the hijab law had been so brutally repressed.
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© Photograph: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
Choosing to bring intentionality to our speech challenges our tendency to abandon and disconnect from those we do not agree with
Making sense of it is a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday life
When it comes to difficult conversations, I have a way to go. I often swing between hyper-assertiveness and retreating entirely, but both avoid vulnerability. I often tell myself silence is “skilful”, though it can easily turn into passive aggression. And avoidance has consequences – not speaking out of fear can create distance and irreparable damage to relationships and communities.
As the Buddhist activist-scholar bell hooks says: “to know love we have to tell the truth to ourselves and to others … Commitment to truth telling lays the groundwork for the openness and honesty that is the heartbeat of love.” That, to me, is the kind of love I aspire to, even if I often miss the mark.
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© Composite: Getty Images
© Composite: Getty Images
© Composite: Getty Images
There’s a lot of pressure to make a splash, but you can create beautiful festive decor on a budget – just ask the people who do it all year round
It has been Christmas in the retail world for weeks but most of us are only now getting the decorations out at home. How can you reuse and recycle what you already have to create the perfect festive feel? Shop window-dressers – or visual merchandisers, as they are also known – share their tips for capturing the magic of the most wonderful time of the year.
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© Composite: Guardian Design; Irina Shilnikova;Liudmila Chernetska;Issarawat Tattong;hudiemm/ Getty Images
© Composite: Guardian Design; Irina Shilnikova;Liudmila Chernetska;Issarawat Tattong;hudiemm/ Getty Images
© Composite: Guardian Design; Irina Shilnikova;Liudmila Chernetska;Issarawat Tattong;hudiemm/ Getty Images
The comedians on their first meeting, pissing each other off, and a shared obsession with Pride and Prejudice
Born in London in 1982, Cariad Lloyd is a comedian, actor and podcaster. She met comedian and musician Rachel Parris, born in Leicester in 1984, through improv comedy. Along with six other comedians, they formed Austentatious. The show is an improvised Jane Austen novel, based on an audience’s suggestion for a title, and is currently on at the Vaudeville theatre in London. Beyond their stage work, Cariad hosts the podcast Griefcast and is a co-host on Weirdos Book Club and Rachel worked on The Mash Report and publishes Introducing Mrs Collins: A Pride and Prejudice Novel on 6 November.
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© Photograph: Pål Hansen/The Guardian
© Photograph: Pål Hansen/The Guardian
© Photograph: Pål Hansen/The Guardian
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