Destroy the patriarchy!

Six months after the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, Iranian protests have been firmly suppressed by extreme state violence. That is not to say they are over: currently, hundreds of Iranians continue to protest at the risk of their lives. Baluchistan, a marginalized province in the country’s southeast, is currently at the forefront of the protests.

Iranian protesters called for global solidarity actions. The Groningen Feminist Network responded. With support from Het Actiefonds they created a banner for their solidarity march last October, during which three Iranian women and queers spoke about their experiences of oppression in the Islamic Republic.

But patriarchy is by no means limited to Iran. The University of Groningen also continues to struggle with institutional exclusion of women and queers. The university fired Associate Professor Susanne Täuber on International Women’s Day for repeatedly speaking out critically about gender discrimination at the university. Under the hashtag #AmINext, RUG students and staff expressed their concerns about a university that fires people as soon as they denounce power inequality.

Sepideh Yousefzadeh Faal Daghati is associate professor of intersectional wellbeing and decoloniality at Campus Fryslân. She explicitly made the connection between Iran and the RUG in a recent open letter: “What happened to Susanne reminded me of the fear and threats faced by academics in Iran. Susanne Täuber named the structural challenges and struggles with gender and hierarchy at our university. This should not happen to her.”

Het Actiefonds also supported the March 8 Feminist Strike in which Täuber announced her resignation to protesters. The patriarchy must be torn down! From Tehran to Groningen!