Iran: Women, Life, Freedom

On September 13th of last year, 22-year-old Jina “Mahsa” Amini was arrested by Iran's morality police for violating its strict Islamic dress code. She was allegedly severely beaten and died three days later while still in police custody. This triggered protests across the nation led primarily by women who tore off their hijabs, cut their hair and adopted a rallying cry of “women, life, freedom.” Today, a full 125 days later, we take a closer look at this protest, the Iranian government’s response, and its implications for Canada, and the rest of the world. Our first guest, Professor Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi from the University of Toronto, will get us up to speed on the protests, the second guest, Lily Pourzand, will highlight the role of women in this ongoing struggle, and finally, Professor Ali Dizboni will shed a light on the broader security perspective.  

Guests: 

Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi is Professor of Historical Studies, History, and Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto. He was the founding Chair of the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Toronto-Mississauga (2004-07) and has served as President of the International Society for Iranian Studies (2008-10). He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Iran Namag, a bilingual quarterly of Iranian Studies, and is the co-editor of the Iranian Studies book series published by Routledge.

Lily Pourzand is the Director of Program at Sandgate Women’s Shelter York Region and is a Social Services leader with over a decade of leadership practices in the Violence Against Women’s sector. She is known as an expert in gender-based violence, intersectionality, inclusivity and accessibility.

Ali Ghanbarpour-Dizboni is an Associate professor in the Department of Political Science and Economics at the Royal Military College of Canada and the Chair for the Military and Strategic Studies Programme. He is Associate Researcher Fellow with the Centre for International and Defence Policy (Queens’ University), the Inter-University Consortium for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (McGill University), the Chaire Raoul-Dandurand (Université du Québec à Montréal) and the Centre d’expertise et de formation sur les intégrismes religieux, les idéologies politiques et la radicalisation (CEFIR). His areas of teaching include Middle East politics, international relations, security and strategic studies.

Producers:

Nikoo Tajdolat - Junior Producer

Ibtesaam Moosa - Junior Producer

Connor Fraser - Executive Producer