The courageous gesture of the Iranian national football team is being rightfully applauded.
Brave as it was, it is important to recognise the gesture of the Iranian footballers at the FIFA World Cup as a supporting act to the fearless call of the women of their country for jin, jiyan, azadi (woman, life, freedom).
By: Editorial
Updated: November 23, 2022 7:38:08 am
In a country where the woman’s voice has systematically been subdued, and forced to submit to the diktats of regimes in power, the undeterred and fearless protests by Iranian women for basic rights and for civil and economic reforms are now being amplified by their countrymen, through words, companionship, and sometimes, with silence. At the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha, Qatar, on Monday, ahead of their opening match against England, the Iranian football team made their silence count. They stood quietly during the playing of the Iranian national anthem, in an apparent show of solidarity with the ongoing human-rights protests in Iran that began after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini at the hands of the government’s morality police in September, over an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s dress code for women. The escalating protests, one of the longest in over a decade in Iran, have been met with a brutal crackdown by the government that has resulted in the arrest, death and maiming of hundreds of civilians, especially the youth.
The courageous gesture of the Iranian national football team is being rightfully applauded. But the sporting arena has long been a stage for upholding demands for human rights, even if sponsorship clauses and potential sporting sanctions have made such shows of support isolated events. In 1966, at the height of the Vietnam War, boxing legend Muhammad Ali’s refusal to be conscripted to the US Army as a conscientious objector had cost him his titles and licence to box in the US. Be it the Black Power Salute at the 1968 Summer Olympics by African-American athletes, gold medallist Tommie Smith and bronze medalist John Carlos, or Brazilian football legend Socrates demanding democratic elections in his country, there are instances of sportsmen standing up for justice. In the last decade, social media has amplified such messages, turning what would otherwise be singular incidents into full-fledged global movements. This was evident with the Black Lives Matter movement that started with American football player Colin Kaepernick taking a knee to highlight police atrocities and racial injustice in the US. So powerful was the gesture that the International Olympic Committee allowed athletes to take a knee at last year’s Olympics and even on Monday, England players took a knee before their World Cup match against Iran.
Brave as it was, it is important to recognise the gesture of the Iranian footballers as a supporting act to the fearless call of the women of their country for jin, jiyan, azadi (woman, life, freedom). The present movement is a culmination of years of rage and deprivation, of the infringement on women’s independent thought and choice. Despite the heavy burden they bear, Iran’s women have continued to find ways to rebel against the gender bigotry and the curtailment of human rights that begins but does not end with them, choosing to be survivors standing up to powerful men rather than giving in to archaic demands for conformity.
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