Axis of Hope: Iranian Women's Rights Activism Across Borders

Description

Political tensions between Iran and the United States in the post-9/11 period and the Global War on Terror have set the stage for Iranian women's rights activists inside and outside Iran as they seek full legal equality under the Islamic Republic. Axis of Hope recounts activists'struggles through critical analysis of their narratives, including the One Million Signatures Campaign to End Discriminatory Law, the memoirs of human rights lawyer and Nobel Prize–winner Shirin Ebadi, and the life story of feminist Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh and her activist project ZananTV. Catherine Sameh examines how Iranian women's rights activists have cultivated ways of thinking of and being with each other that rupture the relentless difference-making and violence of coloniality through local and transnational networks along axes of feminist solidarity, friendship, and love.Crucial to countering despair and cynicism about Iran as well as the dangerous interventions by Western powers “on behalf of” Iranians, activists'experiences speak to the possibilities and challenges of transnational alliances in confronting oppressive regimes. These stories are particularly germane in such precarious times, marked by war, isolation, sanctions, and the intense demonization of Iranians and Muslims, as well as authoritarianism, militarism, and patriarchal nationalisms around the world. Situating postreform women's rights activism within the unfolding, decades-long project to democratize Iran from within, Axis of Hope makes a timely contribution to studies of feminist movements, women's human rights in Muslim contexts, activism and new media, and the relationship between activism, civil society, and the state. Cover Title Copyright Dedication Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction: To Think of and Be With 1. We Sang the Songs of Equality 2. Without Those Branches, This Cannot Be a Tree 3. Human Rights Work Is an Act of Worship 4. We Have the Same Journey, but Not the Same Destiny Epilogue Appendix 1: Statement on the Occasion of the June 2009 Presidential Elections in Iran Appendix 2: Shirin Ebadi’s Nobel Lecture Notes References Index