Women, Life, Freedom – Tara Nugent, St Catherines School Twikenham

[ Avisa ] (not her real name) is a 23 year old young Iranian woman living in the UK, currently championing and driving action for the women of Iran and is at the centre of the Women, Life, Freedom movement in London. I interviewed her about her current work in supporting the campaign here in London. 

What inspires you to be so involved in these rallies in London?

I am Iranian myself. I have family in Iran and I am doing this for them and in solidarity with Iranian women and girls who are courageously demonstrating peacefully for their fundamental human rights. If I have freedom living in England, why shouldn’t they? We shouldn’t still be fighting for fundamental human rights in 2023, but here we are, so I am going to fight for the life and freedom of women from my homeland.

How important is it that, just because you aren’t Iranian or in Iran, you still educate and involve yourself in these demonstrations?

It is so incredibly important. The Iranian government may begin to listen if they realise there are pressures from other countries. For the people in Iran at the moment, living through this horrible time, seeing that there is advocacy and support from people around the world will be a major boost to their own hope for change. The change in Iran will happen from the inside, but the rest of the world is watching and we need to unify action with the global platforms available.

What would you like to see from the UK in support of this movement?

Education is extremely important. People need to be told about what’s going on. It is not shown enough on any platform. In my view the UK needs to shut down the Iranian embassy and stop trading with them overall and deny them access to things in the UK, and other countries should do the same. As an individual, spreading information and advocating for the cause is a good first step. If you can, join the rallies that are currently happening in London, the next one is on 29th April. Even just showing that you support the cause means a lot to us.

[ Darya ](not her real name) is a 17 year old girl currently living in Iran. I asked her some questions about how the current situation in Iran is affecting her day to day life.

What’s it like being a teenage girl living in Iran during this time?

Girls in Iran do not have comfort or security. In Iran, girls are required to wear a hijab until the ‘age of duty’ which is about 8 or 9 years old. Iranian girls have no freedom. We are very brave. 

Would you want the monarchy in Iran to return? Do you think this would put things back to the way they were? 

We Iranians hope that the monarchy will return because with this economic situation that the mullahs have created for us, there is a lot of suffering. Prices are increasing every day, and many people don’t have jobs or any money. People are also thinking about emigration in one way or another, and some are waiting for the monarchy to return, hoping this means they’ll be able to live the way they used to.

It was really eye-opening to hear directly from both of these women, and how the current situation and movement has affected them. I think people across the world have been really moved by the bravery of the women in Iran and elsewhere fighting for a better future.