It seems that the man of the year is a woman. In any case, this is what the famous American men’s magazine says GQ which, for its annual awards, chose to crown the influencer Kim Kardashian on its cover. On the front page of the monthly, the businesswoman poses in a suit and tie and celebrates her power in all categories by picking from a bag of junk food. Of which act. THE businesswomen are businessmen like the others. The choice of GQ is clever: a good commercial move, coupled with an editorial move, which got people talking without even causing a scandal…
Otherwise, more cheeky, in these times, would be to claim that the woman – or even the feminist – of the year is a man. However, I have available a list, unfortunately tragic, of eight brave people who could easily claim the title. Mohsen Shakeri, 22 years old; Majid Reza Rahnavard, 23 years old; Mohammad Mehdi Karami, 22 years old; Seyed Mohammad Hosseini, 39 years old; Saleh Mirhashemi, 36 years old, Sayeed Yaghoubi, 37 years old, Majid Kazemi, 30 years old, Milad Zarehvand, 22 years old. All were executed, most of them hanged, over the past twelve months by the Islamic Republic of Iran for rising up to the cry of “Women, life, freedom.” The last one no later than November 23.
Obviously, it is not a question of opposing or prioritizing the courage of the Iranian resistance fighters against that of the heroic Iranian women who, for more than a year, have been defying the macho and bloodthirsty regime of Tehran, at the cost, too, of torture or their lives. But to emphasize that they are their equals in struggle. And in the incredible endurance which, since September 16, 2022 and the death of Mahsa Amini for a poorly worn veil, has fueled an unprecedented feminist revolution. They demonstrate, once again, that men can be sisters like any other.
Iran, Ukraine, Israel-Hamas… One news chases the other, public attention slips away, forgetting that the pages are not turned at the same time as eyes are monopolized by a new uproar. Let us not forget, therefore, these women and men who have been rising up for a year and two months. “For all these empty slogans, for this imposed paradise, for the regret of an ordinary life, for dancing in the street, for the students and for the future, to feel at peace, for the sun after long nights. For freedom. For freedom. For freedom”, as the words of Baraye, the song that became an anthem of revolt. Let us not forget these brave men and women who continue to resist, despite the persevering massacre of the mullahs of Tehran.