Just as forced motherhood is female enslavement, so is forced veiling in the mandatory hijab that females in Iran must wear starting at age 9 according to its capitalist theocracy. An improper hijab, or having her hair partially uncovered, had cost Mahsa Jina Amini her young life at the hands of Iran’s morality police. This outrageous state murder provoked the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising in mid-September 2022. The furious rebellion lasted for almost half a year. Throngs of women, joined by crowds of men, danced around huge bonfires burning the hated hijab, with many women cutting their hair in protest. This was supported by people worldwide who saw it as a clarion call against all the vicious ways women are oppressed everywhere. But more, the uprising became a symbol of the cry of oppressed humanity.

Iran’s reactionary mullah regime took revenge during and after the uprising—with mass and also targeted arrests, imprisonment, torture and executions of protesters, officially and unofficially. Artists who stood with the Woman, Life, Freedom uprising are being jailed such as Toomaj Salehi and now even the 2023 Grammy winner of the protest song “Baraye,” Shervin Hajipour. 

As with the fight over abortion rights, women in Iran have fought against control of their lives and bodies in the draconian enforcement of hijab laws. Iran is the religious fascist handmaid’s tale society that their counterparts are fighting to enforce in this country with Trump’s MAGA rule and mobs. 

But what stands out about Iran is not simply the unbearable degradation and brutality towards women that exists on every corner of our planet today. What stands out is the decades of persistent and fierce defiance, especially by masses of women. And nowhere does this shine more brightly than the heroism of over 100 women political prisoners, many imprisoned for being hijab rebels. These brave sisters go up against great odds and take great risks to stand in the forefront of fighting a patriarchal and misogynistic regime and society. 

Women in Iran have been revolting repeatedly for over 45 years, a struggle that predates the rise of the Islamic Republic. The fury of women was part of toppling the CIA-installed US puppet Shah of Iran in 1979. People who sacrifice so much for a better world deserve to know the real way out.

I want to share part of a statement by the CPIMLM or Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist. They are followers of revolutionary leader Bob Avakian, and are working to apply his new communism to making revolution in Iran. Their statement is titled March 8, the Global Day of Preparation for Revolution and Nothing Less! 

During these 45 years, women's resistance had high points, such as the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising. But resistance has not been able to go over to a revolution to overthrow the Islamic regime. The question is, how long are we going to merely rebel against the conditions of enslavement? As we know, the most that these rebellions can achieve is to shake the slave chains, not break them. The need for revolution is crying out. 

In unity with this International Women’s Day, our Emergency Appeal to Free Iran’s political prisoners is more relevant than ever: 

The governments of the U.S. and Iran act from their national interests. And, in this instance, we the people of the U.S. and Iran, along with the people of the world, have OUR shared interests, as part of getting to a better world: to unite to defend the political prisoners of Iran. In the U.S., we have a special responsibility to unite very broadly against this vile repression by the Islamic Republic, and to actively oppose any war moves by the U.S. government that would bring even more unbearable suffering to the people of Iran.

We demand of the Islamic Republic of Iran: FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW!

We say to the U.S government: NO THREATS OR WAR MOVES AGAINST IRAN, LIFT U.S. SANCTIONS!

The fury of our sisters inside Iran’s prisons, like women all over Iran and across our planet, must be unleashed as part and parcel of a mighty force to finally break all the chains of enslavement and oppression.