Dear fellow poets,
On 16 September 2022, the 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini
(#MahsaAmini) was arrested and then beaten to death by Iranian
"morality police of Islamic Republic" for not wearing the hijab in
accordance with the islamic standards set by the government.
Amini's
death resulted in a series of large-scale protests in Tehran and across
the country, and even garnered a statement from the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees focusing on violence against women in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The
government's response to the protest has been brutal: the internet was
shut down and the police has opened fire on the demonstrators. Yet the
number of people protesting has grown and more and more public figures
are supporting us, in Iran and from abroad.
Indeed we can't accept to be silenced because we are #MahsaAminis’ voice.
This is not just a feminist
protest, but rather it is a protest for protecting the human rights of
everyone: women and men, girls and boys, religious and non-religious
people.
This is why I'm reaching out to you: to invite you to write poems and/or short stories about and for the Iranian people, so as to make our message stronger.
Poems and short stories will be collected and published by Fabrizio Frosini & Poets Unite Worldwide: an Anthology for
#MahsaAmini, Iran and Iranian people with the title "Women, Life, Freedom" -- it is the slogan of our movement, the Iranian women's movement against compulsory hijab.
Please, help us to make the whole world hear our voice!
Thank you very much for your help
Kind regards,
Negar