For Women, Life, Freedom
For Change from Below and Within Iran
Statement in Support of the Charter of Iran’s Independent Labor and Civic Organizations
We welcome the charter issued by 20 independent labor and other civil society organizations that have been at the forefront of progressive campaigns and struggles in Iran. Emanating from the Women, Life, Freedom protests in the streets, workplaces, schools and universities, this charter proposes a set of minimum demands around which a widespread and ongoing struggle for a shared, democratic and just future for all Iranians can be organized. The main demands of this charter include the release of all political prisoners, the abolition of the death penalty, the separation of religion from the state, gender equality, abolishing discrimination and oppression based on nationality and religion, radical democracy, the normalization of relations with the world, and social and environmental justice. We welcome this charter, because we strongly believe that fundamental change can only come from grassroots organizations, campaigns and struggles from within Iran.
Signatories:
- Kaveh Abbasian – Lecturer in Film and Media Practice, University of Kent
- Ervand Abrahamian – Professor Emeritus of History, City University of New York
- Janet Afary – Professor of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara
- Frieda Afary – Author, librarian and translator
- Daniel Ahadi – Senior Lecturer in Communication, Simon Fraser University
- Azadeh Akbari, Assistant Professor in Public Administration & Digital Transformation, University of Twente
- Sharareh Akhavan – Associate Professor of Public Health Sciences, Gavle University
- Nida Alahmad – Lecturer in Politics and International Relations of the Middle East, University of Edinburgh
- Kazem Alamdari – Professor of Sociology, State University of California
- Camron Michael Amin – Professor and Coordinator of Middle East Studies Certificate Program, University of Michigan-Dearborn
- Tara Asgarilaleh – PhD Candidate in Sociology, University of Cambridge
- Mohammad Ataie – Junior Research Fellow in Middle East Studies, Brandeis University
- Farshid Baghai – Associate Professor of Philosophy, Villanova University
- Narges Bajoghli – Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, Johns Hopkins University
- Ali Banuazizi – Research Professor of Political Science, Boston College
- Asef Bayat – Professor of Sociology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
- Sohrab Behdad – Professor of Economics, Denison University
- Sam Behseta – Fellow of the American Statistical Association and Director of the Center for Computational and Applied Mathematics (CCAM), California State University
- Alireza Behtoui – Professor of Sociology, Södertörn University, Sweden
- Houri Berberian – Professor of History, University of California, Irvine
- Amin Bozorgiyan – Phd Candidate in Anthropology, University of Côté d’azur
- Hamid Dabashi – Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
- Aghil Daghagheleh – PhD candidate in Sociology, Rutgers University
- Arash Davari – Assistant Professor, Political Science, University of Minnesota
- Alireza Doostdar – Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and the Anthropology of Religion, Divinity School and the College, The University of Chicago
- Kaveh Ehsani – Associate Professor of International Studies, DePaul University
- Simin Fadaee – Senior Lecturer in Sociology, the University of Manchester
- Fataneh Farahani – Professor in Ethnology, Stockholm University
- Iman Ganji – Independent Researcher, Performance and Theatre Studies, FU Berlin
- Halleh Ghorashi – Professor of Sociology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Manu Goswami – Department of History, New York University
- James Gustafson – Associate Professor in History, Indiana State University
- Rooh Haghshenas – PhD Candidate in Philosophy, University of Tennessee
- Nader Hashemi – Associate Professor of Politics and Director of the Center for Middle East Studies, University of Denver
- Shabnam Holliday – Associate Professor in International Relations, University of Plymouth
- Reza Hadisi – Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto
- Taraneh Hemami – Assistant Professor of Critical Ethnic Studies, California College of the Arts
- Homa Hoodfar – Professor Emerita of Anthropology, Concordia University
- Elham Hoominfar, Assistant Professor of Instruction, Northwestern University
- Najib Hourani – Associate Professor of Anthropology, Global Urban Studies Program, Michigan State University
- Peyman Jafari – Assistant Professor of History, The College of William and Mary
- Bita Jamalpour – Independent Researcher of Urban and Regional Planning, Vancouver
- Dorna Javan – Adjunct Professor and PhD Candidate in Political Science, Science Po Lyon
- Rebecca Jordan-Young – Ann Whitney Olin Professor Chair, Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies, Barnard College
- Hadi Kahalzadeh – Ph.D. Candidate in Social Policy, Brandeis University
- Persis Karim – professor of English & Comparative Literature and Chair of Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies, San Francisco State University
- Professor Laleh Khalili – Professor of International Politics, Queen Mary University of London
- Hamid Amouzad Khalili, Lecturer in Architectural Design, University of Edinburgh
- Sara Kermanian – PhD Candidate in International Relations, University of Sussex
- Gholam Khiabany – Reader in Media and Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London
- Azadeh Kian, Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies, Université Paris Cité
- Ali Kadivar – Assistant Professor of Sociology, Boston College
- Rebecca E Karl – Professor of History, New York University
- Ali Reza Kazemi – Managing Director of Institute for Social Sciences & Humanities (Iran Academia)
- Fatemeh Keshavarz – Professor and Chair, University of Maryland, College Park
- Arang Keshavarzian, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, New York University
- Bijan Khajehpour – Managing Partner, Eurasian Nexus Partners, Vienna
- Azam Khatam – Research Affiliate, York University
- Shahram Khosravi – Professor of Anthropology, Stockholm University
- Zachary Lockman – Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and of History, New York University
- Miriam R. Lowi – Professor of Political Science, The College of New Jersey
- Amir Mahdavi – Ph.D. candidate in Political Science, University of Connecticut
- Mojtaba Mahdavi – Professor of Political Science, University of Alberta
- Tokameh Mahmoudi, Professor of Pathology, Urology and Biochemistry, Erasmus University Medical Centre
- Mahtab Mahmoudi – MA student, University of Chicago
- Sahar Maranlou – Lecturer in Law and Socio-Legal Studies, University of Essex
- Kamran Matin, Senior Lecturer, Sussex University
- Afshin Matin-Asgari – Professor of History, California State University Los Angeles
- Ali Mirsepassi – Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, New York University
- Valentine Moghaddam – Professor of Sociology & International Affairs, Northeastern University
- Haideh Moghissi – Professor Emerita of Sociology and Women’s Studies, York University
- Alireza Momeni – Visiting researcher in Social Sciences, University of Eastern Finland
- Pete W. Moore – Associate Professor, Case Western Reserve University
- Amir Moosavi – Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature, Rutgers University, Newark
- Parisa Moosavi – Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, York University
- Manijeh Moradian – Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Barnard College
- Helena Moradi – Postdoctoral Fellow, Emory University School of Law
- Norma Claire Moruzzi, Associate Professor of Political Science, Gender & Women’s Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago
- Nima Naghibi – Professor of English, Toronto Metropolitan University
- Adel Nikjoo – Doctoral Researcher in Human Geography, University of Oulu
- Golnar Nikpour – Assistant Professor of History, Dartmouth College
- Mary Nolan – Professor Emerita of History, New York University
- Farhad Nomani – Professor Emeritus of Economics, American University of Paris
- Arzoo Osanloo – Professor of Law, Societies, and Justice, University of Washington
- Saeed Paivandi – Professor of Sociology and Methodology, University of Lorraine
- Amin Parsa – Assistant Professor of Sociology of Law, Halmstad University
- Akram Pedramnia – Women’s Rights Activist, Author and Translator
- Mezna Qato, Research Fellow, University of Cambridge
- Ladan Rahbari – Assistant Professor of Political Sociology, University of Amsterdam
- Nasrin Rahimieh – Professor of Humanities, University of California Irvine
- Saeed Rahnema – Emeritus Professor of Political Science and Public Policy, York University
- Sanaz Raji – ISRF Visiting Fellow, Northumbria University
- Aziz Rana – Richard and Lois Cole Professor of Law, Cornell University Law School
- Sahar Razavi – Assistant Professor of Political Science and Director of Iranian and Middle Eastern Studies Center, California State University, Sacramento
- Paola Rivetti – Associate Professor of Politics and International Relations, Dublin City University
- Rahil Roodsaz – Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Amsterdam
- Jasamin Rostam-Kolayi, Professor of History, California State University, Fullerton
- Andrew Ross – Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University
- Eskandar Sadeghi-Boroujerdi, Assistant Professor of Contemporary Politics and Modern History of Middle East, Goldsmiths, University of London
- Shirin Saeidi, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Director of Middle East Studies, University of Arkansas
- Soha Saghazadeh – PhD Candidate in Film and Media Studies, University of California-Santa Barbara
- Siavash Saffari, Associate Professor of West Asian Studies, Seoul National University
- Atef Said – Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Illinois at Chicago
- Catherine Sameh – Associate Professor of Gender & Sexuality Studies, University of California
- Nastaran Saremy – PhD candidate, Simon Fraser University
- Khanum Shaikh – Associate Professor, Gender and Women’s Studies, California State University, Northridge
- Seth Schindler – Senior Lecturer of Urban Development and Transformation, University of Manchester
- Roozbeh Shirazi – Associate Professor of Comparative and International Development Education, University Of Minnesota
- Mansoureh Shojaee – Women’s Rights Activist and Author, Vrije Universiteit
- Jillian Schwedler – Professor of Political Science, Hunter College and the Graduate Center, The City University of New York
- Nahid Siamdoust – Assistant Professor, University of Texas, Austin
- Sussan Siavoshi – Professor of Political Science, Trinity University
- Mona Tajali – Associate Professor of International Relations and Women’s Studies, Agnes Scott College
- Mohamad Tavakoli-Targhi – Professor and Director of the Elahé Omidyar Mir-Djalali Institute of Iranian Studies, University of Toronto
- Nayereh Tohidi, Professor Emerita of Gender & Women’s Studies, Middle Eastern and
Islamic Studies, California State University, Northridge
- Aidin Torkameh – Ph.D. Candidate in Environmental Studies, York University
- Eve M. Troutt Powell – Professor of History and Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania
- Judith E. Tucker – Professor of History Emerita, Georgetown University
- Mehrdad Vahabi, Professor in Economics, University of Sorbonne Paris Nord
- Peyman Vahabzadeh, Professor in Sociology, University of Victoria
- Kayhan Valadbaygi – Lecturer in International Relations of the Middle East, Leiden University
- Shirin Vossoughi – Associate Professor of Learning Sciences, Northwestern University
- Jessica Winegar – Professor of Anthropology, Hamid Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Chair in Middle East Studies, Northwestern University