“It was not possible to see this coming in Iran even just a short time ago. Now women are waving the flag and demanding equality and the freedom to express themselves. This is revolution in the real sense of the word.
These are the words of Sharam Alghasi about the situation in Iran. Alghasi is a professor of Media Sociology at Kristiania University College, who took the initiative to organise the Iranian Solidarity Forum, which was founded in November. It began as a Facebook forum by the same name. It mainly began with Norwegian-Iranians who were interested in following along with the situation unfolding in Iran. Now the association has a more diverse membership and aspires to organise all the forces in Norway that support the opposition in Iran.
”We want to bring together all those who want to do something about the situation in Iran", remarks Professor Alghasi.

The women are demanding freedom
"Woman, life, liberty" is the slogan currently being chanted at Iranian protests.
"The women are removing their head scarves, and not only in the cities. This is taking place all across the country. People are not showing much fear, and they have no inhibitions. No one is satisfied with reform alone at this juncture. They want to overthrow the entire Iranian regime", remarks Alghasi, criticising the spiritual leader this time.
"For that reason, they are also encountering a type of brutality not seen before.
Thus far, roughly 18 000 people have been arrested, 600 of whom have been murdered." Alghasi has never seen anything like this rebellion, neither during the election protests in 2009 nor those in 2007.
Solidarity with Mahsa Amini
"Iran is under totalitarian control today. The clergy and the Guardian Council in the country finally have control of exactly who they want to run for office in the machinery of power. Militias have been established to do the clergy’s bidding, ensuring that people comply with strict, Islamic rules, in addition to the morality police and the regular police," according to the association’s application. However, “after the execution of the 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini for breaking the rules, the general public is up in arms.” “For the younger generation that has grown up with Internet, this religious coercion has become too much.” Especially for women, whose freedom of action has been severely limited “The disempowerment has turned into powerful protests from the youngest women, who yearn for civil liberties and rights.”

Iranians in exile support the protests
Norwegian-Iranians hope that the international Iranian diaspora, five million strong, can stand together to promote the cause of the demonstrators.
"We had our first action on 12 January 2023, when we managed to organise a joint declaration from the rectors of Oslo Met and Kristiania, condemning what is being done to students and university employees in Iran", reports the professor. Recently, the security forces at Sharif University in Tehran blocked off all the exits, then attacked students and teachers.
Website, 8 March and conference
The current plan is primarily to convey information to people in Norway through the Facebook Forum and then later on our own website, in Norwegian and English, as well as in Farsi. There will also be a debate meeting on the topic of whether what is happening in Iran really is a revolution or ‘only’ a rebellion. The Solidarity Committee will focus on the situation in Iran on International Women’s Day on 8 March. On 15 – 16 June, there will be a Norwegian-Iranian conference in Oslo on freedom and freedom of expression, with participants from all across Europe.
"The Forum mainly consists of women, and I assume I’ll be passing on my gavel to another female leader soon", remarks the acting leader.

Well-rounded project portfolio
Among other projects Fritt Ord supported in December, we find the Houses of Literature in Fredrikstad, Bergen and Trondheim, the prose series ‘Latin America in Norwegian’ (NOK 200 000), – Donbas Frontliner – media outlet (NOK 290 000), Zaborona Media’s War Stories (NOK 275 000), promotion of documentary films about Petter Wennerød (NOK 100 000) and about Ottar Brox (NOK 75 000), World Expression Forum (NOK 700 000), Morten Traavik’s manuscript development of ‘My nine lives’ – the autobiography of Shabana Rehman (NOK 100 000) and Hasti Hamidiasl’s manuscript development of the book ‘Unlearning racism and our history with it’ (NOK 100 000), Nitja Centre for Contemporary Art’s ‘Nitja talks’ in 2023 (NOK 90 000), Sumaya Jirde Ali’s manuscript development of the stage play “A pair of shoes” (NOK 75 000), and ICAN and Norwegian Physicians against Nuclear Weapons (NOK 150 000) for an international conference on nuclear weapons and disarmament.