It’s called a forehead all around the head.
Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s star journalist, was scheduled to interview Iranian President Raisi in New York. But when the President’s entourage asked Amanpour to wear the veil, the hijab, she refused. The interview was cancelled.
The image of Christiane Amanpour sitting in front of an empty chair with her hair loose is a giant middle finger for the patriarchal regime in Iran.
To cheer ! It feels so good to see a western woman standing in front of religious leaders.
WE ARE MAHSA
Ever since the Morality Police arrested a 22-year-old girl, Mahsa Amini, in Iran for not wearing her veil properly, and since Amini died in prison, Iran has been rising.
Across the country, brave women are taking off their veils, burning them and defying the authorities.
One image more than any other symbolizes this revolt. We see a woman holding in one hand her burning veil and in the other a stone which she is about to throw at her oppressors.
How brave! For me, this image is as powerful, as symbolic as that of the young Chinese facing the tanks in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
An individual, alone before the oppressor, standing up with his determination and courage as his only defense.
Do you know what Amanpour replied to the Iranian President’s aide who asked him to wear the veil?
“We are in New York, where there is no law or tradition regarding the wearing of headscarves. I pointed out that no previous Iranian president had requested this when I interviewed him outside of Iran.”
In Rome we do as the Romans do.
Female journalists wear the veil when covering the news in countries where wearing the hijab (or burqa) is compulsory. But nothing obliges them to do so if they are in a free country.
If Amanpour had agreed to wear a veil, can you imagine the message that would have been sent to the brave women currently fighting in Iran?
If you are in Tehran and risking your life by burning your veil, how could you accept a woman wearing it… in front of the leader of a regime that killed Mahsa Amini?
Amanpour is of British and Iranian descent herself. It is certain that the authorities would have loved to show her image of a veiled woman on all Iranian screens.
What is certain is that the message to Iranian women was: “Why do you reject the veil here when this nice journalist who is miles away has humbly agreed to wear it?” If she does, so can you. »
Amanpour drew a clear line in front of a religious leader. “You cannot command us, the free women of the West. »
Amanpour’s gesture is not just a reflection of journalistic independence.
It is a concrete sign of solidarity with Iranian women.
We expect no less from Quebec feminists.
