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Betreff: Statement by Iranian Artists | Woman Life Liberty
Datum: Tue, 1 Nov 2022 06:36:08 +0100
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Please find below the press release and the translation of the Statement
by Iranian Artists, Scholars, Critics, Art Historians, and Curators in
Support of Art Students’ Protests in the Country.
In their push for the world media to report and amplify the voice of
Iranian art students and ensure an immediate end to violence against
them, the Iranian art community expects solidarity from the global art
community.
Thank you,
A Group of Iranian Artists, Writers, and Critics
statementiranianartists.wordpress.com
<http://statementiranianartists.wordpress.com>*
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*Statement by Iranian Artists, Scholars, Critics, Art Historians, and
Curators in Support of Art Students’ Protests in the Country *
*Press Release, **30** October 2022***
Hundreds of Iranian artists, academics, and writers voiced their
solidarity with the Iranian art students who have been under brutal
attacks by the government security forces for their protests against
systemic violations of human rights by the Islamic Republic state.
The statement has been signed by over 600 artists, scholars, writers,
critics, art historians, and curators, including some of the prominent
members of Iranian art including, Shirin Neshat, Nairy Baghramian,
Sonia Balassanian, Nicky Nodjoumi, Sussan Deyhim, Parviz Tanavoli,
Bahram Beyzai, Ruyin Pakbaz, Parastou Forouhar, Tala Madani, Shirazeh
Houshiary, Reza Deghati, Hengameh Golestan, Layla Diba, among many others.
In the statement, “all forms of arrest, intimidation, and suppression
by the regime” have been condemned in strongest terms. Iranian artists
and writers demand “the immediate and unconditional release of all
students who have been detained.” They also call for the immediate end
of policing on university campuses and investigation of students’
lives by the intelligence services.
For almost six weeks since the killing of Mahsa (Jina) Amini by the
Islamic Republic police, art students across the country have been on
strike, demanding the end of dictatorship in Iran. Students’ peaceful
protests and acts of civil disobedience at universities against human
rights abuses, compulsory hejab, and sex segregation have been faced
with violence, killings, torture and physical abuses, confiscation of
their electronic devices, arbitrary detentions in undisclosed
locations, abductions, and disappearances. University campuses have
been forcibly attacked, sieged, or occupied by the regime’s security
forces and students are being threatened to be expelled from the
school and dorms.
The statement was published on 29 October 2022 and it has been
endorsed by more than 5000 members of the Iranian art community. The
translation of the statement and the full list of signatories can be
accessed through this link
<https://statementiranianartists.wordpress.com/>.
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THE FULL TEXT
*Statement by Iranian Artists, Scholars, Critics, Art Historians, and
Curators in Support of Art Students’ Protests in the Country *
For more than four weeks, the Iranian art students’ support for the
“Woman, Life, Liberty” movement has been on full display on university
campuses across the country. They have exerted their right to civil
disobedience, and organized strikes, sit-ins, vigils, and other acts
of collective remembrance to protest against wide-ranging human rights
violations in Iran.
In their aspirations, the Iranian art students are echoing the demands
of Iranian society in its entirety.
These protests, however, are continuing in a climate where the
Ministry of Higher Education, in well-documented and systemic
collusion with the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Intelligence Services
are cracking down on students through arbitrary arrests, detentions,
expulsions, confiscation of student identification cards, class
cancellations, and even total closure of campuses.
Such atrocities are often conducted by campus security forces and some
of their regime-backed enablers among administrators and professors.
Despite the threats and violence, students are insisting on their
rights to assemble and to express themselves freely and through
collective statements, they have demanded change: “We will reclaim our
right to decide for ourselves, and we will fight tyrants and
reactionaries.”
Hereby, we, a group of Iranian artists, scholars, critics, art
historians, and curators, declare our solidarity with Iranian art
students in their struggle for equality, life, and freedom. With all
of our cultural and social power, we stand firmly with them.
We condemn, in the strongest terms, all forms of arrest, intimidation,
and suppression by the regime, and we demand the immediate and
unconditional release of all students who have been detained.
We believe that the Ministry of Education and its co-conspirator
institutions are totally incapable of making any fair decisions
regarding the fate of the students. The ominous shadow of the Iranian
regime’s security forces and their constant threats must be eradicated
completely from the university campuses and all aspects of students’
lives.
Art students in Iran are now leading the way to re-imagine Iranian art
universities.
In solidarity, Iranian artists, scholars, critics, art historians, and
curators.
October 2022
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