Teheran - After the killing of Jina Mahsa Amini in September 2022, young Iranian women were the first to take to the streets. Many defied the regime by removing their veils and setting them on fire. The protests, which lasted for months, were led by Generation Z, descendants of those who voted for Mohammad Khatami in the 1997 presidential elections. To understand current events in Iran, we must return to that period, which Nadia Pizzuti, author of the book "Iran: The Long March of Women," experienced firsthand as a correspondent for the Ansa agency. The author will present her book in the garden of the Casa delle Donne in Rome on July 2 at 7 pm. Joining the author will be Iranian activist Parisa Nazari and Maria Rosa Cutrufelli. Pizzuti, a journalist, filmmaker, and writer, directed the Tehran office of the Ansa agency in the 1990s, becoming the first female correspondent for the international press accredited in post-revolutionary Iran.

The author, who has personally witnessed the changes and contradictions of Iranian society, explains regarding "Iran: The Long March of Women": "Where the past intertwines with the present, there is hope for a more open and brighter future for all Iranian women." It is precisely for this hope that Pizzuti has conveyed the voices of those who have challenged the regime. The book "Iran: The Long March of Women" addresses history and touches reality, as experienced by the journalist herself. It is a text that speaks of cultures, facts, relationships, and women. "Victory is not easy, but it is certain," are the words of Narges Mohammadi, the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner, which have inspired courage and enthusiasm in the "Woman Life Freedom" movement, born in the wake of the mass protests following the killing of the young Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini.

Mohammadi, who has been arrested five times and sentenced to a total of twelve years and three months in prison and one hundred and fifty-four lashes, has not been silenced. From her cell in Evin Prison in Tehran, she regularly sends out messages and interviews condemning the abuses committed against political prisoners and urging the world to intervene to stop executions in the Islamic Republic. Her figure, along with that of lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, represents the resistance against oppression and the fight for women's rights in Iran.

Nadia Pizzuti's book also retraces the significant moments of Khatami's presidency, characterized by an attempt at openness and reforms that, although limited, left a mark on Iranian society. The fierce repression by the ultraconservative wing of the regime, however, stifled many of these hopes but could not erase the desire for freedom and justice. Today, a portion of the Iranian public – especially the younger generations – believes that the religious system established with the Islamic revolution is impossible to reform and that the bloody repression of dissent only serves to prolong its agony. The latest heavy wave of repression has had its effects: the revolt manifests itself in acts of civil disobedience rather than street demonstrations, and no one today can predict if and when the protests will lead to a new revolution, that is, a radical change in the form of government.

The cover of the book is by Hajar Moradi, a multidisciplinary Iranian-Canadian artist and filmmaker based in Toronto. (9colonne)