icereader12

[icereader12]

don't ask a woman her age, a man his salary or the irish government what the 1963 commission report on their very own final solution for the "itinerant problem" is or how many jews / roma live in ireland

[icereader12]

May Hashem bless and keep Haviv Rettig Gur.

@Naila_Ayad tweets, with a photograph of Jerusalem, that "the olive trees still speak Arabic" in her claim that Jews are thieving invaders:

They steal the land, rewrite the maps, and rename the cities, but the olive trees still speak Arabic.

Haviv Rettig Gur replies:

This is incorrect. Olive trees pretty clearly don't speak Arabic. Some of the oldest ones, such as those in the Garden of Gethsemane, are believed by scientists to have already been centuries old when Arabic arrived here. They may have met Jesus. Literally. So obviously the olive trees speak Aramaic, though the oldest of the old may yet remember a Hebrew they learned from their parents. But you can have my favorite tree, dear Palestinian nationalists, the terebinths, elah in Hebrew. They have shorter memories, as trees go. They surely speak Arabic. The Judas trees, of course, speak Byzantine Greek, like the church that loves them; the Aleppo pines speak Assyrian; the acacias of the south surely remember old Coptic. And the Judean date palms? Unquestionably modern Hebrew, like their Israeli parents who brought them back from extinction using 2,000-year-old seeds. I know what you're thinking, dear reader: What about the sycamore figs? Tell us about the sycamore figs, Haviv! No. We don't talk about the sycamore figs. Not since they decided to go off and learn English so they could chat up those sexy young American calimyrnas. Figs got no respect for tradition. Or in other words, grow up, dear Palestinian nationalists. Stop futzing around with two-bit poetry. This veneer of cheap romance doesn't make your dream of erasing my people less evil. My kids know every stone and every valley in their country. They've run barefoot through its riverbeds and climbed its mountains. We have no other land, which is the main reason your aspiration to forcibly remove, through expulsion or death, all the millions of us hasn't worked yet.

And "renamed the cities?" Come on. You know the Arabs renamed the cities, right? You are aware that Lod was Lod before it was Lydda, no? Look it up. And Bet Shean was Bet Shean before it was Beisan. Tzfat before it was Safad. Nablus, taken from the Roman-renamed Neapolis, was Shchem first. And Al-Khalil, "the companion," a Muslim honorific for Abraham, was called Hevron by Abraham himself. Yaffa was Yafo first and Akka was originally Akko. You get the idea. That doesn't prove we're right and you're wrong. I have no proof or argument or desire to claim that you shouldn't exist. I wish that was true in reverse. Arab culture prides itself on its poetic tradition. When Arab ideologues want to claim greater authenticity or morality than their enemies, they often turn to this tradition to do so. So when the supporters of Palestinians reach out to the world and ask the world to erase the Jewish polity, they do it through this kind of poetry. "The olive trees still speak Arabic," and such. But beautiful words do not make ugly things prettier. No lipstick ever put on any pig has been more "lipstick on a pig" than this Arab discourse. It's not that complicated. The Palestinians aren't leaving, but neither are the Jews. And the Jews have a story as poetic as any other, and as old as Western civilization itself. The Jews even have a few assholes who try to cover for their bad desires by spreading thick layers of old poetry on top of them, just like you guys! If that's not a mark of authenticity, I don't know what is. Grow up. Trees don't talk, not even metaphorically. And if they did, it wouldn't be in the service of your hateful fantasies.

Bless you, Haviv - and thank you. You're funny, you're honest, you're supported by facts, and you're delightful.

This is the energy we should all be sharing.

Their attempts to dishonestly reverse the colonized and the colonizer should be not just opposed and disputed, but mocked with facts, truth, and humor.

That's who we are.

[icereader12]

Anti-Israel protestors in a heavily Jewish area of North London tore down hostage ribbons yesterday as they returned to weekly demonstrations following the end of a month-long police ban.

Activists organised by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) and the Jewish Network for Palestine (JNP), but featuring mostly non-Jewish participants, returned to hold their weekly protest in Swiss Cottage on May 2, just minutes away from Belsize Square Synagogue, Chabad Lubavitch of West Hampstead and close to South Hampstead United Synagogue.

One attendee, Latifa Abouchakra, was seen among a group taking down yellow hostage ribbons that had been tied to railings.

Abouchakra, a reporter for Iranian state-controlled Press TV, has previously called the October 7, 2023 massacres “a moment of triumph” and said that “Gaza will write it’s name in blood”.

In an interview during the demonstration, while still brandishing a handful of ribbons, she said: “We took it upon ourselves to remove these representations of Jewish supremacy.

(article continues)

this should not matter, but not all of the hostages were/are Israeli or Jewish (and even if they were, this is abhorrent).

[icereader12]

phrasing, bro

[icereader12]

Source

[icereader12]

Someone tried to tell me that Jews aren't inherently middle eastern because "just because you can trace your ancestry back to a place doesn't make you that ethnicity". ... .. . ...... . .... .. my dude. That's literally what ethnicity is.

[icereader12]

[icereader12]

why is peace not possible? because “israelis are jews.”

hmm lmao what an argument. not nazi shit at allllll.

[icereader12]

Why aren't we talking about the real reason male college enrollment is dropping? (Celeste Davis, Oct 6 2024)

"White flight is a term that describes how white people move out of neighborhoods when more people of color move in.

White flight is especially common when minority populations become the majority. That neighborhood then declines in value.

Male flight describes a similar phenomenon when large numbers of females enter a profession, group, hobby or industry—the men leave. That industry is then devalued.

Take veterinary school for example:

In 1969 almost all veterinary students were male at 89%.

By 1987, male enrollment was equal to female at 50%.

By 2009, male enrollment in veterinary schools had plummeted to 22.4%

A sociologist studying gender in veterinary schools, Dr. Anne Lincoln says that in an attempt to describe this drastic drop in male enrollment, many keep pointing to financial reasons like the debt-to-income ratio or the high cost of schooling.

But Lincoln’s research found that “men and women are equally affected by tuition and salaries.”

Her research shows that the reason fewer men are enrolling in veterinary school boils down to one factor: the number of women in the classroom.

For every 1% increase in the proportion of women in the student body, 1.7 fewer men applied.

One more woman applying was a greater deterrent than $1000 in extra tuition! (…)

Since males had dominated these professions for centuries, you would think they would leave slowly, hesitantly or maybe linger at 40%, 35%, 30%, but that’s not what happens.

Once the tipping point reaches majority female- the men flee. And boy do they flee!

It’s a slippery slope. When the number of women hits 60% the men who are there make a swift exit and other men stop joining.

Morty Schapiro, economist and former president of Northwestern University has noticed this trend when studying college enrollment numbers across universities:

“There’s a cliff you fall off once you become 60/40 female/male. It then becomes exponentially more difficult to recruit men.”

Now we’ve reached that 60% point of no return for colleges.

As we’ve seen with teachers, nurses and interior design, once an institution is majority female, the public perception of its value plummets.

Scanning through Reddit and Quora threads, many men seem to be in agreement - college is stupid and unnecessary.

A waste of time and money. You’re much better off going into the trades, a tech boot camp or becoming an entrepreneur. No need for college. (…)

When mostly men went to college? Prestigious. Aspirational. Important.

Now that mostly women go to college? Unnecessary. De-valued. A bad choice. (…)

School is now feminine. College is feminine. And rule #1 if you want to safely navigate this world as a man? Avoid the feminine.

But we don’t seem to want to talk about that."

[icereader12]

pro-tip: don't ever use the sentence "thousands of years" in your worldbuilding unless you really know what a thousand years is like

[icereader12]

Verisheh Moradi facing imminent execution in Iran

A CALL TO ARMS FOR ALL CITIZENS OF THE FREE WORLD

JOIN THE ACTION TO

SAVE VERISHEH MORADI

A Kurdish secular dissident is facing imminent execution in Iran after a sham trial of the Revolutionary Court which convicted her of "armed rebellion" without a shred of legitimate evidence.

In early November 2024, the Iranian Revolutionary Court - employing its all-too-familiar tactic of using the law as a murder-weapon against political dissent - sentenced 39-year-old activist Verisheh Moradi to death by hanging.

Far from an isolated case, this is yet another entry in the regime’s long record of cruel and utterly unjust executions. Tehran’s totalitarian authorities continue to believe that by killing more of their own citizens, they can extinguish the growing wave of dissent against their soul-crushing cultural oppression rooted in rigid, medieval interpretations of Sharia law.

Verisheh (also spelled Warisha) Moradi is a humanitarian aid worker, an activist for women's emancipation activist and a former combatant in the fight against ISIS in Syria - a veteran of the siege of Kobani. She belongs to the Kurdish minority, a community that has long been subjected to systemic discrimination, ethnic persecution, and state violence in Iran, involving arbitrary arrests, unlawful detentions, and extrajudicial killings. Although Kurds and the Baloch collectively make up less than 10% of Iran’s population, they account for an estimated 35% of those executed by the state.

A former biology student at Sanandaj University and a volunteer sports coach for underprivileged children, Verisheh has dedicated her life to the vision of a free, secular Iran. She is one of the prominent voices in the peaceful civil rights movement "Woman, Life, Freedom!" - a movement that erupted in 2022 following the brutal murder of 22-year-old Mahsa (Jina) Amini by Iran’s so-called morality police for failing to cover her hair properly.

These protests represent only the latest chapter in a decades-long struggle against the Tehran's islamo-fascist regime whose unyielding and self-serving grip of religious terror extends to virtually every aspect of life, where gender-apartheid is strictly enforced and where any woman's attempt to remove the veil of misogynistic subjugation and establish herself as an independent person free to choose her own lifestyle can lead to arrest, imprisonment, or worse.

Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, which deposed the Western-aligned dictatorship of Shah Reza Pahlavi and established a theocratic Islamic Republic ruled by clerics, the conditions for women in Iran have deteriorated drastically. The regime continues to enforce its deplorable dress code with fervent zeal, chasing and arresting women in the streets for the perceived violations. Over the past decade alone, hundreds of thousands of women have received warnings for defying the mandatory hijab law, many of them taken to police stations to sign statements of compliance - an experience often accompanied by psychological abuse. And yet, this is among the mildest forms of repression they face.

In a society defined by institutionalized male supremacy, forced marriages of young girls are commonplace, going hand-in-hand with chronic domestic abuse and marital rape. Those who resist - or dare to fight back - are met with pitiless retribution. The regime has sent numerous women to the gallows without a flicker of conscience. Majority of the executed females are former child brides or survivors of rape who killed their abusers either in self-defense or in desperation after years of torment. Women can also be sentenced to brutal, demeaning punishments such as flogging or even public hanging for so-called "crimes" like adultery or blasphemy. Meanwhile, men committing acts of gender-based violence often enjoy legal impunity. Brutal "honor-killings" of girls and women (beheadings, dismemberings, stonings) and milder forms of 'revenge' such as severe beatings and acid-attacks committed by men run rampant in Iranian society, yet often end up with a perpetrator getting away with a minimal jail-term.

The regime’s violence isn’t limited to women, of course. For daring to expose or criticize its miscarriages of justice, especially when reporting to Western media, countless peaceful intellectuals, journalists, writers, and even dissenting clerics have been arrested, subjected to torture, and sentenced to long prison terms under nebulous charges such as "enmity against God," "rebellion against the state," or "corruption on Earth." Not a small number has been executed, and in ways often public and brutal, calculated to invoke maximal terror and effect of deterrence within the secular opposition.

Staying true to her commitment to human rights and a free, democratic society, Verisheh Moradi had joined the Kurdish female defense units (YPJ) in 2014 during their courageous fight against the ISIS insurgency. As the savage Islamist horde waged its campaign of slaughter across Syria and Iraq - massacring soldiers, raping and enslaving women by the thousands, and committing genocide against Yazidi and Christian minorities - these Kurdish women, alongside their male comrades in the YPG, stood virtually alone against the onslaught.

In the famed and heroic battle of Kobani - dubbed the "Kurdish Stalingrad" - Verisheh was among the YPJ fighters who took part in brutal street-by-street combat against the much better equipped and battle-hardened ISIS force which, in its size and organization, resembled a conventional army more than a paramilitary at that point. Surrounded from all sides, receiving only limited supplies and aerial support from the US which flattened much of the city, and witnessing daily defilement of their fallen comrades in the streets by the hand of their fiendish enemy, the women of YPJ managed to hold their ground, against all odds, and eventually defeat and expel the overwhelming darkness.

Not only have Kurdish women in the YPJ and other organizations demonstrated extraordinary courage and resolve - which can only put us western observers to shame - they have also played a pivotal role in broader social transformation, working to establish foundations of a democratic and secular society. The most remarkable of these efforts are the grassroots councils in Rojava, Syrian Kurdistan, inspired by left-libertarian ideals of participatory democracy, gender equality, and inclusivity across ethnic and religious lines.

The achievements of this small, mesmerizing enclave of the world, however imperfect or incomplete, are even more astonishing when considered in geopolitical context. The Kurds, divided across four hostile states (Syria, Iraq, Turkey, and Iran), have long been denied even their ethnic identity, subjected to state-sponsored persecution, displacement and perpetual massacres. And yet, in Rojava, they have not retreated into reactionary nationalism or conservatism, but - somehow - remain upright as a sole beacon of liberty and modernity in the region, a secular candle in the dark, casting away the encroaching terror of zealotry.

In the grotesquely perverted worldview of Iran’s ruling theocrats who define themselves in opposition to everything Western - including the very concept of human rights - women like Verisheh Moradi are not seen as freedom fighters, but as existential threats. Their refusal to ask permission to live free, and their willingness to fight and bleed for that freedom, is perceived as a direct challenge to the patriarchal dominion and its iron-age doctrines of ‘God-given’ order.

In August 2023, Verisheh was violently ambushed by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) while returning home to Sanandaj in her vehicle. The car windows had shattered under bullets, and she was forcibly dragged out and taken to one of the regime’s black sites, where she was made to "disappear". She spent 13 days in solitary confinement, subjected to relentless and brutal interrogation. The MOIS henchmen could not see the distinction between her legitimate struggle against the Islamist terror in Syria and waging war against the state of Iran - an ironic twist of admission of the way the Iran's theocracy sees itself. Under torture, she was coerced into confessing to charges of bagh-ye - armed rebellion - based solely on her alleged involvement with the Women’s Society for Free Kurdistan. At one point, she was reported to have vomited blood and lost consciousness from the abuse.

But this was only the beginning of her ordeal, for later that same month, Verisheh was transferred to Tehran’s Evin Prison. Nestled in the foothills of the Alborz Mountains, Evin has long served as a symbol of the dictatorship's merciless oppression, its willingness to silence its critics by most cruel means. It has held hundreds of peaceful intellectuals, snuffing the lives of more than few. Within this Iranian "Bastille", a notorious deep site yet lies, the one engineered for the single purpose only; the systematic breakdown of the human body and soul - known as Ward 209. As if borrowing from the playbook of Catholic Inquisition, Ward 209 - operated by MOIS authority - uses medieval torture techniques such as beds for flogging, cells where prisoners are suspended by their feet or their wrists bound behind their back and left to hang for hours. Among such heinous means of abuse is a device dubbed "Apolo" - a helmet which serves to torture the prisoner with the amplified echoes of her own cries of pain.

In Ward 209, Verisheh Moradi spent four harrowing months. Denied legal representation and medical care, and forbidden all contact with her family, she was subjected to one round of torture after another, each designed to break her will and force her to sign a false confession - her own death warrant. The interrogators deployed every tactic of psychological warfare and gender-specific violence; insults, humiliation, and manipulation aimed at undermining her convictions, trying to make her doubt her own cause and her own sanity. The physical torment pushed her body to the brink of collapse, aggravating preexisting injuries and health conditions, inflicting severe neck and back pain, debilitating headaches, and internal bleeding.

In December 2024, after the interrogators had had their way with her, Verisheh was transferred to the general women’s ward of Evin. But even there, conditions offer little reprieve: overcrowded halls, rampant with disease, lacking in food and medical supplies, and fraught with the constant danger of abuse from both guards and inmates. And yet, her spirit has not faltered. As soon as her body allowed, Verisheh resumed her resistance, rallying fellow prisoners and participating in the "No Execution Tuesdays" which are widely held across Iranian prisons. These protests are directed against the chilling surge in death sentences issued against women and dissenters: Iran executed 850 people in 2023 and 650 in 2024, with ethnic minorities like the Kurds bearing a disproportionate share of the toll.

Her activism behind bars invited further repression, and a separate case was opened to punish her for this peaceful protest.

In two sessions before Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court, Verisheh Moradi was made to stand a sham trial. Neither she nor her lawyer was allowed to state any defense. The proceedings were presided over by Judge Abolqasem Salavati - the notorious “hanging judge” renowned for his ruthless sentencing of political prisoners - a murderous and fanatical figure whose role in the Iranian court system echoes that of Roland Freisler, the architect of Nazi legal terror who had sentenced Sophie Scholl to the guillotine.

In early November 2024, this courtroom executioner declared that Verisheh Moradi would be hanged - for nothing more than, in her own words, "being a woman, a Kurd, and seeking a free life."

In the shadow of the gallows, Verisheh’s life hangs not only on the whim of the regime but also on her own physical endurance. She went on a 20-day hunger strike in protest - not only against her own sentence, but in solidarity with fellow female activists on death row: Pekhshan Azizi, Nasim Gholami Simiyari, and Sharifeh Mohammadi. Her already fragile health has further deteriorated, securing her a brief transfer to a medical facility outside Evin due to internal bleeding and severe pain. She was returned the same day. Despite her critical condition, the authorities continue to deny her adequate medical treatment.

The threat to Verisheh Moradi’s life is grave and immediate. It would be a dangerous illusion to assume her sentence is merely a scare tactic aimed at suppressing unrest tied to the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement. In 2023 alone, 31 people were executed for charges such as "waging war against God" (moharebeh) and "corruption on Earth" (efsad-fil-arz). Three men were hanged for their roles in protests. In 2024, at least 31 women were executed. As of April 2025, no fewer than 50 political prisoners in Iran await execution.

Unless extraordinary action is taken now in her defense, Verisheh Moradi will be executed as one of them.

Iran remains the most oppressive theocratic state in existence today. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, fatwas issued by its Supreme Leader have sanctioned the murder of more than 30,000 political prisoners; executed without trial and cast in unmarked mass graves. In the decades which followed, the regime has relied on cruelty and fear to maintain its corrupt and unyielding totalitarian stranglehold over human life, waging war against its own youth, against the nature itself, against every hope of egalitarian and healthy relationship between genders, crushing every chance of alternative lifestyle which people in most parts of the world take for granted.

Young men and women have been hanged for nothing more than professing a belief which diverges from the official state religion. (One need only recall the horrific case of the "Brides of Shiraz" where 10 women, mostly in their 20s, were hanged publicly for refusing to renounce their peaceful Baha faith.) Still, the regime shows no signs of hesitation in criminalizing dissent and branding every legitimate call for reform as "sedition," every protest as a conspiracy by "foreign agents," - a typical paranoid rhetoric of every totalitarian regime in history.

Iran restricts its citizens' access to information, using mass surveillance, state censorship, and propaganda as tools to stifle dissent and isolate the population. This greatly imperils those who attempt to break this isolation - activists, journalists, defense attorneys - who work to bring the news of the internal oppression to the outside world, to give face and voice to their clients, those condemned to languish and die in silence. It is because of such brave individuals who in the hours of darkness find compassion and strength to risk their own lives in the hope of eventual justice, that Verisheh Moradi’s message has been smuggled out of Evin Prison. In the end-section of this document, you can read her full letter to the world: a moving testament of her struggle, and a declaration of solidarity with all who fight for the values she holds sacred - life, nature, and freedom.

A day may yet come, when the Iranian regime, in all its inhumanity, will be held to account. Perhaps, a dream may then come true - the one which many of us share - in which the smug bureaucrats of this clerical tyranny - its judges, jailers, and executioners - are apprehended and made to face a tribunal for their crimes against humanity in a manner not unlike that in the Nuremberg process of 1945-1946. For the very 'laws' they defend, and the false values the impose, are not merely unjust - they are criminal.

But that day, if it comes, still lies far in the future. Until then, we are left with narrow, fragile channels through which to express our outrage and our condemnation of savagery - and through which we may try to affect the fate for those facing the most dismal end. These efforts, however limited, are vital.

This is no time for apathy, cynicism, or silence. Verisheh Moradi, and other women of courage, languish under the shadow of the noose. Their days are numbered. The world’s reaction so far has been timid and weak, its gestures of protest directed against Iran dishearteningly scarce. Life of one dissident carries little weight to the architects of global geopolitics. No government can be expected to interfere in the internal affairs of another's, or jeopardize their regional alliances to save a lone voice of conscience. That is what makes the voice of citizens, of free people of the world, ever more important.

We may doubt the integrity of our leaders. We may question their courage to recognize the wrongs committed by the powerful and the corrupt, while feeling powerless ourselves. We may not see the point of even trying to speak out in a world where everything is tied in a complex web of economic interest, where money decides every action. But democracy is not merely about electing those who govern us. It is about claiming responsibility ourselves; bearing witness, raising our voices, and refusing to look away.

Verisheh Moradi is not dead yet. She does not need to become another martyr. And she most certainly does not deserve to be abandoned and forgotten, left to the oblivion that her tormentors are happily expecting her to fade into. The struggle of Iranian women for freedom is not theirs alone. It is a war waged for human dignity and the soul of the whole civilization - a war against barbarism. And it is a war that implicates all of us who have been born and reared in freedom to live, speak, and love as we please without fear. It is a moral duty of all of us who honor the sacrifices of our grandparents - those who bled in the Second World War, stared in the face of ravaging calamity fueled by demonic hatred, delusion, prejudice, and blood-lust - to never forget the abyss they defeated, nor to ever allow such inhumanity to return.

By rising in solidarity to our fellow men and women who are facing just such inhumanity right now, regardless of how remote their struggle may seem, we honor the legacy of our own - the legacy to which we owe our very existence, and the foundations of all that makes life worth starting and continuing in this world.

What Can We Do as Private Citizens to Help Save Verisheh Moradi?

While governments may hesitate, individuals do not have to. Even without institutional authority, our collective voice can influence media, sway public opinion, and place pressure on policymakers. Below are some meaningful ways you can act, right now, to help stop the execution of Verisheh and amplify the call for justice.

A) Raise Awareness Through Social Media and Digital Platforms

Social media remains one of the most powerful tools for mass mobilization and raising awareness. Your posts, shares, and tags can reach corners of the world once inaccessible, and connect Verisheh’s story with thousands - if not millions - of people who might care.

1.) Share this website or PDF document across your social media accounts (Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, TikTok). Link to it on your blog, newsletter, or forums where human rights are discussed. Every view counts.

2.) Engage individuals with larger following on social media or better known activists - reach out to influencers, bloggers and journalists, and if you can establish such connections, to academics and public intellectuals who may be able to rally their followers and bring Verisheh's plight to wider attention. Even one re-post or mention by such figures can exponentially increase the campaign’s reach.

Sign and share the petition at Change.org

Sign my new petition to save Verisheh on Avaaz

Add your voice to stop executions of Verisheh Moradi an Pakhshan Azizi at Amnesty International

B) Use Your Voice: Write, Advocate, Speak Out

The short account of Verisheh's unjust ordeal above is my own contribution. I wrote it in a particular style and veered into the topics which I believe needed to be mentioned. If you disagree with the way I had put things, then why not write it in your own words and in a way that you believe would be more effective?

1.) Write a letter to the representatives of your local government - senators, members of parliament, foreign ministers - asking them to issue a formal condemnation or advocate for Verisheh’s case diplomatically.

2.) Contact your local media - send an op-ed, pitch her story to journalists, or email local radio and TV stations. Even one story picked up by a newsroom can ripple outward.

3.) Consider sending a letter to local Iranian Embassy or consular officials. While you may receive no response, such communications are noted - and when they arrive in number, they matter.

C) Support Grassroots Movements Already Fighting for Women’s Rights in Iran

Join, donate, spread the word, or volunteer your skills (translation, design, art) to the existing movements focused on battling theocratic oppression, such as:

Woman Life Freedom

My Stealthy Freedom

D) Act Physically: Protest, Educate, Distribute Information

1.) Consider organizing or joining a peaceful protest in your town or city. Bring signs, share Verisheh’s story, and contact your local media to attend or report. Even though the idea of getting out in public may feel off-putting, just showing up - even in small numbers - can be a powerful shortcut for getting your message heard.

2.) If anonymity is a concern, you can print and distribute flyers or leaflets in public places where they may be seen and picked up - community boards, transport stops, car windows, lamp-posts and other sites where distribution of promotional material is allowed. Include short summaries, links to petitions, and QR codes for fast access.

3.) If you have the means or skills, host a small awareness event - a film screening, a public reading, an art display or open mic dedicated to Iranian women’s resistance. These grassroots gatherings often build the strongest coalitions.

Why It Matters: Why Your Voice Counts

If you are just a private citizen - like myself, a person without formal power - who wants to do his/her part in saving Verisheh's life, remember: there are many avenues we can pursue. It is important to keep in mind that none of these methods are guaranteed to prevent immediate harm from being done. Iranian perpetrators of judicial murder have often shown disdain for the western civil-liberty initiatives and the cries for the abolition of death-penalty. However, they are not immune to strong-enough pressure. Verisheh's fate may hang by a thread, but the future is not set. Iran is not a monolith, but a country in political turmoil where campaigns for reform are gaining momentum and where international values and concerns about the violations of human rights are rapidly penetrating the moderate strata of society. Therefore, it is necessary to muster our patience, and take comfort in small steps. We cannot stop the machinery of repression over night, but we can slow it down. We can make executions harder to pass unnoticed. By teeming together, adding our voices and pushing through various channels in a sustained effort, we can hope to build the necessary momentum, raise awareness of the case and eventually save Verisheh Moradi.

“There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.”

– Montesquieu​

“The history of man is the history of crimes, and history can repeat. So information is a defense. Through this we can build, we must build, a defense against repetition.”

– Simon Wiesenthal

Here is an example of a text which can be used where short-format is critical (I used it on Avaaz.com petition) such as petitions, leaflets, e-mails, social media posts:

Verisheh Moradi, a Kurdish-Iranian aid worker, women's rights activist, and veteran of the siege of Kobani, is facing imminent execution by hanging. Her death sentence was handed down in a sham trial overseen by the infamous “hanging judge” Abolqasem Salavati—even against the recommendation of the prosecution itself.

For months, Verisheh endured brutal physical and psychological torture in Tehran’s notorious Ward 209. She was threatened, humiliated, coerced into confessing to a trumped up charge of bagh-ye—armed rebellion against the Islamic Republic. Throughout this ordeal, she was denied legal representation, medical care, and contact with her family. The charges against her lack any legitimate foundation. The cited "evidence" consists of her alleged membership in the Free Women's Society of Kurdistan and her courageous fight against ISIS in Syria. In a cruel twist of logic, Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence equated her armed resistance against genocidal terrorists with rebellion against the Iranian state itself.

Though her body has been broken by torture and her health is critically deteriorating, Verisheh’s spirit remains unbowed. From within the walls of Evin Prison, she continues to resist - protesting the regime’s growing wave of executions targeting women and minorities, and standing firm for the values of life, freedom, and human dignity.

Verisheh's life is in immediate danger - not only from the gallows, but from untreated illness brought on by months of severe abuse. Her only "crimes" are acts of conscience, courage, and resistance against a regime that responds to peaceful dissent and personal freedom with batons, bullets, prisons, and the noose. 

We call upon the international community—and every private citizen who values justice - to speak out and demand Verisheh Moradi’s release. She can still be saved. Public outrage and diplomatic pressure are the only tools that can prevent her execution. Silence kills. Silence is complicity. Every voice matters.

To the Head of Iran’s Judiciary, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei: 

We urge you to overturn this egregious miscarriage of justice. Halt all proceedings related to Verisheh Moradi’s execution. Secure her immediate and unconditional release. Ensure she receives urgent medical care and rehabilitation to begin healing from the torture and abuse inflicted upon her. Do not let another innocent life be extinguished. Act now.

“If you see massacres resulting from war and cry ‘no to war’, then you must also see the domestic killings and daily executions carried out under the guise of political Islam. Do not let cross-border wars overshadow the issue of domestic repression. We will not allow, at any cost, the voices of domestic freedom fighters who stand courageously to be lost in the noise of endless wars.”

Verisheh Moradi, Evin Prison Women’s Ward, October 2024.

Verisheh Moradi’s full letter from Evin:

“I have been sentenced to death - ‘we’ has been sentenced to death. For us, the imprisoned women fighters, this sentence is not just for me and my fellow inmates: it represents a verdict against an entire society.

It’s the regime’s dream for all of us: to suppress (read: execute) the entire community. But, without a doubt, they will face resistance. Domestic and international support for abolishing death sentences has grown and given us big support.

We have not surrendered to the baseless accusations and pressures imposed by the security apparatus, and we resisted. Society supports us, and this solidarity is a powerful expression of the ongoing civil struggle against the tyranny of the regime in Iran. The recent strike by the people of Kurdistan is another example of this shared resistance, and it deserves appreciation.

Inside the prison, because the fight is active and on the front line, and because the struggle directly concerns everyone, core issues naturally take precedence over matters such as political or national affiliations, which take their rightful place as secondary concerns. This is genuine resistance against attempts to sideline the fundamental issues of prisoners.

A remarkable resistance continues against the denial and violation of human rights within Iran’s prisons. We, the women, have taken on this resistance, on the one hand, because of the compounded oppression we face under the current patriarchal, misogynistic system, and on the other hand due to our unwavering determination to achieve freedom.

Every Tuesday, the ‘No to Execution’ campaign unfolds across several prisons in Iran, a unifying act that highlights the fundamental and human essence of our struggle. It is a collective demand to emphasize the right to life and call for the abolition of the death penalty in Iran. These ‘No to Execution Tuesdays’ represent human solidarity against state-sponsored killings that have been used as a tool to instill fear and terror in society.

This oppression stems from an unrestrained system intent on dragging the world toward destruction and eroding the very essence of humanity. Humanity, the core of our shared existence, is what we fight for. Our struggle is not just ours - it is on behalf of all humanity, all society, and in defense of our collective nature.

As ‘imprisoned women fighters,’ our role gives us the strength to talk about the demands of an entire society. Taking a principled stance grants the seekers of social truth the power to fight for it. This is the ‘free life’ that must replace the ‘false life,’ which we should transform and, we have transformed it.

The patriarchal system that dominates the world, in all its dimensions, is fundamentally at odds with the essence of human existence and humanity itself. It is, in essence, a challenge to life. We have redefined this system, freeing ourselves from its gendered, classist, and dogmatic interpretations, and instead focusing on the truth of its existence.

For thousands of years, this system has deviated from the path of humanity, targeting women - and, by extension, life itself - before subjugating men and later assaulting nature. The ultimate aim of this system? Maximum profit. A greed fueled by a distorted mind.

And what is the response? Undoubtedly, the answer is resistance. Here lies the point of divergence: some become part of the system, seeking their share and justifying its existence, while the free-spirited and freedom-seekers stand in opposition and try to correct its course.

Throughout history, these freedom-seekers have believed in a life aligned with nature - the mother of all life. They have adapted their beliefs to the conditions of their time and the power they confronted, fighting with determination to achieve their ultimate goal: a human life. A life that is good, true, beautiful, and free.

Our predecessors, each in their intellectual capacity, have sought to define the issue and fight to correct it. Sometimes they confronted oppression with belief, sometimes with philosophical reasoning, at times with literary expression, and other times with class-based arguments.

In all of this, women have always been present, always among the oppressed, always among the victims. Yet, women were rarely the central subject of these struggles - merely a peripheral part of the narrative of oppression, rather than its primary victims.

Today, we have left old paradigms behind. We believe that the most critical challenge of contemporary life is the gender issue we face. Only when gender inequality is resolved will other challenges have a chance to be addressed. The dominant epistemological system works tirelessly to distort and deflect the core problem and evade real solutions. But this century is the century of women, and women have acquired the intellectual and practical strength to fight for their rights. Advances in technology and science have also become allies of all freedom fighters, including women.

Women, armed with newfound scientific knowledge and a will forged through the need for liberation and freedom, have made significant strides in the fight for equality. From the efforts of female thinkers, scientists, writers, and artists to ordinary women trying to live with dignity and not be seen as commodities. These collective gains form a solid foundation for advancing freedom.

Kurdish women, too, have not lagged behind in this struggle. Relying on their rich cultural and social heritage, they have participated in this “life-struggle” and added to the wealth of resistance and solidarity. Today, Kurdish women have become symbols of female struggle and effort.

January 26 marks the anniversary of liberating Kobani from ISIS forces, an event widely recognized as “the beginning of the end for ISIS.” The dawn that followed this darkness brought the first rays of light. Kurdish women, in full view of the world, participated in this war and challenged the patriarchal paradigm. They went even further and emerged as the commanders of the fight. They fought as beacons of light and hope against darkness and oppression and showed the power of the century’s defining struggle - the “women’s challenge.”

I personally participated in the Kobani war during this period and sustained injuries that still cause me pain today. This pain is a constant reminder of the price I paid for humanity. Perhaps it satisfies my conscience slightly to know that I have, in some small way, fulfilled my duty to humanity.

I am a comrade of those who, after a lifetime of struggle, said on their moment of martyrdom, “Write on my tombstone that I left this world still indebted to my people.” From them, I learned that fighting for truth and humanity is a debt each of us must pay, without expecting anything in return.

Whenever the victory in Kobani is celebrated, the joy and pride stemming from this dignified stance renew my determination. One of the charges against me now is that I stood against darkness. I am the friend of those who saved humanity. This simple yet profound truth highlights that those who charge me are on which side.

The patriarchal system cannot tolerate women’s resistance, let alone their victory and celebrations against a dark, anti-human force. We were the first to recognize the danger threatening humanity and stood against it without hesitation and delivered a significant victory for humanity. Today, they seek to retaliate for their defeat in various ways.

This moment is particularly significant because it coincides with the centennial conclusion of plans devised for our region. We are the wounded heirs of Sykes-Picot, the children of a people who have suffered the oppression of Lausanne to their core. We have been hanged from ropes, killed by all manner of weapons, subjected to chemical attacks, and experienced genocide in every corner of our fragmented homeland. And now, burdened with a host of political and social issues, we have entered the age of technology and artificial intelligence.

But we are resolute that in this century, not only will we prevent physical genocide, but we will also define “cultural genocide” and fight it with all our might. Woman, Life, Freedom is our slogan and a symbolic manifestation of our ideological paradigm - a paradigm that directly addresses the fundamental issues of today’s world and humanity.

This paradigm refuses to confine itself to nationalist, gendered, or class-based borders. It seeks to approach issues comprehensively and with an expansive perspective. As many problems have become globalized, globalizing the struggle is the most logical approach. Some issues are shared by all of humanity, so it is natural that our fight should be based on shared values.

Woman, Life, Freedom reflects the universal aspirations of most people on this planet: a free and democratic life. This is why the world supports imprisoned women. The world, witnessing our fight for universal values, stands with us. And we, in turn, will continue to forge ahead on this path.

The region is currently undergoing a new formation. Many forces are designing the political and social map of the region. The absence of the people’s will in this new formation is highly evident. Now that popular forces have gained strength and are capable of having a say, we must strengthen this front: the front of society and the people. The region is embroiled in numerous competitions and conflicts, and alongside this, important strategies are being proposed. It is crucial that this struggle also involves finding solutions for societal issues.

Our issue is not a personal one. Being imprisoned and facing the death sentence on the way to political and social struggle is a natural part of the journey. Consequently, our thoughts and actions concerning the resolution of political and social issues are framed within this context.

We give meaning to our lives in this way. We step out of the individualistic mold and dissolve into the collective, pursuing a collective goal. The concept of a “Democratic Nation” is the thesis and doctrine that embodies all of these goals. Within this solution, the needs of all people and social classes are met. It is a solution where everyone benefits and no one is harmed. This is the path through which we can give life meaning.

I believe that either life should not be lived or live with meaning and transcendence. Many plans aimed at giving life meaning have faced hostile attacks, and the pioneers of these efforts have sacrificed their lives for their goals. However, these sacrifices did not instill fear but instead created hope for the continuation of the struggle and life. I, too, have taken such a path and faced my current situation.

During my interrogation, the same interrogator who had once interrogated Farzad Kamangar sat before me and said that 15 years ago, Farzad had sat in the same place but could not accomplish anything and created death for himself. I told him that if I am sitting here today, it is the result of Farzad’s efforts and struggle. Farzad, through his death, charted the path of “living with meaning” for us.

He gave us life again. If one Farzad was hanged, hundreds of others followed in his path. Because Farzad, Shirin, Farhad, Soran, and we all believe: every step in the path to freedom can be a test, and by sacrificing our lives for freedom, we emerge victorious from this test.

Now, I think more about our struggle than my sentence, about my people, the people, and the days that await our region. The struggle is our main concern, and our sentence is only a part of it. Support for us and opposition to our sentence is part of the valuable struggle humanity engages in for a life that is human, noble, beautiful, correct, and free.

In this path, the guiding principle of my struggle is, “I want to overturn the fate that always repeats in the tragic plays of life in favor of freedom. In this play, titled Truth, which can only be completed through struggle, destiny will fail this time.”

Woman, Life, Freedom Resistance is life A prisoner sentenced to death – Varisheh Moradi Women’s Ward, Evin Prison 28 January 2025

Resources:

Iran: Kurdish dissident sentenced to death in Iran: Verisheh moradi (2024) Amnesty International. Available at: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/8788/2024/en/ (Accessed: 19 April 2025).

Verisheh Moradi (2024) KHRN. Available at: https://kurdistanhumanrights.org/en/prisoners-database/wrisha-moradi (Accessed: 19 April 2025).

(No date) AIPAC - the Iranian Revolution, 40 Years on: Oppression at home, Aggression Abroad. Available at: https://www.aipac.org/resources/iranian-revolution-k9tn2-tz6kp-zydeg (Accessed: 19 April 2025).

Khomeini fatwa ‘led to killing of 30,000 in Iran’ (2001) The Telegraph. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/1321090/Khomeini-fatwa-led-to-killing-of-30000-in-Iran.html (Accessed: 19 April 2025).

Iran’s war on women (no date) UANI. Available at: https://www.unitedagainstnucleariran.com/irans-war-on-women?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw8IfABhBXEiwAxRHlsHlyVHqx6vYlL0JWBf5wBCNMXkfbtmzZK1AUebQjtm09Vs_Xyfk3HRoCitEQAvD_BwE (Accessed: 19 April 2025).

Jalalipour, B. (2025) Inside Iran’s epidemic of ‘honor’ killings: One woman killed every two days, RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Available at: https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-women-honor-killing-gender-violence/33300465.html (Accessed: 19 April 2025).

Lemmon, G.T. (2021) The daughters of kobani: A story of rebellion, courage, and Justice. New York: Penguin Audio.

Dean, V. (2019) ‘Kurdish female fighters the western depiction of YPJ combatants in Rojava’, Glocalism [Preprint], (1). doi:10.12893/gjcpi.2019.1.7.

Miley, T.J. (2020) The Kurdish Freedom Movement, Rojava and the left, Centre tricontinental. Available at: https://www.cetri.be/The-Kurdish-Freedom-Movement?lang=fr (Accessed: 19 April 2025).

Rare accounts of life for women inside notorious Iranian prison (2024) BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd75g5eyqv2o (Accessed: 19 April 2025).

V. Detention Centers and ill-treatment (no date) "Like the Dead in Their Coffins: Torture, Detention, and the Crushing of Dissent in Iran: V. Detention Centers and Ill-Treatment. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/iran0604/5.htm (Accessed: 19 April 2025).

Abolqasem Salavati: The judge of death (no date) UANI. Available at: https://www.unitedagainstnucleariran.com/abolqasem-salavati-judge-of-death (Accessed: 19 April 2025).

Taghati, A. (2024) Judge Salavati: The ruthless enforcer of Iran’s medieval legal decrees, NCRI. Available at: https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/anews/who-is-who/judge-salavati-the-ruthless-enforcer-of-irans-medieval-legal-decrees/ (Accessed: 19 April 2025).

France-Presse, A. (2023) Executed women haunt, inspire Iranian baha’is 40 years later, Voice of America. Available at: https://www.voanews.com/a/executed-women-haunt-inspire-iranian-bahais-40-years-on-/7146282.html (Accessed: 19 April 2025).

Lawyers in Iran face perpetual state of fear (no date) The Law Society. Available at: https://www.lawsociety.org.uk/contact-or-visit-us/press-office/press-releases/lawyers-in-iran-face-perpetual-state-of-fear (Accessed: 19 April 2025).

Source: Verisheh Moradi facing imminent execution in Iran

[icereader12]

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) promised this week that he will work to realize one of Republicans’ long-held goals: defunding Planned Parenthood.

Johnson announced Tuesday during a keynote speech for anti-abortion organization Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America that President Donald Trump’s economic agenda will include defunding “big abortion” — a disparaging phrase used by the religious right to refer to Planned Parenthood. Trump’s administration has been working with the House speaker to wrap his domestic policy agenda into “one big, beautiful bill,” as the president often refers to it.

“In the weeks ahead, the House is gonna be working on the one big, beautiful bill,” Johnson told the gala crowd. “We’re absolutely making it clear to everybody that this bill is going to redirect funds away from big abortion and to federally qualified health centers.”

This is the first time since Trump took office that Republican leadership in Congress has explicitly stated its plan.

Republicans have been trying to defund Planned Parenthood for decades, and the Trump administration has made it clear that one of its top priorities is to slash federal funding for Planned Parenthood. Most recently, the administration cut millions in family planning grants to the national reproductive health organization.

“After months of threats and ongoing attacks on Planned Parenthood and the care health centers provide, Speaker Johnson is finally making it plain: President Trump and his backers in Congress are willing to threaten health care for millions of people by shutting down Planned Parenthood health centers and ending vital access to care in communities nationwide,” Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, told HuffPost.

“‘Defunding’ Planned Parenthood would be catastrophic to communities, put countless lives at risk and wreak havoc on our public health system.”

[icereader12]

this is awful. this is a sacred druze site that was torched by julani’s “security forces.” please speak up for our siblings.

[icereader12]

[icereader12]

fuck it, i'm curious. reblog and tag with the first fictional death to ever rewrite your brain chemistry and/or make you cry like a baby. mine was ares from the underland chronicles (who, for context, was a giant bat.) to this day i will weep if i think too hard about it. okay, go.

[icereader12]

Donald Trump’s recent interviews with Time and The Atlantic revealed a president who is completely unhinged and incoherent. Sadly, that’s not news. But what stood out is that Trump is consistently confused and disconnected from reality even on issues that are supposedly in his wheelhouse.

Trump has always been an ignoramus who masks his intellectual shortcomings with bombast and declarations of his own brilliance, but his rambling nonsensical responses in these latest interviews should set off alarms — especially in light of all the media attention and scrutiny Joe Biden received after his disastrous debate performance or when Special Counsel Robert Hur described him as “a well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”

Trump, who turns 79 in June, is the oldest person ever elected president. His repetitive speech patterns, frequent use of empty phrases, and overall rambling discourse are too often graded on a curve.

White House officials and pandering Republicans might boast about Trump’s boundless energy in a manner that would shame North Korean state media, but the Time and Atlantic interviews tell a very different story.