The situation in Iran is all the more exciting for Ghalamzanashraf as she has no idea how her family and friends are doing. “I can’t contact them now because the internet connection is lost. When we go out on the streets, the internet is shut down,” explains Ahmadi. “Our connection to the rest of the world is being cut off.”
According to Ahmadi, everyone in Iran has experienced violence in one way or another. That’s why the expression of frustration towards the regime is now so widespread and collectively she thinks, “We want the regime to undergo changes. We want a separation of religion and politics. But above all, we want basic human rights. We want dignity.”
Ghalamzanashraf also expresses her wishes for the future: “I hope that one day all women in Iran can dance, be free, and that no one is killed because of a headscarf.”
“People often ask: what can we do here?” Ahmadi said. According to her, the best thing that can be done here is to support refugees who come to the Netherlands. She mentions the situation in Ter Apel as an example. “People wait on the streets in the cold, people are sent back, basically to their death, or worse, to torture.”
“Obviously we’re happy to have support, but what are we doing here, at home?” she wonders. “Not just for Iranian women, but for all women who are fleeing here, away from violence, who are fighting for their lives. That remains the question for me when we talk about support.”