Neda’s death inspires women across globe

Bloody footage provides a new face in the fight for women’s rights

 

 

The gruesome shooting death of 26-year-old Iranian student Neda Agha-Soltan — caught on video and spreading virally across the globe — has not only further inspired women in Tehran, it has become a worldwide rallying call.

Within hours of hitting the Internet, the “Neda” video ignited public outrage. “I promise you: I will call my daughter after you, Neda,” reads one Twitter post. 

And while the video is an urgent call for governmental change, no group is more charged than the women of Iran, who are at the forefront of the movement. News reports, blogs and videos show veiled women standing in protest to the conditions imposed upon them by society within their country.

“Iranian women have nearly a century of activism behind them,” said Mahnaz Afkhami, a former Iranian minister for women’s affairs and founder of a group devoted to women’s rights. “[For three decades] women have organized themselves, created Web sites, gained skills, increased their numbers at universities, and pushed back against government imposed limitations on their rights.”

Sarah Farnam, 26, an American whose parents left Iran in the 1970s, was moved by the video, which she posted on Twitter.

“I was crying when I saw it,” Farnam said. “The world must see this. It no longer was an Iranian issue. It struck a human chord.”