The Role of Effective Multilingual Communication in the Iranian Protests for Mahsa Amini
Queen Elizabeth II inspired last week’s newsletter. This week it’s inspired by the story of another woman much younger called Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who died in the custody of the morality police for allegedly violating the hijab law.
All eyes are on Iran now as Iranians are rising up in over 80 cities nationwide, and many cities across the world over demanding to end the violence and discrimination against women and say no to the compulsory hijab.
Effective communication is crucial for any successful business, and so it is for an uprising that could lead to a revolution.
In this article, I would like to explore the role of effective multilingual communication and its impact on the recent uprising in Iran. Events like this can unite people from different countries and cultures against injustice, and go beyond languages and borders.
What’s happening in Iran?
From 2009 with the Green Movement contesting the election results to the more recently 2019 protests over the rise in fuel prices, Iranians have protested numerous times against the government, facing a brutal crackdown which resulted in hundreds of deaths and thousands of arrests and injuries. However these events didn’t have a lasting impact on public opinion worldwide, and other countries continued their political ties with Iran as usual.
This year’s protests are unprecedented because of their scale uniting Iranians inside and outside of Iran, their feminist nature and the very young age of the protesters. They are mostly Gen-Z & Gen-Alpha and are arguably much bolder than their previous Millennials. And this time Iranians know for their voice to be heard by the world, they need to communicate in different languages, particularly in English.
The Power of Social Media
Iranian authorities have restricted internet access hoping to control the protests and prevent the news and footage leak to social media. This attempt wasn’t successful as all the social media are filled with daily video footage of protesters and their clash with the riot police.
#MahsaAmini #مهسا_امینی
Iranians worldwide are using social media, especially Twitter, telling the world about what’s happening in Iran every day. The hashtag #MahsaAmini #مهسا_امینی has been retweeted over 137 million times and counting. This is the highest number of retweets in the history of Twitter, about 25 times more than the trendiest hashtags on this social media platform so far.
Starlink
As more and more Iranians asked @ElonMusk about using Starlink satellite internet in Iran, Musk asked permission to activate it, on September 23, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced the U.S. was easing restrictions on technology exports to help counter Iranian state censorship efforts.
Global Solidarity
From singers like Roger Waters that has done multiple videos and interviews for Mahsa Amini, and showed images dedicated to her in his recent concert, to Chris de Burg, Justin Bieber, Ricky Martin, and rockstar Yungblud to actors such as Angelina Jolie, Penelope Cruz and Jason Momoa, to influencers like Khaby Lame, Kim Kardashian and Bella Hadid, to writers such a JK Rowling, footballers like Claudio Marchisio,... they all have done posts, and stories about Mahsa Amini, supporting the Iranian protesters and raising awareness about the current uprising in Iran.
Verbal & Non-verbal Communication
Woman, Life, Freedom
#زن_زندگی_آزادی in Farsi which translates to Woman, Life, Freedom in English is the main slogan used by the Iranian protesters. During the protests in different countries around the world, they translate this slogan into the local language and chant it during their gathering. Iranians know the importance of using local languages to communicate better with the people in each country and raise awareness about the situation in Iran.
Cutting Hair
Sometimes symbolic actions can speak louder than a thousand words. Cutting hair as a sign of protest has been a very strong symbolic action that has that united people from the streets of Tehran to NY, Toronto, Milan, and tens of other cities around the world. This incident has inspired many celebrities and politicians to join in and show their support, by simply cutting their hair. This is the perfect example of the high impact of cross-cultural non-verbal communication.
Burning Vails
As Mahsa Amini was arrested with the excuse of her improper hijab, Iranian women started burning their veils against the compulsory hijab in Iran. To support people that are protesting in the streets of Iran, thousands of Iranians around the world started to burn veils in front of the Iranian embassies to raise awareness with this symbolic action.
Art
Artists across the world have created different art forms, from paintings to digital art, music and videos to express their anger over Mahsa Amini’s death, as well as their support for the protesters in the streets of Iran.
In the end, if you want to show your solidarity with the Iranian people and for justice for Mahsa, please sign this petition
