A group of Lebanese intellectuals issued a statement expressing full “solidarity with the Iranian women’s revolution”, and voicing fears that the regime would resort to extreme violence to silence it.
Ninety intellectuals working in the fields of writing, art and media said that Iranian women “with their courage, their assertion of freedom and their rejection of religious tyranny, open a door to great possibilities, not only for Iran, but also for the entire region politically, intellectually and socially.”
The statement noted that the Iranian “women’s revolution” is “a huge qualitative leap in the path that began with the Arab Spring revolutions…”
“For the first time, there is such a broad public front to reject the long-term oppressors of Iran…,” the statement read, stressing that the movement would encourage populations in Lebanon and other Arab countries to confront the same axis that is controlling the Iranian people…”
The Lebanese intellectuals stressed, however, that absolute support for the Iranian revolutionary and feminist movement “does not eliminate our legitimate fears that the regime will take the initiative to drown it in blood as usual, which will lead to militarization, with which democratic and feminist issues will recede in favor of civil, national, ethnic and religious identities.”
The statement emphasized the need to draw lessons from the experiences and failures of the “Arab Spring.”
“All we can at this moment is to express our utmost pride and support… for the revolutionary women of Iran,” it concluded.
