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When human rights are invited to the Nowruz festivities in Paris

On the human rights square, a symbolic place in more ways than one, Place du Trocadéro in Paris, the wind is whirling Afghan and Iranian flags during the Nowruz festivities, March 25, 2023. © Anne Bernas/RFI

Text by: Anne Bernas Follow

8 min

Tradition obliges, the thousand-year-old festival of Persian spring is as every year celebrated by more than 300 million people in the world. But this year, the mood is more one of political demand than celebration to defend the rights of Iranian and Afghan women.

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We are here today to celebrate, but also to show our solidarity with oppressed peoples, because this year this celebration is done against a background of sadness, "says Maryam, Franco-Iranian in her fifties, a basket full of flowers on her arm whose petals are scattered to the four winds.

On the human rights square, a symbolic place in more ways than one, Place du Trocadéro in Paris, the wind is whirling Afghan and Iranian flags. The gusts penetrate and waltz dresses and costumes of Persian, Afghan, Uzbek, Tajik, Indian, Turkish, Kazakh, etc. cultures, to the tunes of traditional music.

A double renaissance

A long table displays the symbols of Nowruz, the festival of spring rebirth. The cultural heritage of Nowruz was inscribed in 2009 in the intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO and UN, as an international holiday born from a thousand-year-old cultural heritage. And in 2023, this word "rebirth" takes on several meanings. The Haft Sîn (the seven S) has seven elements whose name begins with S and which each have its own symbolic value, which thus embody a form of rebirth.

► Read also: Nowruz, the festival of Persian spring, an anthropological mystery

Next door this year, another stand: placards taped to the ground explain the situation of women's rights in several countries celebrating Nowruz. On a small table, the portrait of Mahsa Amini, this young woman who became infamous on the day of her death and now a symbol of the repression of demonstrations in Iran.

On Nowruz, Iranians gather to celebrate the New Year around the sacred flames. This symbol was taken up by the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement in protest against the death of Mahsa Amini. Iranian women turned this symbolic tradition into a political act and burned their veils by throwing them into the fire and dancing around them. That is why this year Nowruz takes on an even more symbolic meaning and is celebrated as a tribute to freedom-loving Iranian women.

Placards taped to the ground explain the situation of women's rights in several countries celebrating Nowruz, on the forecourt of human rights in Paris, March 25, 2023. © Anne Bernas/RFI

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This year, this gathering is dedicated to the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement, to all those women from Iran and Afghanistan who fight every day against a tyrannical, dictatorial, theocratic, and above all misogynistic government. Nazila Golestan, spokesperson for the Hamava Association (National Coalition for a Free and Democratic Iran), dressed in a long traditional Persian jacket sewn with golden threads.

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Yes, it's very politicized today, whereas usually it's not at all politicized " says the son of the president of the Committee for the Support of Human Rights in Iran and political refugee, who wears a sumptuous velvet and embroidery coat and who has celebrated Nowruz for twenty-seven years. "This year, I am an infiltrator in Tajik costume," says the young man who says he did not really party this year.

► Read also: Iraq and Iran celebrate Nowruz in two different atmospheres

A call for peace

Wrapped in a gigantic flag in the colors of Iran, Arsalan, 63, says: "I participate in the festivities every year, but this year they have a special taste with 'Woman, Life, Freedom'. Women have always had an essential place in Persian culture. We don't want Islam anymore, we want to go back to our origins. And this Franco-Iranian explains that from now on, he has entered into an identity and cultural struggle. "Today we are in the midst of a revolution, a renaissance in people's minds, and I want to believe in it! It's a long-term struggle," he persists as the music gets louder and louder and his wife begins a few dance steps while singing at the top of her lungs.

For Pierre Hossein Lotfalizadeh, organizing member of the festivities and president of the Persian Eyes Institute, this brutal repression in Iran for six months has brought together the Iranian diaspora more than ever around the world, and even more during Nowruz celebrations. "We see it this year, there are many more people than usual, Iranians, but also spectators who did not usually come. " And Pierre Hossein Lotfalizadeh to make a wish: that Nowruz 2024 is done in democracy in Iran, "that this regime that has occupied Iran for 44 years disappears, and that peace is spread beyond Iran.

This year for Nowruz, the atmosphere is more one of political demand than celebration. © Anne Bernas/RFI

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We are outside, but this allows us to be freer to convey the message of those inside, says Massoud Mirshahi, responsible for International Nowruz Day. But the France vis-à-vis Iran is very conservative. One senses that she does not know which path to choose, but she cannot remain in this position. Iranians have their eye on the France, known for its freedoms. The messages that come from here therefore have a fundamental value.

To do this, the road seems long as the repression is fierce. And some, like Arash, 70, to question the movement, which he considers "Islamo-leftist and invades the Hexagon". "The France gave me everything, she taught me human rights, women's rights. But feminist organizations that usually stand up on all matters of violations of women's rights, where are they to denounce what is happening in Afghanistan or Iran? These are the blackest regimes in humanity... Woman, Life, Freedom, it's the most beautiful slogan in the world! Where are the feminists to defend this? They don't see what's happening in Iran? " he protests, tears in his eyes.

At the same time, a French elected official proclaimed to the applause of the audience: "The mullahs, this totalitarian regime, this regime of darkness, it is your enemy, it is our common enemy. We must be there every day to express our fear, our anger. The France must be there, with Europe, to say that the Revolutionary Guards, this armed wing of terror, must be included on the list of terrorist organisations.

Yet, on the human rights forecourt, hope is in order and motivation seems to be foolproof. "It's like a game of chess," says Massud Mirshahi. You have to move the pawns well, so that you can attack. But for that, you have to be organized. If at least we can remove the hijab from Iranian women, it will already be a first step to break the Islamic authorities. We are counting on young people for this...

#Norouz Iranian New Year, under the sign of #FemmeVieLiberte and #IranRevolution at the Trocadero in #Paris. May this new year finally see the end of the mullahs' regime in #Iranian! ♀ pic.twitter.com/Ts53YjMq8W

— Arlette_Zilberg (@Arlette_Zilberg) March 25, 2023

Young people mobilized

And the young people have answered the call and are numerous on the Trocadero esplanade. Because this year, Nowruz is also an opportunity to make heard the various initiatives undertaken to make the whole world aware of human rights violations. "I," says a young French-Iranian student, "am here to talk about We are Iranian Students, an association of which I am a member. Our goal is to amplify the voices of students who are persecuted today," like the sponsorship of political prisoners whose media coverage has had some success.

► READ ALSO: Young Iranians still determined to demand more freedoms

His group has created a database that lists the precise status of arrested students, surname, first name, photo, training, all elements provided by local student unions via the Telegram application. "Today we have collected 800 names, but we know that the real numbers are much higher. We also know that 400 of them have been convicted or are still in prison. So that these young people are not forgotten, We are Iranian Students is working to set up an international academic sponsorship.

The mobilization is therefore in full swing so that the rights of women and men are finally respected. And these peoples are fighting to make their dreams come true and for the tide to turn, much further than from the forecourt of human rights. "The ultimate joy would be to celebrate Nowruz soon in Iran, in democracy," says a young Franco-Iranian. A country where I have never been able to go despite having tried everything.

"This year, we dedicate this gathering to the 'Woman, Life, Freedom' movement, to all those women from Iran and Afghanistan who fight every day against a tyrannical, dictatorial, theocratic, and above all misogynistic government," said Nazila Golestan, spokesperson for the Hamava association. © Anne Bernas/RFI

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