Why Images Of Iranian Women Lighting Cigarettes With Khamenei’s Photo Are Going Viral

Why Images Of Iranian Women Lighting Cigarettes With Khamenei’s Photo Are Going Viral. By Nikhil Pandey at NDTV World.

A striking new protest trend involving Iranian women is rapidly spreading across the global internet, drawing attention to growing unrest within Iran. Viral videos show women lighting cigarettes by burning photographs of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, an act widely viewed as a direct challenge to the country’s political and religious authority. …

 

 

Burning the image of the Supreme Leader is considered a serious offence under Iranian law. By combining this act with smoking, an activity long restricted or discouraged for women, the protesters appear to be deliberately rejecting both state power and strict social controls, including mandatory hijab enforcement and limits on women’s personal freedoms.

Melissa Chen:

In a normal world, this badass photograph would be immortalized as an iconic feminist symbol. …

In this one act, they broke so many rules at once, risking imprisonment, torture and death. It is dangerously titillating, especially in a world of sanitized corporate pride parades and student revolutionary LARPers on Ivy League campuses.

I have a really pithy image that is relevant at this point. I would publish it if I was in the US, but I’m in Australia so you miss out.

UPDATE: The video of the now iconic smoking Persian girl: