Hamilton’s Iranian and Afghan communities gather in solidarity with women in Iran

It’s been a week since the start of the war that has claimed more than 1,500 lives in Iran and across the Middle East and its impact is being felt close to home.

To mark International Women’s Day, leaders from Hamilton’s Iranian and Afghan communities joined forces today to amplify female voices and feel unified during the current unrest.

They gathered at Stoney Creek City Hall, listening to inspiring speeches from women who were born in Iran and Afghanistan, learning how they overcame their struggles and became the leaders they are today.

“I think it’s very heartbreaking to see what is going on in Iran,” said Vinos Haidary, project manager at the Afghan Association of Hamilton.

Today the Afghan Association of Hamilton and the Iranian Cultural and Social Association of Hamilton came together in advance of International Women’s Day tomorrow.

Haidary was one of the speakers today and felt it was important for these two communities to build a cohesive group where everyone feels supported.

“Realize that Afghan and Iranian women that have gone through hardship — it helped them build their lives through resilience, it helped them realize their strengths and use their strengths to become what they are today. To become community leaders, become professionals … and also advocate for those who are back home,” said Haidary.

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Around this time last week, the United States and Israel launched a coordinated military offensive against Iran with the goal of enforcing a change in the country’s regime.

These strikes resulted in the death of Iran’s supreme leader and prompted Iran to retaliate against U.S. and Israeli targets in the region.

“We hope to see the end of the Islamic regime. We know what foreign intervention means. We are terribly sorry for the loss of all those innocent people that have died either under the Islamic Republic or under the situation that happened last week,” said Nila Amedi from the Iranian Cultural and Social Association of Hamilton.

Some of those lives lost were honoured today. Some as young as 19 years old.

Amedi was born in Iran but raised in Hamilton. She was too young to remember first-hand but learned from her mom what it meant to be a woman living in Iran.

“So I remember my mother explaining to me how women in Iran, when they were in grade school, they couldn’t get their eyebrows done, they couldn’t get their nails done. They had basically no human freedom,” said Amedi.

While this was an idea prompted by the events in Iran last week, they hope to make it a yearly event.

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