Following Freedom

We are all in this together

There have been so many powerful cartoons drawn in the last week about the situation in Iran. Wonderful symbolism of women taking control of their own bodies, their hair, their freedom. What I am thinking of lately is that women in the US —actually Americans of all genders—need to show support and solidarity with the resistance in Iran. So I drew this simple image below. I worry about having flags in the drawing, because this is not about nationality, but about freedom of human beings. But flags are symbols that make an idea more easily understood, so I added them.

On second thought, I created one without flags, which I may like better. What do you think?

Feminists must stick together, and this is a moment in time when we need to show support.

Here is one I drew a few years ago about how the suppression of women is global and insidious. And advances for so many are slow and incrimental, it’s frustrating. For us in the US, it is not as acute as for others in other countries.

And this one, I try to point out that women+ are diverse, that we do not all share the characteristics societies try to pin on us. But unfortunately, we share horrible things, in different degrees of severity around the world.

If you want to support women cartoonists in Iran, one suggestion is on social media. You can follow my friend Firoozeh Mozaffari, who is drawing wonderful cartoons on the subject. She also shares the work of others, and in those she follows, you can find other artists drawing to bring freedom. Technology may be the way to help, or at least show support with the hashtag #MashaAmini. She told me also to follow an Iranian who left Iran, Mana Neyestani, whom she says is “our voice.”

Firoozeh and I met years ago when she recieved the Cartooning for Peace Prize, along with two other Iranian cartoonists, Hassan Karimzadeh and Kianoush Ramenzani. Here we are in Switzerland, when she got the prize. We have not seen each other in almost a decade, but we remain close friends on social media.

I wish all Iranian women strength and I pray this situation ends peacefully.