Quebec feminists would not comment on the struggle led by Iranian women

MISE À DAY

Quebec feminists would not comment on the struggle waged by Iranian women for several weeks for the recognition of their rights, because “they do not know the conflict well and do not master it well”, said argues feminist Kim Lévesque-Lizotte at the microphone of Sophie Durocher on QUB Radio. 

The comedian and co-author of the “Before the Crash” series posted a series of Instagram “stories” last Monday in which she mentions that the media seems to be feasting on the topic “why Western/Quebec feminists do not support the Iranians”.

For Kim Lévesque-Lizotte, “it's a kind of trial of intent that comes out of nowhere.”

• < strong>Listen to the interview with Kim Lizotte on the Sophie Durocher show via QUB radio: 

“As As a feminist, I speak out above all on the causes that concern me, that concern society, that I feel I have mastered or on injustices”, she explained.

“To mobilize, to organize, to educate oneself, it takes time, there are activists on the ground, there have been demonstrations”, recalled the comedian, adding that these women are not heard, because they have no platform.

“What brings us all together as women, whether Quebecers, Iranians, left or right, is our powerlessness in the face of what it's happening right now and that largely explains the silence,” lamented Ms. Lévesque-Lizotte.

“What is beautiful is to see these women take control of their destiny, to revolt. It means that we speak out less because the injustice is no longer to be denounced because they have taken care of it, she said. It happens that we disagree and it often happens as privileged white women to be criticized for appropriating fights that do not belong to us.

Without naming him, Kim Lévesque-Lizotte denounces here the syndrome of the white savior, the fact, as Westerners, of wanting to come to the aid of racialized and oppressed people to put themselves forward. This neocolonial concept is often denounced in militant circles, because it does not take into account the realities and the real needs of oppressed people.

Thus, the popular tendency to cut a lock of hair, in support of Iranian women, is controversial.

According to her, what should be remembered is that it is the choice of some Iranian women to burn their veil as it may be the choice of some women to want wear it.

“They made their own decisions,” she concluded.