Press
A selection of recent press related to Off-Site and its members sorted by date
Slate audio / Chowra Makaremi: ‘The Iranian regime has benefited from indirect support from Western states’
"Two years after the death of Mahsa Amini, where does the Iranian street movement ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ stand?"
Interview by Christophe Carron, producer of the programme "Le Monde devant soi" on Slate Audio
La Croix / ‘It is from the belly of the Iranian beast that the resistance persists and is organised’.
‘At a time when the video of a young Iranian student in her underwear on the campus of Tehran University has gone round the world, Chowra Makaremi looks back at the protest movement that has been underway for two years in Iran. A resistance that is all the more powerful because it is taking place at the heart of the repressive apparatus’.
Opinion column written by Chowra Makaremi and published in the French daily newspaper La Croix.
Slate / Two years after the death of Mahsa Jîna Amini, where does the ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ movement stand in Iran?
‘Mahsa Jîna Amini's death on 16 September 2022, three days after her arrest by the Iranian morality police, sparked off the longest-running popular uprising in Iran since the 1979 revolution.’ (...)
Article written by journalist Léa Polverini
Mediapart / Iran, Afghanistan: ‘Soon, women will no longer have the right to breathe’.
‘Two years after Mahsa Amini's death, and with the Taliban now banning women from making their voices heard in public, calls to recognise gender apartheid are increasing.’ (...)
"A l'air libre" web programme presented on 19 September 2024 by Mediapart
France 24 / Two years after the death of Mahsa Amini, what remains of the popular uprising in Iran?
‘Two years after the death of Mahsa Amini, whose arrest by the morality police sparked off a wave of protests in Iran, where do things stand? A discussion with Aïla Navidi, artist, director, actress and author of the play 4211 km, and Chowra Makaremi, author, anthropologist, researcher at the CNRS and specialist about Iran.’
"Les Invitées du Jour" programme broadcast on 16 September 2024 on France 24.
France 24 / Iran: two years after the death of Mahsa Amini, a ‘cultural revolution’ is underway
‘The scale of the protest movement following the death of Mahsa Amini and the brutal repression of the demonstrations in autumn 2022 have left their mark on Iran. Within families, men's behaviour has changed and the place of women is no longer the same. In the streets, more and more women are dropping their veils. (...)
Article written by journalist Bahar Makooi with quotes from Chowra Makaremi and published on the France 24 website on 15 September 2024.
France Culture / Iran: the regime's relentless rush forward
‘Two years ago, the ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ movement took to the streets of Iran. What remains of this momentum and its aspirations after the repression? What is the value of new President Massoud Pezeshkian's promises of openness and reform?
Round-table with Chowra Makaremi, Armin Arefi, Marc Semo
"Cultures Monde" radio programme is produced by Mélanie Chalandon
RFI / Iran: how will the succession to President Ebrahim Raissi be organised?
‘The search went on for many hours until Tehran announced the news on Monday morning 20 May: President Ebrahim Raissi and the Iranian foreign minister had died in a helicopter crash. What can we expect now?’
On RFI, a special edition with Chowra Makaremi on 20 May 2024, following the accident and death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raissi.
AOC Media / Toomaj Salehi's brave stand in Iran
‘On 24 April, an Iranian court handed down the death penalty to rap singer and opposition figure Toomaj Salehi. Toomaj Salehi embodies the values and tactics of the ‘Woman Life Freedom’ movement, which has turned the political tide in Iran. His conviction is also an attempt to symbolically behead a revolt that will not die out, even if it is crushed.’
Article written by Chowra Makaremi
Arte - Les Idées Larges / What makes a revolution?
‘When do people stop believing in the electoral route to reform? What makes a regime ‘stand’ or ‘no longer stand’? Interview with anthropologist Chowra Makaremi, a specialist in state violence and author of "Woman! Life! Freedom".’
Host: Renaud Dély
France Culture / Iranian diaspora: another idea of Iran?
‘All over the world, cities with large Iranian communities hold festivities to celebrate Nowruz. Far from Tehran, how do these heterogeneous diasporas embody their cultural and political identity?’
With Chowra Makaremi, Alireza Khatami, Amin Moghadam
Radio programme broadcast on 21 March 2024 on France Culture in Cultures Monde, produced by Julie Gacon and Mélanie Chalandon
En Attendant Nadeau / Archiving the Iranian revolt: interview with Chowra Makaremi
‘The reconfiguration of borders, migration control and the modalities of state violence in post-revolutionary Iran are at the centre of anthropologist Chowra Makaremi's research. Following on from her book Le cahier d'Aziz (Gallimard, 2011), she is also looking for multiple ways to produce and disseminate knowledge through a variety of writing forms: documentary films, visual anthropology, comics... with Femme! Life! Liberté! she describes the Iranian uprising in autumn 2022 in the form of successive chronicles. The result is a dense, informed and scholarly narrative that coexists with personal analysis. Observing the unfolding event from a distance, Chowra Makaremi attempts to identify traces of a prehistory of the movement, to analyse the sub-political elements leading up to the revolt and to understand the revolutionary shift. This all-encompassing anthropology of the politics of affects, which responds to the urgent need to recount and remember, is as much a practical manual of revolts in general as it is a history of the Iran of the last forty years. In this interview, forty-five years after the Revolution, she reflects on her approach as a Franco-Iranian anthropologist and citizen’. (Boris James)
Arte - 28 Minutes / Chowra Makaremi
‘Woman! Life! Freedom', is a slogan that went viral after the death of Mahsa Amini on 16 September 2022 in Tehran, and which has been the rhythm of demonstrations by all those who want to put an end to the dictatorship of the mullahs. It is also the name of Chowra Makaremi's book, which, one year on, puts the revolutionary uprising into perspective. Written in the style of a diary, the Franco-Iranian anthropologist, who was forced into exile at the age of six after her mother was murdered by the regime, looks back at the Iranian protest movements since 1979 and the way in which the veil has become a defining symbol of society as a whole. Whilst the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was awarded on 19 October to Mahsa Amini and the women's movement in Iran, ‘Woman! Life! Freedom! Echoes of a revolutionary uprising in Iran’ won the Arte-France Culture essay prize, Chowra Makaremi is our guest.’ (Extract from the website of the programme 28 Minutes.)
RFI / ‘Women, life, freedom’: the latest book by Chowra Makaremi
‘Since September 2022, Iran has been shaken by numerous spontaneous demonstrations across the country, following the arrest and death of Jina Mahsa Amini. Women and men from all sections of society, often young, have embarked on a political conquest, a resistance that anthropologist Chowra Makaremi comments on and analyses in a book published by Éditions La Découverte’. (Eric Bataillon - RFI)
France 5 / Women, Life, Freedom / Iran, 1 year on
On 17 September 2023, the programme ‘En Société’, presented by Karim Rissouli, examined the ‘Femme, Vie, Liberté’ movement, which began a year before in Iran:
Guests: Chowra Makaremi, anthropologist ; Chirinne Ardakani, lawyer ; Aïda Asgharzadeh, actress
Libération / One year after the death of Mahsa Amini ‘The lifestyles of Iranians are out of step with the official ideology’.
‘In a book dedicated to Iran's “women warriors”, anthropologist Chowra Makaremi explores the genesis of the protest movement that began a year ago, following the death of Mahsa Amini. (
Interview by Léa Masseguin published in the daily newspaper Libération.
#AuPoste / Woman! Life! Freedom! Echoes of a revolutionary uprising in Iran with Chowra Makaremi
David Dufresne, journalist and host of the web programme #AuPoste, talks to Chowra Makaremi about the first year of the revolutionary uprising in Iran and the release of her book.
Le Monde des Livres / ‘’Femme! Vie ! Liberté" by Chowra Makaremi, and “Dans les rues de Téhéran”, by Nila: Iranian revolt, a lesson of rage
Sophie Benard reviews two books published a year after the death of Jina Mahsa Amini in Iran, one written from abroad, ‘Woman! Life! Freedom’, by Chowra Makaremi, and the other from Iran, ‘In the streets of Tehran’, by Nila.
France Culture / Zan, Zendegi, Azadi: a revolutionary uprising in Iran
‘A few days before the one-year anniversary of the outbreak of the Zan, Zendegi, Azadi (Woman, Life, Freedom) movement in Iran, anthropologist Chowra Makaremi and actress Adèle Haenel look back at this unprecedented revolutionary uprising.’
LCI / Mahsa Amini: where does Iran stand one year on?
Following the release of her book, ‘Woman! Life! Freedom! Echoes of a Revolutionary Uprising in Iran’, Chowra Makaremi was invited to appear on LCI's programme Le Temps de l'Info on 7 September 2023.
France Culture / Woman, life, freedom: chronicles of a revolution in Iran
The uprising in Iran, triggered by the tragic death of Jina Mahsa Amini on 16 September 2022, gave rise to a nationwide protest movement. The government response was severe, with deaths and large-scale arrests. What is the state of the revolt one year on?
Chowra Makaremi, invited guest on France Culture's "Matins d'Eté" (presented by journalist Julie Gacon)
Sciences Humaines / Chowra Makaremi, an Iranian counter-memory
Published in the monthly magazine Sciences Humaines (No. 361, August-September 2023), an article by Adèle Cailleteau on Chowra Makaremi's research and approach.
France 24 / Iran protest crackdown: Two reporters could face death penalty over Mahsa Amini story
Two female journalists are on trial in Iran. They face charges of spying and working for foreign intelligence. Their crime cold perhaps best be described here in the West as a good old fashioned journalistic coup. They revealed the truth about a story and dared to publish it. The story was the death in police custody of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman.
Revue Esprit / Bringing about regime change. The insurrectionary experience in Iran
"A few months after the death of Mahsa Amini, this special issue, coordinated by Azadeh Thiriez-Arjangi, sheds light on the "Women, Life, Freedom" revolutionary movement in Iran. The violence of the Islamic Republic, a corrupt regime that represses its people and imposes a culture of death on them, has led Iranians to proclaim their freedom, opening up a horizon of hope".
These contributions are from the study day "Understanding 'Woman, Life, Freedom'. 4 months later" organised by Azadeh Thiriez-Arjangi (CRAL/EHESS and Fonds Ricœur), which took place on 16 January 2023.
Chowra Makaremi discussed regime change and the experience of insurrection in Iran. Her words were transcribed by Jonathan Chalier.
RFI / Chowra Makaremi, for an Iranian Us
Since the murder of Mahsa Amini, her voice as a researcher has echoed the unprecedented uprising that has been taking place in her homeland for the last six months. An echo that undoubtedly reconnects her with her research work on post-revolutionary violence and mass killings in Iran. It also reconnects her with 1988 and the founding chapter of her life, when her mother disappeared in the massacre of thousands of political prisoners opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran. An anthropologist in the field of memory with drawers (family memory) in search of her own narrative, resulting in a documentary of gentle emotional violence entitled "Hitch, an Iranian story"...
Corse Matin / Conference at Park Galea: ‘In Iran, society divorced from the state’
"CNRS bronze medal-winning researcher Chowra Makaremi spoke at Parc Galea on Sunday 12 March 2023. A specialist in the anthropology of violence, particularly in Iran, a country she was forced to leave at the age of 6, she analysed the uniqueness of this protest, which arose in the wake of the outrage of a death".
Tribune de Genève / Fears spread as Iranian schoolgirls are poisoned
‘Cases of poisoning in girls' schools are on the increase. Opponents denounce the winds of terror instilled by the regime against those who have been at the forefront of the protest movement that is shaking the country.’
Article by journalist Yannick Van der Schueren for Tribune de Genève & Le Matin Dimanche - International Affairs, 12 March 2023
NRK / Iran har arrestert flere etter gassangrep på skoler: Mener de er regime-motstandere
Dr. Pardis Shafafi, member of the Off-Site ERC research team, specialised in political violence, was interviewed by the Norwegian news organisation NRK about the poisoning happening in the Iranian schools since February 2023.
Libération / ‘Iranian society is showing the State that it is not prepared to play the game of violence’.
‘The regime's ferocious repression may have extinguished the insurrectionary demonstrations of the autumn, but Iranians have not given up. For Chowra Makaremi, an anthropologist, their radical rejection of the Islamic Republic project is now being expressed through collective, and very often viral, acts of resistance’.
Interview with Chowra Makaremi by Libération daily newspaper journalist Anastasia Vécrin
L'Anticapitaliste / Iran: Women's political struggle
In this interview, Chowra Makaremi looks back at the revolt underway in Iran and analyzes what is at stake in this political struggle by women for their freedom.
Interview by Drass, L'Anticapitaliste, 27 February 2023
France 24 / Iran: 5 months of revolt
Demonstrations have been on the decline in recent weeks, but some opponents say they will flare up again at the slightest spark. The crisis was sparked by the death in custody of Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini, arrested for violating the strict dress code imposed on Iranian women, giving rise to protests against the regime. Chowra Makaremi, anthropologist and Iran specialist, was on France 24 to discuss the situation.
France 24 English / Iran anti-government protests
"Iran has been rocked by a civil uprising since mid-September, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, accused of breaching the Islamic republic’s dress code for women. The movement gradually morphed from a push against repression into a movement calling for all-out regime change. While mass demonstrations have begun to subside, public displays of anger remain, political demands are multiplying across civil society, and a divided opposition, in and outside of the country, insist the endgame is regime change. For more on this new political phase of Iran’s civil uprising, FRANCE 24 is joined by Chowra Makaremi, Anthropologist, Iran Specialist and Researcher for the CNRS in Paris."
TV5 Monde / Iran, arbitrary releases: Chowra Makaremi
"To celebrate the 44th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, the government has decreed the release of hundreds of prisoners. However, the protests continue unabated. For researcher and anthropologist Chowra Makaremi, these releases by the Iranian regime are "arbitrary": "it's a way of showing that freedom or the absence of freedom is linked to the goodwill of the prince".
France Info / Iran: how the regime's violent response silenced the protests, without extinguishing society's anger
France Info journalist Fabien Jannic-Cherbonnel spoke to anthropologist Chowra Makaremi, Ipag Business School professor Mahnaz Shirali and Clément Therme, lecturer at Montpellier's Paul-Valéry University, about the forms of Iranian mobilization since the death of Mahsa Jina Amini in September 2022. Demonstrations in early 2023 have come to a halt, but protest against the current regime is still firmly rooted in the population.
#AuPoste / Iran: an uprising before our eyes (and our indifference). With Chowra Makaremi.
"For more than four months, Iran has been in revolt. Already 500 killed. Death sentences still to come. Brave women taking to the streets and into the night, after the death of a young woman, Jina Mahsa Amini, arrested by the morality police for wearing a veil deemed ill-fitting. What does this revolt say about Iran, and about ourselves? We're having coffee with Chowra Makaremi, anthropologist at the CNRS, author of Aziz's Notebook, at the heart of the Iranian revolution (Gallimard, 2011) and the documentary, Hitch, une histoire iranienne".
La Provence / AMU supports the Iranian university community
Aix-Marseille Université and Sciences Po Aix were organizing a screening of Chowra Makaremi's film Hitch, Une histoire iranienne on Thursday February 2, 2023, from 5pm to 8pm at the Théâtre du Cube in Aix-en-Provence. This documentary tells part of the filmmaker's family story, which is intertwined with the history of the 1979 Iranian revolution.
On this occasion, the regional daily newspaper La Provence interviewed Chowra Makaremi about the uprisings underway in Iran since September 2022.
RFI - Géopolitique / Iran: how far will the repression of the unprecedented protest movement go?
On January 29, 2023, journalist Chantal Lorho interviewed three invited guests in her Géopolitique radio programme to discuss the evolution of the protest movement in Iran and the violent repression it faces:
- Chowra Makaremi, anthropologist, researcher at the CNRS, director of the documentary “Hitch, une histoire iranienne” (2019) available on video on demand
- Bernard Hourcade, geographer, emeritus researcher at the CNRS and former director of the French Research Institute in Iran from 1978 to 1993. Author of “Iran, paradoxes d'une nation” published by CNRS Éditions (2021)
- Jean-Pierre Perrin, journalist and writer, Middle East specialist, author of “Kaboul, l'humiliante défaite”, published by Équateurs (2022).
France 24 English - The Debate / Tehran doubles down: Crackdown fuels calls to ban Revolutionary Guards
What’s the right response to Tehran’s weekend execution of British-Iranian citizen Alireza Akbari? Officially, his case has nothing to do with the protest movement, which is now in its fifth month. France 24 asks about the timing of his killing and about the other foreign nationals currently held in Iran to 3 Iran specialists:
- Chowra Makaremi, Anthropologist
- Tara Kangarlou, Author, ‘The Heartbeat of Iran’
- Kianoush Ramezani, Cartoonist
France 24 English / Anthropologist Chowra Makaremi says Iran protests ‘fuelled by anger’
“When Chowra Makaremi came to France from Iran as a child, she had to leave her mother behind. Several years later, in 1988, her jailed mother was one of thousands killed in mass executions. Now an anthropologist, Marakemi explains that the Iranian regime has long used state violence for control, setting up a sort of “contract” to keep society within their “red lines”. She says the current protests, which began four months ago following the death of Mahsa Amini, are a sign that Iranians are no longer accepting the regime’s “game of terror”. Marakemi tells us that a generation of Iranians who, like her, lost family members to state violence have transmitted “a memory of resistance”, adding that the current movement is being fuelled not by fear, but by anger at the executions of protesters.”
TV5 Monde / Iran: after four months of revolt, “no return to pre-September 2022 is possible”
"Four months after the death of Mahsa Amini, the citizens' revolt and government repression continue in the country. The Iranian courts have confirmed the death sentences handed down to 18 people in connection with the protests. But according to CNRS anthropologist and Iran specialist Chowra Makaremi, 'we are witnessing a fundamental change in the history of the Islamic Republic, which Iranians believe foreshadows its end'."
RFI - Decryptage / Iran: four months of uprising bloodily repressed
"Four months ago, a protest movement began in Iran following the death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman found dead after being arrested by the morality police for wearing an ill-fitting veil. Nearly 500 people lost their lives in the terrible repression orchestrated by the regime. 109 demonstrators are facing death penalty, 18 have been sentenced to death, and four have already been executed following parodies of justice."
Journalist Anne Corpet (RFI) invited two specialists to decipher the current situation in Iran:
- Chowra Makaremi, anthropologist at the CNRS, author of Le Cahier d'Aziz, au cœur de la révolution iranienne (Gallimard) and the documentary “Hitch, une histoire iranienne”.
- Somayeh Rostampour, researcher at the Centre de recherches sociologiques et politiques de Paris (CRESPPA) at the University of Paris 8, and lecturer at the University of Reims.
RTL - Jour J / Iran: is the regime winning through terror?
Flavie Flament, presenting the daily program Jour J on RTL, welcomes Chowra Makaremi to discuss the situation in Iran since September 2022 and the uprising that followed the death of Jina Mahsa Amini.
Zetland / “Far, jeg har fået en dødsdom. Du må ikke sige det til mor.” (“Dad, I was sentenced to death. Don’t tell mum.”)
Dr. Pardis Shafafi, member of the Off-Site ERC research team, was interviewed by the Danish news website Zetland about the executions organised in Iran by the Islamic regime 4 months after the beginning of the upheaval which started following the death of Jina Mahsa Amini by the moral police.
Arte - 28 minutes / Serial executions in Iran: is the regime winning through the use of terror?
On Wednesday 11 January 2023, Chowra Makaremi was the guest on ARTE's daily TV programme, 28 minutes, presented by Elizabeth Quin.
"The situation in Iran is not improving: detentions, torture, death sentences, deaths of demonstrators... The consequences are severe. The UN refers to a “state murder” carried out by Teheran. But what can we do from the West? The “diplomacy of the drawing” and the cartoons published by Charlie Hebdo seem to be at the limit of our modes of action... Does this merciless repression show an intrinsic weakness in the regime? Will it temper the ardor of the demonstrators or, on the contrary, galvanize them? That's today's debate."
France Culture - Le Temps du Débat / Iran, Afghanistan, Russia: how to get the news out?
Emmanuel Laurentin, journalist, host of the program “Le Temps du Débat”, on France Culture radio received Chowra Makaremi on Wednesday 11 January 2023 on the topic “Iran, Afghanistan, Russia: how to get the information out?”
"On January 9, three new death sentences were handed down to Iranian demonstrators. Many journalists and researchers are arrested and face intimidation attempts, in Iran, Russia or Afghanistan: how can one investigate and inform in these countries?"
With :
Solène Chalvon-Fioriti, Freelance journalist
Chowra Makaremi Anthropologist, CNRS research fellow, specialist on Iran, violence and migration
Véronique Nahoum-Grappe, Anthropologist
lundimatin #365 / Rhythm and strategies of the Iranian Resistance - A few clarifications
Chowra Makaremi answered questions from the online magazine Lundimatin (edition of 9 January 2022), highlighting the weakness of geopolitical analyses on French TV, which often seem to respond willingly to both the regime's machinations and their communication strategies.
Politika / Iran: Minorities, Feminism And Revolution
What distinguishes the fall 2022 protests in Iran from those of 2009 and 2019? What does the issue of the veil crystallize for the Iranian regime and its opponents? Have new structures and networks emerged in Iranian society? Is it also a minority struggle? These are just some of the questions about a society in the throes of change, and, in the absence of social science research authorized by the regime, whole aspects of it remain difficult to explore. Anthropologist Chowra Makaremi provides the keys to understanding the new Iranian society that is emerging and has been opposing the government since autumn 2022.
France Info / Two sentenced to death executed in Iran: ‘The policy of terror reactivated by the regime is not taking hold’ among the population, says a Franco-Iranian anthropologist
Following the execution of two men in Iran, Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Sayed Mohammad Hosseini, on Saturday 7 January 2023, Chowra Makaremi spoke to France Info. She believes that the violence used by the Iranian regime is not stopping the current protests.
RFI - La Marche du Monde / Iran: women, life, freedom
"Woman, life, freedom - three words that have been taken up around the world and in all the demonstrations in support of the Iranian men and women who have decided to defy their fear and challenge the theocratic regime inherited from the Islamic revolution of 1979. Woman, life, freedom was one of the very first slogans chanted in the streets of Tehran, Isfahan and Saqqez, the Kurdish town from which Jina Mahsa Amini came.
Iran's connected youth reacted en masse to the news of Mahsa Amini's death on 16 September 2022, following her arrest by the Tehran vice police for wearing an ill-fitting veil, as revealed by the London-based Iran Wire website.
Since then, the slogans and songs have multiplied and been enriched by just as many images. Images as proof of the repression but also of the protest, women without veils, hair blowing in the wind, singing and dancing, in viral videos shared on a massive scale thanks to VPN networks, whose subscribers' identities are protected.
But what does this multi-voiced narrative tell us? What do these sounds tell us about the nature and origins of the movement in Iran? Is this movement part of a long history of opposition to the politico-religious system led by the Supreme Leader, the Presidency and the Revolutionary Guards?
These are just some of the questions to be answered by documentary filmmaker Mehran Tamadon and our guest, anthropologist Chowra Makaremi, who is also a filmmaker."
Text taken from the RFI website / By: Valérie Nivelon
TMC - Quotidien / Wednesday 4 January 2023
Four months after the start of the uprisings in Iran, Quotidien TV presenter Yann Barthès welcomes Chowra Makaremi to give an update on the situation.
Chowra Makaremi previously appeared on Quotidien on 4 October 2022 with Saghar Akhtar, Maud and Ava Bayat.
France Inter - L'Heure Bleue / Sorour Kasmaï and Chowra Makaremi on the demonstrations in Iran: ‘Fear has shifted camps’.
Sorour Kasmaï, novelist and director of the ‘Horizons persans’ collection at Actes Sud, and Chowra Makaremi, anthropology researcher, decipher the current Iranian revolutionary movement in the light of the country's history since the 1979 revolution.
L'Heure Bleue is hosted by Laure Adler on France Inter
RTS / Chowra Makaremi: “The Iranian regime worries that the wall of fear will collapse”
Iran is facing a protest movement unprecedented since the 1979 revolution. As a guest on Tuesday 27 December 2022 in La Matinale on RTS (Radio Télévision Suisse), Chowra Makaremi discussed the unprecedented aspects of this uprising, which has been going on for over three months. She also discussed the crucial role played by social networks.
C Politique / Iran, a detention dictatorship
On Sunday 11 December 2022, the weekly programme C Politique, on the French channel France 5, tackled the issue of prisons in Iran, in particular Evin prison in Tehran, which is notorious for the ill-treatment of political prisoners.
Guests:
Jean-Pierre Perrin, Journalist, writer
Chowra Makaremi, Anthropologist, CNRS researcher
Radio-Canada / A gesture of defiance towards Tehran
The Iranian football players remained silent during their national anthem as a sign of support for the victims of the harshly repressed protests in their country during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Anne Marie Dussault, journalist and presenter of Radio-Canada's 24.60 interviews Chowra Makaremi to discuss this act of defiance against the current regime in Iran.
Révolution Permanente / Women, revolt and revolution in Iran
In this interview by Pierre Reip, Chowra Makaremi, a researcher at the CNRS and a specialist working on Iran, discusses the uprising that has shaken Tehran and every city in the country, its revolutionary potential and the role of women at the root of the process.
Le Devoir / What role is the diaspora playing in the uprisings in Iran?
Le Devoir is a Quebec information newspaper. Its website features a daily podcast called Décrocher la une.
On 18 November 2022, Décrocher la une focused on members of the Iranian diaspora who, from outside the country, are trying to mobilise the international community on the current situation in Iran and the bloody repression carried out by the current regime against its population.
Guests: Maral Saghaei-Dehkordi, a Quebecker of Iranian origin, and Chowra Makaremi, an anthropologist at the CNRS in Paris and an Iran specialist.
Radio-Canada / Protests continue in Iran: Interview with Chowra Makaremi
On 16 November 2022, Yanik Dumont Baron, journalist and presenter of Radio-Canada's L'Heure du Monde, spoke to Chowra Makaremi about the continuation of the protests in Iran.
Le Monde des livres / The Iranian uprising as seen and experienced by writers
Demonstrations and rallies against the regime have been going on in the Islamic Republic for over a month, despite a brutal regime of repression. ‘Le Monde des livres’ contacted intellectuals, writers, essayists and bloggers, both inside and outside the country, to hear their accounts of events and their analyses. By journalist Lila Azam Zanganeh
Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques / ‘The feminist revolution in Iran is for the betterment of all’
Under the direction of Marie-Cécile Naves, Director of Research at IRIS, the Observatory on Gender and Geopolitics aims to be a forum for reflection and the promotion of inter- and multi-disciplinary research on the way in which gender, as a concept, a field of research and a tool for analysing reality, can be mobilised to understand geopolitics and be a decision-making tool on international issues.
TV5 Monde / Women are the new face of Iran
"On 16 September 2022, in Tehran, Mahsa Amini was arrested for wearing a headscarf that was deemed ’badly worn’. Her parents never saw her alive again. As soon as the news of her death was announced, angry slogans were raised, starting with ‘Woman, life, freedom’. Since then, the protest has spread throughout the country, to all Iranians. Chowra Makaremi, anthropology researcher and feminist activist, explains."
BBC Persian / ادامه اعتراضات؛ نسل دیجیتال چطور تاریخ ایران را رقم میزند- صفحه دو ۷ مهر
Pardis Shafafi, anthropologist based in Oslo and Off-Site research associate, was invited by BBC Persian to talk about the events taking place in Iran in this fall 2022.
Libération / Demonstrations in Iran: ‘This is a feminist movement and it's the first time’ in the country's history
Iran has experienced several protest movements in the recent past, from 1999 to 2019. Triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini in September, the current mobilisation differs from previous ones, particularly in its scale, according to anthropologist Chowra Makaremi.
Article written by journalist Salomé Kourdouli
France 24 / Iran, a new revolution?
"Women, young people, minorities... Many are demonstrating today in Iran. For more than a month now. In many ways, it's an unprecedented uprising that is shaking the mullahs' regime to the core. Is this the beginning of a new revolution? This programme's guest is anthropologist Chowra Makaremi."
Interview by Raphael Kahane for the programme 'Le Monde dans tous ses États' on 23 October 2022.
France Culture / Is the Iranian government divided over the revolt?
Emmanuel Laurentin, journalist and presenter of the programme ‘Le Temps du Débat’, welcomes three guests to discuss the divergent voices emerging among the leading figures of the Islamic regime and within the State:
Chowra Makaremi, anthropologist, research fellow at the CNRS; Stéphane Dudoignon, historian, director of research at the CNRS and EHESS; Marie Ladier-Fouladi, sociodemographer, director of research at the CNRS/EHESS-CETOBaC.
Revue La Déferlante / ‘Iranian feminism is a driving force of revolutionary protest’
One month after the start of the uprisings in Iran, Anne Roy, journalist and member of the editorial committee of the feminist magazine La Déferlante, meets Chowra Makaremi.
France 24 / Death of Mahsa Amini: ‘These demonstrations are the only ones of their kind in 43 years’
An on-the-spot analysis of the 4 weeks of protests in Iran following the death of student Mahsa Amini. Insights from anthropologist Chowra Makaremi.
RFI / Special edition - One month after the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran
RFI's special edition, presented by Arnaud Pontus, looks at the situation in Iran one month after the death of Mahsa Amini, with contributions from two guests: Chowra Makaremi, an anthropology researcher at the Institut de recherche interdisciplinaire sur les enjeux sociaux (IRIS), and Farid Vahid, director of the Observatory for North Africa and the Middle East at the Fondation Jean Jaurès.
Les Oreilles loin du Front / ‘Women, life, freedom’: mobilising Iranian society
"Iranian society is on fire. A month ago, the death of Mahsa Jina Amini at the hands of the morality police sparked off a multi-faceted feminist movement that has now taken on an insurrectionary air, calling for an end to the dictatorship. How can we understand and support this protest movement from a society we know little about in France? We talk about it this evening with anthropologist Chowra Makaremi, whose work has focused on state-sponsored political violence in post-revolutionary Iran".
Middle East Eye / Interview ‘The current situation in Iran has revolutionary potential’
Anthropologist Chowra Makaremi is conducting research into the post-revolution massacres in Iran and the issues of memory linked to this State violence. In this interview with Middle East Eye journalist Maël Galisson, she analyses the reasons for and nature of the current uprising.
Libération - Opinion / Put an end to Iranian repression, which is escalating dramatically in the academic world
Dozens of students attacked, injured or arrested. A group of more than three hundred academics is calling on the presidents of French universities to condemn this repression and on the French authorities to break their silence.
Libération - Opinion / Iran: the wind of revolt, the breath of feminism
Opinion column by Chowra Makaremi published in the Libération newspaper on Monday 10 October 2022 (online on 7th October)
Tribune de Genève / Revolt in Iran - ‘There's no going back now’
Since the death of Mahsa Amini, the protest has continued to grow. For anthropologist Chowra Makaremi, this is a sign that “something has really shifted”.
TMC - Quotidien / Analysis of the uprising in Iran
For the TV programme Quotidien hosted by Yann Barthès on TMC on Tuesday 4 October 2022, Saghar Akhtar, Chowra Makaremi, Maud and Ava Bayat looked at what is at stake in Iran today, since the death of Jina Mahsa Amini while she was detained by the morality police and the subsequent uprising.
France Info - Grand Entretien / Demonstrations in Iran: ‘We are facing a situation with enormous revolutionary potential’
Chowra Makaremi, anthropologist and researcher at the CNRS, spoke to journalist Fabien Jannic-Cherbonnel (France Télévisions) about the protest movement that has been taking place in Iran since the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, a young woman arrested by the Iranian morality police on 13 September in Tehran for ‘wearing inappropriate clothing’.
Mediapart - A l'Air Libre / Iran: "Women, life, freedom - it's a political project
As thousands of people brave repression and demonstrate in Iran over the past week, is the mullah regime under threat? The news magazine Mediapart takes a look at this exceptional uprising, led by women and transcending social class, with Aida Ghajar, an Iranian journalist living in exile in France, Chowra Makaremi, an anthropologist, and Jean-Pierre Perrin, who follows Iran for Mediapart.