On September 13, Kurdish woman Jina Mahsa Amini was arrested by Iran's morality police for violating one of the country's dress codes for women. On September 16, she died after being in a coma for three days. Witnesses say she had been subjected to severe violence. This was the start of the protest wave that is now seen in Iran and all over the world.
The Frizon Gothenburg network draws attention to the situation with a program in solidarity with the freedom struggle in Iran.
Welcome to a conversation between rapper and songwriter Farima Habashizadehasl and artist Mandana Moghaddam. Moderator is Mina Dennert, journalist and author.
During the evening, the musician and composer Pedram Shahlai performs music and actors from the Frizon Gothenburg network read texts and testimonies from inside Iran.
The evening's program is held in Swedish and English. Restaurant Tabla is open during the evening.
Free entrance!
CONTRIBUTOR
FARIMA HABASHIZADEHASL, singer, rapper and songwriter with the stage name Justina. Her texts often focus on issues of human rights and the discrimination against women and LGBTQ people. As an artist, she works with rap, R&B, jazz and pop music. Despite the great limitations that exist for female solo artists in Iran, she has made a big profile, not least online. After being accused of moral corruption and forced to flee, Farima lives and works today in Piteå as a sanctuary artist.
MANDANA MOGHADDAM, artist who developed an artistry around communication and isolation, often with a political edge. She has participated in international exhibitions, including in Arnhem, Berlin, Istanbul, London, Tehran and New York. She participated in the Venice Biennale in 2005. In Sweden, she has had solo exhibitions at, among others, the Gothenburg Museum of Art, at Röda Sten and at Konstnärshuset in Stockholm. Mandana was a teenager when the revolution broke out in 1979 in Iran and she had to flee. As a young adult, she was granted asylum in Sweden, and she lives and works today in Stockholm.
MINA DENNERT is a journalist, author and founder of I Am Here International, with Swedish #jagärhär. In particular, she works to support journalists, politicians and organizations against hate and disinformation campaigns that limit their freedom of expression and drive them to self-censorship. Right now, she is current with the book Vitt Skilda.
PEDRAM SHAHLAI, composer and musician who began his musical career in Saqez, in the Kurdish parts of Iran. Pedram's musical voice is cross-border with influences from both classical music, jazz, tango and Romani music but with a core of Kurdish musical tradition. In the spring of 2023, he participates in the performance We who inherited at Angereds Teater.
The arrangement is initiated by Frizon Göteborg, an association of Gothenburg theaters that wants to establish a free zone for artists from countries where unfreedom prevails. The network consists of Angereds Teater, Backa Teater, Folkteatern Gothenburg, Gothenburg's Dramatic Theatre, Masthuggsteatern and the Friends of the Freedom Theater in Sweden.
IMAGE: Photo of an artwork by Mandana Moghaddam.