When we’re afraid, we lose all sense of analysis and reflection. Our fear paralyzes us. Besides, fear has always been the driving force behind all dictators’ repression.
The regime had understood that one person leaving her house while asking herself:
Are my trousers long enough?
Is my veil in place?
Can my make-up be seen?
Are they going to whip me?
No longer asks herself:
Where is my freedom of thought?
Where is my freedom of speech?
My life, is it liveable?
What’s going on in the political prisons?
Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis
As long as you’re alive you can protest and shout, yet laughter is the most subversive weapon of all.
Review Graveyard, 08/08/2018
Suggested Reading:
“Dina Nayeri : Marjane Satrapi brought Iranian women like me out of hiding”, The Guardian, 04/06/2026