community organizer, writer, & lawyer / building at 63rd House
@bluetinstudio
@believerbailout
etc / writing on labor, policing, middle east, liberation, etc
I've been wearing hijab for 17yrs. Islam is my moral compass & one of the central most part of my identity.
I’m also Iranian & understand the difference between burning symbols of the state it has co-opted (like a headscarf that is mandated) vs an assault on Islam 1/
#MahsaAmini
Just boarded my plane back to Chicago & sat next to an older white man who slowly turns, pauses, and says A-salamu-A-laykoom in a way that was clear that he had been practicing for this moment. It was just cute & I wanted to share a wholesome Muslim airport story That is all. 🤷🏽♀️
BREAKING: US CUSTOMS & BORDER PROTECTION NATIONALLY HAVE BEEN ORDERED TO DETAIN & "REPORT" ALL IRANIANS ENTERING THE COUNTRY DEEMED POTENTIALLY SUSPICIOUS OR "ADVERSARIAL" REGARDLESS OF CITIZENSHIP STATUS. 60+ Iranis held last night at the US/Canada border for 11+ hrs / thread
I'm terrified. My aunt is a doctor in Iran. Bc of sanctions there is a MASSIVE shortage of medical supplies, including face masks. She keeps giving her face mask to other docs bc there aren't enough for everyone. For the love of GOD we need to end sanctions on Iran NOW.
#COVID19
If you are in the USA: do not let anyone you know join the military. If you work for a weapons contractor (whose stocks just sky rocketed), walk out. If you are an active soldier, say no. The USA is a war machine & corps profit from mass slaughter—including yours. Don’t be a cog.
BREAKING: The U.S. is reportedly sending roughly 3,000 more troops to the Middle East in the wake of a U.S. drone strike that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and a standoff at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, triggered by U.S. airstrikes.
So last week I was told, on live TV, that I "don't sound American" because I refused to let the hosts turn a conversation about my book and work into a conversation about Iran's supposed nuclear weapons. I published the clip, and some thoughts, here--
@cair_wa
This is a HUGE DEAL. Iranians who have been born and raised in the USA are literally being ILLEGALLY DETAINED for 11+ hours for NO REASON & interrogated with intrusive and inappropriate questions about political opinions, what courses they or their parents studied in college, etc
Hi just a friendly reminder that "objectivity" is a white myth™ that erases histories of colonialism from whiteness making it seem like white people are somehow better equipped to talk about your people & culture than you are, because you're "too close" to the subject matter.
My boo’s bff posted this summery of what’s really going on in Minneapolis and it’s so clear. This is what it’s like. Bump what the media or the mayor or the governor is saying.
Today we organized 75+ ppl to completely shut down every single entrance to Boeing bomb manufacturing plant 598 in St. Charles, Mo. We join calls to demand Biden/Congress call for
#Ceasefirenow
AND also we refuse to wait on their timelines.
If they won't block the bombs, we will.
Yesterday Israel bombed and killed the closest cousin of another one of my friends. He was working on his clothing line and planning his wedding. His name was Raed Hamad. Sharing my friend Ahmed’s words. Please read them.
claim no representative. trust no politician. hope is not in electoral politics. it never will be. look around you, at your community and neighborhoods. this is power. this is where we build from. destroy the idols.
Sanctions are NOT a peaceful alternative to war. Sanctions ARE war. The US's crippling sanctions on Iran affect every day Iranians, every. day. Necessities & basic food is inaccessible. Women & poor Iranians are hit the hardest. NO to war also means NO to sanctions.
Hi there seems to be some confusion so let me be clear:
You cant support Muslims & defend Israel
You cant support Muslims & support war, drone strikes, or war on terror
You cant support Muslims & support police or military
You cant support Muslims & be anti-Black or anti-trans
Dont be numb. Dont let the repetition of violence strip you of your humanity. Cry. Take time to mourn. Allow yourself to feel angry. Do not just retweet and move on with your life. Process.
This interview has been making rounds on twitter again & I appreciate y’all 😅 just a friendly reminder that this happens to esp women of color all the time & this isn’t particularly special! It was just live so they couldn’t edit anything out as is usually the case :-) ❤️
THIS IS WHERE YOUR
#NIKE
is made. This sweatshop (& others). Where garment workers (mostly Muslim women) who talked to us in a union office w/prayer times on the walls, are paid a barely livable wage working 6 days/wk to make us feel "represented"/"seen" in swimsuits/prohijabs.
2/ Dangerously framing this as assault on Islam would alienate millions of Iranian Muslims in Iran & around the world. This is KEY right now because the Iranian gov is also trying to polarize the mvmt to divide protestors & allies (that are LED BY MUSLIM and non-Muslim women)
Light it on fucking fire. I have no words. Only rage. And my fiercest commitment to the people of Iran & Iraq. I’m signing off for now bc I can’t take another racist hot take. People are not their governments. We have to fight this. Together. Now.
#NowarwithIran
@cair_wa
It is VERY IMPORTANT that any Iranians stoped, detained, and questioned at the border reaches out to the ACLU or CAIR ASAP so we can continue to document and learn of other incidents across the country and mobilize accordingly.
Chicago police tried (& failed!) to block us from marching on the street in front of the CPD HQ. Instead we pulled out the prayer rugs, prayed, & occupied that block for hrs demanding police & prison abolition NOW. So grateful to everyone who came out today❤️
#MuslimsForAbolition
HAPPENING NOW: Organizers are blocking the road to the international headquarters of Boeing here in Chicago, demanding to
#Blockthebombs
after Biden approved a $735 MILLION sale of Boeing weapons to Apartheid Israel
#DivestfromBoeing
Solidarity with the people of Yemen, Palestine, Somalia, Syria, Ukraine.
From Russia to the U.S to Israel, end all empires and settler colonizer projects 🌍
This press release was issued by myself and
@cair_wa
, and we have been in touch with the ACLU as well as many other national Iranian and civil rights legal and advocacy groups who have started working on this issue, and were making calls to CBP at the border last night
So moved watching Iranian women lead protests w/a powerful slogan: “women, life, freedom”
Women wearing the hijab, not wearing it, or lighting it on fire are standing side by side against a state’s co-optation of hijab that harms us all & instead demanding freedom on all fronts🔥
Interrupting my social media hiatus because I’m enraged. Mahsa Amini, a 22yr old Kurdish Iranian woman, has just died this morning from brain injuries after being arrested for “bad hijab” & beaten by the Gashte-Irshad (Iran’s “morality police”) 1/
#مهسا_امینی
Hi
@POTUS
can someone pls explain to me why, if a “ceasefire” was announced, Israel still needs that $735 million in weapons you’re sending them? I feel like something doesn’t add up here...
One of the most profoundly beautiful acts of solidarity I've seen: the indigenous guardians of the land that the
@mcgillu
occupies have given the students the right to setup their encampments on the land in fighting for a Palestine free from occupation and genocide❤️🔥
@cair_wa
@NWIRP
In the meantime, everyone (but especially Iranians) rn should KNOW YOUR RIGHTS when traveling: here are KYR guides in Farsi & English. BE SURE TO REPORT to
@NIACouncil
@ACLU
or CAIR IF YOU OR FAM ARE QUESTIONED OR DETAINED this is SO important for us to mobilize FAST
Thank you all so much for the outpour of support! I wish I could respond & engage with everyone who has been sending their love but I see & appreciate you! May we all take down white supremacy/imperialism together hehe ❤️🔥 (because you know we all in this together, after all)
1. You can never control everyone at a protest. There will always be ppl w/different goals, tactics, etc. Videos of actions committed by the fringes of a movement can go disproportionately viral, which the status quo uses to fear monger and isolate public support for protestors.
As we demand
#JusticeForAhmaud
, let us also commit--with our hearts, tongues, and hands--to dismantle the very systems that have created, enabled, and perpetuated this lynching. This is not simply the act of two white men, but of a white supremacist nation built on stolen land.
To get my parents to take
#COVID19
seriously, I put them under strict rules inspired by their own parenting: before leaving the house they have to tell me where, w/who, & when they'll return (only for me to say no). My dad just called to negotiate terms to go out for ice cream🤦🏽♀️
Few updates: 1/ First, I can't thank you all enough for your love & support, it's so refreshing & appreciated! I hope we continue to support Muslim women & women of color who challenge state violence/bias, whether that is laughing through an interview or demanding
#FreeAhedTamimi
Rad
@Nike
is backing
@Kaepernick7
rn, but I wish they'd also back the garment workers of color they exploit in their sweatshops, bc you know they also exist & backing dope ppl doesn't justify ur violence abroad. 🤷🏽♀️If we pro justice for ppl of color, let's not be exclusive.
Also I hope this serves as, among other things, a friendly reminder that fashion is *so* political so no more patriarchal notions that this historically women-dominated industry is nothing but shallow and useless (ur thinking of capitalism)
A Black man was just shot & killed by CPD. Praying for justice for him & his community face to face with hordes of racist, armed police *right now*.
Police only serve & protect wealth & white supremacy. Abolition is not an aspirational ideal, but an immediate humanitarian demand.
Non-violence is a tactic/strategy. Not an ideology.
Being anti-violence means destroying the tools of violence.
I've been getting a lot of messages, so I want to help esp non-Black people understand what you're seeing so you can talk about it with your family (& then mobilize).
Movements are messy. Join us in protest against police in the US & you’ll see that too. Change isn’t clean, easy, or romantic. It’s hard, often violent & traumatic, but inspiring. It’s with what values/principles we build & *practice* & imagine that define the future it can build
I don’t give a damn if you love or hate the Iranian gov, Soleimani, etc. This isn’t about them. This is about taking a principled stance against the continued devastation of a ppl who only have suffered. Iranians, Iraqis, Syrians — no one ppl deserve violence over others.
Before ppl start asking for "peaceful protests" from the TL tonight: the most violent thing that will happen today is that Breonna Taylor was murdered & denied justice. That the system that killed her will remain intact. No amount of broken bank windows will ever be comparable.
2/ WGN just called and Robin, the female anchor, sincerely apologized. (I also didn't realize so many of you called in! Like I said, ya'll on top of this -- thank *you* for making this happen and refusing to normalize this)! I accepted, and proposed a few ways to fix this --
Having spent considerable time in protests/riots here in the United States over the years, I want to share a few things based on a lot of the comments/DMs/in my feed I’m seeing as we watch the protests in Iran unfold:
#MahsaAmini
#JinaAmini
@cair_wa
If anyone currently has fam detained at this specific border crossing (Peace Arch on Washington-Canada) pls contact
@NWIRP
ASAP as they currently have lawyers on the ground at the border & are watching the situation very closely and will be able to provide immediate legal support
Kashmir is the most militarized zone in the world, & India is currently escalating. They're under a blackout (no access to phones, internet, etc) & it's vital we uplift Kashmiri voices right now. This thread is so important. If you read anything today, let it be this.
#Kashmir
Yesterday morning, I left Kashmir with an extremely heavy heart. Here is a (very long) thread from a Kashmiri who was just inside the Valley, on curfew and what I saw going on:
2. On that note, you don’t have to like everything you see to support a people’s struggle. If everyone lost faith in a mvmt/rejected struggle anytime we saw a few ppl on the sidelines doing something we don’t agree w/there would never be a successful revolution in history
4/ They're going to get back to me on this idea, but in the meantime if you have any further ideas let me know hehe ;) The apology was important, but it's also important to be able to use this moment as a teaching tool, and prevent it from happening again. Let's raise the bar.
4. Finally, and most importantly, context is *key.* Iranian women burning a headscarf they have been forced to wear is ***very different*** than fascists in India burning the hijab while they attack Muslims.
#MahsaAmini
#IranProtests2022
Orientalism, race, & class play into how protestors' anger get characterized & criminalized. Pls always keep this in mind whether for Iranians in Iran or Black communities in the US. A few ppl engaged in action against the goals of the mvmt shouldn't be used to undermine the mvmt
3/ One proposal I suggested of course, is for WGN to publish a reading list I put together & do an on-air interview where we discuss what happened for their audience, what went wrong, and then to talk about Fanon, Assata Shakur, Edward Said, etc, & American imperialism 😇
hi yes
@joebiden
if this woman you want as VP has a history of voting for sanctions that are killing women in Iran, bombing women in Afghanistan, locking women of color up in cages, etc IT DOESN'T MEAN YOU SUPPORT WOMEN. Ya'll gonna be the death of us all. Literally.
#DemDebate
THE BAR HAS BEEN SET YALL! MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCIL VOWING TO DISBAND THE POLICE 😍🔥🔥 Chicago I vote us next!!! Please shove this news in the face of everyone who rolled their eyes at protestors setting precincts on fire!!! Demand change ON YOUR TERMS.
As
@prisonculture
says, "hope is a discipline." So too is where we place our hope. Elections won't bring us closer to the world we're fighting for, so long as the US is an empire run by capitalism & exists on stolen land. Sharing a discipline of hope I practice to stay grounded:
While the thought of Trump possibly filling another SC seat is terrifying, pls remember justice does not from court rooms. This is the same court that normalized slavery, institutionalized the Muslim Ban, & legitimizes racism. Ppl power & mvmnt building keeps us safe. Not courts.
Videos & images of actions committed by the fringes of a movement can go disproportionately viral, which the status quo uses to fear monger and isolate public support for protestors.
@cair_wa
@NWIRP
@NIACouncil
@ACLU
CBP on some shit. I personally spoke to Iranian Americans detained at the Peace Arch border for 11hrs in a room with 40+ other Iranian families being interrogated specifically about their Iranian heritage. CBP is literally lying thru their teeth on twitter
Social media posts that CBP is detaining Iranian-Americans and refusing their entry into the U.S. because of their country of origin are false. Reports that DHS/CBP has issued a related directive are also false.
Humbled and blessed. 🙏🏽 Thank you
@voguemagazine
for the feature on my work for online & print in the Sept issue! Also
@hasanminhaj
is brilliant & hilarious and his upcoming
@patriotact
series on
@netflix
is going to be 🔥🔥🔥
3. I have no doubt foreign nations will try to co-opt these protests. Hell, find me a country the US hasn’t staged a coup in (including in Iran). Yet I believe more strongly in the young, brilliant Iranian ppl to lead, direct, & set narrative of the futures THEY want.
#MahsaAmini
While I'm mostly just here for hilarious commentary from all the Black, brown, & intl ppl I follow, just a quick note that using the word "terrorist" only works to legitimize the term under War on Terror logics that will ultimately harm us. Try "white militia" or "racist scum"
I am going to vote for
@BernieSanders
in the primaries & will be speaking at his event in Oakland Feb23 ahead of the California primaries. This decision is not insignificant for me, and I wrote a quick statement explaining my decision. I hope you can take a moment to read why. 1/
Iran exploits Islamic symbolism. Burning the Israeli flag in Palestine (w/the Star of David on it) is not anti-semitic, but resistance to Israeli Apartheid. Similarly in Iran burning a scarf is not Islamophobic, but a symbol of resistance to STATE domination over women’s bodies.
THANK YOU so much A) for all of your work & B)
@KidFury
(&
@crissles
!) for the ridiculously hilarious & affirming conversation about my WGN interview! Sending so much love. P.S. CONGRATS on 5 years! ❤️ (listen to the whole thing ofc but 1:27:20 is where it starts!)
I know this may come as a shock to many, but you can find both the Iranian gov & US gov corrupt. It’s possible. You can understand that the internet block in Iran is deeply horrid while knowing that US sanctions have been blocking Iranians from internet services for yrs already.
"killed in missle fire from the direction of Israel"!? Are you kidding me? Like how long did Issam Abdullah's *own colleagues* sit and try to figure out how to make his murders look as innocent as possible.
Betrayal is an understatement.
While Israel carpet bombs Gaza to punish those in the West Bank rising up & demanding their freedom, Ahmed & Nana were busy saving their fish from their destroyed home.
For those who don't understand how apartheid works & are hell bent on seeing "both sides," here they are.
🚨 URGENT🚨 A new letter by
@AOC
@Ilhan
& others *JUST DROPPED* calling on Treasury Sec
@stevenmnuchin1
to lift sanctions NOW on Iran so docs can fight
#COVID19
. Your reps have until Wed 2pm to sign on! Join us for a twitter storm calling our reps to do so &
#EndCOVIDSanctions
!
Idk who needs to hear this but honey just because the USA rubber stamps it doesn't mean apartheid suddenly becomes a peace plan that Palestinians have the responsibility to accept or reject 🤷🏽♀️
#FreePalestine
🇵🇸
While we fight for the US to end these devastating sanctions (thank you
@IlhanMN
for introducing a bill of congressional oversight on sanctions -- pls push your congress ppl to support here: !!)
Here are 2 places you can donate to help doctors in Iran👇🏽
This was a few days ago & I still can't stop thinking about it. ICE agents literally, in the middle of a global pandemic, dressed up as doctors to trick a family into allowing them into their home to detain the father!?
Yes, halt ICE raids during
#COVID19
but also
#ABOLISHICE
.
URGENT: Yudith's husband was detained in a particularly heinous raid by ICE agents: they pretended to be doctors to get into their home 🤬
While we all fight to stop ICE actions during
#COVID19
, please DONATE & RT to help support this family if you can.
Threats of external interference are very real and historically documented, but that doesn’t meant that liberation movements should be delegitimized as a result of that fear. That just means those of us living outside Iran have to do what we can to reduce interference from here
So Biden has officially made "priority" accelerating the war on terror domestically. THIS is why we reject regurgitating state language. THIS is how white violence ALWAYS is excused while justifying the criminalization of OUR ppl. 1/
Hi just here to profess my love to whoever was behind the fake *verified* AIPAC & ADL accounts. Despite being suspended after an hour it was a great run and thank u for ur service 🫡
Alright. Despite my own feelings about the effectiveness of voting,
#IVoted
today in solidarity w/those actively organizing around the polls. I hope next time we're organizing in a way you may not feel is effective, you still can join us too. See you on the streets.
#MyMuslimVote
@cair_wa
@NWIRP
@NIACouncil
@ACLU
These accounts are verified by journalists on both sides of the border. We’ve seen photo/video documentation & more stories of prolonged detention & interrogation of US citizens of Iranian heritage at this border. Instead of tweeting lies maybe investigate your officers 🤷🏽♀️
@CBP
Haha wow was totally not expecting this tweet to get so much engagement! All the replies are super heartwarming & I'm glad this resonated with ppl! For those asking how to be an actual ally to Muslims beyond just saying salaam, here's a recommended read!
As we continue to protest Israeli apartheid pls don’t forget the police (yes, even the Arab ones!!!) are still NOT our friends & I will personally fight anyone I see thanking another cop 👀 You can’t support Palestine & support the police, & visa versa. They’re literally linked.
BOSTON! They need you at the airport ASAP! We've been dealing w/several cases these past wks of Iranian students detained for hrs at airports, their valid student visas revoked, & then deported. We're organizing nationally on this but rn this call is for immediate rapid response!
Shahab Dehghani is another Iranian student with a valid F1 visa about to be deported. His attorney & a group of his friends are at
@BostonLogan
protesting right now.
@CBP
won’t let the Economics student at
@Northeastern
talk to anyone. Congressman Kennedy called, CBP said no.
If anything, as Muslims we should be most outraged over a state’s co-optation & weaponization of our faith. We can do so while recognizing stakes/contexts as different for us living in the West where Muslims criminalized & we experience our own form of state violence & control
Yes of course you get sympathy & little "awws" when you fit the Orientalized narrative that Muslim women are docile & quiet, only victims, and have no real agency of their own. Helps white women w/their savior complex. (& journalists who say they are the voice of the "voiceless")