Introduction by Marjane SatrapiOn September 16, 2022, Mahsa Amini was beaten to death by the Iranian morality police for wearing her veil “improperly.” Her death sparked a nationwide outcry, evolving into a feminist revolution that gained the support of men—a truly unprecedented development.
Sophie, the heart and soul of the L’Iconoclaste publishing house and my dear friend, was not content with mere outrage and indignation. She was determined to take tangible action, driven by how profoundly connected she felt to the young people of Iran. The idea of this book was hers. It would be her publishing house’s first graphic novel and it would be titled:
Woman, Life, Freedom.
Joined by Alba Beccaria, the book’s editor, we began to craft both its form and substance. We needed to work with people who knew Iran intimately. Among our chosen experts were Farid Vahid, a political scientist specializing in Iran at the Fondation Jean-Jaurès, Jean-Pierre Perrin, a seasoned reporter previously with
Libération and now a contributor to
Mediapart, and Professor Abbas Milani, a historian and Director of Iranian Studies at Stanford University.
We then reached out to around twenty gifted artists to produce comics or illustrations based on texts and scenarios prepared by our experts. Four Iranian artists and thirteen others from Europe and America are the final contributors to this project.
Having bid farewell to my career as a cartoonist back in 2004, I contributed a handful of drawings, including the cover, as well as a few written pieces.
I didn’t know what it meant to oversee the compilation of such a book, and in many ways I still don’t, but what I do know is that this was truly a collaborative effort.
The result is the volume you hold in your hands. It is being published simultaneously in several countries and made available free of charge online in Persian for all Iranians.
Woman, Life, Freedom is driven by two aims.
First, it seeks to explain what’s going on in Iran, to decipher events in all their complexity and nuance for a non-Iranian readership, and to help you understand them as fully as possible. While it’s impossible to capture every facet of this story, we want to acknowledge its existence. Because it’s happening now, even if we don’t hear enough about it.
The second aim of this book is to remind Iranians that they are not alone. Of course, the world’s politicians are only politicians, and will do little, if anything, for the Iranian people. But Western civil society is committed to their cause. The proof is that most of the artists involved in this project are Westerners. And what greater support can an artist give than their art?
On the first anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death, for the brave and noble struggle of the Iranian people, and in memory of Sophie, who left us in late spring 2023, we offer our humble contribution to the pursuit of freedom that the people of Iran so profoundly merit.
—Marjane Satrapi
Copyright © 2024 by Marjane Satrapi. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
