A gesture that is worth a thousand words. In Guspini, this morning, the students of the Buonarroti Institute gave everyone a lesson in civilization by raising their voices in defense of Iranian women. At the Via Velio Spano campus, students cut a lock of their hair in protest to symbolically go against the harassment and violations of fundamental rights that Iranian women are forced to suffer, but also against torture and the penalty of death that threaten the inviolability and dignity of the person.
There was also a flashmob: some girls were wearing hijabs and got rid of them by throwing them on the ground, in a clear sign of protest. An initiative in schools that perhaps has no precedent in Italy: the message will go directly to the Iranian embassy in Rome. A package containing the locks and some messages from the boys is expected to be sent directly to the diplomatic office of the Middle Eastern country for tomorrow.
The idea - Children of all classes, in the context of civic education activities, have studied article 3 of our Constitution and have ascertained that in various countries of the world fundamental rights are not guaranteed as enshrined in our Charter . This is where the idea of "A strand for Iran" was born, espoused by the manager Mauro Canu and all the staff of the institute. "The students have decided to face the problems and the strong repression that their peers are suffering in a concrete way, risking their lives every day simply to claim freedom and equality between the two sexes", says the teacher Martino Contu. The Institute therefore joins the many voices that courageously are raised in Italy and around the world to support the protests and to condemn the oppression of Iranian women.
The gesture - At the media level we are used to seeing that gestures of this kind are usually made by well-known personalities, but no school has ever intervened concretely and specifically to demonstrate in this same way: «The boys have decided to bring the protest directly to the embassy that represents the government of Iran», affirms Stefano Casula, vice principal of the Institute. In addition to their messages and locks, they will also include article 3 of the Constitution in the package to make it clear how important respect for gender equality is.
A stance for a touching initiative that comes from the hearts of young people. A strong signal for a cause that is marrying the whole western world with gestures that are now the order of the day. "It is one thing to cut your hair to show solidarity, it is instead important to deliver the message directly to the authorities who are repressing these young people, many of whom are the same age as our students", explains Contu, adding: "It is right that the young people are sensitized and it is even more important that there was, on their part, the will to carry on this initiative. In other countries there is ad hoc legislation that does not consider women as equals to men, and one of these countries is Iran. In a reality like that, if a girl's hair comes out of her hijab, the morality police feel entitled to beat her to death."