Iranian Women Become Time’s Person of the Year
Iranian Women Become Time’s Person of the Year: Iranian women protesters have become one of the seventy nominees for Time magazine’s Person of the Year. Some social media users have urged audiences, especially Persian speakers, to participate in the special voting on the magazine’s website to increase this chance. Some believe that Iranian women have a high chance, with their only competitor being Zelensky, who is also one of the nominees to be featured on the cover of this magazine.
Seven years ago, Time magazine dedicated the cover of one of its issues to a girl from Iran, with an image and headline that sparked much reaction at the time, promising how Iran in the next decade, by 2025, would change the world. Conservative media interpreted it as an Iran that is pleasing to the West. When the recent protests occurred, some recalled that image and headline, suggesting that Time’s predictions were not entirely off the mark.
According to a long-standing tradition, this magazine grants the title of Person of the Year to someone who has garnered the most positive or negative attention in the past year. Until 1988, this title was known as Man of the Year, but it was later changed to Person of the Year. Images related to Iran or Iranians have appeared on this magazine’s cover multiple times, but the only time Iran was the subject of Time’s Person of the Year was in 1979, during the Revolution, with the image of Ruhollah Khomeini on the cover.
Unusual Faces of the Year
Interestingly, the magazine’s Person of the Year has not always been an individual man or woman. In 1982, the personal computer was featured as Machine of the Year on the cover. In 1988, the Earth was named Planet of the Year to raise awareness about the environment, and in 1993, the symbol of peace inspired by the South African and Irish Republican movements became the symbol of the year.
A whistle, symbolizing whistleblowers of scandals, and the image of U.S. military forces appeared on the magazine’s cover in 2002 and 2003, respectively. At one point, the word ‘you’ on a monitor became the image of the year, representing the creators of the World Wide Web.
The last time a protest movement managed to draw the magazine’s attention for Person of the Year was in 2011, when a protesting man shouting with protesters in the background became the symbol of the Arab Spring, the Tea Party movement, Occupy protests, and protests in Russia on the cover.
Iran from a Foreign Perspective
The recent protests in Iran, now two months old, have garnered significant attention worldwide from the start. The support and solidarity from cultural, sports, and artistic figures, celebrities, and even politicians for these protests have been unprecedented. The embrace of Shervin Hajipour’s song by singers from other countries, its translation into other languages, and performances at music concerts have even placed it at the forefront of nominees for the Grammy music award. Global media have been following Iran’s events from the beginning, with numerous reports and front-page photos in reputable international newspapers and magazines dedicated to Iran during the first weeks of the protests.
Agence France-Presse reported on the creative tactics of the Iranian people, stating that perhaps the most important tactic is that protesters do not gather in large, open spaces but instead spontaneously and quickly gather, protest, and disperse in smaller, compact locations, making it difficult to track them.
The news agency also covered the protests of teenage schoolgirls, the dyeing of city fountains red, and the events in Ekbatan Town. Some even referred to the recent protests as a revolution. The Washington Post reported on how universities have become centers of protest, stating that students, in their fight against gender segregation and dining together, have risked expulsion, beatings, and arrest while shouting ‘Woman, Life, Freedom.’
Perhaps most importantly, a group of Palestinian intellectuals’ support for the Iranian people stood out, especially since the flag of support for the Palestinian people has always been in the hands of the power structure and conservatives. A group of Palestinian artists and intellectuals, in a message of support for the Iranian people’s protests, questioned the Islamic Republic’s defense of Palestinian freedom and legitimate aspirations, stating, ‘We cannot accept that our freedom comes at the cost of denying others their freedom.’ This statement received no coverage in conservative and value-based media, with conservatives trying to ignore it.
When Iran’s events draw such global attention and even become a focal point for social media users, spilling over into the real world, it is not surprising that Iranian women protesters could become one of Time magazine’s main candidates for Person of the Year. We must wait and see which seen or unseen image from the street protests, emphasizing women, becomes the face of 2022.
In line with this article, the following content has been published on Iran Gate:
- Public Protests and the West’s Increased Understanding of Iranians
- The Result of a Foresight Report on Hijab: Tolerance is the Only Solution
- The Equations Have Changed, and the Government Must Wake Up