THE POWER OF NONCOMPLIANCE: Hijab Protests in Iran Succeed:

“I have not worn a scarf for months — I don’t even carry it with me any more. Whether the government likes to admit it or not, the era of the forced hijab is over.”

Said Kimia, 23, a graduate student in the Kurdish city of Sanandaj, quoted in “Their Hair Long and Flowing or in Ponytails, Women in Iran Flaunt Their Locks/Defiant resistance to Iran’s mandatory hijab law has exploded across the country after nationwide protests that erupted last year” (NYT).

Even many religious women who wear a hijab by choice have joined the campaign to repeal the law…. Maryam, 53, who observes the hijab law and lives in Tehran, recently traveled with her daughter to the holiday island of Kish in the Persian Gulf. They were surprised to find most women wearing short-sleeved sun dresses, sandals, capri pants and T-shirts. “Are we in Turkey or Iran?” asked her daughter, Narges, 26.

Shortly after the trip, Narges changed all of her social media profile photos to one in which her long brown hair was flowing over her shoulders and her fist was raised in the air… “I will never bring down my fist until freedom, even if we have to wait for many years,” Narges wrote on her Instagram page.

Fight the power. Also, could we have more of that spirit here, please?