DePaulia
The
Volume #107 | Issue #4 | Oct. 3, 2022 | depauliaonline.com
NADIA CAROLINA HERNANDEZ | THE DEPAULIA
Four women lead the march in downtown Chicago carrying a banner honoring 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Amini was killed in police custody on Sept. 23 for wearing her hijab inappropriately.
Woman, life, freedom: Chicagoans march for Iranian rights By Erik Uebelacker Editor-in-Chief
Hundreds of protesters marched through downtown Chicago on Saturday as a part of the Global Day of Action for Iran. It was one of many rallies around the world sparked by the killing of Masha Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman allegedly beaten to death by Iran’s morality police for improperly wearing her headscarf. Iran enters its third week of unrest as continuous protests over Amini’s death have been met with violent action from the nation’s government. Iranian state TV reported that at least 41 demonstrators and police have been killed since the pro-
tests started Sept. 17, with over 1500 people arrested. “We are all kind of in exile,” said a Chicago protester who requested anonymity. “I had to leave Iran and never go back because I can’t go back. If I go back and say anything, I will have the same destiny. Everyone who comes here to study or work is basically a refugee.” Protest leaders marched the crowd down Michigan Ave., leading chants of “woman, life, freedom,” which has become the rallying cry of these global protests. Many demonstrators held signs that condemned the Islamic regime’s treatment of women and human rights violations. One protester cut her hair and displayed it on her sign. Cutting or shaving hair has become a popular form of protest
during this movement, in particular. “I cut my hair in a protest to show my anger, my outrage, my frustration,” said protester Negin Hosseini Goodrich. “This is a symbolic political act we do nowadays, we cut our hair to show how outraged we are at the Islamic regime’s brutality. Forty years of oppression of women’s rights in Iran, not only women but all human rights in Iran, have not been met because of the Islamic regime.” Over 120 cities staged protests on Oct. 1 to show solidarity for Iranians fighting for freedom in the Islamic regime. As protests in Iran continue, the nation’s leaders fear that the unrest could destabilize the country. According to DePaul economics professor Karim Pakravan, who has expertise
in Middle Eastern geopolitics, a movement like this has been a long time coming. “Women in Iran have been at the forefront of resistance to the regime for the past 40 years,” Pakravan said. “This time, I think that it came on top of the tremendous amount of dissatisfaction with the economy, with corruption, with mismanagement.” In an effort to squash organizing efforts, the Iranian government imposed severe internet blackouts and blocked numerous digital platforms throughout the country. This heightened censorship under Iran’s new conservative president, Ebrahim Raisi, comes after years of the
See IRAN, page 9
Anti-death penalty nun presented with St. Vincent de Paul award By Kiersten Riedford News Editor
At 43 years old, Sister Helen Prejean wrote letters to Patrick Sonnier, the incarcerated killer of two teenagers who was sentenced to die via electric chair at Louisiana’s Angola State Prison. After writing back and forth for some time, Prejean visited Sonnier at the prison. He asked Prejean to become his spiritual advisor. Prejean, knowing the battle would be rough but wanting to help Sonnier grow in his faith, said yes. Prejean said she never expected her life to become what it is now. “I was just writing letters,” she said. But for the two years leading up to Sonnier’s execution, Prejean’s anti-death penalty activism formed slowly as she was more and more exposed to the life of someone on death row. Following the death of Sonnier, her activism sprung into action. Now, 40 years
later, Prejean is 83-years-old and is still fighting for the death penalty to be abolished completely. “[Being Sonnier’s spiritual advisor] was a real direct experience that everybody’s worth more than the worst thing they’ve ever done in their life,” Prejean said. “Human beings always had this transcendence, we are made the image and likeness of God. And so you can never define a human being by the act. He and his brother [did] this terrible thing with killing these kids and he was so remorseful about what happened.” On Wednesday, Sept. 28, DePaul President Rob Manuel bestowed Prejean with the university’s highest honor, the St. Vincent de Paul award. It is given on very special occasions to people who “exemplify the spirit of the university’s patron by serving God through addressing the needs of the human family,” according to the Division
See PREJEAN, page 8
NADIA CAROLINA HERNANDEZ | THE DEPAULIA
President Rob L. Manuel bestows Sister Helen Prejean with the St. Vincent de Paul Award.