Critical Perspectives and Reflections

It is not farfetched to say that the country of Iran has a long history of protests which lead to revolution, the second of which, in 1979 brought the present religious Islamic rule into being1. However, in the present Iranian protests we may be seeing, for the first time in history, that it is women who have been both the spark and engine for a movement that has as its aim the change of government of a country. The trigger was ignited by the torture and death (continually denied by the authorities) of a young woman, Mahsa Amini. She was the twenty-two-year-old Kurdish woman who, after her arrest by the regime’s morality police, was sent to a re-education center for “inappropriate attire” - too much hair showing from a head scarf - in Tehran. It was quickly known that she ended up in a coma and died three days later, on September 16, 2022. Very soon protests began with participants voicing anger at her death. In rather short order they evolved into calls to oust the regime: “Death to t...

It is interesting that since time immemorial people have developed rituals. Sometimes we forget the initial meaning of the ritual. Take Christmas. It was originally “the Mass being celebrated at the time of Christ's birth”. That is literally what the word means. What I found helpful is an idea I came across in my studies at McGill University years ago. One professor shared with us the difference between a sign and a symbol. A sign is literally what it says. So, when one comes to a stop sign there is only one meaning. Stop. No rolling stops allowed. The meaning of a symbol on the other hand, is the meaning that a community embraces. This can change over time as the community's values and belief systems undergo changes. In the Netherlands they celebrate Sinter Klaas-Santa Claus, on December 5. The celebration takes on much of the meaning of what Christmas is in Canada. There is goodwill, exchanges of gifts, celebrations, etc. Then Christmas is a quiet day for reflection and for C...