Feminist Ambivalences between the Here and the There – From Syria and Iran to Germany

Panel and discussion with Bahar Oghalai (Iran/Berlin) and Mariana Karkoutly (Syria/Berlin), moderated by Maria Hartmann (Adopt a Revolution)

The tension between the similarity of oppression and the diversity of emancipation has always been one of the most important feminist ambivalences. How can feminist alliances be created in the light of different life realities? This is a crucial question, especially for feminist diaspora struggles. Bahar Oghalai (a feminist researcher with an Iranian background) and Mariana Karkoutly (a feminist Syrian diaspora activist) will address this topic by contemplating feminist struggles in Syria and Iran and discussing their significance for positionings in Germany.

Mariana will allow closer insights into the role of women within the Syrian revolution and its connection to aspects of institutional and law-based discrimination. Afterwards she hops into the diaspora context and shares challenges between fighting a feminist liberation from an oppressive regime from exile without losing the connection to the movement in the homeland.

Bahar will discuss the meaning of diversity of feminist liberation in here (Germany) and there (Iran) and its resulting ambivalences for new lines of solidarity as well as for diasporic struggles based on her recent reflections and research results.

In the end we will bring the two perspectives together to discuss prospects of feminist transnational praxis’ here in Germany.