Dear Western Feminazis - these brave Iranian women are what REAL feminists look like

Here, an Iranian women has had enough of being harassed by Morality Police penguins:

And here's a joyous compilation of Iranian girls defying the law by dancing in public (if you can't see the video, click the link):

Brave...  pic.twitter.com/6hQ2FEKYRr

— Lord Ashcroft (@LordAshcroft) July 1, 2018

Of course, the Iranian government is currently facing open revolt on the more pressing issue of its tanking economy, which has resulted in high youth unemployment, inflation and shortages. The difference between now and 2009, when rigged presidential elections saw sizeable protests on the streets of Tehran mainly involving young, liberal, educated metropolitans, is that the waves of seemingly spontaneous demonstrations that have beset the country since last December began in Mashad, miles from the capital, spread spontaneously to other parts of the country, and have involved the working classes in provincial cities and towns.

The US decision to withdraw from Iran's nuclear deal and to halt Barack Obama's ruinous policy of paying Danegeld to the world's No. 1 exporter of terror in return for - well, nothing really, apart from helping to keep Iran's oppressive theocratic government in power - appears to have quickly rendered the country's political atmosphere even more febrile. A notable recent development has been demands by ordinary Iranians for its government to get out of Syria, stop obsessing about Israel and the Great Satan that is America, and, instead, sort out their own oil-rich  country's severe economic problems. Looks like a new Iranian Revolution could be brewing: whatever else it might entail, let's hope it allows Iranian women to let their beautiful hair down, pump up the volume on whatever music they damn well want to listen to, and boogie to their heart's content. I've had the pleasure of finding myself surrounded by young Iranians enjoying themselves here in London - and, believe me, they're very good at it.

I was told that one of the (sensationally good-looking) girls/women/whatever I worked with at BBC Persian some ten years ago had permanent scars on her back. Police had arrested her and everyone else at a party in Tehran, where young folk were drinking and dancing to Western pop music. Her punishment was to be whipped. Think about that, Western feminists, next time you're shrieking about gender pay gaps, glass ceilings and microaggressions.

Finally, in the unlikely event that you're in the market for an effective, atmospheric horror film, let me recommend Under the Shadow, a 2016 Persian language horror film, produced by a UK company, and directed by Iranian-born Babak Anvari. Set in Tehran in 1988, during the Iran-Iraq War, the two main characters are Shideh, a smart, angry woman barred from continuing her medical studies because of her political activities, and her young daughter Dorsa, with whom she enjoys a rather scratchy relationship. After her doctor husband is sent to the front, Shideh elects to stay on in their flat in the city rather than decamp to her in-laws place in the country. The other occupants of the apartment block gradually leave (or die), until mother and daughter are the only ones left - apart, that is, from a half-glimpsed malevolent presence... Shideh eventually tries to flee in her car, but is prevented from escaping by the ever-present malevolent presence outside, i.e. the Iranian authorities, who arrest her (because, in her panic, she has forgotten to cover her hair), and she and her daughter have no choice but to return to their flat. Under the Shadow is available on Netflix and YouTube, and is well worth watching: