Former metallurgical engineer Maryam Rajavi is the world's only feminist militia leader. Her female-dominated resistance army is devoted to secular democracy in Iran, and has fought the current Iranian regime for years from a small base on the border with Iraq. The US State Department classes Rajavi's group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, as terrorists. But many experts have questioned this designtion, pointing out that the group is attempting to promote democracy in the region and advocates non-violence. Advocates say that the NCRI's army, whose officers are 70 percent female, is used primarily to defend the group's base. Thousands of Iranian feminists armed with tanks and Kalaznikovs sound like the perfect challenge to the Iranian theocracy, which views women as second-class citizens.
Resistance leader Rajavi was radicalized in the early 70s while getting her degree at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. After the shah's supporters murdered two of her sisters, she went from engineering geek to guerrilla by joining the People’s Mojahedin of Iran, a group which advocated for a secular government. In 1993, she became Iran's president-in-exile when the National Council of Resistance, the Iranian Resistance’sParliament, elected her to become Iran’s future leader if the mullahs are ever overthrown. There have been so many efforts to kill her that Rajavi now lives in France. Nevertheless, she continues to inspire young women to join the fight.
Danish human rights lawyer Anne Land told Iran Focus:
For politically-oriented comic book geeks, this is also proof that Tank Girl isn't just a fantasy. She's a real woman, fighting for justice.
Tank Girls - The Frontline Feminists [via Iran Focus] (Thanks, Jesse!)
