Strive for Possibilities

On September 16th . 2022, the world was shocked and inflamed by the death of Mahsa
Amini in the custody of the so-called Islamic Republic’s “Morality Police”.
Once again, we are painfully reminded of the fact that Iranian women have been
entrapped in an inhumane condition for more than 40 years, the condition in which they
are increasingly oppressed to the point of their inability to even choose the clothes they
wear.
As the result of Mahsa’s death due to severe blows to her head, a wave of protests
broke out across Iran and has swept the world.
‘A More Balanced World’ as a global champion of human rights and equity in education
stands firmly by the brave women and girls in Iran and in opposition to the Islamic
Republic and its brutal crackdown of dissidents. We are deeply moved by the inspiring
images and videos coming out of Iran despite extensive restrictions placed on internet
availability by the regime, as we are deeply saddened to be witnessing an increasing
number of deaths, incarcerations and casualties. We see protestors brutally beaten,
jailed and shot with bullets and lead filled paint balls time and again for merely
demanding their basic human rights.
As we watch captured clips and images and are witnessed to horrors of defenseless
people attacked by heavily armed Islamic Republic’s forces, we feel outraged and at
times discouraged to think if fundamental change can result from mere acts of defiance.
Yet we firmly believe that even though today’s brave acts of resistance might not result
in immediate and fundamental change our silence can only give credence to the
legitimacy of a corrupt and failing regime of the Islamic Republic.
This echoes with our cause of education. To girls and women everywhere and
especially in Iran, higher education isn’t a golden ticket to a beautiful new life but a way
to open doors to new possibilities. By mastering a new language, a new trade, a new
skill and as a result a whole new outlook to the world, they can carve a pathway to the
respect and recognition they deserve yet denied to by the social norms and
governments.
Education is what instils a profound knowledge of our society’s ills and the will to speak
up on ways to remedy them, to enact badly needed and vital change and to seek out
others who also have a deep desire to transform the social order. Speaking up for
change in itself is not the unmitigated solution, neither is education, they are in effect
ways to strive for possibilities —— the possibility of bringing people together, the
possibility to enact true change.
Women. Life. Liberty.