Mothers' Affective Networking and Privileges in Online Space: The Case of Iranian Mothers of Park Laleh

Dadkhah mothers of Iran, from Khavaran to Aban: digital dadkhahi and transnational coalitional mothering

“…The most recent example is the gathering of Khavaran justice movement members, most of whom were women, outside of a Swedish court in Stockholm, where Hamid Nouri, an ex-prosecutor's assistant in infamous prisons in Iran, was under arrest and has been sentenced to life in prison for his involvement in the 1988 prison massacre ( Al Jazeera , 2022). Although some researchers have focused solely on the Mothers of Laleh Park (Seddighi, 2014; Gheytanchi et al, 2015), these past and recent instances prove that such ‘diasporic’ justice activism did not start with the Mothers of Laleh Park movement. Rather, it can be traced back to the 1988 massacre, when ‘Iranians in diaspora also started to hold commemorations simultaneously in different cities in EU countries and North America’ (Mohajer, 2020: 301).…”

“…Before considering the transnational coalition-building attempts by mothers, it is imperative to address how mothers’ activism in the Iranian context is largely viewed as not activism per se in both scholarly and non-scholarly debates. As evidenced by the tendency to refer to the supporters and initiators of the Mothers of Laleh Park movement while disregarding the Khavaran Mothers and earlier movements, it has been assumed at times that a particular group of human rights journalists or activists have always initiated campaigns or online pages on behalf of the mothers (Seddighi, 2014: 525; Gheytanchi et al, 2015). While such a perspective is valuable for critically examining the Mothers of Laleh Park and the diasporic activities of the mothers and their supporters, it implicitly and ahistorically perceives the role of mothers as not politically embedded or socially aware.…”

“…Likewise, only a few scholars in the past decade have directed attention to a more recent wave of mourning mothers in Iran, known as the Mothers of Laleh Park, to highlight their ‘peaceful protest’ and the potentialities of ‘maternalism from below’ (Tahmasebi-Birjani, 2010; Carreon and Moghaddam, 2015). Some studies have critiqued or highlighted the diasporic campaigns that have manifested in support of these mothers (Seddighi, 2014; Gheytanchi et al, 2015). Overall, the scant existing literature on justice-seeking mothers of Iran has only partly attended to the movement's generational, historical and legal implications, and only briefly mentioned the Khavaran Mothers alongside and in parallel to contemporary political events (Akhavan, 2017; Khosravi Ooryad, 2019; Mohajer, 2020).…”

Wild Intimacies: Justice-Seeking Mothers in Iran, Networked Activism and the Affective Politics of Mourning

“…The group was named after the park in Tehran where they used to meet to demonstrate, until these gatherings were dispersed by the police in 2010. The group, which had wide support in the diaspora, continued to maintain an online presence (Afshari, 2011;Fox, 2016;Seddighi, 2017Seddighi, , 2014Tahmasebi-Birgani, 2010;Talebi, 2012). Shahnaz, whose son was killed during these protests, was originally part of the Mourning Mothers of Laleh Park, but has become a leading voice in network of 'justiceseeking mothers', which I define as those who orient around tropes/hashtags of that designation on Twitter and Instagram.…”