Some two months ago, 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish Jina Mahsa Amini was taking into custody in Iran by the country's Guidance Patrol - a more polished term for the region's mortality police. Her crime was not wearing the traditional hijab in accordance with government standards.
Amini died under suspicious circumstances in a Tehran hospital shortly following her arrest. The incident sparked upheaval and civil unrest that saw the country's women and youth take to the streets calling for an end to the traditionalist tyranny and championing the mantra, "Women. Life. Freedom."
Daily Statistics on Iran Protests#Iran#HumanRights pic.twitter.com/mm9t9AJjFz
— HRANA English (@HRANA_English) November 23, 2022
As of some of the most recent reports, (Published November 22nd, 2022) HRANA, the Iranian Human Rights Activist News Agency published that some 18,055 people had been detained for participating in the protests and 437 people have been killed as a result. The statistics reveal a staggering number of cities showing their solidarity, with thousands of protests happening since September and the country's youth seemingly leading the charge.
On the same day that such grim numbers were reported, Iran's national soccer team also showed their solidarity with the women of their country, refusing to sing their own national anthem with a global audience watching as they prepped for their first World Cup match against England.
Last year, Knotfest profiled the Iranian djent/metalcore outfit Out of Nowhere - a collective that managed to hone their craft despite coming from a region in which performing metal music is directly at odds with the country's strict moral rule. Truly existing as an underground entity, the band spent more than a decade refining their sound, performing under constant threat and pursuing a dream that was not only unlikely, but put them directly in harm's way. Despite that reality, Out of Nowhere stayed the course.
In 2021, after more than a decade of working in the shadows, Out of Nowhere made the move to Turkey to further explore their creative potential and work without the fear of being arrested for making music. Though the band has found refuge, their hearts and minds remain with their countrymen and women - during what genuinely feels like the beginning of a transformative cultural revolution.
The band's latest single serves as an anthemic show of accord - a confrontational track that denounces the violence that has plagued the protests and the oppressive rule that continues to rob the Iranian women of basic, fundamental freedoms. "Wrong Generation" is Out of Nowhere's passionate form of protest - a single that champions the heroism of the women and youth that have decided enough is enough. The band shared of the single,
“We dedicate this video to the women of Iran. To those who are fighting for their basic freedom and getting killed by the Government. These are our sisters, we lived there, and we feel people in our hearts. The young generation in Iran taught us how to be big and brave. They don't want their youth and future ruined. We (Iranian People) are not from the violent generation. Everyone from everywhere has the right to have freedom, but we didn't have even the basic ones. Also, we don't have freedom of speech. Although we are young, most of our dreams were buried six feet deep because of the regime’s suppression, but we can't stay silent when our brothers and sisters are getting killed every day in Iran.”
Watch the Knotfest premiere of "Wrong Generation" from Iranian metalcore unit Out of Nowhere below.
