Shririn Ebadi- Mother of Autonomy

The name, 'Shirin Ebadi', evokes shockwaves throughout the likes of western and eastern circles. Her laborious lobbying for some of the most controversial legislations have made her a direct threat to the implications of the Iranian Revolution. Fighting vigorously for the unalienable rights of her fellow citizen, she strives with courage to amend a revolutionary era for the women and children of the Islamic Republic. My recent reading and critique of her memoir, Iran Awakening, has evoked an intimate sense of both apprehension and recognition. She pledges the very prospect that the Iranian overthrow of 1979 served not only a hostile threat to the bureaucratic monarchy, it bred a collective 'political stigma' against the civil rights of women in the Islamic Republic. Ebadi, a judge and lawyer by profession, manifests her faith in her religious affiliation and in her political sentiment. She stands firm on all fronts other women would be view as a death sentence. Ebadi's nomination and winning of the 2003 Nobel Prize for peace further enhanced her reputation as a resilient and enduring 'alpha-female'. Rising against the odds, taking a radically adverse stance towards the controversial and resistant Iranian government. In the eyes of an Intellectual, a mere feminist with a vivid voice, to the philosopher, a conundrum yet to be conquered. But on a personal arena, Ebadi stands as the preeminent representation of a visionary coupled with the invaluable assets of her Islamic facets. The very prospect that a female born into the worst of political circumstances can rise as an inspiration to millions of fellow Iranians seems far-fetched in a world rife with tyrannical regimes ruling their provinces and nations with an iron-fist. In the case of Pre-Islamic Republic Iran, the exploitation of oil wealth and the dispersal of financial assets to the very few, led to it's downfall in the hands of revolutionary freedom-fighters. Doused with all the ingredients for an ideal muslim, feminine visionary; she remains revered locally and abroad. Propagating the plight of women for the most fundamental of civil-rights and provoking outrage in the psyches of her critics analysts. The sheer literary power of her memoir is only realised when one fully digests its flavorsome composition. Fiery with political ideology, superfluous with personal accounts of family and rife with explicit accounts as experiences as a political prisoner. Ebadi has composed a nexus of political and social thought around the span of a mere myriad of pages. When one gazes at her figure, they envision a familiar reality. Plentiful with personal accounts, outspoken and extraverted with political statement. This doesn't go to say Ebadi is a political radicalist nor a religious or theological extremist. Not a democrat, nor a republican she is the faceless, nameless mother of autonomy. The invaluable blessings of independence, freedom and autonomy are well interwoven throughout her very speech, thought and literature. A figure worthy of commendation, of praise and fortitude. As an intellectual with the proud aim of broadening one's personal horizons, one would approach a political statement such as the Iranian overthrow as a mere advantage to the rise in prominence and reverence of modern islamic political ideology. Ebadi is the contradiction, a striking reality check, conveyed through her individuality.