'It's about empathy': Phoenix community celebrates Nowruz, honors movement for women’s rights

Civic Space Park in downtown Phoenix was home to the city's second annual Nowruz festival on Saturday afternoon as the community gathered to celebrate the first day of the Persian New Year, a long-standing multicultural holiday that symbolizes renewal, hope and new beginnings.

Phoenix Vice Mayor Yassamin Ansari and two refugee-focused nonprofits collaborated to organize the Nowruz festival, though this year the focus was on honoring the global movement for women's rights and standing in solidarity with women and girls in Iran and Afghanistan.

The festival, according to Ansari, is a time to celebrate the Persian New Year and a chance to provide a space to honor and represent cultures from around the world that don't get much representation in Arizona. This year, that goal would not have been possible without honoring the women who are fighting for their human rights and freedoms on a global scale.

"Given everything that has been going on in Iran and Afghanistan, including the protests in Iran around women’s rights and demands for freedom, and Afghanistan's similar crisis following the Taliban taking over the country, we wanted this celebration in particular to honor those women and to stand in solidarity with them," Ansari said.

Ansari, who represents Phoenix's seventh district and is the first Iranian American elected to office in the state of Arizona, said it is a somber time for the Iranian and Afghan communities in the United States. Their diasporas have been focused on supporting the uprisings in their countries, she said.

"In Iran in particular, hundreds of people have been murdered, tens of thousands have been detained and tortured," Ansari said. "We didn’t want to host a celebration without including a really strong focus on the situation.”

Nowruz, which means new day, aligns with the spring equinox to the exact minute, marking a new year and a sense of rebirth for the 300 million people across the globe who celebrate. The non-religious holiday dates back to ancient Persia, rooted in the belief that spring was a triumph over darkness.

Saturday's festival highlighted community resources by featuring local nonprofit organizations tailored toward the refugee community. Among them was the Arizona Persian Cultural Center, a nonprofit that helped host the Nowruz festival.

"We are proud of our culture and proud of our history and happy to be in this beautiful country to share it with anybody and everybody who is curious," said Saman Golestan, president of the cultural center. "Everyone is welcome."

Golestan said the Arizona Persian Cultural Center promotes the Iranian culture by fostering a sense of community through social, educational and recreational activities. Art is one large way the center celebrates Iranian culture and history, displaying the work of artists Mitra Kamali and Amir Sasan Mostafavi on Saturday.

Kamali is an engineer, artist and activist who uses her artwork to provide a window into history. Many of her pieces depict a historical figure named Mandana, a female ruler of Persia's Achaemenid Empire and the mother of Cyrus the Great, a Persian king known for writing the first declaration of human rights.

Kamali said Mandana represents the strength and equality women strive for today, while Cyrus represents the global need for empathy and human rights.

"Humans are the member of a whole. If somebody gets hurt, we should all feel it. It’s about empathy," Kamali said. "No matter how negative life can be, we are going to conquer it.”

Amir Sasan Mostafavi is a calligraphy artist who creates art based on Old Persian cuneiform and Farsi, the Persian alphabet. Mostafavi teaches calligraphy classes to adults at the Iranian American Society of Arizona.

The International Rescue Committee — a global humanitarian aid, relief and development agency — also helped host the Nowruz festival on Saturday, emphasizing the importance of supporting Phoenix's female refugee community following a tumultuous year.

"So many of the families here have family members that are still back in Afghanistan, so it’s been really tough since they got here for them to know what their female family members are going through back in Afghanistan," said Aaron Rippenkroeger, executive director of Arizona's International Rescue Committee branch.

Rippenkroeger said the struggle is particularly hard for refugee women and their families who are experiencing the ripple effects of the women's rights limitations in their home countries.

"If there is a woman-headed household who can’t work, that family is in immediate crisis in terms of how they are able to support themselves and feed themselves," Rippenkroeger said. "It’s a really challenging time for that and a lot of people here are going through that at a distance."

Afghans find home in Arizona:She fought the Taliban alongside US troops, but her future in the US remains in limbo

That's why celebrating Nowruz as a community is more important this year than ever, according to the executive director.

“It’s a compounding effect when we have a holiday like this for communities to come together to acknowledge that, reflect on that and empower each other because it just can’t continue this way," Rippenkroeger said.

One booth hosted by Lutheran Social Services focused on empowering refugee women by selling the goods they made in sewing classes and giving 80% of the profits directly back to the women who made them, using the other 20% to buy additional sewing materials.

"We provide classes and programs that tailor to the needs of refugee women. Our mission is to empower refugee women through these classes. They are there to educate women, empower them and make them self-sufficient," said Sodaf Hakeem, a representative of Lutheran Social Services.

Past the nonprofit booths and food trucks offering traditional middle eastern and Persian fare was a stage that hosted a variety of community speakers from Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to Fahima Sultani, a business administration student at Arizona State University and an Afghanistan refugee.

Sultani was evacuated by the U.S. Military in August 2021,13 days after the country fell under Taliban control. She resettled in Arizona in December 2021 and began taking classes at ASU.

"I am happy to be studying here at ASU but on the other hand I’m so sad for the millions of women that were left back in Afghanistan and don’t have the same opportunities, I am so sorry for them," Sultani told the Republic. "For that reason, I want to take a moment here to advocate for women’s rights in Afghanistan. It would be wonderful to take action to help them,"

Sultani said women and girls in Afghanistan have been largely banned from the outside world since the country fell under Taliban control. They can't work or go to school and are prohibited from seeking higher education opportunities.

"It’s about growth opportunities and education like virtual learning classes, school and university access, and scholarships. Although there is still so much restriction coming from outside the home, they can still continue their education from home," Sultani said.

The student said access to growth and education opportunities — like scholarships, mentorships and virtual classes — is paramount to supporting women and girls in Afghanistan.

The 2023 Nowruz festival drew to a close as the sun began to set over the park's 145-foot-tall aerial sculpture. The night ended with a candlelight vigil to honor the women, girls and allies fighting for women's rights in Iran and Afghanistan and across the world.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix vice mayor celebrates Persian New Year with festival