An uphill task for Iran’s women climbers


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ZANJAN, IRAN // In the mountains of north-western Iran, Farnaz Esmaeilzadeh clings to a sheer rock face, ignoring the dizzying height and icy wind as she searches for the next handhold.

The 27-year-old, who has been rock climbing since she was 13, has distinguished herself in international competitions despite the barriers she faces as a female athlete in conservative Iran.

Gyms in the Islamic Republic, including the facility where she practices on an artificial climbing wall, have separate and limited hours for women. Rock climbers, like other female athletes, must adhere to the country’s conservative dress code by wearing long, loose garments and covering their hair.

“For me, climbing rocks is part of life, a symbol of overcoming the barriers of life,” Esmaeilzadeh said. “What I do is to change things that people think are norms. I feel there is no difference between men and women.”

Some 200 Iranian women compete in nationwide rock climbing events, and many more climb recreationally. Up in the mountains, away from the morality police, women and men can climb together. But women are not allowed to work with male coaches, denying them access to the country’s most experienced trainers.

Esmaeilzadeh has nevertheless competed in two World Cups held by the International Federation of Sport Climbing and is ranked 21st worldwide in women’s speed climbing.

She gives climbing lessons to other women in order to raise money to take part in international competitions, but she is worried she won’t be able to afford to compete in the IFSC World Championship held in Paris in September.

“International championships begin in about three months, and my biggest mental concern is whether I can afford to participate at all,” she said.

* Associated Press

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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

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Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

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