is a professor of diversity and integration in the Department of Sociology at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. She is also a crown-appointed member of the Social and Economic Council (SER) and a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW).
Women’s rights activists protesting for a democratic Iran counteract armed police on the streets with non-hierarchical leadership, a rhizomatic network, transnationality and flash mobs. Their momentum, supported globally via the Iranian diaspora, also benefits from a legacy of historic feminist action under extreme oppression.
Diversity is held at the pinnacle of much progressive thought. And yet full inclusion is far from becoming a reality. Could the normative thinking that assumes people with a migration background are different and disadvantaged be at fault?