It’s a supreme irony that the little girl who fled to New Zealand from an abusive and tyrannous regime in Iran should now have to carry a panic alarm with her at all times due to the two active death threats she’s facing in this green and pleasant land.
Sadly, this is the reality of Aotearoa in 2021.
Golriz Ghahraman has packed more into her 39 years than most of us will do in a lifetime. The Green Party MP – New Zealand’s first refugee Member of Parliament – is the spokesperson for the weighty portfolios of Justice, Human Rights and Electoral Reform.
She is forthright, outspoken and courageous. Golriz has needed every ounce of that bravery as she withstands a barrage of vitriol while standing up for those who have no voice. While her support of refugees, Palestine and the protestors at Ihumatao, among others, has brought her many accolades, its also enraged opponents.
“I feel obliged to speak out about injustice,” Golriz tells me ruefully. “I feel accountable to those who can’t speak out. I was not raised to be comfortable... It’s not that great sometimes.”
Of the panic alarm, she adds, “Dad is really worried about the security risk but also very proud and supportive, while Mum is very defiant.”
Golriz was born the year the Islamic Republic was created. Her parents Maryam and Behrooz had been part of the youthful, middle-class uprising against the Shah’s despotic regime.
Their fight was about achieving true democracy for Iran. Instead, just a year after the country’s triumphant overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty, the exiled Islamic hardliner Ayatollah Khomeini returned home and assumed power.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2021 من Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة July 2021 من Australian Women’s Weekly NZ.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
PRETTY WOMAN
Dial up the joy with a mood-boosting self-care session done in the privacy of your own home. It’s a blissful way to banish the winter blues.
Hitting a nerve
Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes could aid physical and mental wellbeing.
The unseen Rovals
Candid, behind the scenes and neverbefore-seen images of the royal family have been released for a new exhibition.
Great read
In novels and life - there's power in the words left unsaid.
Winter dinner winners
Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of budget-concious recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.
Winter baking with apples and pears
Celebrate the season of apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the cold weather blues away.
The wines and lines mums
Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.
Former ballerina'sBATTLE with BODY IMAGE
Auckland author Sacha Jones reveals how dancing led her to develop an eating disorder and why she's now on a mission to educate other women.
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.
IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START
Responsible for keeping the likes of Jane Fonda and Jamie Lee Curtis in shape, Malin Svensson is on a mission to motivate those in midlife to move more.
