Azadeh Shabani

By centering the question of Palestine, this article contributes to a decolonial critique of German critical theory à la Jürgen Habermas and the Frankfurt School. The article’s intervention is prompted by the November 2023 ‘Principles of Solidarity. A Statement’ (PoS), of which Habermas was a coauthor. Released amid a full-scale Israeli assault on the besieged Gaza Strip, which followed the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack in southern Israel, the PoS statement expressed unequivocal solidarity with Israel, and it defended the assault on Gaza as being ‘justified in principle’. Whereas some critics view the PoS statement’s conspicuous one-sidedness as a departure from Habermas’s universalist principles, this article argues that the statement’s neglect of Palestinian suffering aligns with the Eurocentric limitations and biases inherent in Habermas’s thought. These limitations and biases, the article contends, stem from a colonial unconscious running through successive generations of the Frankfurt School critical theory (FSCT). Recalling Edward Said’s warning that the FSCT’s silence on colonialism and imperialism undermines the tradition’s liberatory potential, the article identifies the PoS statement as marking the depletion of any such potential.

In recent decades, global social movements have increasingly coalesced around the pursuit of recognition. This article scrutinizes an enduring and far-reaching popular movement in Iran sparked by the tragic death of Jina (Mahsa) Amini, which stands as a poignant embodiment of the collective quest for recognition across multiple dimensions. This article systematically addresses three pivotal inquiries. First, it meticulously traces the historical trajectory of issues involving the hijab within contemporary Iran, unearthing its origins as far back as the 1930s. Second, it employs Axel Honneth's multifaceted theory of misrecognition to unveil the intricate layers of misrecognition closely linked with the hijab in Iran. This encompasses the coercive regulation of women's bodies, legal disparities, and societal pressures culminating in diminished self-esteem and the inflation of male self-confidence. Third, this article emphatically underscores the integral significance of recognition, redistribution, and representation, particularly in the context of marginalized groups within Iranian society. While originating as a protest against a mandatory wearing of the hijab, the "Woman, Life, Freedom " movement transcends the confines of this singular issue to include more extensive struggles encompassing women's rights, resistance to religious oppression, and the assertion of individual freedoms. This comprehensive and rigorously analyzed investigation furnishes nuanced insights into the intricate socio-political landscape of contemporary Iran, underscored by the irrefutable significance of recognition as a transformative and indispensable facet of the broader pursuit of social justice.