Western politicians and media heaps tributes on the author of Persepolis

Western politicians and media heaps tributes on the author of Persepolis



persepolis author

Obituaries for Franco-Iranian artist and author of Persepolis Marjane Satrapi are pouring in from Western politicians and media following news of her death in Paris at age 56 on Thursday.

Western establishments’ obituaries revealed a pattern of appreciating Satrapi for opposing Iran’s government, reflecting their ever-present instinct of Islamophobia.

“Persepolis” was a bestselling graphic novel series by Satrapi.

Most of them admire her as CNN puts it as:

an outspoken critic of Iran’s ruling establishment and a prominent supporter of the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement.

Satrapi was married to Mattias Ripa, who helped translate ‘Persepolis’ into English. He died last year.

News agency Associated Press reported a “member of her close circle” as saying she had “died of sadness” following her husband’s death.

Persepolis author mourned

Associated Press reported that President Emmanuel Macron and his wife paid “tribute to a remarkable artist who transformed an Iranian childhood into a universal fable.”

Yael Braun-Pivet, President of the French National Assembly, posted a picture with Satrapi, captioning it that France had lost “an immense artist.”

FrenchΒ  politician Olivier Faure said the artist had given a “global echo” to the “victims of the mullahs.”

The Mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, saidΒ  Satrapi lived through “repression and deprivation of freedom under the mullahs’ regime,” applauding her for defending women’s rights where they are “most endangered in the world.”

Western media

France’s Le Monde ran a few articles. They said:

Satrapi, an outspoken critic of Iran’s theocratic government, arrived in France in 1994 and gained French nationality in 2006.Β Persepolis recounts the story of Satrapi’s early life in Tehran, struggling under the restrictions imposed by Iran’s Islamic leadership after the 1979 revolution, before she is sent to Europe by her parents and begins a life in exile.

They also call her “a powerful and outspoken artist,” in another article, and “a brilliant, free and creative artist,” in a third article.

Germany’s Die Zeit said her comics were a means of political enlightenment.

The Washington Post, Times of Israel, andΒ  Haaretz posted the Associated PressΒ story on Satrapi, which called her “a prominent advocate for women’s rights.”

Satrapi had worked with Israel’s film industry in the past. She was reported “enamored” with Israeli directors like Ari Folman and “friendly” with Eran Kolirin, according to Israel’s Haaretz.

The Financial Times quoted a letter that Satarpi had written she in which she said she wanted to show Western readers that Iran was not just a “country of fanatics and terrorists.”

The New York Times said her novel “illuminated the struggles of Iranians” during the Islamic Revolution

In the end, the Western establishment’s embrace of Satrapi reveals more about them than her. These establishments love to canonise dissenters who serve their geopolitical narrative. Whilst many will mourn her art, it is no accident that the Western world chose to elevate her work.

Featured image via Getty/Gareth Cattermole

By The Canary





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