On September 16, the young woman’s death, three days after her arrest for not following the Islamic Republic’s dress code, sparked an historic wave of anger.
They walked the sidewalk on the evening of Tuesday, March 14, for the fire festival. According to news site IranWire*, Iranian men and women demonstrated in several districts of Tehran, Iran, in the Kurdish cities of Sanandaj and Saqqez, in Zahedan and even in Rasht. This historical tradition in the run-up to the Iranian New Year thus served as a space for protests against the mullahs’ regime. Young protesters burned a banner depicting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, while the political slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” echoed in some cities.
Six months after the death in police custody on September 16, 2022 of the Iranian Kurd Mahsa Amini, who had been arrested three days earlier by the Iranian moral police, the movement born of that tragedy is trying to continue. He envisions different forms than the more massive demonstrations of the first few months. Historic fury gripped the announcement of the death of the young woman, aged 22, who was arrested for not following the dress code.
From now on, “the demonstrations are sporadic, the terror very strong,” emphasizes Mahnaz Shirali, sociologist, political scientist and author of the book Window on Iran, the cry of a gagged people. Over the months, “the repression has been draconian,” says Hadi Ghaemi, executive director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran, based in New York (USA).
They “stay for a few minutes and then disperse”
After an assessment by the NGO Hrana in February*at least 19,000 demonstrators were arrested and at least 530 of them were killed. According to Amnesty International, four protesters were executed between December and January after “unfair and hasty” trials. “We are gathering more and more evidence of sexual violence against women protesters in October and November,” Hadi Ghaemi continues. Assessing the repression is all the more difficult to carry out as the regime puts pressure on the victims’ relatives.
“I know families who have had to declare the death of a loved one [manifestants] like natural deaths or accidents… This crackdown has taken protest off the streets.”
Hadi Ghaemi, Executive Director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran
at franceinfo
When a breathlessness of the movement is visible, the anger of the Iranian people remains intact, according to several researchers interviewed by franceinfo. Since the beginning of the year, people have tended to speak out after dark, “because it’s much more difficult to identify the demonstrators there,” says Farhad Khosrokhavar, sociologist and emeritus study director at the Ecole des Hautes Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS). The movement is also taking shape on the roofs, where “Down with the dictatorship” is repeatedly shouted. But “it’s getting much more difficult there, too,” observes the author of “Iran: Democratic Youth Against the Robber State.”
Faced with the repressive threat, “people continue to take to the streets, but more to their own neighborhoods. A few dozen people stay for a few minutes and then disperse,” says Azadeh Kian, a professor of sociology at the University of Paris Cité. According to the researcher, the movement continues in the heart and near the country’s major cities, but also in Kurdistan and in the Sistan-and-Baluchistan region, where demonstrations continue after Friday prayers.
At the same time, mobilization continues in social networks, for example in the Clubhouse social network, where “we feel a rising anger that has never been more important,” describes Mahnaz Shirali. Recently, parents and teachers also protested against gas poisoning targeted at girls’ schools, IranWire points out that “Forms of mobilization for new configurations are depoliticizing,” adds Farhad Khosrokhavar, citing the example of teenage girls who recently danced without to sail on the song “Calm down”, in western Tehran. “It’s not about challenging the regime head-on with the slogan ‘Down with the dictatorship’, it’s about expressing the body’s urge for freedom. There is a close connection between existential freedom and political freedom.
Faced with this anger expressed in various forms, the Iranian regime remains deaf and continues to use violence. “Restaurants with women without veils are closed. There is a desire to mobilize agents of power to intimidate women without uniform,” Farhad Khosrokhavar develops. An Iranian activist in the United States, quoted by Radio-Canada, also evokes the regime’s strategies to target online protest actors.
“Political prisoners are still in prison, as are many other opponents,” Azadeh Kian continues. Earlier this year, the Center for Human Rights in Iran* warned of the deaths of young demonstrators after their release from prison. The latter were “obviously tortured” during detention.
“I think we are on the eve of a major massacre if the international community fails to meet its responsibility to protect Iranians,” Mahnaz Shirali warned. For Farhad Khosrokhavar, the regime’s violence also shows that “power cannot manage to fulfill the wishes of young citizens except through repression”. This certainly led to a “crisis of the movement”, but in parallel “the crisis of the regime” was revealed.
“The movement revealed the break between the regime and civil society. Not just a political one, but also an economic and cultural one.”
Farhad Khosrokhavar, sociologist and principal investigator at EHESS
at franceinfo
In view of the country’s critical situation, several pro-regime voices have seldom been raised. Iranian grand ayatollahs have criticized the cost of living, the depreciation of Iran’s currency and the level of poverty in Iran, reports pan-Arab news site Middle East Eye. “We have lost people’s trust” because of “our incompetence,” even Ayatollah Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha conceded. Azadeh Kian also recalls the words of Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi-Amoli, “very close to the leader”. “He said many times that you can’t rule a population with guns.” Even Ali Khamenei’s sister spoke of a “legitimate and necessary” uprising because “the Iranian people deserve freedom.”
The beginning of a revolution?
In this context, groups are working on alternatives for the country. As Azadeh Kian points out, about twenty professional, student and feminist organizations recently published a resolution “with their demands for the future of Iran”, particularly in relation to equality between women and men and the “ban on patriarchal control”. Another demand is the abolition of “laws and any behavior based on ethnic or religious discrimination and oppression,” IranWire* specifies. “The Iranian people are able to create an alternative within the country,” defends Azadeh Kian.
The Iranian diaspora is particularly active abroad, with “a lot of communication” about movement and oppression and “all kinds of help for their compatriots in Iran,” Mahnaz Shirali continues. The community of exiles is also involved in the elaboration of a new political project. Several figures such as journalist and writer Masih Alinejad, Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi and son of Iran’s Shah Reza Pahlavi met in Washington in February to work on a “joint charter” for integration “The Demands of the People”. Another “left-wing, republican” group has also made proposals, in particular on “society self-determination,” according to Farhad Khosrokhavar.
“There are discussions going on right now about how to challenge and replace the Islamic Republic. You see elements of a political coalition. We are in a period of strategy development.”
Hadi Ghaemi
at franceinfo
Could the protest resist and lead to profound political changes? The repression, both against the demonstrators and against the leaders of the mobilizations, represents a clear brake on the continuation of the movement. “If you face a state that kills you, you cannot win,” says Mahnaz Shirali. The protest also lacks leaders, with many targeted and arrested. Despite this, “the reasons for the anger are still there. Nothing has changed, so everything indicates that things can continue,” Azadeh Kian introduces himself. “It’s a movement that has prevailed over time. The regime continues to be questioned. It’s an ongoing revolution.”
*These links point to content in English.