All glory to the women of Iran
Among the welter of news we've had this week, I want to highlight a story dear to my heart.
Mahsa Amini, an Iranian Kurdish woman, was arrested by the Iranian morality police for violating the law on the veiling of women in public. While in police custody she died. Mahsa had suffered multiple blows to the head, according to Iran International, a London-based broadcaster.
Her death has engendered days of rioting in protest, across all sectors of Iran and all areas. Kurds in Iran, much like their cousins in Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, are an oppressed minority. But this protest has spiraled away from the Kurdish community. Iranian youth have taken it as the catalyst for a full display of grievances with the theocratic government which has ruled the state since the 1979 revolution and the fall of the former dictator, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The Shah's regime was brutal and needed to be overthrown; but in Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iranians went from the frying pan and into the fire. Many democrats had supported the revolution, for the Shah's regime was that oppressive. But these liberals and democrats soon found themselves in the same prisons under the mullahs as they had been under the Shah.
The theocratic regime came into power not wanting to improve the lives of Iranian citizens, but to engage in the geopolitical dramas of the 1980s, propping up rebel movements all over the Islamic world. When it was invaded by Saddam Hussein's Iraq, it entered eight years of catastrophic war, from which it has yet to recover. Its support for terrorism has earned it forty years of sanctions from the US and its allies. And its pursuit of nuclear weapons technology has further squeezed it out of the world community. There have been some thaws, as under the presidencies of Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Khatami, who pursued more moderate policies. But the reins of power are firmly in the hands of the fundamentalist religious aristocracy. No real change is possible when the mechanisms of the state bar reformers from running for office for being un-Islamic. And, of course, real power is in the hands of the Supreme Leader, who as of this writing is still Ali Khamenei, although it seems as if he is suffering a serious illness and may soon die, opening up a succession battle. All of the frontrunners are as hardline or more hardline than Khamenei, so there is very little hope for change on that front.
Meanwhile, Iran has one of the youngest populations in the world. And this population toils under lack of education, lack of employment, lack of opportunity, and lack of a chance at a normal life. Iranian youth do want what they see in the West: the ability to simply be young and enjoy life. A government which provides neither jobs on the one hand, nor bread and circuses on the other, will have a problem on its hands. All it takes is one match to strike the kindling. Mahsa's murder was that.
Iran has gone through street protests before, and has put them down brutally. It again is responding with brutality. But I have the hope that this is different. Women all over Iran are burning their hijabs in public, a direct rebuke of the regime's moral pretenses. It is a regime more concerned with religious strictures than with ensuring its people thrive.
And the regime is shaken. CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour had an interview scheduled with current hardline president Ebrahim Raisi. Raisi canceled the interview because he insisted that Amanpour wear a veil during the interview, and she refused to do so. She has interviewed Iranian politicians outside of Iran numerous times, including presidents, and this had never been a requirement before.
"I politely declined. We are in New York, where there is no law or tradition regarding headscarves. I pointed out that no previous Iranian president has required this when I have interviewed them outside Iran," Amanpour wrote.
She continued: "The aide made it clear that the interview would not happen if I did not wear a headscarf. He said it was 'a matter of respect,' and referred to 'the situation in Iran' - alluding to the protests sweeping the country."
After she declined once more, the interview was cancelled.
"And so we walked away. The interview didn't happen," Amanpour wrote. "As protests continue in Iran and people are being killed, it would have been an important moment to speak with President Raisi."
This new uprising is being led by women. Women are taking on the role where men have failed for forty years. But as one of the protesters said:
Referring to the main slogans of the protests in different cities, "woman, life, freedom," and "death to dictator," Sarah, who is also not using her real name over fears for her safety, said the movement does not merely address restrictions on women.
"Slogans target the very bases of the regime. They address the leader himself calling him a 'shame' to the country," she said. "What matters the most is that these slogans are heard by the world."
While the Internet was throttled from the beginning of the protests, it was cut or severely slowed down in the country on Wednesday, according to NetBlocks. In addition, WhatsApp and Instagram --the last social media outlets that were still accessible in Iran-- were filtered in an attempt by the regime to restrict the circulation of information even more severely.
"Our anger is definitely overgrowing their power," Sarah said. "I hope people in different countries recognize this anger and their government joins them and stop negotiating with this regime."
In general, I support the nuclear talks. But at this point we have to ask if we're negotiating with a legitimate regime. Between this and the assassination attempt on long-time Iranian target Salman Rushdie in upstate New York, I think its time for regime change. Not at the barrels of Western guns, but in support of this movement which has erupted among a youth tired of slogans and calls for sacrifice. Iran is a rich country; there is no reason its people should be living in poverty and fear.
All glory to the women of Iran. All glory to the women of the world.