Protesters In Iranian Cities Hold Rallies Against The Regime
After a period of relative calm across Iran, Thursday was another action-packed day for the Iranians who are holding regular antigovernment protests for about five months.
After a period of relative calm across Iran, Thursday was another action-packed day for the Iranians who are holding regular antigovernment protests for about five months.
People across the country had planned for the Thursday protests since at least a fortnight ago as it marked the 40th day after the execution of Mohammad-Mehdi Karami and Mohammad Hosseini, two of the four Iranians who were hanged for their participation in antigovernment rallies.
According to videos on social media, the February 16 protests were held in several cities with people chanting slogans against the regime and its ruler Ali Khamenei, whom they call a “dictator”. Protesters responded to calls by grassroot activists that have mobilized thousands of protesters in several towns and cities during the current unrest, and held gatherings at main streets and squares of their cities in evening hours.
Amid a tense presence by security forces, people in several neighborhoods of capital Tehran, the religious city of Mashhad in the northeast, central cities of Arak and Esfahan (Isfahan) and Kurdish majority city of Sanandaj and many others held protest rallies. During their show of solidarity, they chanted the main slogans of the current wave of protests, ignited by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. “This is the year of blood, Seyyed Ali (Khamenei) will be gone,” and “Women, Life, Freedom,” chanted the protesters.
The cities of Ahvaz and Izeh in Khuzestan province, Rasht in Gilan, and some cities in Hormozgan were also scenes of protests on Thursday.
Gatherings were also big in the city of Karaj, near the capital, the hometown of the two protesters, Karami and Hosseini, who were executed 40 days ago.
The 40th day of a loved one’s death – as well as the seventh day -- carries immense cultural significance in Iran, and in case of an unjust killing, the occasion turns into public mourning and fuels angry protests.
Karami and Hosseini were arrested in Karaj during demonstrations on the 40th day of another victim, Hadis Najafi. Holding such events is reminiscent of a similar turn of events 44 years ago, during the Islamic revolution against monarchy that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979. Marking the 40th day for people who were killed during the revolution turned into fresh protests that fueled the movement.
The Thursday demonstrations occurred only one day after Supreme Leader Khamenei bragged about the turnout of government sponsored celebration on February 11 to mark the establishment of the regime, saying "people literally created an epic across the country" in supporting the Islamic Republic. A day later, the people were calling for his ouster in multiple cities.
In addition to nationwide protests, Iranian diaspora communities have also planned another protest rally for February 20 outside the European Parliament in the Belgian capital Brussels. The gathering is meant to call on the European Union countries to designate the Revolutionary Guard – or the IRGC – as a terrorist organization. Thousands of Iranians from all over Europe held a massive rally in Strasbourg in January to pressure the European countries to list the IRGC.
Iranians staged mass rallies in dozens of cities across the world calling for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic on Saturday [February 11], concurrent with the regime-sponsored events inside Iran to mark the 44th anniversary of the Islamic Republic in 1979.
In their historic joint event in Washington on the eve of the rallies on February 10, eight prominent opposition figures held a joint forum, signaling the emergence of a leadership council in the diaspora to campaign for international support in favor of Iran’s protest movement. They also called for support from democratic countries to change the regime in Iran and establish democracy.
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“An unhappy crowd takes to the streets when it has no other way to voice its dissatisfaction with the current situation. We have explained in this book that political participation in Iran has been declining and a large majority of the people believe that the official power structure is inefficient and corrupt," one of the authors said.
In an interview with Mohsen Goudarzi and Abdolmohammad Kazemipour the authors of the newly published book, "What happened? The story of decline of Iranian society," Reformist daily Shargh's editor Ahmad Gholami discussed recent protests against the backdrop of long-standing dissent.
The book by the two prominent sociologists was published when Iranian protesters took over the streets and many political analysts and scholars tried to explain the uprising. The authors of this book were particularly focused on the declining social capital and public trust in Iran.
The authors examined the "vertical trust" between the people and the government, which they believe has eroded during the past decades because of the serious inefficiency of the government and a closed system that did not allow political participation. This, the authors believe, has made it difficult for the government to convince the public about its narrative. They have also examined the "horizontal trust" between the members of the public and social groups.
They have also observed that the four waves of protests between 2009 and 2022 were different from each other in their form and nature. Kazemipor said about the differences and similarities between these movements: "There are some key concepts in the book that might be helpful. These include the horizontal and vertical trusts."
He added that in the 2009 Green Movement, both of these types of trust were still in place, while in the following waves of protests, the vertical trust in particular had declined. The horizontal trust between citizens was also lost to some extent.
Kazemipour continued: "In 2009 the project for change was a more or less reformist movement. It was not radical. That indicated that the links between the government and society were still in place. So, people could still have hope in gradual reforms."
"Meanwhile, the society had just seen the performance of a reformist government that had its links to civil and occupational activists. This means there was a strong horizontal trust. However, in 2018 and 2019 and 2022 both the horizontal and vertical trusts were weakened," Kazemipour added: "One can even say the vertical communication was totally lost in 2022 and that is clear in the nature of the protesters' slogans which were focused mainly on what people did not want. They no longer demanded a particular reform, action or behavior from the country's power structure."
Goudarzi said: "Analyzing the movement based on the main idea of this book requires access to more data. For instance, we do not know exactly about the age range, socio-economic class and the attitudes of the protesters. We do not know what segments of the society were present in the streets and who was absent and what made the two groups different from each other. If we had those information, we could tell more precisely how their characteristics were linked to the movement."
Goudarzi added that "the people believe the government has not been successful during the past four decades in anything other than maintaining the country's security, and even in that area the state's success has not been eye-catching. The people believe that the government has certainly failed in the economy…civil liberties. People feel they are discriminated against. This feeling of discrimination is a major source of anger."
Goudarzi added: "The people do not believe that government offices or organizations belong to them. As a result, their trust in clerics, judges and government officials have been declining during the past decades and people turned their back to official institutions and even political groups and factions."
In a statement published on Tuesday, they said that 44 years after the establishment of the Islamic Republic the country's economic, political and social situation has plunged into a "vortex of crisis and disintegration."
They added that no clear and attainable prospect can be envisioned to end the current situation within the existing political framework, calling for building a new, modern and humane society after the Islamic Republic.
They described about five months of street protests as an attempt to end the existing inhumane situation, noting that their efforts against the misogyny and gender discrimination, unrelenting economic insecurity, poverty and labor exploitation, as well as ethnic, class and religious subjugation have been suppressed by the regime.
Outlining 12 main demands, they called for the release of all political prisoners, prohibition of criminalizing political, union, and civil activities, public trial of the leaders and perpetrators of the violence against protesters, unrestricted freedom of opinion, expression and thought, assembly, and social media as well as policies to preserve natural resources and ending environmental degradation.
In their charter, they also demanded abolition of the death sentence and prohibition of torture as well as a secular constitution. They said the organizations and institutions tasked with repression should be dismantled and the powers of the government should be limited.
They also urged normalization of foreign relations at the highest levels with all the countries of the world and equal rights for women and LGBTQ+ community.
The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers' Trade Association, The Independent Iranian Workers Union, The Union of Student Organizations, Defenders of Human Rights Center, Haft Tappeh Sugar Cane Mill Labor Syndicate, and Council for Organizing Oil Contract-Workers' Protests were some of the signatories of the charter.
Moreover, a group of families of those killed by the Islamic Republic announced the establishment of a council to push for justice and setting up “an independent judiciary." In a video statement released to media on Wednesday, they said as long as "the mullahs' hellish regime” persists, more people will be slaughtered “for the crime of patriotism and seeking freedom.”
“We, the families of the petitioners, whose loved ones have been murdered by the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran for 43 years, demand the establishment of a judiciary independent of the political system, after the overthrow of the regime inside the country.” they added.
On Valentine's Day, February 14, families of protesters killed gathered at their graves with flowers and red balloons and other symbols to mark the day of romance and love. Social media is full of photos of the families who marked the day in memory of their loved ones killed by the regime.
Canada-based activist leader Hamed Esmaeilion, whose daughter and wife were killed by the IRGC in the shooting down of Flight PS752 in 2020, tweeted in memory of his lost wife and daughter in their last Valentine’s Day together. He said that his daughter was excited that he bought flowers for her too and kept them until they dried.
According to human rights groups, the Islamic Republic has killed over 500 people, including at least 70 children, during its crackdown on the ongoing protests.
In their historic joint event in Washington on February 10, eight prominent opposition figures held a joint forum, signaling the emergence of a leadership council in the diaspora to campaign for international support in favor of Iran’s protest movement. They also called for support from democratic countries to change the regime in Iran and establish democracy. The group is also working on a charter for a transition to an Iran after the Islamic Republic that would be ready at the end of the month. They said “the world must prepare itself for a day without the Islamic republic."