Iran has largely crushed protests, but a spirit of defiance still burns
| LONDON
In her high school classroom in northwest Iran, the math teacher strives to ensure that her female students don鈥檛 lose sight of what they achieved taking part in unprecedented anti-regime street protests 鈥� even if those protests have now largely been crushed.
鈥淭here is no doubt the protests have fizzled out,鈥� says the teacher in the city of Sanandaj, epicenter of the protests in Iran鈥檚 largely Kurdish northwest, where officials used direct military force to quell dissent.
鈥淟ook around, except for the 40th day [funeral] memorials, few rallies are being held these days,鈥� says the math teacher, who gives the name Yosra. 鈥淏ut does that mean it鈥檚 over? Absolutely not.鈥�
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onIn Iran鈥檚 Islamic Republic, anti-regime protests have ebbed and flowed. For now, fierce public expressions that harnessed women鈥檚 outrage have been brutally suppressed, but the resolve to find a path to change hasn鈥檛.
Back in November, when the protests were raging, Yosra told the Monitor that her students were unfazed by the steady flow of threatening messages from education authorities. Her students, she said then, 鈥渁re a different species; they won鈥檛 accept humiliation.鈥�
Yet as the street protests themselves disappear, resistance today means 鈥渒eeping awareness among my students, dissecting the regime鈥檚 nature, and reminding them of their mission to press ahead and never allow this to become a new normal,鈥� she says.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 poison,鈥� she adds, 鈥渢he very exact poison that killed off the desire for change in my generation, that destroyed the bravery within us.鈥�
The nationwide protests, billed as Iran鈥檚 first feminist uprising, were triggered in mid-September by the death in police custody of a young woman, Mahsa Amini, for allegedly breaking hijab laws by showing too much hair from beneath her headscarf.
As Iran marks the 44th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution Saturday, hard-line ideologues are gloating that regime enforcers have, once again, bottled up widespread discontent that threatened more than ever the pillars of their self-proclaimed 鈥淕overnment of God.鈥�
Human rights groups estimate that some 500 people have been killed, hundreds more wounded in the eyes聽鈥� often shot in the face at close range, in what appears to have been a systematic effort聽鈥� and 20,000 arrested in the clashes and government crackdown.
Ambitions put on hold
For months, rage over Ms. Amini鈥檚 death, and then over the government鈥檚 response to the protests themselves, had spread to more than 130 cities, propelled by chants of 鈥淲oman, Life, Freedom!鈥� and the public burning of headscarves and portraits of Iran鈥檚 supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
With long-standing grievances over Iran鈥檚 weak economy, corruption, and clerical misrule swelling the ranks of protesters further, some had even predicted that the regime would fall. Many protesters vowed to fight to the death, if it would expand freedoms and restore dignity to Iranian lives.
Instead, a mostly younger generation that defiantly demanded the end of what they consider a decrepit and hidebound leadership has witnessed its own ambition for change put on hold in the wake of the systematic and lethal crackdown.
鈥淒oes that disappoint me? It鈥檚 hard to say. 鈥� This regime has proven that it will go to all lengths to crush us and has no boundaries,鈥� says Yosra, noting that the risks to continue had grown too great.
鈥淚 mean, it鈥檚 our young people being killed by a regime that has no shame and looks you in the eye and denies the killings,鈥� she says.
Past episodes of street protests have sometimes yielded change, instituted by an Islamic Republic that has proudly claimed the broadest popular support, as well as a divine mandate. Few of the republic鈥檚 founding revolutionaries forget that it was their own mobilizing of anger on the streets, resulting in massive protests for months on end, that did so much to topple the pro-West shah and his security apparatus and armed forces, which appeared all-powerful at the time.
Providing a safety valve for grievances to dissipate has therefore been a frequent tactic. Indeed, Ayatollah Khamenei may have given the sense of leaning toward compromise when he announced in early January that women wearing a loose hijab were still 鈥渙ur daughters鈥� who should not be treated like anti-revolutionary enemies 鈥撀爐hough he also declared that wearing the hijab remained an 鈥渋nviolable necessity.鈥�
And Mr. Khamenei, in keeping with tradition on the eve of the revolution鈥檚 anniversary, on Feb. 3 pardoned an estimated 19,000 prisoners 鈥撀燼mong them some who had been detained during the protests. (Nevertheless, this week several high-profile protesters聽were filmed outside Evin Prison after their release, chanting defiantly that聽鈥渢he tyrannical regime must be overthrown.鈥�)
Signals of retrenchment
But other steps make clear that authorities, instead of finding a middle path, are doubling down on strict hijab rules and other forms of dissent.
Already four young protesters have been executed for moharebeh, or 鈥渨aging war against God,鈥� with more than 100 other cases pending, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group. The hard-line judiciary has also demanded 鈥渄ecisive鈥� action by the police and outlined tough new penalties 鈥� including 10 days to a decade in jail 鈥� to stop the removal of head coverings in public,聽an act widely embraced by women since the protests began.
Signals of retrenchment also include the mid-January appointment of hard-line cleric Abdolhossein Khosropanah to head the powerful Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, which outlines hijab and other social policies.
He has said that protesters should be spared 鈥渘o mercy鈥� and be put to death by 鈥渃rucifixion.鈥� In an interview with Fars News Agency, Mr. Khosropanah described how 鈥� even before 1979 鈥� he used to personally fire a slingshot at women he saw聽wearing their hijab loosely. He apparently stopped the practice when his father expressed concern for the women鈥檚 safety, and afterward only threw water at them.
Another signal is the appointment in early January of Brig. Gen. Ahmad Reza Radan to command the police. He is sanctioned by the U.S. government for聽鈥渂eatings, murder, and arbitrary arrests and detentions against protestors鈥� that he was responsible for as deputy chief of Iran鈥檚 National Police, during the lethal crackdown that ended post-election protests in 2009. Before that, as Tehran鈥檚 chief of police, he doubled the size of police forces cracking down on un-Islamic dress in what he called an 鈥渦nstoppable鈥� campaign.
Even without those extra measures taken by authorities, protesters have described feeling continuing pressure for their defiance.
Among them is Romina, who told the Monitor in detail about her 3 a.m. arrest in late September, the denigrating physical and sexual abuse and death threats she endured, and the inspiration she found聽鈥� in her own inner fortitude and among younger, incarcerated fellow protesters 鈥� to return to the streets.
Romina recounted how her interrogator in the northwestern city of Kermanshah twisted her hair in his hand, and told her the 鈥渙utcome of your revolution鈥� would be that she would hang by that hair.
Since her release, Romina has received four calls from private numbers, a typical sign that they are from the intelligence unit of the Revolutionary Guard.
鈥淭hey keep threatening me, telling me that they are closely watching every move, and that I could get arrested again,鈥� Romina says now, adding that she remains unbowed. 鈥淭hey use the same sexist language and expletives. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of sleep, with nightmares that they are at the door, trying to take me away again.鈥�
鈥淗oping for foreign support鈥�
She says she keeps up her criticism of the regime and boosts protest messages on fake social media accounts, and continues to flaunt hijab rules. But she was recently forced to return home for a headscarf when she was not allowed into the water department to follow up on a bill, after the guard refused her entry.
鈥淚 know many who have become disappointed after four months and no tangible outcomes,鈥� says Romina. 鈥淏ut I keep telling them that we have a long way ahead and there are surely ups and downs. It does not happen overnight, does it? What we need at this stage, where the repression is endless, is outside support. We are hoping for foreign support.鈥�
鈥淚f this regime does not feel the pressure, it will just have a free pass to kill us all,鈥� adds Romina. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like an abusive and addicted father. If he is not confronted, he feels he can do everything without facing any punishment.鈥�
Yosra, the math teacher, also uses a family example, but one that looks to the past to understand how Iranian protesters demanding change today should proceed.
鈥淚n our days, every now and then the regime came out with brute force, pushed people back into their homes, and things really died down, because we were intimidated,鈥� she says.
鈥淥ur parents were part of this, because they kept telling us about the consequences 鈥� not that they supported the regime, but because they feared for our safety, and that鈥檚 how the regime managed to survive,鈥� Yosra says.
鈥淣ow things are different,鈥� she adds. 鈥淭his new generation has been raised by parents who sincerely want their children not to suffer the same fate as theirs.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what will happen in the months to come, but trust me: It鈥檚 not like the push for regime change has become any less powerful. It鈥檚 there.鈥�
An Iran researcher contributed to this report.
