Northeast experts say protests over the death of a young woman in police custody in Iran will continue unless people’s demands are met.
Associate Professor Ilham Kuri Makdisi (History) said: “They no longer want reform, but they want regime change, they want revolution.”
They are taking back the whole concept of revolution, robbing it of rhetoric, discourse and the language of the Iranian state, she said.
Khuri-Makdisi was one of three panelists in a sold-out discussion last Wednesday evening at the Cabral Center of the John D. O’Bryant African American Institute on Northeastern’s Boston campus. Two other experts on the panel were Valentine Moghadam, professor of sociology and international affairs, and Gordana Labrenovic, associate professor of sociology and director of the Bradnik Center on Violence and Conflict. . Dean Professor of Political Science, International Affairs and Diplomacy and Director of the Center for International Affairs and World Cultures Maia Cross moderated the conversation.
“This nationwide series of protests has been dubbed the Women-Led Revolution,” Moghadam said. “And this is unprecedented, not just in Iran, but across the region and around the world.”
The timing of the discussion coincided with the 40th day after Martha Amini’s death, which is believed in Islamic and Iranian mourning traditions to be the day the deceased’s soul departs.
Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman detained in Tehran on September 13 for violating Iran’s hijab (headscarf) regulations, died in hospital on September 16 after falling unconscious while in police custody. she is in a coma. Iranian women, enraged by her Amini’s death, took it to the streets.
Moghadam said the woman had previously participated in protests in Iran. They came out to fight her 1979 mandated hijab. This idea was first introduced in the newly formed Islamic Republic of Iran. Young middle-class women were a big part of the 2009 Green Movement.
According to Moghadam, women still burn their scarves and cut their hair today, a sign of both Amini’s mourning and anger.
“Today’s protests are actually the result of years, if not decades, of dissatisfaction with the regime by various structures of Iranian society,” Moghadam said.
Since the protests began on September 17, protests have spread across the country, across social classes, religious groups and genders, despite a violent government crackdown.
“The very fact that there was so much solidarity with this one young woman, a Sunni, says a lot about the political maturity of Iranian society. But it also shows the depth and degree of dissatisfaction with the Islamic regime. We are,” Moghadam said.
Khuri-Makdisi suggested that Iranian women took the lead as they realized they could be themselves rather than Amini or her sisters. Generation Z is also playing a big role in the protests, she said.
Protests always change society, regardless of whether protesters can overthrow the Iranian regime, Kli Makdisi said. It raised the issue of social inequality and confirmed that it helped develop and disseminate its vocabulary.
When protests start as grassroots uprisings, like in Iran, they usually don’t have a plan, Lavrenovic said. As the protests develop further, the participants become more politically conscious and they learn to be leaders. As a result, protesters develop a common identity and consciousness, Rabrenovic said.
“What we’re seeing here is people aren’t dispersing,” she said. “It takes tremendous courage to stay involved under the threat of being killed.”
If the Iranian government had arrested and prosecuted those involved in Amini’s death, Moghadam said the situation might not have been as widespread. But that scenario is now largely irrelevant, she said. The regime didn’t do that, losing the chance to enact reforms and re-justify itself.
More crackdowns and tougher crackdowns are likely to follow the protests, she said.
“It’s very unfortunate, but not unprecedented,” Moghadam said.
In another possible scenario, the Iranian military could intervene, she said. She said she could go against the clergy by saying she doesn’t care about the hijab.
Audiences were skeptical of this scenario. Because in Iran he has three armed forces, two of which are his Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (Sepah) and his Basij Resistance Force, loyal to the regime.
“There are two things needed for a successful revolution,” Moghadam said.
The other is a crack in the system, with the defection of some of the ruling class or elite. [cracks] “Not yet,” she said.
Statements have been made by former government officials, politicians and actors, but there are no cracks in the system itself, she said.
At the same time, Moghadam said the current protests lack thorough organization and leadership.
Protesters need to solidify a common plan and determine a common understanding of the future they are building, Lavrenovic said.
“Things don’t look good,” she said. “But we have hope that something will happen. Change is possible and will happen.”
Khuri-Makdisi said he doesn’t think the movement’s lack of a leader is a bad thing.
“All other leaders are actually being persecuted, kicked out or imprisoned, which is why we have no leaders,” she said. “If things are going to settle down, it will take longer for things to settle down.”
Panelists took a negative stance on the US and EU sanctions imposed on Iran.
“I agree that sanctions are not working and are not working,” said Kri Makdisi. “They only add to people’s misery.”
“Sanctions are a bully’s game,” Moghadam said. “The US will impose sanctions because it can.”
US sanctions against Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and North Korea have proven ineffective, she said. She accuses the Islamic regime of using sanctions to justify repression and Western countries to provoke and encourage protests.
Panelists agreed that foreign intervention was not a good idea, given its unpopularity among Iranians and the rather poor results in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. We give hope to people at home and abroad.
People outside the country can also disseminate information and help explain the situation in Iran, but Western academia and educational institutions can help by getting people at risk out of the country.
Moghadam said another example of useful help from the outside world is the hacking that anonymous groups are conducting to help Iranians bypass the government.
Moghadam said the ultimate scenario that could emerge from the protests in Iran would be a second Iranian revolution that would result in “a liberal and social-democratic Iran that really serves as a regional model”. .
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