Why Iran’s Revolution Is Different This Time

Iran has been shaken by a seismic social tremor as thousands of protesters, mainly women, have taken to the streets following the death of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old died in police custody in Tehran on Sept. 16 after she was arrested for wearing her hijab incorrectly. Police say she died of a heart attack, but women who were detained with her say Amini was brutally beaten.

The ongoing protests started after Amini’s funeral in her hometown in the Kurdistan province of Saqqez, but expanded to dozens of Iranian cities — and beyond, to demonstrations in Europe, Canada, and the United States. In Iran, female protesters burned their headscarves in public, cut their hair and chanted Amini’s name as a symbol of rejecting mandatory hijabs and the Islamic Republic’s repression of women. The demands of the protesters have expanded from calling to free women’s bodies from the government’s control to loudly calling for the Iranian regime to step down.

In the city of Cologne in western Germany, thousands rallied against the killing of Amini. Among them was Roxana Chegini, 60, who fled Iran more than 40 years ago to Europe looking for a safe place for herself and her daughter. “As an Iranian woman, I see now the game is over, and I feel that the time for change has finally come,” Chegini told OZY in a phone interview.

She was a young woman in 1979 when the Islamic Republic of Iran was established and hijabs became mandatory. “I was a child star,” Chegini recalled. “I was performing and growing as a singer, before I was banned by the government. I had to leave everything behind and look for a new home where I can follow my dreams.”

Chegini’s father was a freedom fighter against the Islamic Revolution, and was executed after the establishment of the Islamic Republic. She then moved to Denmark and sought asylum. But after Amini’s killing, Chegini decided to dedicate her time and social media platforms to support women in Iran. “It is very important for me to be a part of this, to bring the voice of oppressed women to the world.”

It is very important for me to be a part of this, to bring the voice of oppressed women to the world.

Iranian security forces responded to the demonstrations with violence. Oslo-based Iran Human Rights reported that more than 200 protesters have been killed so far, including at least 23 children. Amnesty International said it has obtained leaked documents “which revealed the authorities’ plan to systematically crush the protests at any cost.” Iranian officials also shut down internet access in large areas of the country, and access to social media platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp was limited in an attempt to thwart the social movement.

But users around the world continue to post under the hashtag #MahsaAmini. The movement has snowballed to include many women, including celebrities, posting videos of themselves cutting their hair in solidarity. Footage of Iranian women standing unveiled in front of security personnel has gone viral. And the U.S. responded to Tehran’s internet shutdown by promising to ease it and “help make sure the Iranian people are not kept isolated and in the dark.”

These anti-government demonstrations are the largest show of opposition since November 2019, when more than 1,400 Iranians were killed in bloody protests after the regime increased fuel prices by up to 200%. The official response then looked much the same: a barrage of violence from security forces, restrictions on social media and news sites and a complete internet blackout. After several days of brutal crackdowns, then-President Hassan Rouhani announced victory against the “enemy.” No real changes in Iranians’ lives were seen, and the rage and frustration simmering since 2019 may be helping to fuel today’s protests.

German-Iranian entrepreneur Emitis Pohl, who had to leave Iran unaccompanied when she was only 13, is amazed by what’s happening in her home country. “It was always clear to me that one day there would be a women’s revolution in Iran, and that women would rise up against the injustices they face on a daily basis.” Pohl, who currently lives in Germany, said it’s unacceptable that in the 21st century there are still institutions that terrorize women and control their bodies.

While the protesters began by chanting against the morality police who detained Amini, they soon set their sights higher, calling for “death to the dictator” — meaning Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — and demanding the whole Iranian regime step down. The government, they argue, is responsible for all of the socioeconomic challenges the Iranian people face, such as poverty and unemployment.

Pohl said she finds that argument very logical because those issues have been bottling up for decades, and now they are now rising to the surface in a way that’s impossible for those in power to ignore. “When something unjustifiable like this happens, it triggers a rage inside of people. People will of course take this opportunity to protest against all the other injustices that they have been facing all their lives.”

When something unjustifiable like this happens, it triggers a rage inside of people. People will of course take this opportunity to protest against all the other injustices that they have been facing all their lives.

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