‘They have nothing to lose’: Why young Iranians are rising up once again
The 22-year-old woman emerged from the tehran subway her dark hair covered with a black headscarf and the lines of her body obscured by loose clothing when the capital city’s guidance patrol spotted her they were members of iran’s notorious morality police enforcers of the conservative islamic dress and behavior rules that have governed daily life for iranians since
The 1979 revolution and newly energized under a hard-line president who took office last year by their standards masa amini was improperly dressed which could mean something as simple as a wisp of hair protruding from her headscarf they put her in a van and drove her away to a detention center where she was to undergo re-education three days later on september 16
She was dead ibrahim rysi president of the islamic republic of iran sits under a portrait of ayatollah ali khamenei during a news conference in tehran has seen the most significant outpouring of anger with iran’s ruling system in more than a decade arash kamushi the new york times now over eight days of rage exhilaration and street battles the most significant
Outpouring of anger with the ruling system in more than a decade her name is everywhere in several of the videos of the uprising that have torn across social media women rip off their headscarves and burn them in street bonfires including in deeply religious cities such as come and mashad in one a young woman atop a utility cabinet cuts off her hair in front of
A crowd of roaring demonstrators in another young women dare to dance bareheaded in front of the riot police death to the dictator protesters at tehran university chanted on saturday death to the headscarf until when must we tolerate such humiliation previous protests over fraudulent elections in 2009 economic mismanagement in 2017 and fuel price hikes in 2019
Have been ruthlessly suppressed by iran’s security forces and this time may be no different yet for the first time since the founding of the iranian republic the current uprising has united rich iranians descending from high-rise apartments in northern tehran with struggling bizarre vendors in its working class south and kurds turks and other ethnic minorities
With members of the faaz m people light a fire during a protest over the death of masa amanin tehran because they have nothing to lose she added they are standing up and saying enough of this i am willing to die to have a life worth living information about the protests remains partial at best internet access continues to be disrupted or fully blocked especially
On widely used messaging apps such as whatsapp and instagram making it difficult for iranians to communicate with each other or to share updates on the unrest with the outside world but witnesses say the demonstrations which spread to at least 80 cities on saturday are the most forceful vitriolic and emboldened they can remember far more intense than the previous
Tremors of unrest desperate to damage the powers that be before the inevitable crackdown video circulating on social media and shared with the new york times show protesters have set fire to security vehicles and assaulted members of iran’s widely feared paramilitary forces in some cases killing them demonstrations which spread to at least 80 cities on saturday are
The most forceful vitriolic and emboldened they can remember far more intense than the previous tremors of unrest dozens of people have died the committee to protect journalists said on saturday that at least 17 journalists had been detained including one of the first to report on amini’s hospitalization and arrests of activists are also mounting with iran’s economy
At a nadir and common a in ill health the government is likely to dig in rather than show any signs of weakness analysts said but violence will only buy time they say not long-term peace the regime’s top leaders have always said we’re not going to make concessions because if we make one small concession we’ll have to make bigger concessions said muhammad ali katavar
An iranian-born sociologist at boston college who studies protest movements in iran and elsewhere maybe they’ll push people off the street but because people want change repression is not going to stop this in the process they degraded what had once been a forum for iranians to debate political issues and choose their representatives even if the candidates were
Always pre-selected from within the ruling apparatus his election combined with the worsening economy left iranians who craved better opportunities more social freedoms and closer ties with the rest of the world in despair the reason the younger generation is taking this kind of risk is because they feel they have nothing to lose they have no hope for the future
Said ali vaz iran director for the international crisis group noting that protests are now a regular feature in iran i think people would be willing to tolerate a milder version of the islamic republic but they’ve just entrenched their positions and have created this situation it’s turned iran into a tinderbox the headscarf known as the hijab is an especially
Inflammatory issue the law requiring women to wear loose robes and cover their hair in public has been a pillar of the ruling theocracy and a lightning rod for reform-minded iranians for decades drawing one of that led to young women showing more hair even in devoutly conservative cities such as and women were allowed to mingle in public in some places while
Contemporary western music thumped in western-style cafes in upscale northern tehran but the country’s conservative leadership saw the slippage in standards as a threat to the republic’s theocratic foundations over the summer iran’s morality police which patrols public areas for infringements of islamic rules stepped up enforcement of hijab standards and three
Coffee shops in central comb were closed down for having bare-headed customers in a video that was widely shared on iranian social media in july a mother threw herself in front of a van taking away her daughter for violating hijab rules and screamed my daughter is sick i beg you not to take her the backlash to amini’s death has been so strong that religiously
Conservati on social media women who wear the hijab by choice have started solidarity campaigns questioning the harsh enforcement of the laws and a prominent religious leader has said the morality police were only driving young women away from religion the authorities have denied using violence on omni they claim that she suffered from an underlying health
Condition which her family has disputed and that she had a heart attack in custody in 2009 millions of urban educated iranians flooded the streets of cities across the country furious at what they believed was election rigging by their leaders to guarantee a hardline president and thwart reforms as 2017 turned to 2018 protesters in dozens of cities demonstrated
Against high inflation and a weak economy again they were met with force at some stage i think it’ll become impossible for them to control these movements vaz said of the ruling authorities but as of now the system is bound to bring down its iron fist and try to nip this movement in the bud quote thanks for watching please like share comment and subscribe my news channel
Transcribed from video
‘They have nothing to lose’: Why young Iranians are rising up once again By 24×7 Breaking News
