The Making of an Iranian Revolution

ALBAWABA - Whether we like it or not, it can be said Iran is witnessing a revolution that is far deadlier than the mass protests witnessed in 2009 and 2019. Today, it can be said the whole political structure - the ruling Islamic regime - is facing a watershed turnaround and potential collapse and this is to the delight of many both inside and outside the country. 

To use the term "intifada" - popular, springboard protests - would not be an understatement because of the level of geographical spread throughout Iran. Today, there is a popular uprising in the country's 31 provinces, and in more than 80 large cities, small cities, in towns and different conurbations. Iran suddenly founds itself on a powder keg that is socially exploding in the faces of the different authorities, the politicians, government officials, the police and the army.

The latter are doing their level best through arrests, shooting and gas canisters but to no avail in front of the deluge of demonstrators which many say has not happened since the 1979 revolution when the Shah was finally brought the Shah down. Protests keep coming despite the number of dead that rises on daily basis. The numbers at 6, 17, 45 and more don't meaning anything because of the boiling street.

Pro-regime officers and pro-government para-military groups are also being killed in street clashes with ordinary people, men, women, youths and students who are determined to tackle the state and its security apparatuses with their bare hands.

The government is keeping a stiffer upper lip. Officials right from the top of the political apex as represented by President Ebrahim Raisi right down to government ministers are warning protesters who temper with the "security and stability" of the country will be severely punished through extreme measures.  They warn that they will not allow protestors to wreak chaos and havoc in the country. 

But the death of Mahsa Amini in a Tehran police station - and at the hands of "moral officers" as is being claimed  and its repercussions for the authorities was certainly unexpected and is having far-reaching consequences in terms of its popular intensity. There was great popular eruption not only from her Kurdistan region but from the outlaying rural areas - like Sanandaj, Zahedan, Isfahan, Tabriz, Ardebil, and in the religious cities of Qom and Mashhad, the spiritual centers of the Shiite faith, not name but a few. 

The nationwide popular streets have crossed a threshold. They seem to no longer care about the security apparatuses. They are going around ransacking and burning government buildings as reported by media and social media platforms despite the fact that the authorities have been trying to impose a blackout on the internet and news website social media platforms like twitter, whatsapp and instagram.

However, some news is still managing to get out through different apps being made available by people from outside the country. The screws are being turned on reporters and journalists with at least 11 being arrested so far but the numbers change very quickly.

In many ways also this is turning out to be another far wider social revolution since 16 September when news that Amini died in a police station and after being tortured although the authorities deny that. The social media widely show the protests around the country with video clips also showing women taking off their veils or the headscarf in protest at the morality police.

Amini had been arrested by the police for not wearing the scarf in the correct way. She was taken to the police for "moral guidance" but once inside the station she fainted never to recover. Its being claimed she was beaten on the head in the police van after she was picked up from the Tehran underground station having come with her family from the Kurdistan province in north-west Iran to see her relatives. She was walking to her death!

Many are angry about the fact that the strict enforcement of the Hijab become an issue under president Raisi who come to power in 2021. This wasn't the case under the previous moderate president Hassan Rouhani who it is said, instructed the moral police to take a less stricter view on the proper way of dress enforcement.

But no more. This has certainly got many people angry in Iran and in the world. There are video clips of women not only taking the hijab off and waving it but also cutting their hair on camera in defiance.  

This episode couldn't have come at a worse time  for Iran. Iranians are frustrated by the government over a continuing economic crisis and high unemployment with mass protests over the past year registered on the social media. This has made people extremely frustrated with the authorities who are not offering any practical solutions so far. They had been hoping America would revive the Iran nuclear deal and remove biting economic sanctions. But this has lead to nowhere thus far despite the fact that US president Joe Biden wants the USA to re-enter the 2015 deal which Donald Trump got America out of in 2018. 

Regardless, and it seems too late now for Iranians are so desperate they have taken to the streets to address their grievances and its not known where this latest wave of protests will continue and/or if it can be contained.