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Iranians Continue to Resist the Islamic Republic of Iran
For over a month, the Iranian people have protested against the Islamic Republic of Iran, even as many of these protesters are killed, jailed, and tortured for doing so. But Iranian willingness to defy authority doesn’t seem to be letting up.
Several weeks ago, an Iranian female rock climber participated in a rock climbing competition in South Korea without being covered according to the government’s requirements. She was detained once she arrived back in Iran.
Yesterday, an Iranian woman ran the Istanbul marathon without her head covering.
Iranian skater Niloufar Mardani competed at Istanbul Marathon without a headscarf, defying the Islamic Republic's hijab restrictions.
Iran's Sports Ministry immediately announced she's no longer a member of national team, hadn't obtained a permission and was on a personal trip. pic.twitter.com/9RoQb8vxSO— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) November 8, 2022
Can the Iranian people topple the Islamic Republic, a dictatorship that has lasted 43 years? Many Iranians who now live in Canada, the United States, and Europe believe that these protests are different, more widespread, and that the regime is doomed. Other Iranians living abroad believe that Iran is headed to a civil war similar to the one happening in Syria.
I have a rooting interest in the people of Iran transforming their country from one that funds terrorism around the world to a free and democratic society. I will be watching events in Iran for as long as the people of Iran protest against their brutal government.
Published in Foreign Policy
Your choice of descriptive term is interesting to me. I’ve seen this many times before, but I used to be a neocon, so I didn’t notice.
When there’s some sort of demonstration against a regime that one doesn’t like, it’s “the people” doing it. In this case, “the Iranian people.”
Now I doubt that every single Iranian is demonstrating. It’s probably a pretty small minority actively protesting, and it’s hard for me to gauge public opinion in another country. For that matter, it’s hard for me to gauge public opinion in my own country.
I contrast this rhetoric about “the people” with the terms used to describe anti-government movements that we haven’t liked, which are often called something like “insurgents” or sometimes something like “reactionaries.” I’ve seen that sort of rhetoric — not necessarily from you, HW — describing anti-government movements of Communists (Nicaragua and Venezuela come to mind), Islamists (Afghanistan and ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt), and others (like the separatists in the Donbas region of Ukraine).
I have no idea what the majority of the people in Iran actually want. I don’t see any reason for me to take a side.
I have seen where sexual permissiveness has led, in our country. It’s been a slippery slope, quite literally to the point at which public policy does not distinguish between male and female. Males are in the girls’ locker room, and are competing with girls in sport, and drag queens are teaching children, and it’s the drag queens who are protected by law.
There has never, ever been a protest that involved every single person in a country. In all the revolutions that have ever happened I’m sure that fewer than fifty percent of the population were actively participating in the revolution.
I don’t know what percentage of Iranians support the demonstrators, but just because someone isn’t out demonstrating themselves, it doesn’t mean they aren’t with them in spirit. How many people are demonstrating in favor of the regime?
I’m sure they’re many demonstrating in favor of the regime but how many are doing it voluntarily?
I should have also added that it tends to dissuade people from demonstrating when the police sometimes shoot people for peacefully demonstrating.
Is there any situation, is there any conflict, in which you see a reason to take a side?
From my perspective, it’s pretty easy for me to take the side of those Iranians (admittedly not 100 percent of the people in Iran) who are chanting “Down with the dictator!” and “Women! Life! Freedom!”
But I am someone who cheered President Ronald Reagan when he said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall!”
When people live in a captive nation, such as those who lived under communist dictatorship in Eastern Europe and those who currently live under Islamic dictatorship in Iran, I applaud when those people risk torture, prison and possibly death to protest against the dictatorship.
Apparently, you don’t have the same attitude towards people who are living under dictatorship but are willing to risk almost everything to topple the dictatorship.
If that’s the case, I will not be able to persuade you to care about the Iranians living under Islamism and I probably would not have been able to persuade you to care about the Eastern Europeans living under communism.
I agree with you that our public policy ought to distinguish between male and female and that males should not be allowed in a girl’s or women’s locker room or restroom simply based on their self-identification as a girl or a woman.
But I think my view that men should not be allowed in women’s spaces is entirely compatible with my support for the people of Iran to topple the Iranian dictatorship that has oppressed the Iranians for about 43 years.
As I see it, you bringing up a issue like transgenderism and sexual permissiveness in a discussion regarding the protests in Iran is a bit like someone bringing up the issue of whether the minimum wage in the United States of America should be 15 dollars an hour or not.
It’s completely beside the point. I don’t really understand why you brought it up.
This is such an easy protest to support. I don’t know why anybody would see no reason to take a side, except for pure apathy or spite.
The President’s Inbox podcast
The latest episode: Protests in Iran with Suzanne Maloney.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/protests-in-iran-with-suzanne-maloney/id1172546141?i=1000585560038
I’m with the women who don’t want to wear a Hefty bag to go outside without fear of being whipped with sticks by agents of the state, but your mileage may vary.
“Can I show my hair in public?”
“Nnnooo, sorry, that leads to drag queens. Get in the car. Western-corrupted harlots like you need some correction at the State-sanctioned Rape Station.”
I have no gut feeling as to whether these protests will last but the Islamist seems to be willing to do anything to stay. The lesson from the break up of the Communist regimes, as taken by Red China, Syria, etc, is to do anything, including almost destroying the country, to keep it yours. As an aside, my favorite word used by the old Soviet powers to describe protesters was hooligans. There was something about that particular word that struck me as funny/weird/?? Trying to downplay the seriousness of the protest I guess. Sorry for the run on sentences. 😁
Heard her interviewed by M Hoover on the new Firing Line. One of the better interviews.