Iranians protest the regime

[welch]

I have not seen sustained coverage of the Iranian protests that began when Iranian "morality police" arrested and killed a woman. (I read the Washington Post, the New York Times, and the UK Guardian regularly). Just noticed that ISW, the reliable daily update of the war in Ukraine, carries a daily update of Iran. Seems to be researched by a group at the American Enterprise Institute, and carried by ISW.

Does anyone have other sources? What do they report?

Here is today: https://www.understandingwar.org/bac...ate-october-17

A sample from ISW:

Anti-regime protests occurred in at least 10 cities in 9 provinces on October 17. CTP assesses with moderate or high confidence that protests occurred in the following locations:

• Ardabil, Ardabil Province (At least 50 medical students protesting at a hospital; plainclothed regime forces beat and arrested protesters)[14]
• Bushehr, Bushehr Province (Dozens of Bushehr Persian Gulf University students chanting “students, workers, unity, strikes”)[15]
• Shahr-e Kord, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province (100-200 Islamic Azad University students chanting “freedom, freedom”)[16]
• Najafabad, Esfahan Province (100-200 Azad University of Najafabad students chanting “tank cannon explodes, mullahs must get lost”)[17]
• Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan Province (Several hundred protesters in Bandar Abbas streets)[18]
• Sanandaj, Kurdistan Province (100-200 high school students protesting in Sanandaj streets; undetermined number of protesters lighting fires in Sanandaj streets)[19]
• Babol, Mazandaran Province (Several hundred University of Mazandaran students protesting on campus)[20]
• Tehran, Tehran Province (Students protesting from Tehran Medical Sciences University and Shahid Beheshti University; Dozens of protesters in Tehran streets and near Evin prison)[21]

CTP assesses with low confidence that protests occurred in the following locations:

• Tabriz, East Azerbaijan Province (Undetermined number of high school students protesting inside a school)[22]
• Esfahan, Esfahan Province (Undetermined number of college students protesting possibly on campus; protesters burning down Fuladshahr seminary with Molotov cocktails)[23]
• NB: CTP has started to offer brief characterizations of major protest activities, including chants when audible and noteworthy, rough estimates of crowd size based on available videos, regime security force posture and activities, and other significant events. Actual crowd sizes may be larger, even considerably larger, depending on how much video evidence emerges and whether videos cover all protest activities in a given location or only some.

[dneal]

Good topic.

For sources - bearing in mind that everything is suspect (same with Ukraine/Russia). There are way too many geo-political variables for competing interests, and they sway their reporting as it benefits their side. An obvious example is the current round of nuclear deals. The left will want to support the current admin, and the right will want to undermine; which influences mainstream reporting.

Twitter is good, but it takes a lot of curation. ISW links at the bottom lead you to sources to follow (or unfollow, as needed), and articles from various sources. I've been keeping an eye on France 24 (English) and Deutsche Welle (example reports from their YouTube channels). Here's the link to DW's 'Iran Protests' topic. France 24 doesn't have a dedicated 'Iran' topic, but you can read their reporting in their 'Middle East' section.

It seems that the mainstream media is focused on "the regime is about to collapse", "the regime's brutal crackdowns", and other narratives. They appear to me to be at a tipping point, but the situation has to develop. It's too early for anyone to predict.

[Chip]

The Guardian provides good coverage of Iran and international events in general. I link to their articles frequently, because I don't think they have a paywall.

Iranian schoolgirl ‘beaten to death for refusing to sing’ pro-regime anthem

Fresh protests ignited around Iran by 16-year-old Asra Panahi’s death after schoolgirls assaulted in raid on high school in Ardabil

Deepa Parent and Annie Kelly
Tue 18 Oct 2022

Another schoolgirl has reportedly been killed by the Iranian security services after she was beaten in her classroom for refusing to sing a pro-regime song when her school was raided last week, sparking further protests across the country this weekend.



According to the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations, 16-year-old Asra Panahi died after security forces raided the Shahed girls high school in Ardabil on 13 October and demanded a group of girls sing an anthem that praises Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

When they refused, security forces beat the pupils, leading to a number of girls being taken to hospital and others arrested. On Friday, Panahi reportedly died in hospital of injuries sustained at the school. Iranian officials denied that its security forces were responsible and, after her death sparked outrage across the country, a man identified as her uncle appeared on state TV channels claiming she had died from a congenital heart condition.

Schoolgirls have emerged as a powerful force after videos went viral of classrooms of pupils waving their hijabs in the air, taking down pictures of Iran’s supreme leaders and shouting anti-regime slogans in support of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman who died after being detained by Iran’s morality police for not wearing her hijab correctly in August.

The Iranian authorities responded by launching a series of raids on schools across the country last week, with reports of officers forcing their way into classrooms, violently arresting schoolgirls and pushing them into waiting cars, and firing teargas into school buildings.

In a statement posted on Sunday, Iran’s teachers’ union condemned the “brutal and inhumane” raids and called for the resignation of the education minister, Yousef Nouri.
An Iranian student after daubing a map of Iran on a wall with handprints, allegedly at a sit-in protest at the Art University of Isfahan over the weekend.
An Iranian student after daubing a map of Iran on a wall with handprints, allegedly at a sit-in protest at the Art University of Isfahan over the weekend. Photograph: UGC/AFP/Getty Images

News of Panahi’s death has further mobilised schoolgirls across the country to organise and join protests over the weekend.

Among them was 16-year-old Naznin*, whose parents had kept her at home for fear that she would be arrested for protesting at her school.

“I haven’t been allowed to go to the school because my parents fear for my life. But what has it changed? The regime continues to kill and arrest schoolgirls,” says Naznin. “What good am I if I simply sit outraged at home? Myself and fellow students across Iran have decided to stand in protest on the streets this week. I’ll do it even if I have to now hide it from my parents.”

19-year-old Nergis* also joined the protests, and was hit by rubber bullets in her back and legs. She says Panahi’s death has motivated her and her friends to continue to protest, despite the danger. She says what happened to Panahi – as well as the deaths of two other schoolgirls, 17-year-old Nika Shahkarami and 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh, both at the hands of the Iranian security forces – has united young people across Iran under a common cause. “I don’t have a single relative in Ardabil, but with this brutal crackdown on our sisters, who were just 16 years old, they’ve awakened the whole nation,” she says.

“We never knew we were so united – across the Baloch regions as well as the Kurdish regions. The world has heard about Nika, Sarina and Asra, but there are so many other nameless children who we know nothing about. It’s not just Asra’s death,” she says. “The Islamic Republic has been killing our people for 40 years, but our voices weren’t heard. Let the world know this is no longer a protest – we are calling for a revolution. Now that you’re all listening to our voices, we will not stop.”

According to the latest report by the Iran Human Rights group, 215 people, including 27 children, have been killed in the nationwide protests, as of 17 October.

*Names have been changed

https://www.theguardian.com/global-d...-regime-anthem

[Chip]

Memorable image. Wish it was literally true.

[welch]

This just in from the Guardian, UK: https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...d-around-world

Shopkeepers and factory workers reportedly went on strike in Iran on Saturday as women-led nationwide protests sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini entered a sixth week and solidarity rallies were held around the globe.

The death of 22-year-old Amini, after her arrest for allegedly breaching Iran’s strict dress code for women, has fuelled the biggest protests seen in the Islamic Republic for years.

Young women have led the charge, removing their headscarves, chanting anti-government slogans and confronting the security forces, despite a crackdown that human rights groups say has killed at least 122 people.

Incidentally, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards appear to be supplying bombing drones to Russia, drones that Russia has used in this recent terror-bombing campaign across Ukraine. Looks like Iran is the only ally Putin has. Curiously, none of the newspapers I read have noticed that the Iranian IRGC providing the drones is the same IRGC shooting down protesters in Iran. Almost as if there are two different universes.

[TSherbs]

.... Curiously, none of the newspapers I read have noticed that the Iranian IRGC providing the drones is the same IRGC shooting down protesters in Iran. Almost as if there are two different universes.

But this strikes me as equivalent work: support of tyranny. I don't understand your "different universes" comment.

[Chip]

Given the success Israel has had in striking Iranian targets, I wonder why they don't go after the drone plants?

Too great a provocation to Mad Vlad?

[dneal]

https://www.newsweek.com/iran-votes-...lesson-1757931

Iran parliament votes to execute 15,000 protesters in custody.

[TSherbs]

https://www.newsweek.com/iran-votes-...lesson-1757931

Iran parliament votes to execute 15,000 protesters in custody.

This is horrible.

[dneal]

https://www.newsweek.com/iran-votes-...lesson-1757931

Iran parliament votes to execute 15,000 protesters in custody.

This is horrible.

Indeed. The vote isn't surprising, since one of the requirements to being elected to the Majlis is agreement with the fundamentalists.

Were they to actually go through with this, it would likely (finally) trigger a revolution.

[TSherbs]

https://www.newsweek.com/iran-votes-...lesson-1757931

Iran parliament votes to execute 15,000 protesters in custody.

This is horrible.

Indeed. The vote isn't surprising, since one of the requirements to being elected to the Majlis is agreement with the fundamentalists.

Were they to actually go through with this, it would likely (finally) trigger a revolution.

I can't imagine. I want to believe that it is some sort of bluff or ploy.

But then I thought that Griner would not be sent to a work camp....

[kazoolaw]

But then I thought that Griner would not be sent to a work camp....

I admire the optimism, but was more of a realist.
I didn't see any effective advocacy on her behalf, nor anything to suggest that Russia would voluntarily give her up. Oddly enough, have recently picked up and re-read parts of The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Still fresh, still relevant.

[Chuck Naill]

Bless her heart. What was she thinking, or did she need the money?

[TSherbs]

But then I thought that Griner would not be sent to a work camp....

I admire the optimism, but was more of a realist.
I didn't see any effective advocacy on her behalf, nor anything to suggest that Russia would voluntarily give her up. Oddly enough, have recently picked up and re-read parts of The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Still fresh, still relevant.

yeah, the other voice in my head said that she will stay as long as we keep sending military hardware to the Ukrainians. Putin has no reason at this point to let her go (unless, of course, I am unaware of more serious pressure going on in the background).

[TSherbs]

But 15,000 protestors to be executed? Can that be for real??? Or is this just a political recommendation to provide some cover for the legislators and deter future protests, and then can be reversed later to look magnanimous?

[dneal]

But 15,000 protestors to be executed? Can that be for real??? Or is this just a political recommendation to provide some cover for the legislators and deter future protests, and then can be reversed later to look magnanimous?

Probably all (or any) of the above - options depending on political climate. Revolutionaries tend to remember how they seized power.

[kazoolaw]

Did anyone in the West think Daniel Pearl would be decapitated? Or 81 people would be beheaded in Saudi Arabia in March of this year?
15,000 is a huge number. A large part of this is religious in nature, which some folks take more seriously than Americans are used to.

[TSherbs]

Did anyone in the West think Daniel Pearl would be decapitated?

Yes (me)

Or 81 people would be beheaded in Saudi Arabia in March of this year?

No! (not me)

15,000 is a huge number. A large part of this is religious in nature, which some folks take more seriously than Americans are used to.

Well, sure. But the level of "seriousness" does not really capture the interplay of the righteous justification of mass murder and the evolution of the notion of "justice" over the centuries. What I mean is that a religious believer can be very, very devout and "serious" without carrying out all of the homicidal or torturous actions that their religious texts condone.

[Chuck Naill]

Did anyone in the West think Daniel Pearl would be decapitated? Or 81 people would be beheaded in Saudi Arabia in March of this year?
15,000 is a huge number. A large part of this is religious in nature, which some folks take more seriously than Americans are used to.

I wasn't surprised, but Jared Kushner was not one of them. When you have elected official's relatives making money with this sort, it is time to say no, but many Americans don't, or don't think it matters.

[kazoolaw]

Yes (me)

Or 81 people would be beheaded in Saudi Arabia in March of this year?

No! (not me)

15,000 is a huge number. A large part of this is religious in nature, which some folks take more seriously than Americans are used to.
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Well, sure. But the level of "seriousness" does not really capture the interplay of the righteous justification of mass murder and the evolution of the notion of "justice" over the centuries. What I mean is that a religious believer can be very, very devout and "serious" without carrying out all of the homicidal or torturous actions that their religious texts condone.

Not surprisingly, we disagree. I suspect it's over how we read "serious."
Blasphemy is punishable by death in Islam. A Muslim serious about the faith would neither think that to be homicidal nor torturous.
We can ponder why many more people make fun of the Bible than the Koran.