There are so many protests that opponents of the government are now divided over their goals. Some want reforms, some are demonstrating to change the regime, and others are demanding more basic things, such as water and personal and economic security. We, from the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement, believe that in order to bring about reforms and change personal security, the regime must first be replaced.
There is a massive awakening within Iranian civil society. There is no longer fear. After the war with Israel, which showed the public how the regime abandoned us, more and more people have joined the protest, some actively and others through quiet support. Our message in recent months has been that to overcome despair and hopelessness, we must live lives filled with hope rather than despair. To travel, go to concerts, go to the sea and smile.
Women understand that this is the regime’s method of suppressing them, poisoning them with negative emotional experiences, including the oppression of women and femininity. More and more women are going out without a veil or hair covering. They have reached the conclusion that in the situation the authorities have pushed them into, there is nothing left to fear.
For me, this is an important stage. Overcoming fear and emerging from melancholy. When we become a massive number of people, we will be able to talk about how to replace the regime, what future we want and what change will look like. There are things that we, the protesters, clearly agree on. This will be a society that reaches out to the West.
For us, the older generation, the details matter less right now, including how exactly the revolution will unfold. We are mainly happy to see more and more people joining. These are no longer protests by regime opponents from major cities who can easily be portrayed as detached from the rest of society. Instead, there is growing participation by young people from smaller cities, from traditional and conservative villages, many of whom are going against their families and their parents’ generation.
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The tougher laws may be approved, but it is not worth the unrest in the streets for them
(Photo: KHhamenei.IR / AFP, West Asia News Agency)/Handout via Reuters)
What we need most for the revolution is courage, and those joining us now are very brave. Among them are social workers and government employees. There is enormous anger in the streets, a feeling that everything is about to explode.
If in the past rebelling against the regime and its laws meant going out without a hijab, today there are gatherings almost every night of dozens and even hundreds of women without hijabs, coming to listen to spontaneous street performances of Western music. They dance together with men. Sometimes morality patrols arrive, beat people or make arrests, but the numbers in the streets are already too large for them to stop the phenomenon.
The regime understands that every arrest, every woman who is beaten, sends 10 more women into the streets. There are videos of women dancing without hijabs and mixed crowds listening to bands playing songs by The White Stripes, but these are not isolated clips. This is happening almost every evening.
In recent months, the regime has significantly intensified the activity of its forces and the agency enforcing so-called internet crimes. They understand that this is where everything begins. But as I said, anger can no longer be stopped by shutting down an Instagram account. For every account they close, 10 new videos appear of women dancing in the streets, their hair loose, or women riding scooters.
You could see this clearly at the marathon held last weekend. Iranian women were visibly running without hijabs. Before 2022, authorities would have shut down the race, arrested all the women who ran without hijabs and imposed severe penalties on the organizers. This time, two organizers were detained.
There are many senior figures in the regime who want to tighten laws related to women and dress codes and impose heavy punishments to deter others. But lawmakers and the president are not even bringing these measures to a vote. They know the law might pass, but it would not be worth the unrest it would ignite in the streets. They are trapped.