As 2021 comes to a close, a quick look at protests in Iran in the past year shows a restive society that is on the brink of explosion:
February 2021: The killing of fuel porters in Sistan and Baluchestan province triggered intense protests that continued for weeks, despite severe repressive measures by the regime and a province-wide internet blackout.
July 2021: The regime responds violently to protests over power outages in Khuzestan province. Security forces open fire and kill dozens of civilians who have come to the streets for their basic needs in the hot summer weather. Despite the heavy repression, protests continue for two weeks and expand to other provinces.
November 2021: Protests over water shortages and bad government policies take shape in Isfahan and continue for several weeks and gradually spread to the neighboring Charmahal and Bakhtiari province. While the protests began by farmers, thousands of people from all walks of life join the demonstrations. Eventually, the regime responds by dispatching security forces, burning the protesters’ tents and opening fire on the protesters to stop their growing movement. The people of Isfahan resist the regime’s repressive forces and continue their protests for several more days.
December 2021: Iranian teachers hold their biggest nationwide protest, holding demonstrations and strikes in more than 100 cities across Iran. After months of calling on the regime to pass laws that address their most basic needs, the teachers came back to the streets in response to a bill that glosses over their needs and only approves a fraction of the budget needed for their needs. The strike, which lasted three days, created fear among regime officials, who tried to threaten them. In some cities, thousands of teachers joined the rally. The regime’s anti-riot forces failed to disperse the protesters.
This is just a glimpse of what is happening in Iran. Every day, smaller protest movements by workers, retired government employees, defrauded creditors, and other segments of society are happening in dozens of cities.
In the past year, the regime has tried all sorts of tactics to control the restive society. From providing temporary and half-baked solutions, to associating protesters with foreign enemies, to trying to turn protesters against each other, to using security forces, violence, arrest and incarceration, the regime has gone every extra mile to prevent the escalation of protests. But in every case, it has been met with the resistance of protesters, and in many cases, protests that were triggered by economic woes turned into anti-regime demonstrations calling for the overthrow of the regime.
The true solution to prevent further protests is to address the true needs of the people, which is to fix the economy, create jobs, improve national production, address infrastructural problems, and improve the quality of life. But as the regime has proven in the past decades, it neither has the will nor the intention to address these demands.
Fixing the economy, creating jobs and production will come at the cost of toning down the regime’s expensive terrorist projects in the region, shutting down its ballistic and nuclear weapons projects, slashing its immense spending on the Revolutionary Guards, and stopping corrupt economic policies that only fill the pockets of regime officials and elites.
For a regime that has built its rule on crime and corruption, going down this path will only result in its own unraveling. This is why the ruling mullahs are only doubling down on crimes and violence instead of addressing the basic demands of the Iranian people.
In tandem with growing protests, the regime has ratcheted up its repressive measures, including the execution of political prisoner Heidar Ghorbani and dozens of other executions in the past month. At the same time, the regime is resorting to widespread arrests of activists and protesters and is increasing pressure on political prisoners.
But the regime’s repressive apparatus is fast losing its power as the Iranian people, fed up with decades of tyranny and corruption, know that the only way to reclaim their rights is to take matters into their hands and continue their protests.
