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Iran’s Protests Are No Longer About Women’s Rights

The death in custody of a 22-year-old woman, in Iran, following her arrest by the Islamic Republic’s Morality Police, sparked angry demonstrations, which spread throughout the country and turned violent. So what is happening in Iran, how can this be interpreted, and are the demonstrations still about Iranian human rights?

The death of Mahsa Amini shocked many ordinary Iranians on September 16, with widespread outrage instantly expressed at what had appeared to be a murder case. The 22 year old was arrested by Iran’s Morality Police for indecent dress, in other words, she was not wearing the correct covering over her hair. She was later reported dead, with Iranian opposition TV stations claiming that her death had come as the result of Iranian police assaulting her, whilst in custody.

This then sparked demonstrations in a number of cities inside Iran, during which at least two were said to have been killed. Video later emerged showing the alleged moment that Mahsa Amini suffered cardiac arrest. CCTV footage shows her collapsing with no intervention and no restraining of her movements in the moments leading up to her collapse. Released through Iranian State media, the footage reportedly shows the events surrounding her death, and showed her being transported into an ambulance.

Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, has vowed to launch an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Mahsa Amini’s death, whilst Tehran’s Interior Minister, Ahmad Vahidi, claimed that “Reports from oversight bodies were received, witnesses were interviewed, videos were reviewed, forensic opinions were obtained and it was found that there had been no beating”.

Initially, the demonstrations seemed to be isolated and it seemed as if small groups of people were involved, with the violence later escalating dramatically days later. Over a thousand demonstrators have been arrested by Iranian police so far, whilst 50 people have been killed, a number of them murdered by anti-government rioters. Pro-Iranian Government demonstrators have also taken to the streets across the country, in seemingly significantly larger numbers than the opposition.

What You Aren’t Being Told

Western corporate media, social media influencers, and government officials are now siding with the anti-government rioters and protesters. Mass media/social-media campaigns have catapulted this issue into the mainstream international dialogue, and the US Government has also decided to enact new sanctions to target the Iranian Morality Police. 

To begin with, the first element that the Western mainstream narrative completely leaves out, is the fact that Mahsa Amini is Kurdish. Not only this, but the initial demonstrations were also comprised primarily of Kurdish-Iranians. The Kurds are one of Iran’s various minority groups, which could have a large part to play in the initial targeting of Mahsa Amini, although this is not proven.

There is no proof that Mahsa Amini was physically abused, although it would be irresponsible to claim that there is no possibility that she was. It is possible the individual police officers who targeted the young woman, may have been motivated to do so by an anti-Kurdish sentiment, something that any investigation into the incident most certainly should delve into. The first protesters initially killed in clashes with Iranian police forces were also Kurdish.

Later on, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), would go on to launch artillery strikes into neighboring Iraq, at Iranian-Kurdish militant groups that it claims were attempting to infiltrate the Iranian border. Iran has also accused Kurdish militant groups and exiled inciters of influencing the protests, in order to turn them violent. The extent to which this is true is also something that has to be investigated, however, there does seem to be quite a lot of evidence to support these claims.

Terrorist organizations, such as the MEK/MKO, are also reportedly actively participating in the anti-government riots. As part of the demonstrations, rioters have set an Iranian police officer on fire, stabbed to death several others, opened fire against the Iranian police, and killed government supporters and at least one member of the pro-government Basij organization. In one case, violent rioters destroyed an ambulance that was evacuating injured police officers.

All of this is not to say that there are no longer genuine protesters, or that there are not real concerns inside Iran over the policy of employing morality police in order to ensure women are covering their hair. Instead, it is to give a balanced view of current events, that are not based upon biased narratives or oversaturated with emotional appeal.

Opposition to mandatory head-coverings is widespread in various regions within the Islamic Republic, with religious opposition also existing against the mandate too. Especially in the major cities however, there is a liberal pro-Western current which exists and Iran’s foreign adversaries often use this issue, amongst others, to advocate a violent overthrow of the current regime.

The threat of regime change is a very real prospect, openly admitted by Iranian opposition groups. Not only this, but the Iranian Government is faced with a constant threat of violence; such as sabotage attacks against vital infrastructure, assassinations of leading scientists, and security personnel, foreign spy rings, terrorist plots, and much more. These acts of aggression against the Iranian Government and its citizens are led by intelligence agencies such as the British MI6, the US’ CIA, and Israeli Mossad.

Iranian opposition groups and media claim to be advocating for the rights of women to dress freely, yet the opposition cult known as the MEK and TV channels like Iran International, take funds from the autocratic regime of Saudi Arabia. It is also evident that the US Government is not interested in women’s rights, for if they were, then the much more oppressive Saudi regime would be routinely sanctioned and face regime change threats over its arrests and executions of women’s rights activists.

In Iran, the US is constantly attempting to stir trouble and pounces on every opportunity to cause chaos. The US Government funded ‘National Endowment for Democracy’ (NED), a CIA cutout since the 1980’s, attempts to influence events in Iran through civil society. The NED has played an important role in stoking color revolutions in developing nations, the world over, landing it the nickname ‘the second CIA’. As far as we know, between 2016 and 2022, the NED financed 51 separate projects inside Iran, costing around 5 million dollars, according to its publicly accessible grants database.

All of this is to point out some of the ways in which the Islamic Republic comes under Western pressure. This context, as well as the historical context, matters when analyzing what is happening today, under the guise of supporting women’s rights protests. Whilst the US Government advocates for the rights of Iranian women, it kills some of those same women with its draconian sanctions. The maximum pressure sanctions campaign, started under former US President Donald Trump and continued under President Biden, has been repeatedly criticized by leading human rights groups, and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has even demanded that the sanctions be lifted for violating international law.

Whilst human rights issues are expected to pull on the heart strings, it is rather disappointing to see so many continue to jump on the bandwagon and encourage regime change campaigns. Whilst there is obviously no issue with supporting women’s rights, minority rights, or human rights in general, inside Iran, it is clear that by jumping on this trend and repeating unconfirmed reports, this aids the US Government’s push to justify sanctions and a regime change operation. Instead of a Western audience accepting the Islamic Republic of Iran, as maintaining a legitimate but different governmental system to that of Western liberal democracy, for many the instant reaction is to paint the entire Iranian State-structure as “barbaric”.

No one is required to agree with Iran’s model, its laws, and the way in which it governs. As with most countries — something Americans know all too well — many Iranians do in fact have their complaints about the management of the nation, and there are ways in which they can lobby to have the enforcement and interpretation of Islamic Law changed in Iran. If the call for the overthrow of the Iranian Government came from within and was for the benefit of the people of Iran, this is legitimate and is what happened in 1979. However, many westerners don’t know, or simply choose to ignore, the fact that it was the British and American intelligence agencies that removed Iran’s first democratically elected leader in 1953, replacing him with an autocratic dictator, the Shah.

Under the Shah, not only were ordinary Iranians starved to death, robbed of their nation’s wealth, subjected to torture, and robbed of the right to free speech, but they were also forced to change culturally to mimic the West. The Shah’s “White Revolution”, forced the issue of women’s rights — in the form of dress and appearance primarily — as a means of appeasing a minority of Iranians, but also forcing Western cultural domination over the Islamic-linked culture inherent in Iranian identity. At that time, Iranians lived in slums and were subjected to abject poverty, whilst White American settler communities were established throughout Iran.

So, when the Islamic Revolution overthrew the dictator Shah, wearing a hijab was a symbol of rebellion against the West and a form of defiantly preserving Iranian culture. Ali Shariati, a Marxist-Islamist who served as one of Iran’s leading philosophers behind the revolution, explained why this reaction inside Iran occurred. In the book, religion vs religion, he identifies the instinctive desire for a return to the culture of the past, in defiance of Western Modernity, something that we see is still a prominent way of thinking today. When one simply looks at Iran’s enforcement of the hijab, without historical context, it would seem to be illogical, yet it makes a lot of sense when it is placed in its proper context.

The protests in Iran have, in many cases, turned into violent riots, and after a week of demonstrations most genuine protests have come to a halt. The fact that the violence that has been used against the Iranian police and pro-government groups has been all but ignored, reflects the dishonesty of the media representation of events from the West. In order to get to the bottom of all this, it will require a thorough investigation. There are many cases that simply do not add up, and to determine what has happened in various incidents requires time. The answer here is not regime change, because this will only result in Western domination and oppression of the Iranian people, yet again, not to mention the death and horrors that will be wrought upon the civilian population in the process.

Robert Inlakesh
Robert Inlakesh
Robert Inlakesh is a documentary filmmaker, journalist, writer, Middle-East analyst & news correspondent for The Last American Vagabond.
https://twitter.com/falasteen47

3 Replies to “Iran’s Protests Are No Longer About Women’s Rights

  1. This is a hit job on Persian history, culture, ignorant, and false reporting. The tlavagabond better learn about Iran’s history not in the eyes of the Mullahs and the actual people of Iran. It is likely possible that the current #iranrevolution #masaamini movement has outside ties. However the history of the state of Iran being “slums” during the Shah’s time is laughable. Persian history and culture go far beyond the multiple islamic revolutions, Persians were one of the first to engineer clean drinking water, promote higher education, and many technological advancements. If it weren’t for the British monarchy and CIA, the Shah would not have acted so foolishly. No one was forced white culture, they developed it long ago! Really disappointed on the ignorance of this essay.

    1. “Persian history and culture go far beyond the multiple islamic revolutions”. Your assumptions are leading you astray. Robert made no claim to the opposite. Maybe read the article again, and look at his other work on the topic. You might see how you are quite incorrect here in your assumption of Robert’s insinuation that does not exist. This is an indictment of the outside forces using Iran, against its will, not of Iran itself. I felt that was very clear.

  2. A young girl drops dead with no evidence of outside force.
    Well I wonder what could have caused that outcome?
    What’s Irans status on mandating the pfizertoxin for it’s people?

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