Iran's protests may have subsided, but women have found new ways to defy the country's regime.

A young woman walks down a street in Tehran, her hair uncovered, her jeans ripped, a bit of midriff exposed to the hot Iranian sun. An unmarried couple walk hand in hand. A woman holds her head high when asked by Iran’s once-feared morality police to put a hijab on, and tells them: “Screw you!”

These acts of bold rebellion - described to me by several people in Tehran over the past month - would have been almost unthinkable to Iranians this time last year. But that was before the death in the morality police’s custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who had been accused of not wearing her hijab [veil] properly.

The mass protests that shook Iran after her death subsided after a few months in the face of a brutal crackdown, but the anger that fuelled them has not been extinguished. Women have just had to find new ways to defy the regime.

A Western diplomat in Tehran estimates that across the country, an average of about 20% of women are now breaking the laws of the Islamic Republic by going out on to the streets without the veil.

  • Spendrill@lemm.eeEnglish
    626·
    10 months ago

    Just a reminder: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini would never have come to power if Mohammad Reza Pahlavi the Former Shah of Iran and his secret police hadn’t been such shits and they were placed in power by British and American oil interests. They deposed a democratic modernising leader, Mohammad Mosaddegh.

    The brutal oppression of young women in Iran is the direct responsibility of the MI5, CIA and the oil companies to whom they ultimately answer.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    13·
    10 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    The diplomat describes the protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death as a huge, and terminal, “turning point” for the regime, which has tried to control how women dress and behave for more than four decades.

    Donya says people in Tehran continue to deface government billboards and to write “#Mahsa” and “Woman, Life, Freedom” - the rallying cry of the protests - on walls, mostly on the subway.

    The morality police patrols, which were temporarily paused in the wake of the protests following Mahsa Amini’s death, have been visible again in the past few weeks - though Donya says they seem to be wary of provoking direct confrontation for fear of reigniting mass demonstrations.

    It’s impossible to gauge exactly how many people would like to see the end of the Islamic Republic, but fury at the regime is widespread, according to film-maker Mojgan Ilanlou, who was jailed last October for four months after taking off her veil and criticising Iran’s supreme leader.

    “The women of Iran have crossed the threshold of fear,” she tells me from her home in Tehran, though she admits that the latest round of repression has been so “horrifying” that for 10 days last month she decided to de-activate her Instagram account - where she regularly posts pictures of herself unveiled in public.

    A draft law currently before parliament - the so-called Hijab and Chastity Bill - would impose new punishments on women who go unveiled, including fines of 500m-1bn rials [$118-$23,667] and prison terms of up to 10 years for “those who do not comply… in an organised way or encourage others to do so”.

    The original article contains 1,801 words, the summary contains 269 words. Saved 85%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    141·
    10 months ago

    The women in this article (and throughout Iran) are far braver than I expect that I’ll ever (have to) be.

  • Jaysyn@kbin.social
    142·
    10 months ago

    I can’t wait till they start shiving / shooting those morality police instead of just yelling at them.

    • NOT_RICK@lemmy.worldEnglish
      3·
      10 months ago

      They were doing just that with the Basiji last fall, but I’m not sure if that’s continued or not.

    • nova_ad_vitum@lemmy.caEnglish
      2·
      10 months ago

      I don’t think the reform elements have military support. They’ve never had it. Unfortunately I don’t think they have a clear path to get it. Iran had protests before the so-called Arab spring. They were brutally put down. The fact that these concessions have been made is good, but realistically what they’ve accomplished is that the religious police are more cautious and less publicly brutal. I don’t know what it will take for real reform in Iran but I don’t think they’re there yet.