The Iranian national uprising: one month in
What Iranian people want
It has been a month since Mahsa Amini was brutally murdered by Islamic Republic security forces in Iran. What we have seen since are not mere protests but a full-blown revolt against 43 years of brutal Islamist theocratic rule in Iran which has seen more atrocities committed by the regime. We have seen protests worldwide in support of the Iranian people on an unprecedented scale. And the typically lacklustre response of world powers to these events which is the least surprising of all.
Or perhaps, even less surprising, is the effort to hijack the national uprising by dubious characters and groups. For a start let me clarify this: it is not a “women’s uprising” or an ethnic uprising. It is a nationwide uprising with diverse groups united by a shared rejection of the system. It is a nationalist uprising against an occupying, anti-Iranian regime.
Iranians demand a civil state, and most preferably a constitutional monarchy on the basis of the pre-1979 constitution. They also demand with it freedom of religion and the end to institutionalised religious persecution and discrimination against non-Shiite and dissident Shiite populations.
Experiences of history, such as the fall of Communism, has taught Iranians well. They are determined not to let their tormenters go unpunished. There will be no repeat of letting former Communists live comfortably, and in Russia’s case ex-KGB people comin to power. No leniency is to be shown towards the regime officials and their collaborators and lobbyists wherever they are.
We see the sinister ploy to promote identity politics and deny Iranian symbols, identity and culture. As Golshifteh Farahani found out, this will be met with a strong reaction from patriotic Iranians. Regime lobbyists or “reformists” are even trying to reinvent themselves as anti-regime democrats and create a new republic - one which has not gone down well with Iranians at all.
No, the time for playing games is over if there ever was a time (there wasn’t ever!). You must listen to what Iranians really want and stand with them. You cannot be neutral, you cannot be silent, and you cannot make the wrong choices. This is the most important course of events to take place since the end of the Cold War. It will change the destiny of humanity for generations. Do not fail this test.