Protests in Iran

By Howard Bloom

On Tuesday, September 13, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, came out of a subway station in central Tehran, walked through a park, and in that park was arrested by Iran’s Moral Security Police.

The morality policemen bundled her into their standard white and green Morality Patrol van. And, according to Amini’s family, they beat her. The police deny this.

But there is one incontrovertible fact. After three days of what the police call “training in hijab rules,” the Moral Security Police sent Amini to a hospital, where she died. At the age of 22. What was Mahsa Amini’s offense?

Wearing her burka, her headpiece, so loosely that you could actually see a bit of her hair.

The day of Mahsa Amini’s death, protests erupted on Iranian university campuses and in 80 Iranian cities. Those protests continued two weeks later, and showed no signs of stopping.

The protesters have been chanted “We don’t want the Islamic republic” and “Death to the dictator”. In other words, they wanted freedom from Iran’s religious totalitarianism. They wanted a different form of government.

To stop the protests, the Iranian government is using tear gas, whips, and clubs, and has shut down the Internet. At least fourteen protestors have died. But according to England’s Financial Times “people from across the Iranian political spectrum have called for an end to the official policing of women’s clothing.”

How did this all begin? In 1979, there was a revolution in Iran. The Iranians drove out their ruler of 38 years, their Shah, hated for his Savak, his secret police.

The secular parties rejoiced. They were sure that they had won the revolution. They were wrong.