It is 15 years since I stood in the centre of Tripoli amid boisterous celebrations at the fall of a bloodstained, brutal and corrupt dictatorship. The mood was joyful as soldiers sent blasts of gunfire into the air, families hugged the victorious rebels and children waved flags. Smiling people told me of their hopes for freedom and peace, earnestly explaining how their well-educated country would become a beacon of light for Arab and North African nations. Others quietly told me of personal traumas suffered during the decades of Muammar Gaddafi’s dictatorship. Some thanked Britain for supporting their war of liberation.
Sadly, all those hopes from the Arab spring were dashed since revolutions have a nasty habit of turning on their children. Libya collapsed into chaos, despite elections won by moderates, as tribal divisions fused with personal ambitions and geopolitics. Egypt ended up in the hands of a worse dictator, Syria descended into the hell of civil war, and even Tunisia, birthplace of that incredible wave of popular uprisings, has slid back into repression. Yet this does not mean it is wrong to back desperate people seeking dignity and freedom through such protest; after all, it took Western nations decades to build their democracies that remain riddled with imperfections.
Today, blood is flowing on the streets of Iran as citizens display astonishing bravery in their latest bid to shake off the shackles of tyrannical theocracy. These protests flared up in the final days of December following a strike by shopkeepers in Tehran, then spread rapidly to more than 100 towns. Those retailers, infuriated by soaring inflation and a crashing currency, triggered a nationwide uprising that is demanding an end to rule by the religious bigots who have run their nation so badly for almost half a century – which is a lifetime for three-quarters of its 92 million people.
The regime has responded with trademark savagery. Staff at hospitals say they are overwhelmed with casualties. Iran’s attorney general warns that protesters are an “enemy of God” – an offence carrying the death penalty in a country that executed an average of four people a day last year. Yet videos show large numbers on the streets, clashes with security forces and burning of regime buildings. Some of them already feel iconic, emerging before the government switched off the internet – such as the lone man, black jacket pulled over his head, crouched before advancing paramilitaries, reportedly in Tehran.
These are far from the first popular protests against the Islamic Republic in Iran. Big “Green Wave” protests – precursor of the Arab spring – erupted in 2009 following a dodgy election, leading to thousands of arrests and several deaths. Then there was “Bloody November” a decade later when hundreds of people were slaughtered after demonstrations sparked by fuel price hikes. Three years later, in 2022, came the “Women, Life, Freedom” protests after a 22-year-old woman was beaten to death by the gruesome morality police for “improperly” wearing her hijab. Yet the root causes are the same each time: corruption, repression and economic incompetence.
Two years ago the activist Masih Alinejad – a survivor of assassination and kidnap attempts by the Iranian regime – introduced me to three of those 2022 protesters at an Oslo forum for dissidents hosted by the Human Rights Foundation. All bore terrible wounds from confronting this fascistic dictatorship: one young mother had lost a hand after it was peppered with 300 pellets, while another woman and a teenage boy were left blinded in one eye. “I ask you to cover your eye with one hand and see what life is like with one eye,” said Kosar Eftekhari, maimed at the age of 23. “When with empty hands I went to protest against armed security forces of the Islamic Republic, they responded to my protest by shooting at my eye.”
Reports suggest similar tactics – targeting of protesters’ eyes – are being used again as Tehran’s rulers unleash their goons in a savage fight for survival against their own citizens. Yet this time, there are grounds for hope this embattled regime might just be defeated. Iran’s economy is in freefall with hunger, lack of jobs and power cuts in a resource-rich nation. Its strategy to dominate the Middle East is in tatters with the fall of their key ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria and crushing of proxy terror groups in Gaza and Lebanon. Its intelligence and military weakness was exposed by last year’s war with Israel. And unexpectedly, the exiled son of their deposed shah has become a rallying focal point for the fractured opposition.
Then there is the unpredictable American President – who has already bombed their nuclear sites and feels emboldened by his seizure of a key Iranian ally in Latin America – warning against use of lethal force. Perhaps this is the one time when Donald Trump’s power-crazed approach to the world aids instead of undermines the cause of democracy (even if it smacks of hypocrisy given his support for Russia in Ukraine and stance against domestic critics). There are reports the White House has been briefed on options for military strikes. “Iran is looking at freedom, perhaps like never before,” Trump posted on social media. “The USA stands ready to help!!!”
As seen so often in history – and I have witnessed in several nations – revolutions and attempts at regime change are unruly forces that can send a nation spiralling into darkness. Maybe Trump will hold fire or the mullahs and their thugs will inflict sufficient brutality, suffering and terror to smash these latest uprisings against their dismal 37-year reign.
Yet that dream of dignity and democracy is a noble cause, despite the casual way we treat it in our own land while these courageous people in Iran risk their lives, their sight and their freedom to overthrow despotism. Their success would be seismic for us all. As Masih says, this is a war against unarmed people who deserve the free world’s support.
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