As 2021 draws to a close, a look back at the year highlights just how restive the Iranian society has become amidst the ever-worsening socio-economic crises that have brought them to the brink of explosion.
Protests have been a huge feature of this year, with hundreds of thousands of Iranians taking to the streets each week to fight for their rights and air their grievances about the Iranian regime, who through their greed, corruption, abysmal policies and malign activities have effectively destroyed the Iranian economy.
In February, a number of fuel porters in Sistan and Baluchestan province were unlawfully killed, which triggered a series of intense protests that lasted for weeks.
Skipping to July, protests over power outages in Khuzestan province turned deadly when the regime responded in a violent manner to quell the unrest. Security forces opened fire on the crowds and in the process, dozens of civilians lost their lives.
In recent months, Isfahan saw one of the largest protests in response to severe water shortages in the province, which were caused by bad government policies. The protests initially began when a group of farmers, who were struggling to irrigate their land, took to the streets to fight for their right to access much-needed water. Soon after, thousands of people from all walks of life joined the demonstrations in support of the farmers, and the protests spread to the neighboring province of Charmahal and Bakhtiari.
In fear of the extent of the outrage during these protests, the regime’s security forces were ordered to stop the growing movement at all costs. Crowds were attacked with tear gas and pellet guns, with many protesters losing sight in one or both eyes due to close-range attacks with the pellets. Despite the repressive forces to quell the protests, the people of Isfahan stood together to resist the attacks and continued their protests for several more days.
This month, Iranian teachers held their biggest nationwide protest, which led to demonstrations taking place in more than 100 cities across Iran. They began their protests in September at the start of the new academic year but with a lack-lustre response from the regime, they revived their protests as promised. The three-day protest sparked a response of fear from the regime, who tried to threaten the teachers to end the unrest, but anti-riot forces failed to disperse the protesters.
The MEK said, “This is just a glimpse of what is happening in Iran. Every day, smaller protest movements by workers, retired government employees, defrauded creditors, and other segments of society are happening in dozens of cities.”
Many protests that were initially triggered by socio-economic problems soon turned into anti-regime demonstrations that echoed previous calls for the overthrow of the regime. These demonstrations visually affected regime officials, who responded in fear and attempted to used violent methods to end the protests. However, each time, the protesters stood strong and resisted as much as they could.
The only way to completely prevent further protests from taking place is to actively address the needs of the Iranian people, but as the regime has proven time and time again, they do not have the will or the intention to address the demands.
The MEK said, “Fixing the economy, creating jobs and production will come at the cost of toning down the regime’s expensive terrorist projects in the region, shutting down its ballistic and nuclear weapons projects, slashing its immense spending on the Revolutionary Guards, and stopping corrupt economic policies that only fill the pockets of regime officials and elites.”
The Iranian people are completely fed up with the tyrannical and corrupt regime, and are desperate to fight for a better future for themselves and future generations. At this stage, they know all they can do for now is to take matters into their own hands and continue to protest.
