{"id":6130,"date":"2022-10-20T04:02:12","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T08:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.midnightsunmag.ca\/?p=6130"},"modified":"2022-11-01T08:43:29","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T12:43:29","slug":"iran-a-history-of-violence-and-a-revolution-in-the-making","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnightsunmag.ca\/iran-a-history-of-violence-and-a-revolution-in-the-making\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran: A History of Violence and A Revolution in the Making"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"6130\" class=\"elementor elementor-6130\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-4314e362 elementor-section-height-min-height elementor-section-content-top elementor-section-stretched elementor-section-items-bottom elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"4314e362\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{"stretch_section":"section-stretched","background_background":"classic"}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-4e3de34b\" data-id=\"4e3de34b\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-b4deb32 elementor-hidden-tablet elementor-hidden-phone animated-slow elementor-view-default elementor-invisible elementor-widget elementor-widget-icon\" data-id=\"b4deb32\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{"_animation":"fadeInDown"}\" data-widget_type=\"icon.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-icon-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-icon\">\n\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"fas fa-angle-double-down\"><\/i>\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-296ebf4 elementor-section-full_width elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"296ebf4\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-no\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-189d4ddd\" data-id=\"189d4ddd\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5e779300 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"5e779300\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\"><a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/9wRvpImyBL4\" target=\"_blank\">Photo: Vahid Moeini Jazani\/Unsplash<\/a><\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-3e9c67c6 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"3e9c67c6\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-14de6c0\" data-id=\"14de6c0\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1218b76 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1218b76\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 style=\"text-align: right;\">10. 20. 2022<\/h3><h1 style=\"text-align: left;\">Iran: A History of Violence and a Revolution in the Making<\/h1><h3 style=\"text-align: right;\"><b><br \/><\/b> <strong>Behnam Amini<br \/><br \/><\/strong><\/h3>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-71b499d3 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"71b499d3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">The uprising underway in Iran is revolutionary in form and intent. It extends throughout the country, cuts across social differences, and explicitly calls for an overthrow of the state, the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI). Now entering its fifth week, it has persisted in the face of extraordinary state violence. Given the implications of this uprising for Iranian society, the region, and the international struggle for liberation, it warrants solidarity and a close examination. This interview with the Toronto-based Iranian-Canadian activist and scholar Behnam Amini offers both.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-797bce26 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"797bce26\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2><strong>1 \u2013 The revolutionary context in Iran<br \/><\/strong><\/h2><hr \/><h2><br \/>Midnight Sun:<\/h2><p>Let\u2019s begin with some recent history for context. This isn\u2019t the first nation-wide uprising that the IRI has faced. There was the Green Movement in 2009, and the anti-government protests in late 2017 and late 2019. Should we read these as cascading expressions of the same historical struggle, or are they more or less distinct conflagrations?<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h2>Behnam Amini:<\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">These mass protests bear similarities, but there are also important distinctions between them. The 2009 Green Movement was predominantly a middle-class uprising. It was concerned primarily with the integrity of elections and civil rights, and concentrated in major urban centers. Although the movement became increasingly radicalized towards its end and attracted some revolutionary participants, it was for the most part reformist in its goals. Eventually, a combination of violent state crackdown and ineffectual leadership that couldn\u2019t articulate a progressive roadmap put an end to it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">The 2017 and 2019 protests were qualitatively different. They marked an end to the popularity of the reformist politics that had informed the Green Movement in 2009. This was a politics focused on incremental change through electoralism, represented by the presidency of Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005). Instead, these later protests called for the revolutionary overthrow of the IRI. They were motivated by frustrations with growing inequality, economic insecurity, and corruption. They were also geographically more dispersed, extending to the peripheries of the country. Even in smaller cities we saw the active participation of working class people and the urban poor. The IRI\u2019s response was also enormously harsher than in 2009. During the 2019 protests, according to some estimates, around <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-iran-protests-specialreport-idUSKBN1YR0QR\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">1500 protesters<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> were killed.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">The current uprising shares most of the features of the 2017 and 2019 protests. More importantly, it\u2019s happening in both Iran\u2019s metropoles and its peripheries, attracting protesters from the middle class, the working class, and the urban poor.<\/span><b><br \/><\/b><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h2>Midnight Sun:<\/h2><p>As we enter the fifth week of these protests, the degree of violence with which the IRI has responded to them has united many Iranians in shock and anger. Images of state forces shooting protesters <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/10\/14\/world\/middleeast\/iran-zahedan-crackdown.html\">en masse<\/a>, killing drivers who honk in protest, breaking into homes to carry away family members, using <a href=\"https:\/\/iranwire.com\/en\/politics\/108064-irans-fourteenth-night-of-protests-national-strikes-calls-for-basij-to-join-the-people\/\">children<\/a> as riot police \u2013 this list continues to grow, as does the number of deaths (currently estimated to be <a href=\"https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2022\/10\/14\/Iran-protests-death-toll-rises-to-224-Rights-group\">220<\/a>). How do you explain this violence? Does it imply a deficit of strategy on the state\u2019s part? Is it rooted in something endemic to the IRI and its history?<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h2>Behnam Amini:<\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">The scale and substance of this violence, its resentment of dissent and compulsion for control, proceeds from the manner in which the IRI has secured the interests of its ruling clique. Within two years of the 1979 revolution, the Islamists had monopolized state power. They formed a theocracy where Shi\u2019ite clerics faithful to Khomeini, the founder and first supreme leader of the IRI, and his doctrine of \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Guardianship_of_the_Islamic_Jurist\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">the guardianship of the shi\u2019ite jurist<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">\u201d (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">Welayate-faqih<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">) occupied the top state positions. According to this doctrine, society is subject to the leadership of a supreme head of state in whose figure all the branches of government converge. The Islamists also took control of big capital \u2013 major industries \u2013 in the name of nationalizing the economy.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">That\u2019s why I describe the IRI as \u201cstate capitalism in its strictest sense,\u201d using a term originated by Nicos Poulantzas, the Greek-French state theorist. According to the IRI\u2019s constitution, all matters of legislation, governance, and the judiciary must comply with Islamic injunctions \u2013 in effect, the ruling clergy\u2019s interpretation of Sharia law, meant to serve the interests of the dominant clique. While liberal features such as the separation of powers and elections were kept in place, they were always a facade. The reality is that the circulation of power has remained within the bounds of the ruling clique and those closely affiliated with them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">All political factions of this ruling clique, from hardliners to \u201creformists,\u201d have been involved in the violent suppression of political dissent. They carried out a bloody repression of the Iranian left in the 1980s, killing more than <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.refworld.org\/docid\/3ae6ac3674.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">10,000<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> people, including the massacre of more than <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amnesty.org\/en\/latest\/news\/2013\/08\/iran-still-seeks-erase-prison-massacre-memories-years\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">5000<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> political prisoners in the summer of 1988. The IRI has also systematically assassinated dozens of key <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iranrights.org\/library\/document\/2647\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">oppositional figures<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">, including poets, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.radiofarda.com\/a\/a-killing-field-named-the-islamic-republic\/31046942.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">writers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">, and religious leaders. This ruthlessness is hard to exaggerate.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">It\u2019s not just the Iranian state\u2019s critics that fall victim to its targeted brutality, either. The past decade is instructive. In January 2020, the IRI <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/politics\/flightps752-private-lawsuit-against-iran-alleging-terrorist-activity-1.6034581\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">intentionally shot down<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> a passenger flight and denied doing so. In 2012, the regime arrested more than a hundred ordinary citizens with no record of political activism, inflicting enormous physical and mental harm on them. Those arrested were eventually forced to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-middle-east-49284659\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">confess<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> to assassinations of several Iranian nuclear scientists and spying for Israel.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">More generally, extraordinary invasive measures of social control have been a perennial feature of the IRI. These range from extensive gender-based restrictions targeting women, a ban on alcoholic drinks, and raids on private social gatherings, to gruesome penal provisions that include <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/iranhrdc.org\/the-question-of-stoning-to-death-in-the-new-penal-code-of-the-iri\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">stoning<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> for adultery (a punishment imposed especially during the \u201980s and \u201990s), public hanging, flogging, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-middle-east-50179741\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">maiming<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">. These measures are sometimes implemented quite arbitrarily, because law enforcement officers are protected by the state and can treat ordinary citizens however they wish. Your readers may be surprised, but growing up in Iran I was personally harassed by police for kissing my girlfriend, dancing, eating during Ramadan, listening to loud music, and once simply for laughing out loud with my high school friends, not to mention the numerous beatings and a period of imprisonment for my political activism.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h2>Midnight Sun:<\/h2><p>You\u2019ve <a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiozamaneh.com\/717876\/\">recently written <\/a>about the power arrangements around which the Islamic Republic is organized. The current <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ali_Khamenei\">Supreme Leader<\/a> (Ali Khamenei) is commonly regarded, not least by Iranians themselves, as having the last word in matters of state. But you\u2019ve argued that this primacy has shifted in recent years toward the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Islamic_Revolutionary_Guard_Corps\">IRGC<\/a>). How do you explain this shift? What does it mean for the ability of Iranians to mobilize against the state, much less to overthrow it?<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h2>Behnam:<\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">The totalitarian and repressive nature of the IRI doesn\u2019t mean that this political establishment has ruled only through coercion. The religious character of the state ideology in a Muslim-majority country, as well as wide-ranging social provisions (thanks largely to oil revenue), helped the IRI in its early years to manufacture consent, particularly among those disenfranchised under the pre-revolutionary monarchy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/pages\/frontline\/tehranbureau\/2011\/04\/labors-struggle-for-independent-unions.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">the vast state bureaucracy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> also offered extensive job opportunities to religious and conservative populations with working-class and peasant backgrounds. All these economic developments had the positive effect of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies\/article\/abs\/winners-and-losers-of-the-iranian-revolution-a-study-in-income-distribution\/072251B7B10E507AF809700305C79BAD\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">narrowing the class divide<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> in the 1980s.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">But this all started to dramatically change with the neoliberal shift in state policies that began in the early 1990s. This shift involved massive privatization of public and nationally owned industries and services, which largely meant their transfer to the hands of state-affiliated institutions, particularly the IRGC.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cairn.info\/revue-internationale-des-etudes-du-developpement-2017-1-page-91.htm\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">The IRGC\u2019s involvement in the Iranian economy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> intensified further when its engineering arms took over many large-scale infrastructure projects in the transportation, steel, oil, and petrochemical sectors. This combination of military and economic powers enabled the IRGC to expand its political foothold; since the early 2000s, IRGC commanders have become government ministers, MPs, governors, mayors, members of the Supreme Council of National Security and the Expediency Council, a state organ tasked with resolving disputes between legislative bodies. The IRGC also has its own news agencies, TV and radio stations, and film production company, as well as its own intelligence service, which acts independently of the Ministry of Intelligence and is not subject to oversight by parliament. No longer just a military organization, the IRGC has become a state within a state.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">Because Khamenei still enjoys considerable support within the conservative and ideologically committed base of the IRI, I have called Iran\u2019s current state form a military-clerical dictatorship. It\u2019s likely that in a post-Khamenei Iran, the IRGC may turn the country\u2019s government into a military dictatorship, or appoint a weak jurist to the supreme leadership and thereby run a de facto military dictatorship. Given the highly pragmatic politics of the top commanders of the IRGC, it is also possible that a leader or leaders with little to no commitment to religious fundamentalism might arise from the organization and, by hijacking the current uprising, replace the IRI with a secular dictatorship.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h2><strong>2 \u2013 This Uprising<\/strong><\/h2><hr \/><h2><br \/>Midnight Sun:<\/h2><p>Mahsa Amini was murdered by a particular organ of police in Iran: the so-called Morality Police. This vice squad is notorious for violently arresting women and humiliating them in public on account of \u201cimmodest\u201d attire. Despite being subject to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.voanews.com\/a\/calls-grow-for-iran-morality-police-to-change-course-\/6668847.html\">criticism<\/a>, even from within the ranks of Iran\u2019s political elites, this force has persisted. What\u2019s behind their continued operation?<\/p><p><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p><h2>Behnam:<\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">Early on, in the wake of the 1979 revolution, Khomeini and his Islamist supporters used numerous ideological tools to divide society and attack the opposition, in order to secure their hegemony among the numerous revolutionary forces and consolidate their monopoly on political power. They weaponized Islam against non-Muslims and non-religious people, fomented nationalist sentiments against national minorities, and institutionalized patriarchal values against women. One of the very first steps they took in the latter direction was the attempt to make women’s veiling mandatory within the first month of the revolution. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Ci3IOJ5A_4p\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">Groups of women<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">, including some veiled women, initially took to the streets and demonstrated against the mandatory hijab for six consecutive days. But none of the important, well-known liberal and leftist political organizations seriously supported them. Although many leftist organizations were against the compulsory hijab policy, they did not resist it, because they believed that at that historical moment, the fight against the imperialist counterrevolution ought to be prioritized. This made it easier for the Khomeinists to impose their will on women. By the early 1980s, the mandatory hijab policy was enshrined in the constitution. Since then, it has become one of the ruling Islamists\u2019 main instruments of social control.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">Yet many women have resisted compulsory hijab in various ways throughout the past forty years. In addition to the common practice of wearing the hijab more casually \u2013 for example, letting it only loosely cover the hair \u2013 individual acts of resistance have also garnered much attention. For example, in 1994, the pediatrician and scholar Homa Darabi set herself on fire in a street in Tehran in protest of the mandatory hijab law. In December 2017, a woman named Vida Movahed appeared without a hijab in a crowded place in Tehran and hung her headscarf on a stick. Other women were inspired by her and repeated the same symbolic protest, which led to their arrest.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">Despite this increase in women’s civil disobedience in opposition to mandatory hijab and the Morality Police, the government has continued to use these institutions of repression. Doing so allows the IRI to keep its deeply religious and conservative social base satisfied. In the eyes of this base, the state\u2019s legitimacy is partly dependent on the continued enforcement of religious virtue. There is also the issue of the political economy of the hijab in Iran. Every year, USD $<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiozamaneh.com\/172885\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">100 million<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> of black fabric is imported for the production and sale of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chador\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">chador<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">, a body-length garment that the IRI pressures women to wear. These revenues benefit the traditional commercial bourgeoisie, closely affiliated with the IRI. The policing of women\u2019s attire, in other words, ensures continued \u201cdemand\u201d for the hijab industry.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h2>Midnight Sun:<\/h2><p>Despite the violence they face, we see today\u2019s protesters in Iran standing their ground and sometimes <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ICHRI\/status\/1581320776057487360\">converging on police positions<\/a>. We see secondary school students \u2013 especially girls \u2013 walking out of classes and taking to the streets. Do you think there is something qualitatively new about the confrontational ethic of this uprising? And if there is, what do you attribute it to?\u00a0<\/p><p><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p><h2>Behnam:<\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">It\u2019s true that people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s have a strong presence in these street protests. In a sense, we\u2019re talking about Iran\u2019s Generation Z<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> whose values and perceptions of \u201cthe good life\u201d are very different from those prescribed by the state. But we shouldn\u2019t exaggerate the qualitative differences between this generation and previous ones. It\u2019s clear that today\u2019s protestors defend themselves much more vigorously against the violence of security forces, but there were also physical confrontations between protesters and police in 2017 and 2019; some police officers were even killed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">One of the main reasons for the increased militancy of today’s younger generation of Iranians in the streets, in my opinion, is that they have been less influenced by the hegemony of the so-called Reformist movement. This was a political movement that emerged from within the political establishment of the IRI. Its hallmark was the pursuit of incremental change through electoral politics and non-violence. Its influence on political dissent \u2013 favouring respectability politics \u2013 weighed heavily on previous generations such as my own. This radical political energy directed against the government was not absent in the last two decades, but reformist politics watered it down to a great extent. Iran\u2019s Generation Z is lucky to have been less exposed to those politics.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h2>Midnight Sun:<\/h2><p>The rallying cry for this recent uprising is \u201cWoman, Life, Liberty\u201d (<i>Zan, Zendegi, Azadi<\/i>). The origin of this slogan, however, is Kurdish (<i>Jin, Jiyan, Azadi<\/i>). Can you tell us a little about its significance to the Kurdish liberation struggle? Does its uptake in Persian political discourse represent an expading horizon for feminism in Iran today?<b><\/b><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h2>Behnam:<\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">The slogan <em>Jin-Jiyan-Azadi<\/em> was born in the Kurdish movement affiliated with the Kurdistan\u2019s Workers Party or the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kurdistan_Workers%27_Party\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">PKK<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">. According to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/novaramedia.com\/2022\/10\/04\/jina-mahsa-amini-was-kurdish-and-that-matters\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">one account<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">, it was first chanted by Kurdish women on March 8, 2006, in Turkey. This was part of the struggle of Kurdish women activists for gender equality within the ranks of the PKK and in Kurdish society. Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the PKK, made the liberation of women a central feature of his political philosophy and program for the liberation of people in Kurdistan, as well as in other societies. Ocalan believes that before the rise of statist civilization, women were in charge of administering human communities based on principles of sharing and solidarity as opposed to ownership and force. The emergence of hierarchical societies, in this view, institutionalized the domination of women by men. Which means the liberation of women must be so central to any emancipatory politics that seeks to transform such societies.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">These ideas traveled from North Kurdistan in Turkey to West Kurdistan (Rojava) in Syria and then to East Kurdistan in Iran. From there, the Persian translation of this slogan \u2013<\/span> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">woman, life, liberty<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> \u2013 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">spread across Iran. Most people chanting this slogan are not familiar with that history and philosophy. In my opinion, however, each and every word of the slogan resonates so well with many Iranians that they have embraced it as their rallying cry for the current insurgency. Women, life itself, and freedom are all so repressed by the Islamic Republic that perhaps only such a slogan could express the deep frustration and disillusionment that the majority of Iranians feel with the conditions of their lives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">Does all this mean that feminism is espoused by the majority of Iranians? Definitely not. I\u2019m not even sure that all Iranian feminists would necessarily agree with the philosophy behind the slogan <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">Jin-Jiyan-Azadi<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">. But one thing is for certain: from now on, no polity in Iran, whether in the IRI or whatever comes after its overthrow, will survive without addressing the current gender apartheid in the country. <\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h2>Midnight Sun:<\/h2><p>Commentators have compared these protests to those of the Black Lives Movement in the US that followed the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Like that uprising, this one was triggered by a single murder and quickly gained traction. In Iran today, however, in a more widespread way than during the George Floyd uprisings, protesters are calling for the total overthrow of the state. In fact, it was just a few days into these protests that an insurrectionary slogan started to become popular: \u201cDon\u2019t call it a protest, it\u2019s a revolution now!\u201d<\/p><p><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p><h2>Behnam:<\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">The fact of a single injustice spiralling out to generate far-reaching and revolutionary demands is certainly not unique to these protests. It was the self-immolation of a street vendor in Tunisia in protest of police harassment, after all, that sparked the whole Arab Spring. Similar dynamics were also at play in 2019 when mass protests broke out in Chile, Iran, Iraq, and Lebanon in response to abhorrent state policies. But this time round, there have been <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UbkQrqz89YM&ab_channel=TheNewsmakers\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">attempts<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> by some Iranian emigrants, who have a track record of whitewashing and trivializing the violence of the IRI, to represent the uprising as reformist and pretend the demands of protesters can be reduced to the removal of the Morality Police. Yet virtually none of the slogans chanted in the streets have been about the Morality Police. Instead, people are chanting \u201cDeath to the dictator,\u201d \u201cDeath to Khamenei,\u201d and \u201cWe don\u2019t want the Islamic Republic.\u201d<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">There are two major reasons for this: one is that the majority of Iranian people believe that no significant reforms are possible under the IRI, given its consistently violent suppression of dissent throughout its past 43 years. Second, and more important: even if the establishment makes concessions in the case of the mandatory hijab policy, the people\u2019s demands go far beyond abolishing the state-sanctioned dress code. They\u2019re fuelled by the unbearable economic, political, and social conditions in the country. Many Iranians rightly view the ruling clique of the IRI as a cabal of criminals, and want to bring them to justice for their corruption and crimes against humanity.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h2>Midnight Sun:<\/h2><p>Some foreign coverage of these protests is already chalking them up to the economic hardship caused in Iran by the US-led <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/10\/02\/world\/middleeast\/iran-protests-economy.html\">imposition of sanctions<\/a>. The economic condition of the country has indeed been dire for almost a decade \u2013 rates of unemployment and inflation, for example, are extraordinarily high. How large an effect have sanctions had in causing Iran\u2019s economy to flounder in this way? And are the protests motivated primarily by a desire for economic relief?<\/p><p><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p><h2>Behnam:<\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">To say that the dire economic situation in Iran is caused primarily by US sanctions is yet another ideological trope that effectively exonerates the IRI. This line of reasoning, which is unfortunately also very popular with many sections of the international left, is pushed by a particular section of Western-based Iranian capitalists who have large investments in Iran and therefore wish for the sanctions to be lifted. This class is represented by groups like the National Iranian Americans Council (NIAC) and the current and previous boards of the Iranian Canadian Council (ICC).<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">While the anti-sanctions politics of these groups is economically motivated, prominent Western leftists including <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.niacouncil.org\/news\/niac-conversation-noam-chomsky\/?locale=en\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">Noam Chomsky<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/world\/2020\/01\/11\/Sanders-Warren-criticized-for-joining-conference-call-with-pro-Iran-lobby-group\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">Bernie Sanders<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> also espouse those positions. It\u2019s really disappointing how many Western leftists are taken in by such politics. In some cases, well-known <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.democracynow.org\/2022\/9\/22\/mass_protests_erupt_iran_mahsa_amini\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">leftist media<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> have continued to give a platform to notorious <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=anySbxz_TFA&list=WL&index=93&t=5s&ab_channel=JokerNejad\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">liberal apologists <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">of the Iranian state, completely failing to pursue a class analysis of the situation in Iran. For many Iranians of various class backgrounds living in the peripheral regions of the country, as well as the working class and a growing number of members of the urban middle classes in the country\u2019s \u201ccentre,\u201d the economic hardship began with the neoliberal shift in the IRI\u2019s economic policies in the late 1980s and early 1990s: massive privatization of government-owned industries, gradual erosion of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/pages\/frontline\/tehranbureau\/2011\/02\/irans-economy-in-the-shadow-of-regional-upheaval.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">state subsidies<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> for fuel and food, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pecritique.com\/2012\/09\/22\/%d8%aa%d8%b9%d8%af%db%8c%d9%84-%d9%86%db%8c%d8%b1%d9%88%db%8c-%d8%a7%d9%86%d8%b3%d8%a7%d9%86%db%8c-%d8%af%d8%b1-%d8%af%d9%88%d8%b1%d9%87%e2%80%8c%db%8c-%d8%a7%d8%b5%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%ad%d8%a7%d8%aa\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">precarization of work<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">, an increasing rate of privatization of social services like <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.radiozamaneh.com\/559985\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">education<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ilna.ir\/%D8%A8%D8%AE%D8%B4-%DA%A9%D8%A7%D8%B1%DA%AF%D8%B1%DB%8C-9\/969852-%D8%A2%D8%B3%DB%8C%D8%A8-%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%BA%DB%8C%D8%B1%D9%82%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%86%DA%A9%D8%A7%D8%B1-%DA%A9%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%DB%8C%DB%8C-%D8%B4%D8%AF%D9%86-%D8%AE%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%AA-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%DB%8C-%DA%A9%D8%B4%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%B3%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA-%D9%87%D8%A7%DB%8C-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D8%AF%DB%8C%D9%84-%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%AE%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%DB%8C-%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%AA-%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%85-%D8%B1%D8%A7-%D9%86%D8%B4%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%87-%D8%B1%D9%81%D8%AA%D9%87-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA-%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%BA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A8%D8%AE%D8%B4-%D8%AE%D8%B5%D9%88%D8%B5%DB%8C-%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%AA%D8%B1%DB%8C%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%B6%D8%B9%DB%8C%D8%AA-%D8%B4%D8%BA%D9%84%DB%8C-%D8%B1%D8%A7-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%86%D8%AF\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">healthcare<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">, the exponential growth of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.atlanticcouncil.org\/blogs\/iransource\/sanctions-or-liquidity-which-one-is-more-dangerous-for-iran-s-economy\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">private banks and credit institutions causing inflation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> \u2013 and skyrocketing <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rferl.org\/a\/iran-mobarekeh-steel-corruption-investigation-rohani\/32001399.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">systemic corruption<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> among the ruling clique.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">The US sanctions exacerbated the crippling effects of some of these realities. But to overlook these structural issues and blame systematic class exploitation in Iran on foreign sanctions alone is dishonest and misleading, to say the least.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h2><strong>3 \u2013 The path forward<\/strong><\/h2><hr \/><h2><br \/>Midnight Sun:<\/h2><p>National minorities represent roughly half of the Iranian population (e.g. Kurds, Azeri Turks, Arabs, Balouchs, etc). Protagonists of the 1979 revolution either lacked a clear program for integrating ethnic minorities into a future democratic polity or, frankly, didn\u2019t intend to. How might a revolutionary process today address the demands of these marginalized populations? If it fails to do so, how could this affect the prospect of democracy in the aftermath of the Islamic Republic?<\/p><p><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p><h2>Behnam:<\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">Structural inequalities between the central and peripheral parts of the country, the latter composed mainly of ethnic minorities, have been a source of political tension since the formation of a modern nation-state in Iran in the early 20th century. Exploitation of the peripheries by the centre, as well as racism and the forced assimilation of non-Persians, has triggered nationalist or separatist tendencies in the peripheries. The 1979 revolution seemed like it might address these injustices, but due to a powerful Persian nationalist and centralist tendency shared by the Islamists and the majority of their liberal and leftist rivals, the hopes of national minorities were quickly dashed. Nevertheless, social consciousness regarding the cultural rights of minority ethnicities has grown, both within those minority communities in the periphery and among layers of the middle and working classes in the centre.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">Earlier this year, for example, the hashtag #<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/caspianpost.com\/en\/post\/perspectives\/manofarsi-hashtag-activists-addressing-linguistic-marginalization-in-iran\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">ManoFarsi<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\"> (\u201cMe and Persian\u201d) was taken up by many non-Persians narrating their experiences of forced assimilation. In the current protests, we are also hearing chants of solidarity among Kurds, Balouchs, Turks, Arabs, Lors, Gilaks; expressions of solidarity with ethnic minorities can be heard not just in the peripheries but also in some central provinces. Significant agreement about the right of minorities to learn their \u201cmother tongues\u201d in formal education can also be seen among the IRI\u2019s Persian opposition. But this opposition is still averse to decentralization, and it largely lacks the political will and a concrete plan for redressing the economic and political inequality between the centre and the peripheries. My hope is that the country\u2019s national minorities will build stronger political links not only among themselves, but also with the progressive forces in the centre, so they can radically democratize the country together in a post-IRI future.<\/span><\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><h2>Midnight Sun:<\/h2><p>Iran has a large diaspora, concentrated mostly in the Global North. Recently, a coordinated day of action saw marches by \u00e9migr\u00e9 Iranians across the world. By most accounts Toronto\u2019s march was the largest of these, swelling to more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thestar.com\/news\/gta\/2022\/10\/01\/over-50k-gather-near-toronto-in-freedom-rally-for-iran.html\">50,000 people<\/a>. Within this diaspora there are organized groups that have continued to press for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. The Mojahedin, for example, stands out for the size of its official membership and the extent of its alliances with political figures in the United States. The son of the former Shah, too, represents a certain bloc of diaspora Iranians, sections of the bourgeoisie who fled the scene once the Shah was deposed. Should a revolution unfold in Iran in the coming days and weeks, are you concerned that these organized elements in the diaspora could be poised to hijack it as the Islamists hijacked the previous one?<\/p><p><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p><h2>Behnam:<\/h2><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">One of the important lessons of the Arab Spring revolutions was that although governments could be overthrown or weakened by an insurgency \u2013 in Syria, for example \u2013 it was already-organized political entities that seized the state on the day after the revolution. For a variety of historical and social reasons, Islamist and jihadist organizations were the main beneficiaries of those events, but they were not the only ones. In Tunisia, due to the organizational strength of labour unions, the outcome was relatively democratic. Also, the political influence and organizing efforts of the PKK made a progressive polity possible in Rojava and elsewhere in northern Syria.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">In Iran, however, the Islamic Republic has all but crushed organized political opposition. Outside the country, Kurdish political parties exert an important influence: during the current protests, they have called for a general strike four times in less than a month, and most Kurdish cities have complied. There are also some industrial labour unions, student associations, and a strong teachers\u2019 union who \u2013 despite a ban on independent labour unions \u2013 have managed to carry out a myriad of collective actions over the years. Since the outbreak of today\u2019s wave of protests, teachers\u2019 unions and contract workers in the oil and petrochemical industries have <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/english.alarabiya.net\/News\/middle-east\/2022\/10\/11\/Workers-at-Iran-s-largest-oil-refinery-go-on-strike-amid-anti-government-protests\"><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">gone on strike for several days<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">. This is the first time since the early 1980s that labour unions have joined mass protests.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">As for the conservative and pro-West groups like the monarchists and the Mojahedin-e Khalgh (MEK), most of what is said about their popularity is propaganda. The only tactical advantages they have are the capital they possess and some political support from within the US establishment. Still, unless the protesters escalate their organizing and form neighborhood and city coordinating committees \u2013 of which we\u2019re seeing nascent elements in a few Kurdish cities \u2013 these right-wing groups may pose grave risks to the progressive character of this uprising, and to the country as a whole in a post-Islamic Republic future.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3deba6f elementor-widget-divider--view-line_icon elementor-view-default elementor-widget-divider--element-align-center elementor-widget elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"3deba6f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-icon elementor-divider__element\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<i aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"fas fa-sun\"><\/i><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4d38afb0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4d38afb0\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 300;\">Behnam Amini is a doctoral candidate in Social and Political Thought (York University) and a longtime political activist. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Behnam has written extensively on Iranian politics as well as the Kurdish question in various English and Persian journals, including but not limited to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.opendemocracy.net\/en\/north-africa-west-asia\/kurdish-struggles-and-challenge-of-foreign-support-case-of-syria\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Open Democracy<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/socialistproject.ca\/2018\/01\/iran-protests-third-path-political-change\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Bullet<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, BBC Persian, and Radio Zamaneh.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-462b0677 elementor-hidden-tablet elementor-hidden-phone\" data-id=\"462b0677\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-33 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-69968be1 elementor-hidden-tablet elementor-hidden-phone\" data-id=\"69968be1\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-13a9a4d4 elementor-widget elementor-widget-shortcode\" data-id=\"13a9a4d4\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"shortcode.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-shortcode\"><div class=\"shariff shariff-align-flex-start shariff-widget-align-flex-start\"><ul class=\"shariff-buttons theme-default orientation-horizontal buttonsize-medium\"><li class=\"shariff-button twitter shariff-nocustomcolor\" style=\"background-color:#595959\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.midnightsunmag.ca%2Firan-a-history-of-violence-and-a-revolution-in-the-making%2F&text=Iran%3A%20A%20History%20of%20Violence%20and%20A%20Revolution%20in%20the%20Making&via=midnightsunmag\" title=\"Share on X\" aria-label=\"Share on X\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"shariff-link\" style=\"; 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O\u2019Brien and Eman Abdelhadi, the authors of the new book Everything For Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052-2072.<\/span><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.midnightsunmag.ca\/what-we-mean-by-community-is-our-yearning-for-communism\/\" class=\"crp_link post-7485\"><span class=\"crp_title\">What We Mean by Community is Our Yearning for Communism<\/span><\/a><span class=\"crp_excerpt\"> M.E. O\u2019Brien on family abolition and the communizing of care as political horizons worth fighting for. A conversation with Midnight Sun editor David Camfield.<\/span><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.midnightsunmag.ca\/protest-and-pleasure-a-revolution-led-by-sex-workers\/\" class=\"crp_link post-3820\"><span class=\"crp_title\">Protest & Pleasure: A Revolution Led by Sex Workers<\/span><\/a><span class=\"crp_excerpt\"> A conversation with Monica Forrester, Toni-Michelle Williams, and Chanelle Gallant about why trans women of colour sex workers are the leaders we need, lighting the way to revolutionary horizons.<\/span><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.midnightsunmag.ca\/life-making-or-death-making\/\" class=\"crp_link post-3623\"><span class=\"crp_title\">Life-making or Death-making?<\/span><\/a><span class=\"crp_excerpt\"> Susan Ferguson on how the pandemic has laid bare the social reproduction labour that keeps capitalism churning, the fundamental violence of the capitalist system itself, and emerging possibilities for fighting back.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"crp_clear\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-710bc7a3 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"710bc7a3\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-no\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-319ab336\" data-id=\"319ab336\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5a6331ec elementor-widget elementor-widget-shortcode\" data-id=\"5a6331ec\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"shortcode.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-shortcode\"><div class=\"shariff shariff-align-flex-start shariff-widget-align-flex-start\"><ul class=\"shariff-buttons theme-default orientation-horizontal buttonsize-medium\"><li class=\"shariff-button twitter shariff-nocustomcolor\" style=\"background-color:#595959\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.midnightsunmag.ca%2Firan-a-history-of-violence-and-a-revolution-in-the-making%2F&text=Iran%3A%20A%20History%20of%20Violence%20and%20A%20Revolution%20in%20the%20Making&via=midnightsunmag\" title=\"Share on X\" aria-label=\"Share on X\" role=\"button\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" class=\"shariff-link\" style=\"; 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O\u2019Brien and Eman Abdelhadi, the authors of the new book Everything For Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052-2072.<\/span><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.midnightsunmag.ca\/what-we-mean-by-community-is-our-yearning-for-communism\/\" class=\"crp_link post-7485\"><span class=\"crp_title\">What We Mean by Community is Our Yearning for Communism<\/span><\/a><span class=\"crp_excerpt\"> M.E. O\u2019Brien on family abolition and the communizing of care as political horizons worth fighting for. A conversation with Midnight Sun editor David Camfield.<\/span><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.midnightsunmag.ca\/protest-and-pleasure-a-revolution-led-by-sex-workers\/\" class=\"crp_link post-3820\"><span class=\"crp_title\">Protest & Pleasure: A Revolution Led by Sex Workers<\/span><\/a><span class=\"crp_excerpt\"> A conversation with Monica Forrester, Toni-Michelle Williams, and Chanelle Gallant about why trans women of colour sex workers are the leaders we need, lighting the way to revolutionary horizons.<\/span><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.midnightsunmag.ca\/life-making-or-death-making\/\" class=\"crp_link post-3623\"><span class=\"crp_title\">Life-making or Death-making?<\/span><\/a><span class=\"crp_excerpt\"> Susan Ferguson on how the pandemic has laid bare the social reproduction labour that keeps capitalism churning, the fundamental violence of the capitalist system itself, and emerging possibilities for fighting back.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"crp_clear\"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A conversation with Behnam Amini on the uprising in Iran, its historical roots, and its possible 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