{"id":237179,"date":"2021-04-03T02:26:22","date_gmt":"2021-04-03T07:26:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=237179"},"modified":"2023-02-01T05:00:21","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T04:00:21","slug":"in-iran-layers-of-crisis-hinder-but-cannot-subdue-peoples-push-for-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-resistance\/in-iran-layers-of-crisis-hinder-but-cannot-subdue-peoples-push-for-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"In Iran, Layers of Crisis Hinder but Cannot Subdue People\u2019s Push for Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"extraordinary-mobilization-of-the-regimes-repressive-forces-in-fear-of-a-youth-uprising-during-fire-festival\"<\/p>\n

While many nations are now able to see a realistic exist from the coronavirus pandemic, Iran is still dealing with the single worst outbreak in the Middle East, and one of the worst in the world. The regime\u2019s Health Ministry claims that the disease has killed around 60,000 Iranians, but this stems from systematic underreporting after more than a month of outright denials that anyone had been infected in early 2020. According to reports tallied by the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK<\/a>), the true death toll is approximately a quarter of a million, and still climbing.<\/p>\n

But even this does not quite encapsulate the hardships the Iranian people are facing. The coronavirus outbreak<\/a> is only one part of a larger pattern, and its effects have been exacerbated by years of worsening economic conditions and the regime\u2019s neglect of the people\u2019s vital needs. That neglect helped to spark a nationwide uprising in the final days of 2017, which continued through much of January 2018 and featured a number of slogans that conveyed popular endorsement for the ultimate goal of regime change.<\/p>\n

That uprising was eventually brought to heel by regime authorities following dozens of killings and thousands of arrests. But the underlying movement for change remained active, no doubt spurred onward by the symbolism of the regime\u2019s supreme leader acknowledging that the theocratic system was more vulnerable than he had previously been willing to admit. In a speech delivered at the height of the uprising, Ali Khamenei stated that the unrest had been fostered through months of effort by the MEK, which is the focus of much of the regime\u2019s boastful propaganda.<\/p>\n

In the aftermath of the January 2018 uprising<\/a>, the opposition leader Mrs. Maryam Rajavi urged the Iranians, particularly youths to turn the ensuing year into a \u201cyear full of uprisings.\u201d By all accounts, her appeal was well-received throughout the country, with scattered local protests taking place for months afterward and keeping the essential message of the initial uprising in regular circulation. The value of this movement was clarified for both domestic and international audiences in November 2019, when the regime announced gas price increases and residents of nearly 200 cities and towns responded by staging another uprising and revitalizing slogans like \u201cdeath to the dictator.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second nationwide uprising lasted barely more than a week before it, too, was forced underground by violent repression. In that case, the repression was much more extreme than it had been nearly two years ago. In various regions in November 2019<\/a>, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps opened fire on crowds of protesters, killing a total of about 1,500. Although protests erupted again across numerous provinces just two months later, the November crackdown was very indicative of the sociopolitical climate in which the first coronavirus outbreaks would occur.<\/p>\n

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Iran Protests: Nationwide Uprising in Iran- November 2019<\/div><\/div>
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