Thousands of ordinary Iranian citizens have risked their lives since September protesting their regime’s cruelty and incompetence after the death of a young woman in the custody of the hated “morality police.” Security forces have killed hundreds in the streets in an effort to crush the demonstrations. Mahsa Amini, 22, died after police nabbed her for not wearing her hijab, or head scarf, the way Iran’s clerical rulers have prescribed for all women.
The protests are said to be the biggest challenge to the ayatollahs’ authority since the 1979 revolution. But it is not clear the popular discontent that has boiled into righteous rage will compel the Islamic regime to embrace fundamental change.
In this episode, historian John Ghazvinian talks about why the Islamic Republic has been able to endure despite the government’s massive unpopularity and international isolation.
“The Islamic Republic has faced quite a few challenges since its creation 1979. This is certainly one of the most significant. I think it is fair to say that the Islamic Republic … has never been so unpopular… I think there is a level of frustration and outrage and even desperation among the young that is difficult to know what to do with,” said Mr. Ghazvinian, the executive director of the Middle East Center at the University of Pennsylvania and author of “America and Iran: A History, 1720 to Present.”
However, Mr. Ghazvinian contends the regime is not on the imminent verge of collapse, despite all its problems, and that the ayatollahs retain adequate support among state security forces to order a bloody crackdown on the demonstrations.
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“But I do think in the medium- to long-term there are structural challenges here that it needs to figure out how to deal with,” he said.
Listen to the full interview with Mr. Ghazvinian about the protests in Iran by downloading this episode of History As It Happens, available wherever you get your podcasts.
