Iran

By Tony Walker, La Trobe University | – As protests in Iran drag on into their fourth week over the violent death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish woman, there are two central questions. The first is whether these protests involving women and girls across Iran are different from upheavals in the past, […]

Featured

To Deal with Saudi Arabia, Biden should Fast-Track both Iran Deal and the Greening of Transportation

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Reuters reports that the Biden White House is upset with Saudi Arabia over the recent OPEC+ decision to cut the output of the 21 nations grouped in the bloc by 2 million barrels a day. President Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview Tuesday, “there will be consequences” for […]

Authoritarianism

Headcovers have always been Political in Iran – for Women on all Sides

The Conversation

By Eliz Sanasarian, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences | – A friend and I were strolling through Tehran’s streets one afternoon when she was approached by a member of the “morality police,” an agency tasked with enforcing modesty laws in public. First, the policewoman warned her to cover her hair by pulling […]

Authoritarianism

Iran: In Widening of Social Base of Protests, Oil Workers go on Strike in Support of Youth Demonstrators

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The student protests continued in Iran on Monday, as youth rallied at the University of Shiraz and at several campuses in the capital of Shiraz. They pledged to multiply their movement every time another youth was killed. Nearly 200 people have died because of the repression of the protests according […]

Authoritarianism

Iran: the hijab protests are now Massive, but a Revolution will need the Military to change Sides

The Conversation

By Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, SOAS, University of London | – More than three weeks after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Ahmini for disobeying Iran’s strict laws, which make it compulsory for women to wear the hijab – or Islamic headscarf – protests continue to rage on the streets of all major cities. On Saturday, protesters even […]

Authoritarianism

Iran: Women Students Brand Regime Paramilitary “ISIL” as Protests Continue, with at least 185 Dead

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Dubai’s Al-Arabiya reports that on Sunday evening angry nighttime demonstrations broke out in numerous Iranian cities, as the wave of protests entered its fourth week. Videos posted to social media showed nighttime protests in the capital, Tehran, the Kudish cities of Sandandaj and Mahabad, and Zanjan. Several of the videos […]

Authoritarianism

Laws on Veiling in Iran over the Decades: the continuing Battle for Reform

The Conversation

By Sahar Maranlou, University of Essex | – Protests have quickly spread across Iran calling for a change in the law after the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, in the custody of the morality police. The young woman was accused of violating rules on wearing hijab in public. The term hijab is an […]

Authoritarianism

Iran: ‘Hijab’ protests challenge legitimacy of Islamic Republic

The Conversation

By Scott Lucas, University College Dublin | – (The Conversation) – Three weeks after the violent death of 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini at the hands of Iran’s morality police for the crime of wearing her hijab improperly, protests continue to rage across the country. These demonstrations defy both repression by security forces in […]

Feminism

Women in Turkey, Including Turkish Kurds, stand in solidarity with Women of Iran

Global Voices

By Arzu Geybullayeva | – From video campaigns circulating on social media to street protests and singers cutting their hair on stage — women from all walks of life in Turkey have expressed solidarity with the ongoing protests in Iran. In a country where women’s rights keep deteriorating, the murder of Mahsa Amini hits close […]