Protests in Iran, which began with the devaluation of the rial against foreign currencies and rising prices, initiated by shopkeepers in Tehran Bazaar and spreading across the country, continue into their eighth day. 

 

While no clear information is available on the number of people who have lost their lives in the protests that have spread from Karaj, Shiraz, Isfahan, Mashhad, Kerman and Kish to the whole country, the Hengaw Human Rights Organisation has released the identities of 17 people who have lost their lives and 132 people who have been detained. It is noted that the number of dead, injured and detained is much higher. 

 

Neda Naji was forced to leave Iran in 2023due to increased arrests and detentions on the anniversary of the death of Jina Amini, who was killed by Iranian regime forces. She shared the latest information she obtained from her sources in her country with the Mezopotamya Agency (MA).

 

Neda Naji stated that in order to analyse the starting point of the protests, it is necessary to look at Iranian bazaars, adding that although these bazaars are seen as the starting point of the bourgeoisie, they are not homogeneous in structure and it must be understood that they also include small traders, workers, apprentices and precarious labourers. Neda Naji said that these groups were directly affected by the economic crisis, adding, “That said, when examining the continuation of the protests and their demands, one cannot, and should not remain confined to the framework of economy and subsistence alone. Just as during the Jina uprising, where purely cultural or identity-based analyses without considering economic conditions and the mobilization of the lower classes proved insufficient, here too reducing the protests to “bread” and “livelihood” is equally reductionist. The economic crisis provides the context, but it is not sufficient as a full explanation. Even when protests emerge from material pressure, they inevitably become entangled with social, civic, and political struggles.”

 

MARGINALISATION OF ETHNIC REGIONS

 

She stated that this intermingling does not necessarily mean that the protest is progressive in terms of the rights of all groups, but rather that it is an attempt to make heard the voices of those who have long been excluded from the political arena, as in previous resistance movements. Neda Naji said that it is not possible to say that there is a common goal and a consistent political stance at this stage, assessing this heterogeneity as both the strength and weakness of the protests. Recalling that many people were killed by regime forces following the protests and that there were numerous reports of arrests both at universities and on the streets, Neda Naji stated that it was no coincidence that the protests were taking place in areas unfamiliar to the past, saying, “The fact that the names of unfamiliar cities appear in reports of these protests is not coincidental; it is the result of decades of structural exclusion of these citizens from full civic participation, uneven development, and the marginalization of peripheral and ethnic regions.” 

 

WOMEN IN THE PROTESTS

 

Referring to women's participation in the protests, Neda Naji noted that although the protests do not yet have a feminist dimension, women have rejoined the protests because their demands have not been met by the regime. Neda Naji stated, “Women, who experience economic and livelihood pressures in more complex and layered forms due to gendered oppression, remain part of the protesting body. The image of a woman leading chants in the bazaar is emblematic in this regard.”  

 

Assessing the chanting of "Reza Pahlavi" slogans during the protests, Neda Naji stated, “Nevertheless, presence alone does not equate to progressiveness. The circulation of slogans calling for the restoration of monarchy or the reassertion of royal authority indicates how far these protests remain from articulating a feminist and emancipatory horizon. This contradiction constitutes one of the central fractures of the current moment. It remains unclear whether these protests will develop into a coordinated, forward-looking, and emancipatory set of demands.” 

 

'THE ABSENCE OF AN ALTERNATIVE HAS PAVED THE WAY FOR NOSTALGIC POLITICS'

 

Neda Naji said that the fragmented and inconsistent current political atmosphere has made it easier for others to appropriate the voice of the people, adding: “On the one hand, the Islamic Republic has systematically blocked the emergence of any viable alternative through repression; on the other hand, right-wing opposition and monarchist forces, backed by Western colonial support and discourse, have filled the space with noise and spectacle. The absence of a political alternative has opened the field to nostalgic politics? a form of politics that feeds not on social power, but on a political vacuum.”

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF ORGANISATION 

 

Neda Naji stressed that leftist feminist and radical forces lack effective organisational capacity due to their fragmentation and structural weaknesses: “For progressive forces and militants who take class analysis seriously, what is unfolding is a multi-front struggle, simultaneously against authoritarianism, class inequality, gender oppression, and structural exclusion. This moment underscores, more sharply than ever, the urgent need for sustained organizational work, durable structures, and conscious political intervention at historical turning points. Without this, even the most widespread protests remain vulnerable to exhaustion, deviation, or appropriation.”

 

MA / Hivda Celebi