Americans ignore the protests in Iran.
Americans ignore the protests in Iran. The Guardian recently reported on the situation of the protests in Iran and examined the reason for the lack of attention from American officials and people towards these protests. According to The Guardian, the slogan ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ is considered inspiring by the protesters, but it states that many people in the United States are indifferent to these slogans.
More than two months have passed since the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the morality police for improper hijab. The official report stated the cause of Mahsa’s death as heart failure, but eyewitnesses and her family insist that signs of beating were visible on her body and that she suffered brain damage.
From that time, protests erupted across Iran, but the government also responded violently to the protesters, and more than 400 protesters were killed. An unknown number of journalists and demonstrators have been imprisoned or disappeared. Hundreds have been blinded by pellet bullets. Iranian national athletes like footballer Voria Ghafouri and climbing champion Elnaz Rekabi have been arrested for criticizing the government.
From the early days of the protests, the Revolutionary Guards targeted children. At least 58 Iranian children and teenagers have been killed, five of whom were killed in the past week. It seems the government intends to keep opponents at home and prevent them from taking to the streets by killing its children.
Despite all this, these events might be astonishing to an American citizen, but the media coverage of the Iranian people’s uprising is scattered, and one has to search for news about Iran or watch short clips from the people or follow them on websites like Human Rights Watch.
The Guardian goes on to refer to a New York Times report published on November 24 titled ‘The United States Enters a New Era of Direct Confrontation with Iran.’ The New York Times report clearly showed that this confrontation for Americans is more related to Iran’s nuclear program than to the protests.
In America, many demonstrations and protests were organized by Iranian artists and activists in exile, while American politicians remained silent.
In his September 21 speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Joe Biden briefly stated the United States’ position with the headline ‘Brave citizens and women are currently demonstrating to reclaim their fundamental rights’ and then continued with a lengthy speech about Ukraine. Putin also chose global hunger and our bold climate agenda as the topics of his speech at this assembly.
In fact, this assembly was dedicated to the Ukraine war. These reactions showed that there is little support for the popular protests in Iran, while economic, military, and political support for Ukraine is at the forefront of the news.
It is unlikely that widespread support for the Iranian people will form. Iranians also believe this, like the battle of David against Goliath. Ukraine is now a small and brave country fighting against foreign aggression, while we Americans should not interfere in the internal affairs of a nation because Iran has not been invaded by a foreign power, although its military attack on the Kurdish provinces is an undeniable aggression.
Perhaps it is worth considering that America prefers to distance itself from a regime that has called it the ‘Great Satan’ for decades. Maybe the United States is uncertain about the formation of a new Iran and prefers to continue dealing with an enemy it knows and has learned to play it safe with. Another reason for American silence may be the faint hope of nuclear negotiations with Iran.
It is said that Barack Obama regrets not supporting the 2009 protests in Iran. He cited his fear of accusations of CIA support for the protests as the reason for his lack of support, as this event and American interference have a history in the relations between the two countries. In 1953, the CIA devised plans to overthrow Iran’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and replaced him with the Shah of Iran and his repressive regime. The consequences of that support and interference can still be seen in the relations between the two countries.
Perhaps one reason for the muted American reaction to the Iranian struggle against the repressive religious government is partly because these protests are led by women.
Video clips from the early weeks of the protests showed brave women protesting against the mandatory hijab. They burned their headscarves and cut their hair.
The slogan of the protesters was ‘Woman, Life, Freedom,’ inspired by the Kurdish independence movement, but perhaps Iranian women overlook that when their slogan begins with ‘woman,’ they limit themselves to their gender. For example, Supreme Court judges or representatives in the United States, openly or secretly, believe that women’s rights are a minor subset of human rights.
This is why President Biden began his speech addressing brave citizens and women. A Washington Post article on September 27, written by Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad, also had the headline ‘When Will Western Feminists Help?’
In reality, why should feminists be the first to respond to this struggle when this struggle could include any Iranian and any human being regardless of their gender? It should concern human rights advocates worldwide. The hijab was just a symbol and an excuse, not the sole cause of the protest.
It should be noted that we could have a different description of the conflicts in Iran that might be more articulate. If this movement were not led by women, perhaps we would be less inclined to call the current situation an uprising, a mass protest, or even a revolution.
Iranians know better than us what can be done to help themselves. The least we can do is to be aware of what is happening and let the Iranian people know that they need to resist.