Starting in 2021, Iran’s government has been imposing water shortages and rolling power outages. As these events continued, protests eventually broke out in July 2021. The more time went on, the more violent and brutal consequences were set in place for the protesters and rioters. Finally, on September 16th, 2021, 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was killed by the country’s mortality police force that was set in place by the government. The morality police force are in charge of arresting anyone who violates the Iranian dress code. Amini had been arrested for wearing skinny jeans and her hijab incorrectly. Iran and their police claim she died of an “underlying illness” when in reality, Amini had been beaten to death. 

This outrageous event was the spark to thousands of Iranian women and men to protest common rights and stop the injustice that their government is enforcing upon them. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder, the people of Iran, regardless of different ethnicities, united together in strength and force in peaceful and nonviolent protests. Since then there have been various demonstrations of backlash against the Iranian government including when their soccer team stayed silent during their national anthem at the World Cup in Qatar. People from around the world, like Stockholm and Athens, have cut off locks of their hair as a symbol of solidarity with the struggle that the women in Iran face. 

The struggles that people like Mahsa Amini continue to face are barbaric and despicable. When hearing about these events around the world, whether it’s Iran or any other country, it is our job to educate ourselves on the matter and find ways to testify against the injustices. By taking part in protests and spreading truthful information regarding the matter, we are saying that what is happening is not okay and something needs to be changed. If we sit back and allow ourselves to be bystanders, we are doing as much damage to our brothers and sisters around the globe as the Iranian police force is doing to their own people. As Iranian scholar and researcher Hamid Hassani once said, “We have crossed the threshold of revolution.”. 

Citations

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021%E2%80%932022_Iranian_protests#:~:text=An%20ongoing%20series%20of%20protests,of%20Iran’s%20mandatory%20hijab%20law%20%E2%80%94 

• https://www.euronews.com/2022/11/25/iran-protests-what-caused-them-who-is-generation-z-will-the-unrest-lead-to-revolution