Hollow promises
Iran’s Islamic Revolution shook the world in 1979, with tides that continue to be felt today. Decades later, on the eve of the revolution’s 43rd anniversary, the effects of this watershed event are worth remembering.
In the early days of the 1979 revolution, the mullahs opposed anything they perceived as “Western”. Freedom of expression and speech was one of the earliest victims of the mullah’s black reign.
Indeed the slew of lofty promises such as “freedom,” “free education,” “sharing Iran’s oil profit with civilians” “free electricity” and “women’s rights” made by the founder of the Islamic Republic, Rohollah Khomeini, did not even have the chance to see the light of the day. In a matter of months, all these promises proved to be lies. Not only are electricity and water not free, but many people, suffering from poverty, cannot afford to pay their bills. Today, gas has replaced oil as the household fuel, but it is expensive, and people limit their usage even during bone-chilling winters.
Mullah’s state, a system of colossal disarrays
Within weeks after Iran’s 1979 revolution, Khomeini began his assault on minorities, the political opposition, and women’s rights. Everyone had hoped that the revolution would provide a chance for different political organizations to articulate their vision for a new Iran. The clergies hijacked the revolution and deceived many people. The women of Iran, in particular, became the target of an array of limitations. By 1981, it became compulsory for all women in Iran above the age of 9 to wear the veil. Other changes also followed: gender segregation in the workplace, schools, beaches, and sporting events. And a slew of new laws governing divorce, child custody, inheritance, citizenship, and retribution, all tipping the scales against women.
Censorship has been imposed on all publications, social media, and the Internet. Most social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Telegram are banned in Iran. Iran ranks 173rd out of 180 countries in press freedom.
Over the past 43 years, Iran’s currency has lost most of its value. Before the revolution, one USD was equal to 7 tomans. However, a couple of months ago, the toman reached an all-time low of 30,000 tomans to the dollar. Due to Iran’s crumbling economy, the fluctuations have a direct effect on the price of everyday commodities. Food price inflation has reached more than 45% and impoverished Iranians have even resorted to buying bread in installments.
In the past 43 years, many large and small factories have gone bankrupt due to government mismanagement, lack of support for domestic products, and the import of similar goods at the government foreign exchange rate. The government’s foreign exchange rate is much lower than the open market rate and provides huge profits for importers, who are mostly regime elites.
Due to the current political, social, and economic situation, thousands of Iranians emigrate every year in hopes of a better life. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), between 150,000 and 180,000 educated Iranians leave Iran each year. Iran ranks number one out of 91 undeveloped countries in the world in terms of brain drain.
At present, Iranians have so many problems to deal with on a daily basis, from feeding their families to paying the rent and bills. It is nothing short of a travesty that the people of a country, which has the world’s second-largest gas reserves and the world’s third-largest oil reserves, should suffer from poverty.
Today, Tehran is one of the most polluted cities in the world, but the other big cities like the central city of Isfahan, the southwestern city of Ahvaz, the northwestern city of Hamadan, and Arak also in central Iran are not doing any better.
Iran has an abysmal human rights record, and the outlook remains dire. The Iranian regime continues to violate the human rights of its own people, frequently targeting political and civil society activists as well as religious and ethnic minorities. The regime’s legal systems fall woefully short of providing due process and foreign, and dual nationals are regularly targeted for arbitrary detention.
Iran has been rocked by a series of developments in recent years, from mass protests over raised fuel prices to the killing of powerful Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani. Over this period, protesters returned to the streets, spurred by the military’s “mistaken” downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet. As in past protests, like 2009, the government has met demonstrators with a draconian and violent response killing more than 1,500 in the 2019 fuel protests.
Iran’s nuclear program has become one of the world’s most controversial issues, and it is widely viewed as a matter of global security, a program that has cost the country billions of dollars.
Light at the end of the tunnel
In the eyes of the people of Iran and the world, Iran’s mullahs represent poverty, corruption, suppression, high inflation and unemployment, terrorism, public hangings, and flogging. Iran’s civil society is moving in the direction of becoming strong enough to rid Iran and the world of the religious regime and everyday protests in the country are becoming stronger and larger than before.
Source » irannewswire