Persistent protests put survival of Iran’s theocratic regime in question

Following a month of nationwide protests, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran’s notorious morality police, there is growing belief that the militant clerical regime, in place since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, is living on borrowed time.

Amini’s death on Sept. 16 ignited a tinderbox of pent-up frustrations in Iran over falling living standards and discrimination against women and ethnic minorities, leading to the biggest wave of mass protests since the Green Movement of 2009.

MAHSA AMINI, ERICA CHENOWETH, IRAN, ROHAM ALVANDI, LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS, IRANIAN REVOLUTIONS, SANAM VAKIL, ALI LARIJANI, IRAN'S HIJAB UPRISING

A month on, the unrest has persisted, spreading to at least 80 cities despite a “ruthless” crackdown that has left more than 200 dead.

Such is the scale, fury and determination of the protests there are now many Iran watchers and scholars of social movements beginning to talk openly about the possibility of regime change.

It certainly would not be unprecedented for a nonviolent protest movement of this scale to succeed. According to research by Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard University, nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed in this vein as armed conflicts.

Read More : https://www.arabnews.com/node/2184406/middle-east

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‘I’m just not afraid’: Lynda Carter on her online activism and Wonder Woman

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