Iranians are protesting across the country, calling for the regime to be overthrown
People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK) and the threat that it poses to the Iranian regime.
Protests over any given issue in the Islamic Republic of Iran are practically guaranteed to turn into expressions of popular desire for regime change if they last long enough, have a sufficiently broad geographic reach, or are otherwise emboldened.
Popular desire for regime change
We’ve seen this several times since the end of 2017 when a protest in Mashhad began with a focus on worsening economic conditions but quickly spread to more than 100 other cities and took on the provocative, anti-government message expressed in slogans like “death to the dictator.”
Over the last five years, those slogans have been repeated in as many as ten nationwide uprisings, as well as countless smaller-scale protests. In November 2019, a sudden increase in government-set gasoline prices sparked spontaneous demonstrations in nearly 200 cities and towns, making economic distress the primary motivator once again.
#Iran is on the brink of change, and women play a major role in the current uprising against this misogynist regime that denies women’s basic rights#IranRevolution2022 pic.twitter.com/yAYaiwMNne
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) October 18, 2022
Enforcement of mandatory hijab laws
Last month, the latest uprising erupted not from economic protests, but from the funeral of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who was killed by Tehran’s “morality police.” Mahsa fell into a coma on September 13 after being taken away for re-education because she was “mal-veiled.”
The ensuing protests, predictably, demanded accountability for Ms. Amini’s death while also condemning the underlying enforcement of mandatory hijab laws, which has increased in the last year under the leadership of ultra-hardliner President Ebrahim Raisi. It didn’t take long for the now-familiar chants of “death to the dictator” to be heard in every major Iranian city and district of the capital Tehran, including those that were once considered strongholds of clerical leadership support.
It feels threatened by women, so it is mobilizing all of its resources to put an end to this motivation behind the protests. The women’s hijab is also being used as a pretext.
The start of the 2nd month of protests
Last weekend marked the start of the 2nd month of protests, and the message of support for regime change has only grown stronger over that time. Teenage girls in high school classrooms have recently taken videos of themselves defacing images of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his predecessor, the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ruhollah Khomeini.
Death to the dictator chants has been accompanied by slogans such as “we do not want the Islamic Republic” and “death to oppressors, whether the Shah or the Leader (Khamenei).”
With their strikes oil & petrochemical workers in Mahshahr, Asaluyeh, Abadan,Kangan, Bandar Abbas & Haft Tapeh Sugarcane factory joined the nationwide #Iranprotests,showing the legitimate demands of the Iranian people will only be realized via the overthrow of the clerical regime pic.twitter.com/TijCjwQqE4
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) October 18, 2022
Strikes by Iran’s oil industry
This week, strikes were organized in Iran’s oil industry to express solidarity with the uprising and put pressure on security forces to stop their violent repression. According to the intelligence network maintained by the country’s leading pro-democracy opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK), this repression has killed over 400 people so far.
That organization has been critical in informing the international community about what is going on inside the Islamic Republic, particularly in light of Tehran’s efforts to cut off internet access and isolate Iranian activists from one another and the rest of the world.
With their strikes oil & petrochemical workers in Mahshahr, Asaluyeh, Abadan,Kangan, Bandar Abbas & Haft Tapeh Sugarcane factory joined the nationwide #Iranprotests,showing the legitimate demands of the Iranian people will only be realized via the overthrow of the clerical regime pic.twitter.com/TijCjwQqE4
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) October 18, 2022
Resistance Units activities
The group’s “Resistance Units” have long promoted the cause of regime change through graffiti and public banners, and in the run-up to the current uprising, they developed tactics such as hijacking public address systems and state media broadcasts to take action in support of Khamenei’s ouster.
In this context, foreign observers should find it increasingly difficult to dismiss the possibility of a new revolution and the long-desired transition away from the clerical rule and toward the true democracy that most Iranians have supported since the days of the Shah. Western democracies, for their part, should publicly recognize the Iranian people’s right to defend themselves using any means available and to overthrow the ruling theocracy.
The Resistance Units and supporters of the MEK activities were carried out in different parts of the country.
MEK Iran (follow us on Twitter and Facebook), Maryam Rajavi’s on her site, Twitter & Facebook, NCRI (Twitter & Facebook), and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTub
Tags: Iran Opposition, Iran Protests, Iran Uprising, MEK, People's Mojahedin organization of Iran