Three Northwestern professors talked about the recent protests in Iran in response to government restrictions during a Thursday panel discussion, hosted by Middle East and North African Studies in Kresge Hall.
SESP Prof. Shirin Vossoughi started the discussion by contextualizing the protests in Iran. She said the demonstrations began Dec. 28, triggered by the “rapid decline” of Iranian currency, rising inflation and a strike led by shopkeepers working at Tehran’s Grand Bazaar.
The government’s crackdown on the demonstrations has resulted in thousands of casualties, according to the Human Rights Watch.
In her opening remarks, Vossoughi emphasized the sensitivity of the conversation.
“I want to recognize the tremendous stress and emotional weight that many Iranians are under,” Vossoughi said. “For those in the weight of these ongoing histories, we are interested in coming together for collective reflection and to move forward with dialogue, compassion and care.”
She said the demonstrations have spread to over 100 cities, and that protesters’ demands have expanded to include calls for the end of the Islamic Republic.
“On January 8, the protests multiplied in size and scope,” Vossoughi said. “So, the government cut off access to internet and communications and proceeded to engage in a brutal and lethal scale of repression.”
Colloquium for Global Iran Studies Co-Director and global health studies Prof. Elham Hoominfar said Iran has experienced waves of social protests for many years, revealing a structural crisis in the country.
She said these protests are not sudden actions — they are a response to historical political and economic problems, which have grown over time with social issues like gender-based violence. The regime that grew out of these long-standing issues, Hoominfar said, “rules its people with violence,” and she described the moment in Iran as a “class war.”
“What we are seeing is a deep social revolt against a system that has stripped people of their dignity, livelihoods and control over their future,” Hoominfar said. “So, since the late 1980s, Iran has gone through economic restructuring under an authoritarian state.”
Hoominfar also said Iran faces a serious environmental crisis. She said this crisis is caused by private corporations over natural resources and neoliberal policies. She added that the government represses any public protests against this environmental crisis.
She said the government has filtered or completely shut down the internet and that digital restrictions have increased during the recent protests.
“Any request for peaceful protests related to this serious crisis in Iran are suppressed by the government — even environmental activists are not allowed to organize themselves,” Hoominfar said. “So, these are the main reasons for social protests.”
Anthropology and MENA studies Prof. Emrah Yildiz said the U.S.-imposed economic sanctions brought more instability to the country, resulting in the widespread protests in Iran.
He said while sanctions aim to pressure the Iranian government, they often also harm the country’s population.
“Economic sanctions, by design, are meant to hurt and cripple people,” Yildiz said. “And not just the targeted regime, but also the people who happen to be the population under that targeted regime.”
While Yildiz said sanctions are supposed to be temporary, the U.S. has been imposing them on Iran for the past six decades.
He said as a result, Iran is unable to hold transactions in the international banking system. He added that this has stalled the economy and is essentially “the catalyst” behind what he described as a “cascading crisis.”
“Sanctions alone don’t cause corruption, but in Iran, they have used sanctions as an excuse for repression, secrecy and the removal of oversight, turning corruption into a system of governance,” Hoominfar said. “So, I believe this is a structural and internal reason for this protest.”
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly attributed a quote and misquoted Emrah Yildiz. The Daily regrets these errors.
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