Diaries Of Iranian Revolution: Week of 18–25 Dec

It is Yalda in Iran. The longest and darkest night of the year. As a nation, we are going through the dark night of the soul as well, until we wake up to our greater potential. Welcome to another chapter of the Iranian Revolution Diaries.

This year Iranians celebrated Yalda by holding candles in memory of the dead and detained. Thousands gathered in cemeteries of different cities throwing yalda feasts on the graves of martyrs. Outside Evin Prison, hundreds gathered holding candles for their loved ones and national heroes while volunteers catered food and beverages for them.

Iranians around the world also held public ceremonies in solidarity with their fellow citizens in Iran with hopes for the victory of light over darkness.

We are putting the 15th week of the revolution behind us, as a sense of anticipation consumes all.

This week anonymous dissident groups made calls through social media to mobilize the Iranian public for a 3-day long feat of strikes, street protests, and civil disobedience campaigns. And we were all restless to see how people’s power measures up to the regime’s brutality.

Every day we wake up with a nagging voice at the back of our heads, as if we need to attend to an unfinished business before going on about our daily lives. During designated days for campaigns, the nagging voice becomes a demanding scream.

As part of a leaderless revolutionary movement, I feel many rely more on collective wisdom than direct calls by self-proclaimed reference groups or influencers -if any. A road map for future actions is driven by the information we carefully fish in social media, or by cross-examining statements, news, analysis and other forms of data gained through programmes of foreign-based Farsi language media channels. Even simple people have become experts in identifying disinformation and misinformation, spread by the government and their public opinion management strategies. We educate each other about mind traps and deceptive politics on social media platforms, mainly through sharing posts by Iranian intelligencia.

Students, blue-coloured workers, and doctors, were expected to strike this week but even participants didn’t know which ones would be able to successfully execute the plan. Students wake up every day to go to the campus and the ones that find conditions less risky will go on strikes or demonstrations. The same goes for rallies on the streets, labour syndicates protests, and union demonstrations. Usually, certain locations in different cities are designated for protests but more often we see unrest take place somewhere else where there are fewer security forces.

Like a flock of blindfolded inmates, we follow each other while we can only see as far as our next step.

This week workers of Jiroft local copper company, Workers of the Qeshm Island oil terminal, and workers of a trans formator company at Shahre Jadid Parand went on strike. Residents at the Rasool Akram Hospital and the University of Medical Sciences in Tehran protested unpaid wages while students of Isfahan University and the Islamic Azad University of Rasht were also among those boycotting their classes. Workers in the oil and gas and petrochemical industry in the cities of Assaluyeh, Mahshar, Gachsaran, Bandar Abbas, and Pars were already on scheduled strikes.

Fighting as a part of a leaderless pack means there’s no strategy. it resembles a nomadic lifestyle to me. Just improvising as we go on, being on watch all the time, waiting for an opportunity to strike, using discernment and instinct to outsmart the enemy, and camouflage when in danger.

It is argued that the absence of a leader is probably the biggest weakness of the Iranian revolution. this situation stems from our historic wounds. As soon as the issue of leadership is raised the movement becomes paralyzed and dysfunctional as the idea of having another revolution highjacked is too much to bear for us.

During the Islamic revolution, a variety of political groups including Mujahedin, the Tudeh Party of Iran; the Organization of Iranian People’s Fedai Guerrillas and so many others fought together against the Shah of Iran. When the monarchy was toppled, Islamists highjacked the revolution and left their former comrades to death squads.

Khomeini as the leader of the Islamists had the particular support of Britain. He gained a footing as BBC played an important role in promoting him as a charismatic leader. Cassettes of his sermons and leaflets of his teachings were produced in Britain while he was in exile in the suburbs in France. And unknown countries provided artillery for two armed organizations under his supervision.

For the past 40 years, the Islamic regime has broken off all grassroots organizations ranging from political parties to humanitarian and environmental communities and impeded forming of new ones. Prominent dissidents and activists are either exiled, jailed, or worse murdered.

Foreign-based alternatives don’t have much legitimacy due to their affiliations with foreign governments.

Political activists, influencers, and members of political parties have so far failed to form an alliance or a coalition to form a leadership committee to unite groups of various ethnicity and political orientations under one umbrella. Although it seems efforts are starting to be made as several activists of opposing views started following each other on Twitter this week including Reza Pahlavi, Masih Alinejad, Ali Karimi, and Hossein Ronaghi..

This week, a new organization was established by a few activists abroad. The “people foundation” runs polls on various topics to provide a clearer picture of the socio-political conditions to help Iranian people “practice democracy”. “Gamaan” institution serves the same purpose and is way better established but is affiliated with foreign governments which taints its legitimacy. Moreover, a couple of influencers on Instagram also came together to form “National Unity Working Party”.

It is safe to say this we started taking first steps for a better organised and more united social activism.

It is in this climate that we strive for indigenous leadership and for building civil society in the virtual world to transform our reality. I will update you on how we get on next week.

Thank you for joining me and please do come back to hear more about the revolution in Iran next Sunday.