The Iran Protests No One Is Covering
(Worthy News) – For months, the Iranian people have taken to the streets to protest against their government, a cruel and oppressive Islamist theocracy that claims a monopoly on morality. These are not just demonstrations about economic struggles and water shortages—results largely of the regime’s corruption and incompetence. The popular protests also show a growing rejection of the Islamic Republic’s brutal rule, and even its existence altogether. Unrest continues to spread throughout the country, with Iranians getting bolder and angrier. The potential consequences for Iran and the Middle East could be transformational. Yet the media have completely ignored these recent developments, to the point that only someone following certain Iran watchers and Iranian activists on Twitter can even know of their existence.
The casual news consumer became well aware of the anti-government protests that broke out in Iran on Dec. 28. What appeared to start as demonstrations focused on the regime’s economic policies quickly became aimed at the government itself, with frustrated Iranians across the country—including working-class citizens from peripheral provinces, the regime’s supposed base of support—calling for an end to the ayatollahs’ rule. The protests prompted countless op-eds and news stories. But the momentum supposedly fizzled out after about two weeks, and the protests were quickly forgotten. Even the careful news watcher would be excused for thinking the regime succeeded in suppressing the protests and restoring “order.”
That’s not what happened, however. “A careful review of the evidence clearly indicates that the protests were not a short-lived phenomenon with temporary impact,” notes Prof. Ivan Sascha Sheehan, the incoming executive director of the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Baltimore. “Rather, they marked a turning point and permanent change in the trend of events and political calculations in Iran.” [ Source: Washington Free Beacon (Read More…) ]