Anti-Hijab Protests in Iran-Is it a reawakening ?
Earlier this week, Iran's court said it would undertake public hearings for up to 1,000 persons imprisoned during the anti-hijab rallies in Tehran and over a thousand more outside the city. The decision comes as international worry grows about Iran's violent reaction to the protesters. Protests erupted across Iran in September following the murder of Mahsa Amini after the country's divisive morality police arrested her.
On September 16, 2022, this 22-year-old Iranian woman was slain in the Guidance Patrol custody in Tehran due to police violence. Many people throughout the globe were outraged by Amini's killing, which became a symbol of violence against women under the Islamic Republic of Iran and triggered a wave of anti-hijab rallies across the nation. Soon after this, Nika Shakarami, a 16-year-old Iranian teenager, went missing in Tehran on September 20, 2022, during the 2022 Iranian demonstrations. Her death was announced to her family ten days later. She died under questionable circumstances, maybe as a result of security forces' assault. Many female protesters have proudly removed their hijabs and torched them in bonfires. Some have also chopped their hair symbolically in protest. Protests in Iran persisted even as officials advised demonstrators that it was time to leave the streets. According to videos widely posted on social media, the demonstrations show no signs of abating. According to the most recent Human Rights Watch report, 201 individuals have died thus far; the majority of them were women, including minors, and men who joined the protests out of compassion.
ANTI-HIJAB PROTESTS
Women-led protests have mobilized a broad swath of Iranian society to stand up in one of the most major political events witnessed by the Islamic Republic since its inception in 1979. The killing of Amini sparked these demonstrations. However, these protests are a sequence of developments that had been taking place in Iran for decades, leaving the hard-line regime more out of sync with the needs of the public. The veil's politicization began even before the Islamic Republic's statute mandating it, with an earlier regulation barring women from wearing it in public. In an effort to Westernize Iran, Reza Shah Pahlavi, the father of the shah toppled in the 1979 revolution, prohibited women from wearing the veil, or hijab, in public in 1936. Women who wore the veil in public risked having it pulled from their heads, ultimately relegating many devout women and those from orthodox families to their homes. That law was so controversial that it was only in effect for a few years. But it was enough to establish the hijab as a symbol of religious identity and national identity struggles.
Following the revolution, the hijab reclaimed centre stage in Iranian politics, this time as a symbol of the new government's Islamic character. Unveiled ladies had signified the shah's regime's secular and western nature. Veiled women would now represent the new, post-revolutionary Islamic Republic's Islamic national character. It is vital to remember that forced veiling was unpopular with many Iranian women from the start. Women marched against obligatory headscarf legislation in one of the first big post-revolution rallies. It was years later, when the Iran-Iraq war had allowed Tehran's administration to cement internal authority in the face of an external enemy; those new modesty regulations were implemented entirely. Black-clad personifications of state authority became conspicuous symbols of the government's level of control over society.
POLITICS AROUND HIJAB
The Islamic Republic has treated the concept of hijab, the Islamic clothing code for women, with extreme seriousness and as a burning issue with no end date since its founding in 1979. The Iranian parliament made wearing a headscarf legally required in 1983, and punishment of up to 74 lashes was imposed on women who were found without wearing religious attire in public areas. The statute was eventually revised to impose a monetary fine as well as a jail sentence on violators. Since then, these rules have been strictly enforced. According to the authorities, there is no statute of equal significance in the Islamic Republic's whole legislative universe.
There have been times in the Islamic Republic's history when hijab compliance has temporarily ceased to be one of the government's key internal issues. During the reformist President Mohammad Khatami's tenure from 1997 to 2005, the government and state-run media were less likely to lecture about the necessity of compulsory hijab, and constraints were less severe, with less intrusive enforcement mechanisms and more leeway for women to make decisions about their appearance. However, even throughout that time, the compulsory hijab remained a dogma. The only advantage was that young ladies had discovered methods to dress in more colourful, fashionable outfits within the confines of what was permitted.
With the election of Ebrahim Raisi as Iran's president in 2021, a new rhetoric emerged, marking a rare iteration of the government's approach to societal Islamization. But, not long after Raisi's inauguration, the concerns became true, and Iran's new president chose to begin his presidency with a multi-pronged effort to relegate Iranian women's rights to the 1980s. The Initiative for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, a religious entity tasked with promoting what the authorities believe is the ideal Islamic lifestyle and which was primarily a fringe, marginalized institution during the Rouhani administration, has been given a new lease on life and a budget of 1,180 billion rials for the fiscal year 2022-23. The initiative, comprised of the most conservative parts of the administration, began cranking out laws one after the other on how women should dress in government workplaces and other public areas. In July, the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, a strong multiagency coordinating organization, issued an edict informing at least 26 executive entities that the "hijab and chastity" bylaw, initially suggested in 2006, should be completely enforced. This would entail the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting and the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance creating round-the-clock awareness on the importance of hijab, as well as the security apparatus mobilizing resources to increase patrols, arrests, and fines. The rule, as written, was nothing new, but it was intended to tighten the noose around women by increasing dress regulations and involving more government agencies in pro-hijab brainwashing.
Excessive expenditure on hijab rabble-rousing and stricter rules have failed, much to the dismay of Raisi and his orthodox allies, illustrating once again that fundamentalism in whatever form causes disasters. Now, the entire country is in disarray, and an increasing number of young men and women are becoming hostile to the teachings of a religion that was never intended to be preached by coercion. With a plainly blown out of hand scenario, what was intended to be the Raisi administration's trump card has become his vulnerable underbelly.
ANALYSIS
In Iran, there is now a clash between democracy and Islamic conservatism. The debate is about whether Islamic law should be imposed with firearms, which contradicts the broad desire of the people. The fact is that protesters in Tehran and other Iranian cities did not exclusively chant anti-veil slogans. Other slogans called for the dictatorship to be overthrown. There were anti-Iranian Supreme Leader and government chants. Thousands of men joined these protests, despite women being in the lead. That says a lot and may be interpreted as a criticism of the administration's performance. The Islamic authorities in Tehran cannot prevent the Iranian Diaspora's influence on the home population. After all, their connection cannot fail anytime soon. This fusion of the two Iranian populations poses a huge danger to the Islamic system. The only option to save the regime is to present a contemporary and futuristic vision for changing the orthodoxy's socioeconomic and political direction. The news of Iran's flagrant violation of women's rights and harsh suppression of protesters in numerous Iranian towns, resulting in many deaths and injuries, has startled the free world, particularly European nations. These countries were working together to tackle Iran's contentious nuclear problem. Some have explicitly stated their opposition to placing sanctions on Iran. However, because of the persecution of women, Iran is likely to lose its support, at least as long as Iran does not rein in rogue morality force officers and implement changes that safeguard women's rights. A divided home invites its adversary. Iran is at odds with the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. While these three countries are working to establish a common platform for dealing with regional and global issues, Iran remains mired in nuclear obsession, anti-Israel and anti-American rhetoric, and, most, unfortunately, the belief that issues can only be solved through the power of the gun, whether in Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, or Palestine.
CONCLUSION
Three major distinctions differentiate the current round of demonstrations from prior ones. The first is women's major role in spearheading the drive for change. The second distinction is the present demonstrations' really general character, which is not restricted to the middle class or university educated. While the working class has been engaged in anti-government rallies in recent years, today's demonstrations are supported by notable celebrities, athletes, artists, and even affluent businessmen. Finally, and probably most crucially, for the first time in its existence, the dictatorship came dangerously close to losing control of the city, Oshnavieh. Protests are not limited to major cities; smaller towns have become important protest centres. In a nutshell, even though these protests are not new, they are different this time.
The hijab is a personal religious choice taken by women all over the world. However, it has become a symbol of tyranny and marginalization in Iran. The recent rejection of the hijab by Iranian demonstrators does not imply a rejection of Islam or Islamic ideals. Rather, it expresses the rage and despair of individuals, particularly women, who have been denied fundamental freedom of choice for decades. Iran is at a historical crossroads. The success of Iranian women in removing the veil will serve as a model for women throughout the Muslim world to raise their heads and push regimes to relinquish their constitutional and human rights.
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Pic Courtsey-Mostafa Meraji at unsplash.com
(The views expressed are those of the author and do not represent views of CESCUBE.)
