In Iran tens of thousands have taken to the streets in a massive countrywide uprising.
Dozens have been killed and hundreds arrested.
Most demonstrations in
Iran historically have started in the capital, organized by educated upper
middle class and politically active citizens. The protests then spread
outward from there, but the most recent demonstrations started in the east of
the country, far from Tehran. They then spread to the rest of the country within days.
And they were started by working middle-class Iranians, without a leader
or a set agenda. And the match that lit this fire was something that may
surprise you: the price of eggs.
Iran was recently hit
with an outbreak of the bird flu, which required them to kill off some
17 million chickens. This shortage caused egg prices to nearly double.
Egg prices helped spark the uprising, but what Iranians are really protesting here is a
series of broken promises by their President, Hassan Rouhani.
When Rouhani came into the presidency in 2013, he pledged to revitalize the economy. He took the first
steps towards doing this in July 2015, when Iran reached a deal to
significantly curb its nuclear program. In exchange, the West lifted
international economic sanctions that had hampered Iran's economy for decades.
For a lot of Iranians, this symbolized that Iran was opening up to the world
and it was a reason to celebrate. So by the end of Rouhani's first term, he had
achieved some economic success. His policies had brought down the inflation
rate and boosted economic growth, but unemployment and inequality remained
high and foreign investments still remained low. For the working poor Rouhani's
policies made little difference. So when Rouhani was back up for election
in May 2017, he vowed to voters that he would make
tangible changes to the economy within the first hundred days of his new term.
He won the election, but the first hundred days came
and went with no real tangible economic results.
I as an Iranian, am frustrated
that government has so many unkept promises, to tackle so many problems like
unemployment, recession, inflation, and social freedom.
Then in December, Rouhani
published his proposal for his 2018 budget.
The proposal included plans to
give billions of dollars to organizations that make up the hardline
religious establishment in Iran. The budget also proposed cutting cash
subsidies to millions of citizens, raising the fuel prices, and privatizing
public schools. Paired with the rising prices of eggs and other food staples,
people around the country, especially the poor and working-class, felt betrayed.
Protests erupted, quickly turning violent.
These protesters have no leader, no set agenda. They're not driven by political
organizers in the capital, but by poor citizens and villages in rural towns.
Iran has a history of massive street protests transforming its society.
In fact, the current Islamic Republic of Iran was born by street protests just like this.
These demonstrations began because of the slow economy and the
price of eggs, but they quickly have morphed into calls for reform and revolution.