Several Iranian newspapers warned over the weekend that Iranians, fed up with poverty, would soon take to the streets across Iran to protest against the regime.
If the match is lit, putting out the fire will be hard
Speaking to Setare-ye Sobh Daily, Amanollah Qaraie Moghadam, a sociologist and university professor said that “young people in Iran had lost their patience” and were “waiting for a chance to take to the streets”.
“Just a few weeks ago, social media users used the hashtag do not execute 12 million times in reaction to the execution sentence for three young protesters. We have to find a solution for the youth or else unfortunately, there will be danger,” he said.
“If the match is lit, putting out the fire will be very difficult,” the regime-affiliated sociologist added.
“The movement will start from the impoverished parts of the cities… The community is distressed and might rise at any moment… In 2017 and 2019, around 80 to 100 cities and villages, rose. Such a nationwide uprising is predicted today as well,” he said.
Moghadam said that Iran had 13 to 14 million slum dwellers.
“A slum dweller no longer cares about staying alive. The past era is gone. A portion of the people are hungry,” he warned.
If the hungry rise, nothing will be left
On Saturday, a former member of Iran’s Parliament Mohammad Ali Vakili warned that hungry Iranians would take to the streets “leaving nothing behind”.
“Current strategies have reached a dead end and we need to seriously reconsider our strategies. Financial inequality and the significant gap between the rich and the poor in Iran have reached alarming proportions… Whatever the cause of the problems, the current situation cannot continue…. If the movement of the hungry goes forward, there will be nothing left,” he wrote in Ebtekar Daily.
According toVakili, if impoverished Iranians rise, “those who have made the most profit until now, will incur the most losses”.
Predicting the future is not difficult
Speaking to Etemad Daily, another sociologist also said that the regime’s systematic corruption which had led to widespread poverty would lead to protests.
“At a time when crises have permeated existing structures, when corruption has advanced to Mount Damavand, when poverty and inequality have doubled the (people’s) misery, when the devaluation of the national currency has made the poor poorer and the rich richer, and when the disgusting stench of discrimination has infused hatred in the community, predicting the future is not very difficult,” Saied Madani said.
The sociologist said that in Iran, the people’s discontent with the government quickly turned into protests. Mardani said that potential protesters connected through social media channels, encouraging each other to take to the streets.
2019 nationwide protests
Iran’s state media have predicted a fresh round of protests, the likes of which erupted across Iran in November 2019 after the regime tripled the price of gasoline overnight.
Protesters torched tires and chanted against the regime’s all-powerful Supreme Leader.
“Death to Khamenei”, “Death to dictator”, “Mullahs must get lost”, protesters chanted. The protests spread to 160 cities as protesters torched banks, gas stations, police stations, governor’s offices, police kiosks, security force cars and motorcycles, bases belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its paramilitary branch the Bassij, IRGC owned chain stores, seminaries, offices of the heads of Friday prayers, ATM’s, and charity boxes lining Iran’s streets.
The regime responded with a brutal crackdown and shot and killed at least 1,500 protesters amid an internet blackout.
