Monday evening, at 10:14 p.m. Paris time, the Iranians celebrated Nowruz, the New Year of the Persian calendar. A tradition over 2000 years old that marks renewal and the beginning of spring. An event which takes place against the backdrop of a revolutionary movement in the country since a wave of protests has shaken Iran since the arrest by the morality police and then the death in custody, on September 16, 2023, of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian woman. 22 years old.
The demonstrators refute the official version which affirms that she would have died because of “cerebral hypoxia”. The regime arrested thousands of supporters of the movement. Nearly six months after the start of the protest against the regime, how is the revolt of Iranian men and women evolving?
In Iran, an atmosphere of permanent terror
At first glance, one might think that the revolution is slowly dying. The emblematic demonstrations organized every Friday have gradually ceased in the face of particularly violent repression by the regime. “There has been a lot of violence on the protesters who have been arrested. There have been a lot of executions in the prisons and this has created an atmosphere of terror, which has stifled the protests for now…” explains Mahnaz Shirali, Sociologist specializing in Iran.
The shadow of repression still too great
The clashes have given way to cultural manifestations, especially on social networks. A more symbolic revolt, but much more problematic since it opposes the ideas of the regime, according to Farhad Kosrokhavar Director of Studies in Social Sciences. “His ideology is martyrdom, it is the fact of sacrificing oneself to the regime in the name of Islam. And there, there is a major contradiction with the joy of living of young people who express it without any reference to religion.”
“The Iranian New Year will not change anything,” he continues. The shadow of repression is still too great. For the researcher, only the exit of Ayatollah Khamenei from the political scene could bring about a profound change in the country.