Iran Could Be Entering An Unavoidable Cultural Revolution

The slogan : “Woman. Life. Freedom” and a portrait of Mahsa Amini is displayed on a poster carried by a protester. (Source: dawnmena)

By: Anika Rahman

Georgetown University’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU) hosted a panel on September 27 reflecting on the civil rights revolts a year ago in Iran. The panel discussion emphasized the progress of women’s rights in the country and the challenges that activists and residents now face. Iranian-American journalist Negar Mortazavi's rumination that this could be the “beginning of the end for the mandatory hijab” for Iranian women drove the sentiment for the conversation, which also included ACMCU Director Nader Hashemi and Middle Eastern politics expert Daniel Bramburg from Georgetown’s Government Department.

The context for the talk is the death of Mahsa Amini under Iranian morality police custody on September 16, 2022, which awakened the nation’s women and civil rights activists. The slogan “Women. Life. Freedom.” captures the movement’s message. Non-violent protests erupted on the street and were met with further police violence; more than 500 protestors were killed. 

Sharia Law rules the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 1979, the Iranian regime passed with overwhelming support a second constitution that drastically limited women’s civil rights. This second constitution included a law requiring women to wear modest clothing and cover their heads starting at puberty. However, the language on what exactly is considered “modest” and how head coverings should be worn is vague, muddling limits on the law’s enforcement by Iranian morality police. This ambiguity leads to many arrests under which accusations are unclear. Amini’s arrest and death in police custody was one story of many.

It is crucial to clarify that chadors and hijabs have always been a part of Iranian culture. Some Muslim women choose to adorn it, while some do not. It is not the head covering, rather the regime’s rules towards it that are in question.

When asked about his take on the Iranian regime and its future going forward from the protests, Daniel Bramburg answered that he is not optimistic about the regime changing any aspects but that, “for a regime that is so powerful, it seems very insecure.” If the government decides to make one concession here, he explained, it will be forced to make more in other areas, because the Iranian demonstrations are not purely about women’s rights.

This idea of adjacent issues arose often during the panel. Mortazavi noted that the protests are really a “combination of years and years of grievances” that have “brought together intersectional communities.” Economic conditions, crises of legitimacy, and grievances of Iran’s many ethnic minority populations have all come to light through the women’s rights protests. 

Mortazavi further emphasized that the Iranian population is young and unhappy with how they are being governed. With the regime doubling down on enforcement, attempting to revive its strategies prior to the protests, Iranian youth are choosing to stray from the state religion. Mortazavi, along with Bramburg and Hashemi, notes that this is counterproductive. She describes it as “putting back pieces of a dam that is already broken.” Hashemi said that by increasing the use of its “iron fist,” the Iranian regime is “sowing the seeds of its own destruction.”

When asked if the movement was a failure, Mortazavi deemed it instead a “cultural revolution.” Regardless of the Iranian government’s efforts, the country will never return to its state prior to September 2022. The seeds of revolution have already been sowed in the minds of Iranian women, youth, and activists, and they will only grow from here. The Iranian regime must catch up, and a good starting point would be, as Mortazavi predicts, abolishing the mandatory hijab rule for Iranian women.

As a whole, the panel offered the Georgetown community valuable insight into the situation in Iran, highlighting the continuous fight by Iranian women for basic rights and the accompanying push for multilateral improvement. All the panelists agree that while reforms may not manifest immediately, they are approaching. ACMCU Director Hashimi’s goal of keeping the protests of September 2022 and the Iranian regime in conversation, as was accomplished by the panel, is how we can keep the revolutionary wheel turning.