How do Iranians, exiled Iranians or people with Iranian roots living in the West observe the protests in Iran? With a questionnaire we collect voices. This time: Ali (name changed), born in Iran, who has lived for many years in Germany now.
Do you have direct contact with the population in Iran? If so, what do you hear or read there?
About the situation over there I shall say that, based on what I follow on social medias and the news from here and there, it is not very calm. From time to time some cities are in ferment and obviously things go violent on streets.
How do you assess the current situation? At what stage are the protests?
My assessment is like, although some say that this is the final season of the existence of the government in charge but I personally think they have much more to go. The reasoning comes from their power and the level how they can be violent and suppressing the demand from society. Sadly enough though, more people will be killed if the protests continue.
Unlike many other major protests and revolutions, this one stems directly from the uprising of women. What makes the feminist revolution so special?
It is one of its kind, that makes it important, powerful and also worthy. Women in Iran are the one who suffer the most. They are bounded to a very limited certain degree level of freedom, if you may call it freedom! Beside whatever difficulty they have to deal with like other people. From Hijab to not being able to sing or ride bikes. They are the ones who could not tolerate it anymore. And, in my opinion, feminism is now an absolutely sensitive topic worldwide. It drags anyones attention especially in western societies. No one gives a thing if the oil price is high in your country, it may be a cool conversation-opener when you meet new foreign people btw, but the topic turns heads if its digging around feminism.
In this country - in Germany as well as in other Western countries - the topic is overshadowed in the media by other issues such as the war in Ukraine. What needs to happen to change this?
It may sound funny at the beginning but it is true: politicians all around the world would need to resign and stop working in favour of their own countries! And because that's not gonna happen ever covering Iran news is also not going that far. You may ask why but first, I need to clarify why Ukrainian war is well covered by lots of media. The simple reason is, if it's not, the next victim would be Europe (westerns in general). It is highly likely that the greed coming from Russian governors won't stop just behind Ukrainian borders and they wanna seize other European countries next. To stop them doing so you need a stigma powerful enough, mostly generated by media, to push Russia to a safe isolated corner. But why does West not want to use the same remedy on Iran? Because they, or better said their allies in the East, are benefitting from Irans current situation. Keeping Iran isolated from the whole world is making some of their allies in the region even more stronger; in other words, liberating Iran from the current situation (covering Iran news in the media could be one way) can lead the region to a state that, for example, Turkey won't be the biggest tourist destination anymore, or western-backed Arabian countries like Qatar won't be able to extract gas/oil 12 times more than Iran from the shared oil/gas fields (that happens now due the fact that Iran is technologically underdeveloped, and why is that? Yes, because the country has been suffering from sanctions for years and who is putting the sanctions? Yes, the West). Try to make Iran suffer less by covering its news is something which makes the western allies in the region unhappy.
What is your prognosis: In which direction will Iran or the uprising develop in the coming months?
I have to say it will continue for some time and at some point the suppression from the government will be so high that people decide not to protest anymore. They are afraid of their lives and their loved ones.
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