November 14, 2022
Iran is a country of contradictions. It possesses intense natural beauty, deep cultural and historical roots, and a formidable people from a kaleidoscope of ethnic origins. For 43 years, Iran has been under theocratic rule, led by a supreme leader and a power structure that has instilled fear in the very people it governs and that has ostracised the country from the global community.
According to Melicka Jamshidabadi, a highly successful filmmaker and photographer, women have been denied freedom of dress, expression, and equal rights before a court of law, as well as the ability to hold senior decision-making authority in the government or judiciary. Despite this, young Iranian women are reported to have the highest literacy rate in the Middle East, with a high percentage of university graduates. They have one of the highest percentages of university graduates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics when compared with other countries.
A young trailblazer in film and activism
Melicka Jamshidabadi and her film studio, Melickastudio, focus on making films that shine a light on the situation of women in Iran and convey a more profound message to viewers while also raising awareness of significant world issues. Her work addresses issues ranging from women's rights to war, poverty, and hunger. Her talent for filmmaking has film critics eager to see her future projects.
Iran-born Jamshidabadi is no stranger to global issues. She has turned her attention to the ongoing fight for women's rights in her native country following the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in September 2022. She has used her talents and reputation to advance the cause of women's rights in Iran and inspire others to join Iranians in the battle for freedom. The young filmmaker's efforts are making a difference.
"I feel very helpless being here in the US and not in Iran fighting alongside the brave women who are risking their lives for their basic human rights. The least I can do is to use my platform to be a voice for the people of my country and dream of the day that women in every country have the freedom and equality they deserve," Jamshidabadi shares.
Jamshidabadi has emerged as a key voice in the fight for freedom against the patriarchal Iranian regime. The multi-talented young filmmaker has a lot in store for her followers and her advocacies. Her dream is to create feature films that are not only entertaining but send a powerful message and raise awareness about global concerns. Jamshidabadi's most recent short film highlights the people who sacrificed their lives in the fight for freedom from the regime.
The young filmmaker is making waves and encouraging more people to join the fight for freedom. The Iranian women's revolution has tapped into a collective struggle for women across the globe as they continue to face issues of equality and fairness, such as a continued lack of representation in all levels of government and business; the gender pay gap; and most concerning, the continued erosion of women's rights in places such as Afghanistan, India and even the US. It heralds a strong message to all authoritarian and patriarchal societies that a paradigm shift is on the doorstep.
The resolve of the Iranian people and the images on social media of young lives lost in this fight demonstrates that they have accepted that their freedom as a nation will come with sacrifice. There is no power greater than the collective human resolve. This is the realm of hope and where the promise of liberty lies.
What Iran's regime learned from its own revolution
The latest wave of protests in Iran is perhaps one of the longest-running challenges the Islamic Republic has faced in recent years.
Over the past two months, the government has cracked down hard on demonstrators, leading to the death of at least 326, according to Iran Human Rights, an NGO based in Norway. More than 1,000 have been charged in connection with the protests. On Sunday, an Iranian court issued the first death sentence to a protester convicted of “enmity against God” and “spreading corruption on Earth” for allegedly setting a government building on fire.
So far, the regime remains intact with no signs of cracks in its foundations.
But the Iranian security apparatus hasn’t always been so sophisticated in quashing uprisings, analysts say. The Islamic Republic itself was the product of a revolution, lessons from which it appears to be applying today.
During that revolution, in 1979, the security apparatus was “largely cohesive but extremely overstretched,” says Trita Parsi, vice-president of the Quincy Institute in Washington, DC.
Iran’s previous regime, ruled by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, relied primarily on its powerful military to contain the uprising that eventually led to its downfall, analysts say. The military ultimately failed to contain the protests.
One of the main factors that led to the 1979 revolution’s success was the military’s declaration of neutrality, said Afshon Ostovar, associate professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. That was the ultimate blow to the Shah’s prime minister.
On February 11, 1979, the Shah’s last Prime Minister Shahpur Bakhtiar resigned after the Iranian army refused to quash the protests, and called its troops back “to prevent further bloodshed and anarchy,” the New York Times reported at the time. It was a revolutionary win for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Shiite cleric who went on to lead the new regime.
Analysts say it was that over-reliance on a single security force that contributed to the Shah’s ouster, and the rulers in Tehran are wary of making the same mistake.
The creation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a parallel security institution to the national army was meant primarily to protect the revolutionary regime and its leaders, thus preventing the army from accumulating too much power. Today, it is seen as a deep state that is a more powerful force than the army and has a vast business empire that plays a vital role in the country’s economy.
“The [current Iranian] regime knows that it was the military’s declaration of neutrality in 1979 that allowed the revolution to succeed,” said Ostovar. “They also know that acts of lethality fueled the fire of the protests.”
The violence in Iran today is reminiscent of the months preceding the 1979 revolution. Parsi says that uprising wasn’t a peaceful one either.
“In the run-up to the victory of the [1979] revolution, the funerals of those killed by the Shah’s forces – as well as the ceremony on the 40th day after the deaths – often turned into new demonstrations with more people killed,” he said. “This led to a spiral in which the Shah’s forces literally created new demonstrations by killing protesters.”
A similar cycle is playing out today on the streets of Iranian cities, but this time it is not the military but the police and its many specialized units that are cracking down on protesters. The multitude of security units tasked with cracking down on dissent works to dilute the potential impact of defection from any single force.
The Law Enforcement Command is the umbrella police body whose chief is directly appointed by the supreme leader. It has been “the leading force behind government crackdowns and has grown in importance since 2009,” when the country faced another major protest movement, Sanam Vakil, a senior research fellow for the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House think-tank in London. It was “restructured at the outset of this year, perhaps reflecting government concerns over the possibility of protests,” she said.
Under it falls the riot police, who according to Vakil isn’t meant to use lethal force and are more involved in dispersing crowds.
“The police are doing the lion’s share of counter-protest operations,” said Ostovar. “But we’ve seen IRGC officers on the ground as well, and plain clothes operatives could be coming from the Basij, IRGC intelligence, Ministry of Intelligence, or the police.”
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