Two years ago this week, the people of Iran erupted in a ferocious rebellion that lasted well over four months. It was centered on the question of women’s oppression in a way that had never been seen before. The clarion call from Iran reverberated around the world and came to be known as the “Woman, Life, Freedom” uprising. 

The unprecedented uprising was sparked by the in-custody death of Mahsa Jina Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman arrested by Iran’s hated “morality police.” It was something that had happened before—and frankly since—too often in too many places. Yet seemingly out of nowhere, her death was one too many and it lit a long burning fuse. Women—thousands, then millions—poured into the streets defiantly tearing off and even burning their regime-mandated headscarf (hijab) in the face of batons, bullets, and prison. They demanded an end to the religious based laws that govern every facet of their lives, including what they must wear. No country in recent history had witnessed such an uprising that exposed and challenged the raw wound of women’s oppression in such a sustained and massive way. 

Hundreds of thousands of men came into the streets to join these women. Hundreds of thousands of people from oppressed minority nationalities (e.g., Kurds, Baluchis, Arabs, etc.) came out as well demanding an end to their oppression. Millions from all backgrounds raised the demand for freedom that was inspired by the mighty fury of women fighting against their brutal oppression. This unprecedented outpouring of rage and joy shook the foundations of the Islamic fundamentalist regime. The legitimacy of the regime’s right to rule was called into question and the cry for an end to it rang out from many quarters of that society including many artists and intellectuals.

Vicious Repression and Ongoing Courage

Eventually the regime was able to force this outpouring off of the streets, and the struggle subsided. In the months and years since then, the regime has been able to imprison and murder some of those who bravely defied their rule. But Iran’s rulers have not succeeded in killing the hopes and desires of those who stood up! Huge numbers of women in Iran are defying the forced hijab, including by courageous women prisoners in Evin Prison, taking great risks to do so.

Today in the face of rampant executions, torture and official media slanders, heroic resistance continues, most notably actions taken by prisoners against executions. The resistance to the regime continues in different ways as people persist in defying the clampdown on women and girls aimed at reasserting the Reign of Terror from this regime over them. The struggle of the women and the broad masses of people in Iran is our struggle. Their blood is our blood and their cry for real and lasting liberation is one that we must support and join with, fighting to advance this same fight all over the world. Ending the oppression of women is part and parcel of making a real revolution and bringing about a world where humanity as a whole is finally set free.

The U.S. Is NOT a “Friend” of Iran's People

At the same time, it is very important to be vigilant to the threats and machinations of the U.S. imperialists against Iran. Since the overthrow of its brutal puppet Shah of Iran in 1979, the U.S. has regarded Iran as a bone in their throat to dominate that region (and counter China and Russia imperialist influence). Various figures in U.S. officialdom have feigned support for the uprising and also cried crocodile tears about the Islamic regime's brutal repression, including bullshit bills in Congress. Besides economic and diplomatic pressures such as crippling sanctions, the U.S. may use other means, including by working through and with Israel, to attack Iran and restore U.S. domination. These imperialists must not be allowed to subvert the revolutionary aspirations of the people of Iran for their own reactionary ends.

What Will the Future Be?

Two years on, the question is ever more sharply posed in Iran—what next? Within Iran and around the world, there are profoundly different understandings as to what it will take to carry forward the righteous spirit of this struggle and actually achieve lasting liberation for woman and all people. We encourage our readers to go to revcom.us for the many key articles by the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist (CPI[MLM]) that point to the revolutionary process and direction needed to answer “what’s next?” The question they posed on September 13 last year still burns:

The cry for freedom has been on the lips of millions in Iran—but the burning question is, will this be freedom for the oppressed to seize on the turmoil that is tearing apart the old order to make revolution, overthrow the regime along with all relations of oppression and exploitation and replace it with something much better? Or will exploiters and oppressors be free in one form or another, either to continue the old regime or continue the same conditions of oppression and exploitations with new faces at the top?