Do you think this is the revolution?
We know there is no going back. I’ve never seen a revolution so I don’t know.
We had many protests but they didn’t like this. They are afraid. They called every possible person that accept to fight in the street. I saw with my own eyes that they just teach some teen boys basic stuff about how to suppress people and on the same day they send them to the streets to fight with people.
The big difference is that we were always trying to not hurt any one, even when they killed us, but now we are fighting back. We defend ourselves and we are not afraid of them anymore.
Do you feel the majority of the country is unified in this cause?
Yes, I know we are.
The regime is a murderer and a joke at the same time.
Yesterday they organized a protest against the protest. They didn’t even have a decent population in protest and they had to use old images and videos in their media. ( We saw the banner about something else, we saw people wearing jackets in 37 Celsius in the summer and they even show choosing between old videos.)
What we are afraid of are their guns and soldiers. But even the people who believe in the regime, are old ones with wrong belief systems that we gave up on them) or chameleons that they care about which side is only best for them.
Are young Iranian men helping and supporting the protests as well?
Yes. From the first day. They are in the streets as much as young women. It’s about more than forcing the hijab, we are fighting for the freedom to choose what we want to wear, for not being harassed by anybody else to say what we can do and don’t, and recently for more than that, for freedom, poverty, and all their crimes. And if it was just forced Hijab I believe they would join us. because human rights don’t have gender, race, or religion.
But about freedom, we want it for EVERYONE. I don’t care what anyone wears or does unless it’s being forced, or hurting someone or themselves. It’s simply their choice and I want to have mine.
Part of the reason this regime won in 1979 was that in previous gov. the Shah (King) forced women to not wear Hijab. Everyone has to just understand women are able to choose what is best for them to wear or do.
Is there any strategic leadership for the opposition?
No, it isn’t. It’s just people in the streets. In the first couple of days, we didn’t even know what to do or where we can protest. but we were angry about what happened and we are tired of their crimes so we just did it. Honestly, people like that we don’t have a leader because last time the leader became the dictator. And many people tried to claim these protests but people refused.
The government is violent right now. They at least killed 36 people (That we know their name) including 16-year-old teenagers. They arrested many more and we don’t even know where they are. They beat people on the street just because they are standing there.
I doubt that if we win there be violence. because even now people don’t destroy mosques, schools, or banks and they are trying so hard to tell that we do. Truth be told, we have to set fire to some trash cans (because of the effect of teargas), ambulances ( they use it to transfer soldiers and the people they arrested), and police cars.
The plan is clear, to have a democratic government and a free country.
How violent are the protests and the corresponding suppression attempts by the Islamic dictatorship?
Recently there was a joke everywhere in Iran that we have freedom of before the speech but not after that. they can’t stop people from talking about how wrong they are because there are a lot of these messages and talks but if your message gains a lot of attention and inspire people, they will definitely arrest you or execute you.
They have guns and we have stones. They use ambulances, schools, and buses for suppression and when people destroy ambulances to free the arrested ones they say we are destroying the peace. They shut down the internet and we are wrong to say anything about it.
Until last night, they killed 36 people that we know their names in this week. It’s definitely a lot more. Some not even protesting just walking by.
I’m not saying that we are not violent but last time we didn’t do anything and they killed 1500 people. We try to defend ourselves by destroying police cars, and stations. But people’s house, banks and etc are off limit because what we want is different from theirs. It’s a safe and free country.
Soldiers also have mothers and sisters. Are there soldiers that are on your side?
No. An old woman in the protest said to a soldier I’m like your mother, don’t shoot and he said “no you are not even my mom’s socks.”
(It’s even meaningless in Persian. Don’t try to understand what they say)
How are you communicating when the internet is down?
Mobile data is gone. ADSL is still working but it is heavily filtered(right now Instagram, Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, Skype, and more that I don’t remember are filtered) and even between 4 PM till 12 AM it is intranet (it only opens Iranian websites which are monitored by the regime). Until they don’t shut down the internet completely for themselves too, we can find a way to be online. But it’s getting harder and harder. I have to change VPN and proxy every hour and when I connect at best it’s 50KB/s. And a lot of people don’t have the knowledge to access the internet by these methods.
What are you most hopeful of and what are you most fearful of in these moments?
First, let me say this. Most of my generation felt like they don’t have a home or country. We hated where we live and what happened to us, (the influencers and celebrities that are benefiting from what is happening always told us we are the problem and everything that is happening to us is our fault. But this time we said No. we are not the problem and how dare you shame the victims. so we boycott them). But right now for the first time, we feel like we belong to something, to somewhere, and to each other. This is our biggest victory.
We are hopeful to win this time and have the freedom to be able to just live, to don’t have to watch they destroy any more life, river, jungle or family.
What we fear is that if we fail we all know there will be a massive execution, they will try to kill or arrest anyone they can and definitely make these so-called police stronger and maybe this will be our last chance.
How are older women in Iran responding to your protests? The pictures we see are mainly of younger women.
It’s hard to admit but they are less active in these protests. Not that they are not any older women but they mostly say that it doesn’t work like any other time that we tried or don’t risk your life just leave the country.
They aren’t in favor of the regime but they are more suppressed. Young people are more fearless. especially “the 80s people” (it’s like gen z but in the Iranian calendar from 1380 til 1389) that are between 12-21 years old.
What does the average Iranian person think about what’s going on?
At the same time angry, afraid and hopeful.
Do you feel the protests will achieve anything of consequence?
Honestly, we are afraid. They are arresting more and more. We don’t have a lot of information about what is going on in some parts of Iran which were more protesters because they even cut the phones. Today they arrest more than 100 students from inside universities and some of them are my friends. so we were never been angrier and it drives us to achieve it. By every person they arrest, it gets more and more personal.
(via)
