A vehicle belonging to the Iranian police set on fire by protesters in Tehran
Check This Link For Latest Summary Update of Protests
The Ashura (December 27) protests across Iran are over. Tens of thousands marched across the country as in the past to show their discontent with dictatorship and human rights violations. They yet again proved that the Iranian struggle is far from over. But after following the protests for almost 200 days, I don’t think that it was just another show of force – but a tipping point in their struggle for one of the most basic of human rights – the freedom to speak one’s mind without fear of repression.
Since June, the people of Iran have come out to streets peacefully and have tried to make their voices heard. And what was the government’s response? Bullets, batons, cables… arrests, injuries, deaths… torture, rape, murder. Few people have been so fearless and devout with their resolve to overturn the tide of tyranny as the people of Iran. Their humanity has been written about and well-deservedly praised. However, let us not have unreasonable expectations from them. They are human after all. And like all humans, they are susceptible to frustration and eventually – anger.
For the first time in 200 days, the Iranian people decided that enough was enough. If the government was going to send goons, then they were going to deal with them the way goons are dealt with. We had seen burning homes, bleeding protesters and protesters being dragged across streets. This time around, we saw burning police cars, bleeding Basijis and riot police being dragged and beaten.
Check Live-Blog of Events from Yesterday
As a human rights activist and an admirer of Mahatma Gandhi, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela, I am strictly opposed to violence. What went on in Iran yesterday was anything but peaceful. Protesters fought back and they fought back hard. The level of violence against protesters may have been high, but it was answered – maybe not as violently, but clearly it was.
This prompted many of my friends and colleagues to question their support for the Green Movement. After all, we were expecting a non-violent revolution – one spurred by peaceful protests. But let us not forget. There is a difference between unprovoked acts of violence against individuals and self-defense. Did we really expect the Iranian people to just sit back and allow the government to kill, maim and arrest people ad infinitum? What would I or you do if someone used violence against us for six months over and over and over again? Are we going to go out and present ourselves as living targets for shooting practice? Or are we going to hang “Hit Me!” signs on our backs to make it easier for our attackers?
I won’t. The problem is that peaceful protests are great. However, they only really work when the opposing side is human enough to not use violence on such a massive scale. The protests in Iran in my opinion have been far from peaceful. It takes two hands to clap. How can we expect the government to repress people and at the same time not expect the people to fight back? This is what happens with bullies at schools. They only attack those who they think won’t fight back.
Next time the Basij, riot police, IRGC and plainclothesmen are out in Tehran during protests, they’ll know that their actions are going to be met with counter-measures. They’ll know that Iranians aren’t just sacks of wheat that they can pound on endlessly and mercilessly. If they fall into protesters’ hands, they should expect the worst.
Ashura’s protests in my opinion started a new phase in the revolution in Iran. The people are no longer going to sit back and watch as the government continues to not listen to their demands. They will come out and if they are attacked, there will be a crushing answer. The security forces can no longer use violence against protesters and then go back home to their children, enjoy a good meal and make love to their women while bleeding protesters lay dying in hospitals which will promptly transfer them to prisons where they’ll be locked in tiny holes for months on end.
The goons should know that in the future when they’re out during a protest in Tehran, that if they attacked protesters, they will go home covered in their own blood and know how it feels. Because if they had felt it before, we wouldn’t have had to hear about Sohrab A’rabi’s body locked away in a morgue for weeks or see Neda Aga-Soltan’s dying eyes. I believe the Green Movement is still fully committed to non-violence – but yesterday they illustrated that their commitment extends to self-defense as well.
[...] Nite Owl's analysis of the protests Ashura Says: Iranians Aren’t Punching Bags – The Daily NiteOwl [...]
About time – my patience ran out when the basiji started shooting. I don’t know how they managed to put up with it for as long as they have.
Wake me when the kids pick up guns.
[...] the original post here: Ashura Says: Iranians Aren't Sacks of Wheat – The Daily NiteOwl By admin | category: wheat | tags: expect-the-worst, iranians, new-phase, opinion, [...]
[...] Josh Shahryar offers this assessment of Sunday’s events, also posted on his blog: [...]
[...] Demonstranten schlagen zurück http://www.dailyniteowl.com/wordpress/index.php/2009/12/28/ashura-says-iranians-arent-sacks-of-wheat... [...]
[...] ENOUGH IS ENOUGH? More on those Iranian protests. [...]
I disagree with the claim of this essay that “peaceful protests … only really work when the opposing side is human enough to not use violence on such a massive scale.” This statement obscures the fact that in a struggle such as this one, both sides always consists of human footsoldiers. Human beings are capable of massive violence, but are also capable of deciding not to be violent.
If protesters use violence, they are likely to persuade the Basij and police to be more brutal in response. Instead, protesters should work to increase their numbers and maintain nonviolent discipline. They should talk to the Basij and recruit them, their family members and friends. They should give them flowers as countless opposition movements have done with success in the past. They should recruit clerics to undermine the regime’s ideological support, and organize ways to prevent the Basij from resupplying their crowd-control weapons and fueling their vehicles. They should embarrass basiji by publishing their names and photos on the internet and in posters, and describing their crimes in detail. With overwhelming numbers and an intelligent strategy, the opposition can likely convince most of the regime’s footsoldiers that obeying orders to kill or maim is not in their interest.
Time and again, nonviolent resistance movements have succeeded when they achieved overwhelming numbers, even in the face of a government that gives orders for a violent crackdown. Nepal, Pakistan, and Maldives are recent examples.
Great post, Josh.
[...] non-violence advocate’s aha moment. Josh Shahryar at the Daily Nite Owl: Non-violence doesn’t work against a violent thugocracy. That’s interesting, I think [...]
Nonviolent movements work when the other side ultimately has a moral core (Gandhi with the British, Martin Luther King, Jr. in America). They are far less effective when the other side is devoid of morality. Gandhi said that the Jews in Germany “should have offered themselves to the butcher’s knife” — this certainly would not have done anything to deter the Nazis. Basijis look like they are closer to the Nazi end of the spectrum.
Hi Josh –
Fantastic piece! Amazing day, wasn’t it? Such a resounding and amazing victory for the Greens! I was so upset not to be able to follow it consistently in real time, as work seemed to have emergency after emergency all day. I ended up having to catch up at night.
As much as I hate to say this, I do find myself worrying about the violence again, as well as the question of whether the violence on Ashura makes a “higher level” of atrocities by the regime imminent. Please check out some thoughts I had here: http://bit.ly/6qqoJq
“…I am strictly opposed to violence.”
I think what you mean to say here is that you are strictly opposed to the INITIATION of violence.
[...] Josh Shahryar offers this assessment of Sunday’s events, also posted on his blog: [...]
[...] Nite Owl's analysis of the protests Ashura Says: Iranians Aren’t Punching Bags – The Daily NiteOwl This is primarily posted for others to read the impressions in the aftermath of Ashura of NiteOwl, [...]
Of course non-violence only works when the oppressor has a conscience. That’s why Burmese and Tibetan Buddhist monks may make international headlines with their marches, but all that happens is that a bunch of them get shot and nothing changes in their countries. The reality is that the Iranian regime isn’t going to give up power no matter how many peaceful protesters take to the streets. When you have a regime with no democratic legitimacy that’s desperate to hold onto power, the only people who have a real say are the ones with the guns. The Green Movement’s only hopes are to either get those people on their side or become those people.
The thing is that the Ashura protests started as peaceful marches across the cities to begin with, just like it was planned. But the Basijis and riot police attacked the peaceful protesters without provocation and with weapons in their hands. Every bit of violence you see committed by protesters had a reason behind it. They swarmed a police car that had arrested six people and was taking them away to their draconian detention centers. They set another police car on fire because it was running people over (video evidence of this.) They beat up the Basijis who were beating up women and girls. What are you supposed to do when such things happen? Do you stand by and watch as innocent women are beaten or your friends are taken away? Violence in self defense is not only necessary, sometimes in the case of saving an innocent life it is even humane.
Finally got mugged by reality, eh?
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