Thread by @DemocracyTalk

Did you know there are acts of protest happening every weekend in #Naarm/#Melbourne in solidarity with the women of #Iran? Yesterday this group, who come from different walks of life in Iran, stood for 10 hours. Their first silent vigil.
#MahsaAmini #WomanLifeFreedom

They invited others to stand with them, and in the time I was there, I listened to:
- frustration with the low visibility in Aus of this major intl issue
- observations that the Iranian community is quite small in Aus, and unlike eg NZ, no/few pols with Iranian heritage in govt

They also talked to me about:
- frustration at how media coverage is not capturing the extent of the repression these protests are being met with in Iran
- one, visibly shaken, showed me photos texted to her daily, of faces, eyes, bodies ruined by small caliber ammunition

What does small caliber ammunition do? It’s live ammunition that doesn’t produce a ‘clean’ hit like a larger bullet. A face hit by it is peppered with metal, and it may be impossible to remove as the risk of nerve damage can be too acute. You end up disfigured/disabled for life

They also talked to me about:
- leaders’ euphemistic framing, incl Biden’s references to calls for ‘reform’, when what is really being called for is regime change
- more broadly, the double blow of dictators supporting the regime in Tehran + hypocrisy of Western leaders

They have been marching and rallying in Melbourne to raise visibility of the issue, but also to show solidarity.
Just imagine, this is all unfolding at home, your relatives are being targeted, maimed, and you’re over 12,000 miles away.

What’s different about what’s happening in Iran now compared to previous protests?
- those involved say that it is a revolution rather than protest
- unlike eg disputed pres elections in 2009, it’s not confined to major cities or middle class - it’s all areas + walks of life

Their standing vigil on Saturday is the Melbourne movement’s branching out to different modes of protest + solidarity, to raise awareness about the issue

The hashtag #MahsaAmini — for 22yo Mahsa Amini, whose death in the custody of the morality police sparked the nationwide protests — has broken records for speed + scale of shares worldwide. Yet the issue is not getting anything like the attention of eg US midterms, Ukraine.

Want to know more?
uniteforiran.com
Follow #WomanLifeFreedom #MahsaAmini
Basic starting explainers
- bbc.com/news/world-mid…
- apnews.com/article/iran-m…

You also see cultural events recently eg a live performance by poet Cameron Semmens in Oct
melbournespokenword.com/event/woman-li…
So keep an eye out!

I should emphasise here that I’m NOT an expert on Iran. So I’m not speaking as an expert. That said, I’m a democracy researcher whose main focus is on democratic regression and renewal, but I have also focused, and continue to focus, on transition and constitution-building.