I wish I were wrong, but all I see is a paranoid state digging in

Iran is caught in yet another round of widespread civil unrest. These lines are written amid an internet blackout and I didn’t know if I’d be able to send them out. Ever since the 2009 post-election uprising, sporadic outbursts of public anger have become somewhat the order of the day, mostly silenced – brutally for a while – only to fester and uncork again on another occasion.

The street protest is not the sole medium through which opposition has tried to convey its dissent. Iranians have tried everything – be it the very narrow and funnelled channel of elections between the limited choices offered by the state, or on social media, in universities and at public events. The demand for meaningful change is repeated through different means, again and again, yet to no avail. Ever since the 2000s, the Iranian state heeds little in the way of democratic demands. And when there has been a narrow crack in the state bulwark, the likes of Donald Trump – by the reimposition of sanctions and violating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – sabotaged and derailed civil attempts at reforming the Islamic republic.

The writer lives in Iran

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