Against oppression – For resistance

Since the Jinnah uprising, more than 520 people have been killed (including 70 minors) and more than 20,000 people have been arrested. The Iranian regime is highly equipped technically and has a great deal of expertise.

There have been numerous, overly general reports published about the repression and resistance in Iran. What is lacking is access to summarized, accurate, and concise information about the specific forms of repression and especially resistance. This booklet is intended to provide you with that information. Here we list in very concise form the methods and forms of repression by the Iranian regime, especially during the recent uprising. And more importantly, we also show some forms and methods of popular resistance. Because we believe that wherever there is oppression and repression, there is also resistance.

1. methods and forms of repression of the iranian regime

1.1) Repression in the streets and public spaces

-Shooting at demonstrators with live ammunition, including sniper rifles.

-deliberately running over demonstrators with vehicles

-Shooting demonstrators at close range with shotguns, resulting in blindness or death (in many cases, more than 100 small metal bullets were found in the bodies of the victims).

-Shooting with shotguns at genitals, especially women.

-Military incursion into Kurdistan and imposition of state of siege in cities (attack with heavy weapons on houses in Izeh, Kurdistan and Baluchistan).

-The shelling of cars, especially cars honking their horns during street protests. These actions resulted in the death of the drivers* or passengers* in several cases (including a 10-year-old child in the city of Izeh).

-Smashing the windows of stores and the doors of the houses of those who gave refuge to the protesters.

-Violent destruction of cars, stores, banks and buildings with the intention of attributing them to the demonstrators.

-Encirclement, segregation and sexual harassment of women demonstrating in the streets.

-Use of ambulances to transport repression forces or to transport those arrested.

-Attacks by the armed forces on schools

-Attacks by the armed forces on universities and student dormitories, as well as beating and arresting students, effectively preventing them from continuing their studies or using the dormitories in question.

1.2) Pressure on the families of the victims (dead and injured).

-The transfer of the body of the deceased is made on the strict condition that the family declares that their child died of natural causes, suicide, accident, narcotic overdose, etc.

-Prohibiting families from publicly reporting the killing of their children or risking the arrest and killing of additional children or family members.

-Pressuring families of those killed to give television interviews and spread false information about their child’s death – e.g., claiming that the child was a member of the police or government militia and was killed by protesters.

-attacks on funerals of the dead, especially with tear gas and shots from war weapons and shotguns.

-Beating and arresting participants in funerals and memorial services for the dead (including family members) to put pressure on families and prevent people from participating in similar ceremonies.

-The transfer of the body of the deceased is done in exchange for the payment of a large sum of money by the families.

-Kidnapping of injured people during their treatment in hospitals, usually to take them to prison. As a result, the injured no longer come to hospitals for fear of going to jail, so the treatment of their injuries (a series of batons, a bullet wound or several bullets in the body) is carried out unprofessionally at home, resulting in death in many cases.

-Pressure on medical staff in hospitals to hand over the injured to the intelligence services, as well as persecution, arrest and torture of doctors* and nurses who voluntarily and secretly treat the injured at home (there have also been reports of the murder of medical staff).

-Detention and torture of family members of the victims.

1.3) Repression in the prisons and pressure on the families of the imprisoned.

-Identification and kidnapping of activists* at their homes, workplaces or universities. Detention in unofficial facilities.

-Severe physical and psychological torture (white torture) of detainees: including long-term isolation, cruel physical torture, and threats of rape or execution or arrest and murder of family members.

-Pressuring detainees to make forced confessions, for example, of aiding and abetting the murder of repressive forces or of membership in opposition organizations or hostile intelligence services.

-Not disclosing the whereabouts of a detainee or missing person to his or her family or lawyer.

-Rape and sexual harassment of people of all genders in prison.

-Inventing flimsy excuses (e.g., riot) to justify massive repression (beatings, live ammunition) against prisoners. Specific examples include deliberate arson in Evin Lacan Rasht Prison and gunshot wounds in Qazal Hesar Prison, which sometimes lead to the death of many prisoners.

-Torturing injured prisoners (both arrested protesters and prisoners injured due to targeted repression against prisoners) by not taking them to the hospital or even to the prison infirmary, or by withholding essential medication from them.

Intentionally making prisoners sick: During the Corona virus outbreak, patients* were housed next to political prisoners and seriously ill prisoners were denied access to medical care.

-Missing medical care for prisoners suffering from chronic diseases or diseases caused by prison conditions.

Forced administration of psychoactive medications to prisoners, particularly demonstrators arrested during the Jinnah uprising. There are numerous reports of detained demonstrators (mostly juveniles) who died one or two days after their release.

-Attack by law enforcement and plainclothes forces on the gathering of families and supportive individuals outside the prisons.

-Instigating ordinary prisoners to exert additional pressure on political prisoners, including death threats.

-Failure to provide access to defense lawyers* for detained individuals.

-Execution of demonstrators.

-Threat of execution to force a confession from the prisoner, and carrying out artificial executions aimed at the psychological breakdown of the person.

-Promises by the authorities to release the prisoners if the families do not make the arrest or death sentence public. When the families did comply, the prisoners were executed suddenly and without the public’s knowledge.

-Intimidating the family members of the prisoners and threatening to arrest or execute them if their child did not cooperate.

2) Methods of resistance against oppression and expression of solidarity

2.1) Resistance in the streets and public spaces.

Many people at funerals and burials or commemorations of the dead to show solidarity with the families and the Jinnah uprising and to make these ceremonies a venue for struggle against the regime.

-Small stores close in solidarity with the strikes and the people refrain from shopping.

-Spontaneous protest by students* in the streets, singing hymns and slogans or taking off headscarves and spray-painting slogans.

-Information campaigns and symbolic protest in schools and universities to fight against the strict structural framework of these institutions.

-Student strikes and non-attendance at classes.

-Strikes in the workplace

-Massive participation in non-wearing of hijabs on the streets in Iran.

-attacks on repressive forces at demonstrations

-attacks on barracks, police stations and hawza schools with Molotov cocktails

-(Burning) barricades in the streets to protect protesters

– Destruction of portraits of the icons of the regime in public spaces

-Massive participation in not wearing hijabs on the streets in Iran.

-In foreign countries, non-wearing of hijab by women representing the country (e.g., at a chess tournament).

-Abroad demonstrations and protests in front of institutions of the Iranian regime.

2.2) Resistance in the prisons.

-Noncooperation of prisoners and refusal to accept the regime’s conditions of freedom, despite all pressure, torture and threats. Refusing interrogations and forced confessions.

Declarations of solidarity with the struggles taking place outside by prisoners in prison by signing protest ads, publishing solidarity audio files, etc.

-hunger strikes and dry hunger strikes (without water).

-strikes and sit-in blockades by women in prisons

-Coordination of prisoners for joint singing of prisoners and people outside the prison.

-denouncing crimes committed in prisons by released prisoners despite the risk of re-incarceration or retaliation.

2.3) Resistance by the families of those killed or imprisoned.

-Public denunciation, detailed presentation of facts and protest despite pressure and threats.

-Gathering of families and their relatives in front of prisons to free prisoners or prevent the execution of those sentenced to death.

-Public greeting of released prisoners at the front door of prisons.

-Continuation and strength of the organized group “Iranian Mothers who denounce”.

2.3) Protesting art

-Crystallization of revolutionary art in the form of drawings, hymns and performances inside and outside Iran.

International solidarity of the progressive artists of the world with the Jin, Jiyan, Azadi (Woman, Life, Freedom) movement.

The Iranian women are better off on their own, without the mainstream “solidarity” from the West
Want to help Iranian women gain their freedom? Push your governments and mainstream media to leave them alone!
[Article from Umanità Nova, anarchist weekly, n. 23 of 16th October 2022]

It’s been two weeks that I haven’t been able to take my eyes from my laptop and mobile screens — the only means connecting me to Iran right now. I’ve spent countless hours watching videos of protests happening in my hometown and cities I have lived in, recognizing some of the streets, shops and places – familiar scenes, vivid reminders of big or small riots in the past.
I find it increasingly harder to get any work done or sleep without waking up with fast heartbeat. It’s nerve-wrecking to watch your sisters getting beaten up by the police and plain cloths thugs, from the safety of your home here in Europe. You don’t get to be a part of their struggle; guilt and solitude is all you get.
However, joining the rallies organized by the exiled groups in Europe would make me feel even more guilty, guilty of standing in line with those who have constantly worked to strengthen oppression on Iranians and intensify their pain. The very same groups are now organizing rallies pretending to support the protests, but in fact are highjacking an original struggle to use it to receive more funding from their masters.
Among the prominent opposition group organizing rallies in exile is the MEK or (People’s Mojahedeen), a cult like organization, funded by both Saudis, Israel and US Neo-Cons and trained by Mossad (https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-officials-mossad-and-iranian-terror-group-offing-nuclear-scientists/). Over the past years they have constantly lobbied with EU and US politicians for imposing more sanctions on Iran. Along with their bosses they have tried to hammer down the claim that sanctions only target the ruling elites, but in fact, the sanctions have wrecked millions of Iranian lives. In contrast to their claim, the country hasn’t been able to buy vital medicine such as chemotherapy drugs for cancer and blood clotting agents for haemophiliacs (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/13/iran-lifesaving-drugs-international-sanctions). COVID-19 vaccine deliveries were delayed for months due to embargoes, costing tens of thousands of lives.
In a speech at a MEK convention, Trump’s ex-lawyer Rudi Giuliani, who also has represented this sect for years, described the effect of sanctions as such (https://twitter.com/KeiPritsker/status/1575463312632025090):
“The sanctions are working…we see signs of young men and women saying, give me some food, we see signs of men trying to sell their internal organs for 500 American dollars… these are the kind of conditions that lead to revolution, god willing, a nonviolent one!”
And indeed, the sanctions have made the riots more frequent, but less likely to succeed. Workers are no longer able to join the strikes, for fear of starving to death. Millions of people are simply too poor to organize themselves. Most Iranians cannot afford to mobilize for weeks or months. Those who impose sanctions on Iran don’t want progressive revolutions to succeed, they’re seeking civil war and periodic clashes of attrition.
In the rallies all over Europe and the US, monarchists who aim to bring back the son of Shah, are visibly active. Together with MEK, they have called for more sanctions and even military intervention in Iran, with their leaders frequently appearing in right-wing Israeli media. These pan-Iranist fascists call themselves Aryans and praise the ousted king, Mohammadreza Pahlavi for cracking down on Kurds and other peoples in Iran.
And there is also the much-celebrated “feminist” icon, Masih Alinejad. She is seen these days on almost every Western TV channel calling for the world’s right-wing and left-wing
feminists to support Iranian women. She laments about how people who protested George Floyd death, are now neglecting Iranians’ struggle and then she claims that Iranians are happy about the sanction and are asking for more.
The reporters who interview this self-proclaimed leader, do not bother to google her name to see her photo shaking hands with Mike Pompeo and find about that she publicly received about 500.000 mon (https://twitter.com/eliclifton/status/1214342478071042049?lang=en) dollars in funds to legitimatize sanctions, that’s in addition to prizes she receives, and the money she makes by sticking her online “campaign’s” logo to the videos of protests and selling them to news agencies and media.
Each one of these groups have an army of trolls who are quick to harass anyone who calls on their lies or has a slightly different opinion with the most sexist slurs and death threats. For them, whoever dares to disagree is a regime apologist, a traitor and deserves to be hanged. Leftists are their favourite pray. But they target pretty much everyone, from artists and film makers who dare to work under Islamic republic and the Hijabi girls who recently kicked off a campaign against the compulsory Hijab.
Iranian women do not need solidarity from these gangs. They have autonomously been fighting against the humiliating morality police for years. They have been thrown in jail, risked their lives and gave up their safety. They have even created their own symbols and actions. Their entire life is resistance, they have managed to push the religious hardliners back one step at a time.
On a busy street in Tehran, Vida Movahedi (https://www.niacouncil.org/human_rights_tracker/vida-movahed-sentenced-year-prison/?locale=en), became a symbol of defying compulsory Hijab for quietly standing on a metal utilities box and quietly waving her white scarf from a stick. She refused to align herself, or even speak to fake activist like Massih Alinejad. Fahrad Meysami, a teacher imprisoned for protesting against Hijab law went on a long, life-threatening hunger strike in prison in 2019, demanding for the dissolution of morality police. But after foreign politicians and the so-called human rights organizations began to use his struggle to legitimize themselves, he sent out an open letter, denouncing all of them, including the US president (https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2019/01/iran-letter-evin-prison-farhad-meysami-pompeo-sanctions.html).
These scenes of activism never get any attention from the mainstream western media, which in end, doesn’t do any good rather than giving the regime more excuses to clamp down on the truthful struggles. The exiled “freedom fighters” know that very well, this why every time a bottom-up movement unfolds in Iran this is the scenario they try to implement: They rush to claim the movement for their own: MEK says they have sent their clandestine members to organize the protests, the son of Pahlavi issues an statement in support of them, and people like Massih Alinejad film themselves crying while urging the protesters to keep fighting. In return, the regime violently stifles the movement, linking it to foreign agents who seek to destabilize the country. As a result, people get hurt, killed and imprisoned. Islamic Republic and the exiled opposition are both happy, their points are proven.
I refuse to join people who represent a spitting image of the Islamic republic in fascism, corruption and totalitarianism. They work hand in hand with the government in Iran to polarize the country along religious lines and create another Syria there. They, and the Islamic Republic regime are trying to destroy any chance of a progressive, collective action to take momentum.
I rather feel guilty for having abandoned my sisters, than to stand in line with those who want to starve Iranians to death or bomb them.
Frankly, none of these forms of exiled solidarity has any significant impact on Iranians on the ground anyway.
Social Media celebrities can try to build a concerned, woke, activist face of themselves by posting tweets and videos in support of Iran’s protests and claim “the world stands by you,” but the inspiration comes from sources elsewhere than mainstream media and celebrities.
The progressive slogan “women, life, freedom,” which is now echoing in Iranian cities streets, comes from Rojava, none of the so-called activists, opposition groups, and celebrities “supporting” the protests mention that. Only progressive movements can give real solidarity to one another, and that’s a fact these fake warriors hate to acknowledge.

Mona Omidi