How Small Protests of the 1990s Eventually Spread Across Iran?

After several decades since the economic riots of the 1990s, political-economic protests in Iran have become more widespread than ever. Recently, after the dollar surpassed 144 thousand tomans, another wave of protests began in the Tehran market and spread to other cities in Iran. Today, these protests are not only economic and livelihood-related but also encompass grievances against the 'inefficiency of the government' in all political-social aspects. This article looks at several decades of protests in Iranian society; from the 1990s to the year 2022. Iran; a protesting society. Today, Iranian society has become a 'protesting' society. In the 1990s and a few years after Ali Khamenei became the leader, small and large protests occurred in some cities such as Shiraz, Mashhad, Arak, Qazvin, and Islamshahr, with many of them centered around 'urban marginalization,' 'inflation,' 'unemployment,' and 'welfare and livelihood issues.' These protests remained limited to those cities and did not spread to other cities due to severe suppression by security forces. Even the student protests of 1999 in Tehran, which had a political color, only spread to Tabriz University. The 2009 election protests were no longer about livelihood. The middle class was protesting the results of their votes, but not nationwide, rather in some large cities, especially Tehran. However, these protests did not have the solidarity of the lower classes. But in the 2010s and thereafter, economic sanctions, along with the weak performance and ineffective governance of the regime, led nurses, educators, retirees, workers, truck drivers, the disabled, and patients with special needs to repeatedly voice their grievances in numerous gatherings. However, these small embers of protest flared into a larger fire in 2017 and 2019, resulting in thousands of deaths, injuries, and arrests. Nevertheless, the officials of the Islamic Republic reduced the people's problems and demands only to economic and livelihood issues or drought and water scarcity problems in Isfahan and Khuzestan. However, protests over the downing of the Ukrainian airplane by the Revolutionary Guards, which resulted in the deaths of 176 passengers in January 2020, and the subsequent widespread protests of 'Women, Life, Freedom' in 2022 showed that the people are dissatisfied and disillusioned with the Islamic Republic in all political, economic, and social forms. As the 'fourth wave of the national values and attitudes survey of Iranians' in 2023 showed, 92% of the people are dissatisfied with the current situation in the country. Recently, after the dollar surpassed 144 thousand tomans, another wave of protests began in the Tehran market and spread to other cities in Iran. Today, these protests are not only economic and livelihood-related but also encompass grievances against the 'inefficiency of the government' in all political-social aspects. This article looks at several decades of protests in Iranian society; from the 1990s to the year 2022. Today, Iranian society has become a 'protesting' society. In the 1990s and a few years after Ali Khamenei became the leader, small and large protests occurred in some cities such as Shiraz, Mashhad, Arak, Qazvin, and Islamshahr, with many of them centered around 'urban marginalization,' 'inflation,' 'unemployment,' and 'welfare and livelihood issues.' These protests remained limited to those cities and did not spread to other cities due to severe suppression by security forces. Even the student protests of 1999 in Tehran, which had a political color, only spread to Tabriz University. The 2009 election protests were no longer about livelihood. The middle class was protesting the results of their votes, but not nationwide, rather in some large cities, especially Tehran. However, these protests did not have the solidarity of the lower classes. But in the 2010s and thereafter, economic sanctions, along with the weak performance and ineffective governance of the regime, led nurses, educators, retirees, workers, truck drivers, the disabled, and patients with special needs to repeatedly voice their grievances in numerous gatherings. However, these small embers of protest flared into a larger fire in 2017 and 2019, resulting in thousands of deaths, injuries, and arrests. Nevertheless, the officials of the Islamic Republic reduced the people's problems and demands only to economic and livelihood issues or drought and water scarcity problems in Isfahan and Khuzestan. However, protests over the downing of the Ukrainian airplane by the Revolutionary Guards, which resulted in the deaths of 176 passengers in January 2020, and the subsequent widespread protests of 'Women, Life, Freedom' in 2022 showed that the people are dissatisfied and disillusioned with the Islamic Republic in all political, economic, and social forms. As the 'fourth wave of the national values and attitudes survey of Iranians' in 2023 showed, 92% of the people are dissatisfied with the current situation in the country.