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If you’ve been following the uprising by Iranian citizens against the Iranian government, you’ll know that what began as protests over economic conditions in the country turned into an uprising calling for regime change. In response, the Iranian government issued a near-total internet blackout on January 8 and, over the course of this month, began a deadly crackdown on the protesters that has resulted in thousands of deaths.
I recently spoke with Nazanin Boniadi, an Iranian-born actor and human rights advocate, about what we know about the situation on the ground in Iran and what she most wants the international community to do to support Iranian citizens. “A government that knows it is representative of its people, that it's legitimate and accountable to its people, does not shut off the internet, does not cut the phone lines,” she told me. “My agony here in this moment is, why have we once again let down the Iranian people in this way? The time for condemnations and polite statements of, ‘we're so sorry to hear that this is happening’ is done. One dissident very clearly told me before we lost contact right before the shutdown, ‘we want every powerful tool that the international community has to not only protect us, but help to end this regime.’”
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