In Iran’s inside-out revolution, reaction precedes change |
A large banner shows hands holding Iranian flags in Tehran on Wednesday. The deadly protests across the country began in late December.Vahid Salemi/The Associated Press
What Iran is experiencing might be called an inside-out revolution, with the usual after-effects and repercussions of revolutionary change occurring long before the gates of the palace have been stormed – if that even happens.
Those of us outside Iran have no way of understanding where the mass uprising is headed, amid regime-imposed internet blackouts and thickets of misinformation. And based on the few I’ve managed to contact in recent days (who are not being named because of safety concerns), even protesting Iranians admit they don’t understand it.
But they point to two things that contradict our usual understanding of revolutions.
The social revolution has already occurred. Unlike in neighbouring Arab dictatorships, Iran’s governing regime and its society have travelled on different paths for the last four decades and now have almost nothing in common. The 1979 “revolution” saw an entire society turn against the Shah’s cruel authoritarianism, followed by the seizure of power by a religious regime that few desired.
In the decades since, citizens have democratized and modernized their society and transformed their values, all but ignoring their immovable government.