Spring of freedom

Maryam Rajavi  (pictured) , the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), has hailed the uprising by the people of Tehran, Isfahan, Shirza, Mashhad, Ahvaz, Karaj, Arak, Shahin-Shahr, Najafabad and other cities. “By defying the criminal Revolutionary Guards, Bassijis، and plainclothes agents once again today, the arisen women and youth represent a defiant generation which will not rest until the Iranian people and nation are free. They displayed the anger and hatred of the Iranian people toward the religious dictatorship ruling Iran,” Rajavi said. People in different cities came out onto the streets on Thursday, 2 August, chanting: “Death to the dictator”, “cannons, tanks and machine guns are no longer effective, the mullahs must be killed,” and “today is the month of blood, Khamenei will be overthrown.” Rebellious cities are joining ranks one after the other. The cry by people who yearn for freedom is growing louder and the uprising is spreadi...

Protests in Iran gets more confrontational as the suppressive measures are imposed by the regime  Widespread protests have engulfed Iran for at least two weeks.  Despite nearly 8,000 arrests, 50 deaths, thousands wounded, and deployment of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), calls continue to go out for protests in dozens of cities. The 2017 uprising was different from the 2009 Green Movement in several respects. The latest demonstrations started out with smaller numbers but with a much broader geographic and social base. There are no declared leaders to arrest and no specific location to suppress. The ideological focus of the emerging movement was also far-reaching. Whereas the Green Movement focused primarily on disputed election results, the current protests emerged out of the economic anxieties of a population that has been essentially plundered by the self-serving clerical elite.  Large crowds of protestors have been heard chanting “death to th...