Over the past few weeks, Iranian activists and opponents of the ruling theocracy have been holding demonstrations in various European capitals, including Paris and Brussels.
The protests are aimed at amplifying the message of a nationwide uprising that began in Iran in September and continues to this day, despite heavy crackdowns that have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of protesters and the imprisonment of thousands more.
The activists are calling for a democratic alternative and urging European policymakers to abandon their long-held tendency toward appeasement of the Iranian regime and to adopt a much more robust policy. Specifically, they are calling on the EU to designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, a measure that has been recommended on numerous occasions by Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi.
By contrast, Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late Shah of Iran, has openly tried to reach out to some factions within the IRGC, which is widely recognized as being primarily responsible for the crackdowns on protesters. Pahlavi, whose father was deposed in the 1979 revolution, has been trying to make himself visible in discussions about recent and ongoing protests against the country’s theocratic dictatorship. At the recent Munich Security Conference, he was one of three so-called opposition activists to appear in lieu of official representatives of the Iranian regime, whose invitations were withheld as a consequence of its crackdowns on dissent and its support of Russia in its unprovoked war upon Ukraine.
However, Pahlavi's outreach to some factions within the IRGC has met with considerable backlash from various Iranian expatriates, particularly those who are current members of pro-democracy activist groups. Many such activists have taken part in large-scale rallies across Europe in recent weeks, including one in Paris that was scheduled to mark the February 11 anniversary of the Pahlavi dynasty’s overthrow. The Iranian expatriate community generally maintains a favorable outlook on this aspect of the 1979 revolution while also condemning the theocratic dictatorship that took the monarchy’s place.
The sentiment of the Iranian expatriate community was well-reflected in the Paris rally, and it has been equally well-reflected in the slogans of the uprising taking place inside the Islamic Republic. Among them are “death to the dictator” and “death to the oppressor, be it the Shah or the Leader.” These slogans also underscore the fact that the uprising has transcended its initial focus on the death in custody of Mahsa Amini last September. The 22-year-old Kurdish woman was arrested and fatally beaten by “morality police” for wearing her mandatory head covering too loosely. But this spark quickly gave rise to a movement that has been widely described as perhaps the greatest challenge to the theocratic system since the time of the 1979 revolution.
Former Member of the European Parliament Struan Stevenson, who is also the Coordinator of the Campaign for Iran Change, concluded in his recent book “Dictatorship and Revolution: Iran – A Contemporary History” that both the monarchy and the theocratic dictatorship “deny universal human rights, consider the people to be immature and in need of guardians, and derive their legitimacy from sources other than the ballot box and democratic rule of law. Both have committed gross violations of human rights such as arbitrary detentions, summary trials, cruel and inhuman punishment, torture, and political executions. Both have effectively instituted one-party rule, denied pluralism, suppressed many segments of society, denied freedom of speech or association, prohibited a free press, and disenfranchised citizens.”
In conclusion, the Iranian activists and opponents of the ruling theocracy are urging European policymakers to abandon their long-held tendency toward appeasement of the Iranian regime and to adopt a much more robust policy. They are specifically calling on the EU to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. Photo by Milad Avazbeigi, Wikimedia commons.