Over the past few years, unrest and protests have erupted across Iran, with various demands against the government, including a notable period of demonstrations in 2009 known as the Green Movement.
The 2009 Iranian presidential election saw unprecedented voter turnout, mainly due to the excitement over reformist candidates and the thought of change within the system. Following the election, many took to the streets to dispute the count that put hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power.
At the time many Iranians chanted in Farsi, “Where is my vote?” However, while protests today also express frustration with the Iranian government, experts have noted there isn’t a clear, unified political demand or direction, rather just overwhelming discontent with a slew of government policies, both foreign and domestic.
When asked about the comparison of 2009, 2018 protests, and the most recent 2022 Mahsa Amini protests to today, “There are different and similar at the same time,” Vali Nasr, professor of Middle East Studies and International Affairs at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies told Newsweek. He noted that the instigation of the protests are different, from alleged voter fraud, to morality police and hijab policies, to the economy, as well as some of the participants involved.
For Nader Hashemi, a Georgetown University professor, “Today’s protests are different than previous protests in the sense that they directly impact the lives of every single Iranian citizen,” he said in an email to Newsweek. “ When the value of the currency drops by 56% in less than six months and inflation exceeds 50% this translates into mass poverty and pauperization for millions of Iranians (who have already been living in tough economic and political conditions). In this sense, the protests are not driven by a single group of people (women, youth, working class or ethnic minorities) but they are broad-based and widely felt. Everyone has a reason to protest,” he added.
Nasr, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, and Alex Vatanka noted that as the protestors have no clear political directive, it’s unclear how long the protests will continue and what their demands are outside of economic relief.
There isn’t “a singular opposition leader to rally around,” Vatanka said, noting that in previous protests, such as the Green Movement, Iranians who were protesting were rallying around specific figures such as Hossein Moussavi or Mehdi Karroubi.
“Nobody’s shouting slogans in favor of anyone in Iran to the extent that I know,” adding that the slogans are against the Islamic Republic and leaders like Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.