Tehran Grand Bazaar protests are a warning from history
The Iranian President Hassan Rouhani put an end last week to rumors that he might resign. In a speech broadcast live on state TV, he tried to address the issues that led to the recent chaos in Tehran, but insisted he would “not surrender to the United States.”
Rouhani wanted to calm the Iranian people down and prevent another national demonstration like those in early January. He also wanted to make it clear to his rivals that he would not give up power, leading to the early election that they may have hoped for. “If anyone thinks the government will resign or go away, they are wrong,” he said.
However, there was no real point to his speech. His words were slogans without logic, and he offered no principled solution to Iran’s economic crisis. The US withdrawal from the nuclear deal has placed Iran under enormous economic pressure, which manifested itself as several days of strikes and protests at the Grand Bazaar in Tehran.
The 1979 revolution in Iran began in the Grand Bazaar, when merchants went on strike and closed their businesses in protest against the rule of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, and for 200 years it has been the financial pulse of Iran’s capital.
Rouhani wanted to calm the Iranian people down and prevent another national demonstration like those in early January.
Camelia Entekhabifard
Now, for the first time in 40 years, the bazaaris have gone on strike again — and this time, astonishingly, against the clerical system that they have done so much to support.
The collapse of the Iranian rial against the US dollar has pushed up the cost of imports, making business increasingly difficult. The bazaaris complained about the lack of economic stability, and fluctuations on the currency exchange markets that caused financial losses. They went on strike last Sunday and the protest soon spread to merchants in Isfahan, Arak and Kermanshah.
The bazaaris did not join either the Green Movement protests in 2009 or the widespread demonstrations against the regime early this year. Because of their importance to Iran’s economy, their protests are more significant, and more dangerous for the system, than demonstrations by ordinary Iranians.
The support of Tehran’s Grand Bazaar merchants for Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979 was the key to his success against the Shah. This time the strikes were overcome and controlled by the security services and police, but with all the economic challenges ahead for Rouhani and his government, who is to say there will not be further protests?
Despite public pressure on Rouhani over his inability to tackle the economic crisis and to fight the systematic corruption and mismanagement in the system, he has made it clear he will not resign. Impeachment by parliament is a possibility, but that would require the approval of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Perhaps if there are more public demonstrations the president will be unable to remain in office, but his departure alone is not the solution Iranians are looking for. From the economy to foreign affairs, and the aggression the regime practices against its own people and the international community, the people want everything to be changed.
If the regime takes these demonstrations seriously as a threat against their rule, they may concede some changes in the next couple of months. The regime’s behavior over that period will determine whether it can survive for another decade.
- Camelia Entekhabifard is an Iranian-American journalist, political commentator and author of Camelia: Save Yourself By Telling the Truth (Seven Stories Press, 2008). Twitter: @CameliaFard
