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The Structural Roots of Resent Protests in Iran
Over the past week, for several consecutive nights, the city of Dehdasht in Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province has witnessed widespread protests against recurring power outages, economic hardships, and government repression. These protests were met with a harsh crackdown by security forces and police. Regime-affiliated sources attempted to portray the protests as ethnic clashes between local groups. However, published images and videos show that protesters are not chanting ethnic slogans but are instead directing their anger at the regime and its leaders. In recent months, Iran has been grappling with a severe economic crisis. International sanctions, corruption, and mismanagement have led…
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Nostalgia vs. History: Why the Iranian Revolution Was No Accident
Khosrow Sadeghi Boroujeni’s article critically dismantles revisionist narratives that seek to erase the realities of Iran’s pre-revolutionary era while blaming the 1979 revolutionaries for the rise of the Islamic regime. He challenges both monarchist nostalgia and reformist pragmatism, exposing how these perspectives manipulate historical memory to serve political agendas. Boroujeni highlights the extreme inequalities of the Pahlavi era, rejecting the claim that Iran was on the verge of prosperity before the revolution. Citing scholars such as Fred Halliday, Nikki Keddie, and Ervand Abrahamian, he demonstrates that poverty, illiteracy, and malnutrition were widespread, with modernization policies displacing rural populations and creating…
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Iran’s Condition: God, Money, Guns, and Fascist Rule
Georges Bataille’s theory of fascism provides a unique framework for understanding the psychological and structural dynamics of authoritarian regimes. His analysis, rooted in the tension between homogeneity and heterogeneity, explores how societies maintain control through hierarchical structures and sacred symbols of authority. Fascism, as Bataille describes it, thrives on a…
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Concrete Sovereignty: The Geopolitics of Iran’s Border Walls
Iran’s border walls, stretching along its eastern and western frontiers, are more than physical barriers—they are tools of political control and exclusion. Framed as security measures against smuggling, migration, and terrorism, these projects reflect a deeper agenda of consolidating state power and addressing regional pressures. The eastern wall, designed to…
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Navigating Oppression: Women’s Stories from Tehran’s Settlements
In the southeast shadow of Tehran, where the city’s heartbeat fades into the hum of agriculture and unpaved roads, lies Hesaramir. Its duality—a historic Upper Hesaramir and a migrant-built Turkabad—creates a kaleidoscope of lives, traditions, and struggles. Yet, the soul of this settlement is found in its women, whose voices,…
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Femicide Crisis in Iran: Understanding the Urgent Need for Change
In just two days, two cases of femicide have shaken Iran. First, a lawyer murdered his journalist wife, Mansoureh Ghadiri Javi with brutal blows from a knife and dumbbell. In another case, another male lawyer killed his wife and son before ending his own life. According to the Iranian newspaper…
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Iran’s Nuclear Tensions: A Deepening Crisis with the West
The nuclear standoff between Iran and the West is more than a diplomatic struggle—it is a tense, layered conflict that increasingly pushes toward a dangerous precipice. Iran’s relationship with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) exemplifies this tangled web of mistrust and maneuvering. The agency’s concerns over undeclared enriched uranium…
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My Favorite Cake: Cinema, Memory, and Resistance in Iran
For some time now, My Favorite Cake, directed by Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha, has been available to the public through some Telegram channels. After receiving attention in the 74th Berlin Film Festival’s cinema circles, audiences now have easy access to this film. My Favorite Cake draws power from its…
