Siyavash Shahabi
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Why “Neutral” Anti-Imperialism Keeps Losing
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Let’s be blunt. Kidnapping, arresting, or killing a political figure of one country by another state is defined as illegal in international law, not because powerful states suddenly became humane, but because even ruling elites after World War II understood that if this logic isn’t contained, competition between states turns…
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Day Five of Campus Unrest: Disciplinary Summons, Entry Bans, and New Rallies
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The fifth day of student protests unfolded along two tracks at the same time: on the one hand, sit-ins and rallies continued at several major universities; on the other, authorities stepped up security control, blocked some students from entering campuses, and tried to “silence the universities” by pushing classes online.…
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“Woman, Life, Freedom” Echoes Across Campuses on Day Four
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The fourth day of student protests saw an unprecedented spread of gatherings across universities in different parts of the country. From early in the morning, reports began to emerge about sit-ins and demonstrations starting in several universities in Tehran and other cities. In Tehran, students gathered at the University of…
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Iranian Universities Reignite Protests on First Day of Reopening
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February 21, 2026, saw Iranian universities once again turn into arenas of protest, chanting, and confrontation. The first day of in-person classes after weeks of closures and online instruction coincided with the fortieth day since those killed in the January protests. Rather than marking a return to “normal life,” it…
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The Performance of Stability: Tehran Under the Lens
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When a major international broadcaster describes Tehran as “a family festival” weeks after mass killings, the issue is not poetic tone. It is narrative power. In an authoritarian context, language does not merely describe reality; it rearranges it. After thousands were shot in the streets and communication blackouts were imposed…
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Reclaiming the Flag Without the People: Iran’s Technocratic Counteroffensive
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This article examines the political significance of Sazandegi newspaper’s decision to publish the Lion and Sun symbol on its front page in the aftermath of mass protests and state violence in Iran. Rather than treating the image as a cultural or historical gesture, the article situates it within the broader…
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Killing Without Guilt: The Political Engineering of Fascist Violence
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What we are witnessing in Iran is not an isolated case of religious extremism, but a fully developed political logic of fascist violence. Protest is redefined as war, citizens are recast as enemies, and killing is stripped of moral responsibility. Violence is no longer treated as an emergency measure; it…
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Iran’s Uprisings: Social Roots, Not Security Fantasies
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The claim that Iran’s protests are primarily the result of foreign interference has become a convenient shortcut—one that avoids engaging with the social reality of the country itself. Iran is a society of nearly ninety million people, spread across hundreds of cities, with deep class divisions, long histories of labour…
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The Bureaucracy of Killing in Iran, and Orientalism
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The news is horrifying for all of us. Not only because of the people who have been killed, but because of the shape of death itself. Seeing the bodies of hundreds of people in black bags. Seeing death being “processed” like an administrative file. Like a queue. Like an invoice.…
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Iran: When Politics Becomes a Black Market
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In a non-democratic society like Iran, the rise of a war-hungry far right is not a cultural accident. It’s the direct outcome of a system of governance designed to block ordinary, collective routes to change. When there are no independent unions, no real political parties, no free media, and no…
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The West’s Favorite Fantasy: A “Responsible” Islamic Republic
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It looks like Trump’s view of Iran’s fascist state and a big chunk of the Western Left’s view have basically converged, because they’ve landed in the same ugly place: treating the Islamic Republic as a legitimate adult in the room, and Iranians as background noise. Trump is out here thanking…
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Beyond the Headlines: Why Iran’s Protest Wave Can’t Be Reduced to One Name
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As Iran’s new wave of nationwide protests enters its twelfth day, and reports of a sweeping internet blackout continue to emerge, an old question has returned to the center of political debate with renewed urgency: are political figures leading the streets, or are they trying to catch up with a…
