The protests that began in Iran last month have been suppressed with a level of state violence not seen since the 1980s, when the Islamic Republic executed thousands of leftists and other dissidents. In this episode, Adam Shatz talks to Chowra Makaremi and Amir Ahmadi Arian about the evolution of public dissent in Iran since 1979 and why the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement of 2022 opened the way to more overtly revolutionary protest. They also discuss the economic collapse underpinning the most recent uprising and the ways in which the Iranian regime has refined the use of opacity and rumour to consolidate its power.
Chowra Makaremi is an anthropologist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris and Amir Ahmadi Arian is a novelist and assistant professor at Binghamton University, New York.
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- In Kashmir, Even Sorrow Must Pass a Loyalty Test, by Mirza Waheed – 26 April 2025
- Beyond the Mountain Myth: Kurdistan as Society, by Siyâvash Shahabi – 19 April 2026
- A Menacing Silence, by Oded Na’aman – 4 March 2024
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