Iranians no longer content with remaining on the sidelines

Iranian pensioners and retired public employees showed no signs of letting up in their protests against what they say is the government's failure to address deteriorating living conditions.

Videos posted on social media on June 27 showed retirees gathering in at least four cities, Ahvaz, Kermanshah, Arak, and Rasht, chanting slogans against the government of President Ebrahim Raisi.

The recent wave of protests by pensioners and retirees comes after the government announced on June 6 that it would increase the monthly salaries of non-minimum-wage retirees by 10 percent, far below a previous pledge for a hike of 38 percent plus 5.15 million Iranian rials ($16).

In recent weeks, Iran has witnessed protests from a broad cross-section of society, most of which have been met with security crackdowns, most notably after a round of nationwide teachers' protests in May.

A study published in the spring 2022 issue of the Iranian quarterly Political Strategic Studies, entitled "Analysis of Social-Guild Protests in Iran from Perspective of Street Politics Theory", examined the characteristics of workers‘ mass demonstrations from 2017 onward, and concluded that they were “intrinsically” different from past movements.

The study noted, the latest protests had no identifiable leadership, with fewer and fewer “middlemen” thus operating between the disenchanted people and the government. Instead, teachers, farmers, fishermen and others have taken to the streets spontaneously to express their discontent.

Since 2017, the study found, participants in protests of all types have increasingly been seen to break societal taboos in their political slogans and challenges to the government. The types of action taken, from the burning of banners to blocking roads, are more costly both politically and financially than once they were.

The more drastic measures have emerged concurrently with deepening crises in Iran, including unprecedented inflation, high unemployment, struggling public services and a widening ideological gulf between the citizenry and the ruling elite. Due again to the lack of trust in institutions, the street has now become the principal venue for expressions of anger.

In the second half of the 2010s, the study pointed out, after the students’ associations at respected Iranian universities publicly backed the struggles of labor and trades unions, a new horizontal bond began to form between blue- and white-collar workers.

This was strengthened by the November 2019 protests, which were originally sparked by a sudden, steep increase in the price of gas and the ensuing sharp rise of inflation. Lower-paid workers, being the worst-hit by the price hikes, are thought to have gone out to protest in particularly large numbers but were backed overwhelmingly by the new middle class.

The study concluded that “the masses” in Iran were no longer content with remaining on the sidelines and watching political clashes play out. Instead, it found, ordinary people had become much more active players, seeking to influence decision-making or challenge the government through near-constant public interventions. “The street”, it said, showed the places where decision- and policymakers had deviated from the wishes of citizens and the poor.