Anger is not abating in Iran. The protesters now want to give new impetus to the movement. And this, despite the decision of the Iranian authorities to abolish the Gasht-e Ershad, the much criticized morality police responsible for the arrest of the young Mahsa Amini on September 13. A call for a general strike has been launched for the next three days. But organizing such a movement in Iran is not easy, since trade unions do not exist in the country.
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The call for a strike is therefore circulating on social networks without anyone knowing who is behind it. “It’s done on purpose not to give clues about the movement to the regime, we are more on a kind of civil disobedience”, Explain Farid Vahid, the dDirector of the North Africa and Middle East Observatory at the Jean Jaurès Foundation. From university students, to merchants in the Grand Bazaar in Tehran, a real barometer of dissatisfaction in Iran, to workers in refineries and teachers: all are called upon not to work for three days.
A test for the continuation of the movement
“I have the feeling that they also try to know their ability to organize, each at their level, in their sector“, confirms the expert. The mobilization in the big cities will be particularly scrutinized, as will that of the workers. “If we see large mobilizations in the big cities or workers in the petrochemical sector not working, this means that we are entering another phase of the movement. That of blocking the country to really enter into a revolutionary logic“, adds Farid Vahid.
This strike is not without risk for the organizers. After the demonstrations by women, who are more and more numerous to abandon the wearing of the veil, even taking several hundred thousand people to the streets would be one more affront to the Mullahs. However, the regime has a weapon of massive deterrence: repression. It has already claimed at least 300 victims since the start of the uprising, according to figures provided by Tehran.