If the hijab falls, so does Iran’s theocracy?
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded publicly on Monday to the biggest protests in Iran in years, breaking weeks of silence to condemn what he called “rioting” and… Read more »
Search Results for: Masih Alinejad
Can democracy survive backsliding?
Democracy is the worst form of government except for all the others that have been tried. The maxim, made famous by Winston Churchill, was actually expressed six months earlier by… Read more »
Authoritarian elections: Boycott or participate?
Nicaragua’s opposition National Coalition has announced that it will boycott the November 7 election. The issue of whether to boycott or participate in authoritarian elections presents democratic actors with… Read more »
A Pressing Concern: Covid-19, disinformation and the parameters of truth
The Media Freedom Coalition has called on all countries across the world to protect the rights and safety of journalists whose ability to work freely is “fundamental to a functioning democracy.”… Read more »
The twilight of the Iranian revolution?
Isolated and dysfunctional, Iran’s Islamic Republic had reached a dead end. “The regime has lost all popular support, and yet it is incapable of change,” a leading dissident tells the… Read more »
Iran ‘a powder keg’: Protests ‘strike at heart of regime’s legitimacy’
The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard threatened the U.S. and its allies Monday as he addressed a pro-government demonstration attended by tens of thousands of people denouncing last week’s… Read more »
Time to recognize the ‘new faces of Iranian protest’
The Islamic Republic of Iran has come under fierce criticism amid reports that the judiciary amputated a man’s fingers for theft in the latest in a series of incidents… Read more »
Downplaying Islamism, regime aims to demobilize Iran’s ‘underground but still vibrant’ civil society
The European Union decided on Monday to extend restrictive measures imposed against Iran to last for an additional year until April 13, 2020, due to “serious human rights violations”… Read more »
Iran’s power struggle ‘an opportunity for civil society & democratic forces’?
In historical examples of successful transitions to democracy, there has always been an alliance of democracy and civil society activists with centrists. The two must band together to prevent the… Read more »
Why Iran’s Islamic Republic hates Wednesdays
The compulsory hijab law is perhaps the most high-profile of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s many human and civil rights violations. Yet for Masih Alinejad (above, addressing the National Democratic Institute’s… Read more »