When the ABC's Karishma Vyas began her excellent series of reports from Tehran, giving us a rare glimpse of the war from the other side, I thought I was seeing things. Unimaginable things.
There in the background, on the street and in markets, were women with their heads uncovered, defying the strict laws that became a deadly flashpoint in 2022 after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.
Twenty-two year-old Mahsa had been arrested for not wearing her hijab correctly and taken to a detention facility for "re-education". She collapsed after 26 minutes and was taken to hospital, where she died. A United Nations investigation found her death was the result of beatings, which the Iranian regime denied, claiming the young woman died from a pre-existing medical condition.
No one can say for sure how many protesters died in the protests that followed Mahsa's death. Across Iran, women ripped off their hijabs and burnt them, while calling for the overthrow of the theocracy. Demonstrations in support of the rebellion were held across the world.
In Iran hundreds lost their lives, tens of thousands were arrested and several were executed in the violent crackdown, in which roving gangs of Basij militiamen, known as the regime's "iron fist", set upon demonstrators with practised brutality.
That's not to mention the staggering number of deaths during the more recent nationwide protests against the regime. Estimates range from the official 3000 up to 36,000 but verification is impossible because of the information blackout enforced by Tehran.
Yet despite that grim toll, the resistance was there in plain sight in Vyas's reports. Defiance in the face of stiffer penalties and the rollout across Tehran of a surveillance system which can even detect hijabless drivers in cars and issue fines just like our phone camera detection systems. Defiance in spite of an app which enables users to report violations of the dress code. Defiance during wartime, which is even more extraordinary, given the regime's often lethal paranoia.
It's not just the odd individual taking a stance. In Tehran, it's estimated that 20 per cent of women now venture out with their heads uncovered. Some boycott businesses which insist on women wearing the hijab. A recent Canadian Broadcasting Corporation report featured an interview with a black-clad, religiously conservative Iranian woman complaining that the stricter hijab laws were not being implemented.
Last September Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian broke with Tehran's hardliners, saying women should have the right to choose whether or not to wear the hijab and that coercion did not work and risked triggering a war in Iranian society. The laws might have been enacted but Pezeshkian chose not to implement them.
But the president in Iran is subservient to the theocratic Supreme Leader, which means there's no guarantee a vicious crackdown won't come in the future.
That makes the quiet but highly visible resistance of Tehran's women even more impressive.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Would you stand up to a government that dictates what you can and cannot wear? What acts of resistance, large or small, have you performed in your lifetime? Has the war in the Middle East weakened or strengthened the Islamic regime's grip on power in Iran? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
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THEY SAID IT: "Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear." - Mark Twain
YOU SAID IT: Populists are great at grievance but when it comes to governing, the data shows they are disasters.
"Populists are con-artists and snake oil sellers," writes Ian. "They speak directly to people's frustrations by promoting fake problems, usually by scapegoating (immigration, muslims, jews, socialists), then selling simplistic and unrealistic solutions. Too often they speak to people who are simply uninformed about complex realities and why they are hard to solve. You'd think informed and measured public debate would help, but commercial media is unhelpful due to its alignment with vested interests and use of clickbait sensationalist headlines. Not to mention viral social media memes that are devoid of rational or truthful content, serving to reduce concentration spans and the ability to think critically."
"Pauline for PM? Not on your nellie," writes Rhonda. "And Barnaby back as deputy PM, Lee Hanson as treasurer (well her mother must have asked her to count the takings in the Fish Shop) and Malcolm Roberts as science minister? "You have got to be dreaming."
Marcia is adamant Pauline Hanson is not PM material: "She would set us all on a path to destruction just like her MAGA-pal at the White House and, ably assisted by her newest gal-pal Gina. Can I see Hanson even becoming PM here despite polls and media headlines? No, I believe the Australian people are much smarter than their counterparts in the US - regardless of the current political climate."
"Trump was elected simply by offering a free lottery ticket to a better life," writes Rob. "But the dissatisfied people don't really expect to win the lottery it just gives them something to look forward to. The Four R (Redhead, Redneck, Racist, Rabble) Party are offering free losing tickets to the same dissatisfied people in Australia. Of course they will accept a free ticket. That's the problem with democracy."
Jennifer writes: "An agenda built on hatred, bigotry and division can never lead us to a better place as a nation. Sometimes the best we can do as an individual is to educate ourselves about our system of government, to become politically literate voters unswayed by the guff of populist rot that exists. At least then we will have met the basic criteria needed to cast an informed vote, a privilege that deserves our best intentions."
"Pauline Hanson as prime minister would be an absolute disaster for Australia," writes Arthur. "The government should be governing for Australia and not for its own survival.. Tough decisions which may be unpopular must be made. The opposition must stop their continued negative criticism of adjustment to taxation of capital gains and instead offer some constructive criticism of government policies."
Old Donald writes: "I recall way back when Pauline first appeared. Then some wits called her 'the Oxley moron' and 'The Ipswich Witch', etc. It's tragic for the country that a significant number of us now feel she is (a) suitable and (b) right (in the 'correct' sense) in her quest for the top job. Well, at 85 years old, I reckon I've seen or studied most of the options available to the various countries all over the world, and if I've learnt anything at all about leadership, it's that Pauline is eminently not suitable. Simple as that."
